A Resounding Success: SERIENCAMP FESTIVAL 2023
Germany's first and largest festival for series celebrated its successful premiere in Cologne last week together with the main sponsors, the Film und Medienstiftung NRW and the Staatskanzlei NRW as well as the main partner Prime Video. The event kicked off on Tuesday, 13th June, with a packed cinema hall, where the SERIENCAMP FESTIVAL celebrated its move with about 400 invited guests and the German premiere of the Prime Video comedy I'M A VIRGO. The subsequent high-profile SERIENCAMP CONFERENCE, attended by over 700 participants from all over Europe, was sold out and set a new attendance record from the very beginning. Series fans from Cologne and the surrounding area also had something to look forward to: they were able to experience over 40 free German and world premieres of new series on the big screen and numerous celebrity guests up close on the Red Carpet.
"See you next year!"
"A perfect landing! A precisely curated program, high-profile speakers, intensive panel discussions, stars and industry partners at the start - the first Cologne edition of Seriencamp convinced all along the line. We are very happy about the great success and thank the whole team around Simone Schellmann, Gerhard Maier and Malko Solf from the bottom of our hearts for their great work! With its unique mixture of public festival and industry get-together, the Seriencamp has found a new home. See you next year!", said Petra Müller, CEO of Film- und Medienstiftung NRW.
Premiers, Partners, Awards
The audience-focused SERIENCAMP FESTIVAL showed more than 40 series on the big screen and attracted numerous series fans to the Cinenova Ehrenfeld until Saturday evening. Among others, productions like I'M A VIRGO or DER GREIF of the main partner Prime Video were shown. Another highlight was the big screen premiere of the first German documentary series FARM REBELLION from Disney+. The series launched simultaneously on the streaming service and features alternative farming practices for a sustainable future. Also addressing important climate change issues was the world premiere of the WOW documentary INSIDE GREENPEACE, which highlights the work of the environmental NGO. ARTE submitted SOUS CONTRÔLE, an award-winning political satire. In addition, the critics' jury consisting of journalists and series experts Emily Thomey, Jörn Behr, Lisa Ludwig and Michael Müller chose the Korean series BARGAIN as the winner of the Critics' Choice Award 2023 live on stage. The thriller series launches soon on Paramount+.
Stars, Celebrities and Bestselling Authors Up Close
Numerous celebrity guests introduced their productions in person: For the world premieres of local highlights such as the NRW series HAUS KUMMERVELDT by Lotte Ruf and LU VON LOSER by and with Alice Gruia, among others, the makers:inside arrived in team strength. Cult author Wolfgang Hohlbein personally presented the prestige production DER GREIF. Finally, the star-studded ZDFneo series DER SCHATTEN premiered on Saturday afternoon, with actors Andreas Pietschmann (DARK, 1899) and Deleila Piasko in attendance. Fittingly, the gripping mystery series penned by bestselling author Melanie Raabe, who was also in attendance, was also voted by the audience as the winner of the Audience Choice Award 2023.
Thank you, Cologne!
"After four fantastic days, the excitement of the last few months about how our premiere in Cologne would probably be received has given way to relief and joy that we were welcomed with such open arms by the industry and the city of Cologne alike. The invariably positive response is the nicest form of confirmation for us and our team that the busy weeks have paid off in full," says Gerhard Maier, co-founder and program director of Seriencamp.
Hard Facts about Seriencamp Festival 2023
- Over 40 series
- From 20 countries
- 10 Q&As with cast & crew
- 9 panels: live podcasts, talks, book club, autograph session and fan meeting
- 4 awards
- Numerous series fans
- And lots of popcorn
.