PARIS – Canneseries, the new festival dedicated to international drama series which will launch in April, has tapped Albin Lewi, former exec at iTunes in Europe, as artistic director.
Set to take place alongside MipTV, Canneseries was founded by David Lisnard, the mayor of Cannes and is presided over by former French Culture Minister Fleur Pellerin.
Lewi, who joins Canneseries from iTunes, where he was head of the European editorial TV and independent movie team, will be in charge of the competition, as well as the selection of the international jury, whose members will be announced at Mipcom in October.
“In this period of what is commonly called Peak TV, festivals are necessary to highlight the best content, bring together talents, showrunners, producers, journalists and the widest possible audience,” said Lewi, who previously worked at France’s top commercial channel, TF1, as creative advisor and at pay-TV service Canal Plus as editorial advisor for films and TV.
At Canneseries, Lewi will work alongside managing director Benoît Louvet, the former exec VP of TF1 Group.
“Canneseries aims at becoming the worldwide anchor event for series. I trust that Albin Lewi, our new artistic director, will put all his talent and passion to deliver a great selection for the first edition in 2018,” said Pellerin.
Aside from the lineup of drama series, the festival will host a short-format competition, as well as free screenings, master classes, panel discussions and a co-production forum.
Canneseries will run April 4-11. Meanwhile, another festival dedicated to international drama series and subsidized by the French government will take place about a month later in the north of France, in Lille.
