Around 400 visitors toasted the eighth edition of the festival at the world premiere of DIE DISCOUNTER, which was filled to capacity. With the second season of the German hit comedy DIE DISCOUNTER and in the presence of the cast and crew, the SERIENCAMP makers, together with their main partners from Prime Video and Sky Deutschland, ushered in a long weekend full of series highlights, with around 40 series highlights and discoveries from around the world vying for the favor of the audience and three top-class juries until the final credits on Sunday evening.
In addition to the series culture as a whole, two winners were already announced at the start: The Digital Short Form Award, presented by actor Daniel Popat, producer Melina Voss and series creators Pouria Takavar ("Happiness") as well as Esra and Patrick Phul ("HYPE"), went to the queer dating comedy SEXFLUENCING, whose creator and lead actor Marus Krajnak was able to accept the award in person. Series creators Kerstin Polte ("Becoming Charlie". ZDFneo), Dennis Schanz ("Skylines". Netflix), Barbara Ott ("Sunny"), Ceylan Yildirim ("Save Me", Prime Video), Maria von Heland ("Sunshine Eyes") and actress Teresa Rizos ("Servus Baby", BR) agreed on the winner of the prestigious Official Competition of SERIENCAMP: I AM EARTH, a Norwegian series discovery that has not yet been broadcast in Germany, won the competition. Its creator and leading actress Amy Black Ndiaye finds a form of expression for her lesbian feelings in rap and hip-hop, of all things.
There was a novelty around the awarding of the Critic's Choice Award: Because the decision for the later winner was not made in the quiet chamber, but by the journalists*innen Arabella Wintermayr (among other things.taz, B.Z., among others), Kathrin Hollmer (SZ, DIE ZEIT, FAS, among others), Julian Ignatowitsch (SZ, Cicero, BR, among others) and Youtube creator Ren Kühn ("Serienflash"). It fell on the culinary stress test THE BEAR, which is currently making a splash around the world on Disney+. The Audience Choice Award was not decided until late Sunday night after all audience votes cast had been counted. Here, the rousing French hip-hop drama THE WORLD OF TOMORROW, which already won the top prize at the renowned Seriesmania Festival in Lille and will be shown on arte from October 20, prevailed. The British relationship drama EVERYTHING I KNOW ABOUT LOVE follows in second place, ahead of the German time-loop mystery ANOTHER MONDAY (ZDFneo).
"From the very beginning, our goal with SERIENCAMP was to give the art form of the series, which was often reviled in the beginning, a forum comparable to that of film. And I am pleased to be able to state that our award winners this year also stand for a qualitatively exponential development, the end of which is by no means in sight," says program director Gerhard Maier about the winners of the SERIENCAMP awards.
In addition to the award winners, insightful panels, discussions and numerous prominent series creators, there were not only quite a few still unlicensed series discoveries from around the world to see, main partners such as Prime Video (JUNGLE, PRISMA) and Sky (SOULS, THIS ENGLAND) used the big screens as well as the numerous partners and supporters of the popular series festival for a free showcase of their series offerings. Among others, Disney+ (THE BEAR, THE OLD MAN), arte (HELSINKI SYNDROM, THE WORLD OF TOMORROW) and Paramount+ (STAR TREK: STRANGE NEW WORLDS, THE OFFER) as well as the History Channel (KOLOSSEUM) and ZDFneo (ANOTHER MONDAY) flexed their serial muscles with free admission.