The major TV drama festival and industry event in Lille was initially set to unfold March 19-27, 2021.

The postponement of Series Mania due to uncertainties surrounding Covid-19, was announced Thursday by Rodolphe Belmer, President of the event, and Laurence Herszberg, founder and general director.

The Festival, which usually welcomes around 72,000 spectators, will be held May 28-June 5 and its sidebar confab Series Mania Forum held at Lille's Grand Palais is set for June 1-3, 2021. An online version - Series Mania Digital - will be available to those unable to attend physically.

“We are extremely grateful to the Hauts-de-France region and the city of Lille who have worked closely with us in helping to secure these new dates for 2021,” said Belmer. “As you can imagine, this was not an easy task. With the ongoing uncertainly surrounding Covid-19, we believe these dates in the warmer months of May and June are the perfect time frame for Series Mania 2021. For our 2022 edition, we will return to our dates in March for which Series Mania has become known.”

“With this opportunity to move our annual in-person rendezvous to June for 2021, Series Mania will be in the coveted position slated between two other major international events, Cannes Film Festival [May 11-22, 2021) and Annecy Festival [June 14-19]. We are among great company,” said Herszberg. “Our team has been working non-stop in preparing our events and I have no doubt our 2021 edition will be bigger and better than ever, sending a strong message of hope to both the audiences and the industry."

The deadline for the Call for projects for Series Mania Forum has now been extended to March 5, 2021.

Series Mania has been an important launching pad for Nordic series since the event’s inception. This year DR Drama’s Cry Wolf was selected for the festival’s main international competition.