{"id":280779,"date":"2026-02-12T17:18:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T17:18:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/280779\/"},"modified":"2026-02-12T17:18:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T17:18:07","slug":"series-mania-opens-with-the-testaments-includes-the-audacity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/280779\/","title":{"rendered":"Series Mania Opens With ‘The Testaments,’ Includes ‘The Audacity’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tFrance\u2019s Series Mania<\/a>, the biggest TV festival in Europe, will open with Disney+<\/a> title \u201cThe Testaments<\/a>,\u201d the sequel to the \u201cThe Handmaid\u2019s Tale\u201d from Bruce Miller, showrunner of both series. Stars in attendance at Series Mania will include Ann Dowd, Aunt Lydia in \u201cThe Handmaid\u2019s Tale\u201d who narrates \u201cThe Testaments,\u201d and Chase Infiniti and Lucy Halliday.<\/p>\n

\n\tThis year\u2019s lineup also includes AMC Network\u2019s \u201cThe Audacity<\/a>,\u201d created by Jonathan Glatzer (\u201cSuccession,\u201d \u201cBetter Call Saul\u201d) and featuring Billy Magnussen, \u201cThe Big Bang Theory\u201d star Simon Helberg and Zach Galifianakis, plus Netflix \u201cPeaky Blinders\u201d movie \u201cThe Immortal Man.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tAs reported<\/a> by Variety\u2018s Co-Editor-in-Chief\u00a0Cynthia Littleton, \u201cThe Audacity\u201d revolves around an aspiring tech CEO character (played by Magnussen) and a \u201csuccessful but deeply alienated\u201d founder and inventor played by Helberg.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThere\u2019s times in history where there\u2019s a Renaissance and Silicon Valley is one of those times in our modern era which is defining humanity,\u201d said Magnussen, while Helberg called his character a \u201cmaladjusted genius.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cHe\u2019s a bit of a recluse. And there\u2019s loneliness at the heart of all the characters, and they\u2019re all trying to connect, and they\u2019re trying to connect through technology, which has some pitfalls.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tOpening up about this year\u2019s trends, Managing Director Laurence Herszberg and Artistic Director Fr\u00e9d\u00e9ric Lavigne noted that while there has been an \u201cundeniable contraction\u201d in the sector \u2013 fewer series submitted, shorter formats, and seasons with fewer episodes \u2013 an unexpected benefit has emerged:\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cToday\u2019s series creation seems to be less about scale and more about accuracy. There are fewer epic narratives and more concentrated, sometimes harsh offerings, often directly connected to a world under tension.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tTalking about the selection, they noted: \u201cEurope is asserting itself as a nerve center of creativity.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tApart from Belgium\u2019s strong showing with \u201cBreendonk,\u201d \u201cThe Best Immigrant\u201d and\u00a0 \u201cEternal,\u201d\u00a0Sweden will be represented by \u201cMy Brother\u201d and \u201cBurden of Justice.\u201d Poland will have two series in the official selection for the very first time: \u201cLove Is Enough\u201d and \u201cVariola Vera.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe creators have been responding to the rise of authoritarian and fascist systems, stated Herszberg and Lavigne.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWhether rooted in history or veering toward barely veiled anticipation, these series question our ability to resist, collaborate, or flee.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThis includes \u201cBreendonk\u201d and Spain\u2019s \u201cThe Anatomy of a Moment,\u201d as well as \u201cThe Best Immigrant\u201d which depicts a government organizing the deportation of foreigners.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThese are all works of fiction that implicitly extend the prophetic intuitions of \u2018Years and Years\u2019 by [Welsh screenwriter and producer] Russell T Davies, our guest of honor, and force viewers to take a stand: submit, collaborate, resist from within, or go underground?\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThemes of violence and masculinity in crisis will be explored in \u201cThe Audacity\u201d and \u201cDear Killer Nannies,\u201d which follows Pablo Escobar\u2019s son and explores \u201cbrutality as a legacy.\u201d John Leguizamo will play Escobar.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tIn the International Panorama, the lawyers in Sweden\u2019s \u201cBurden of Justice\u201d will have to test their own convictions \u2013 in \u201cWaiting for the Out,\u201d a philosophy teacher ends up working in prison. The show is based on Andy West\u2019s memoir \u201cThe Life Inside: A Memoir of Prison, Family and Learning to be Free.\u201d The cast is led by Josh Finan, known for \u201cThe Responder.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThat being said, Herszberg and Lavigne stressed that \u201cheroines are never far away and their struggles are a powerful theme throughout the selection.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tAustralian \u201cDustfall\u201d takes on the sexual violence suffered by women, while \u201cBabies\u201d explores \u201cthe joys, sorrows, and social pressures experienced by infertile women.\u201d French series \u201cAll Shapes of Us,\u201d created by Fanny Riedberger, won\u2019t shy away from the topic of eating disorders.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn addition to \u201cAll Shapes of Us\u201d featuring Catherine Frot, French Competition will welcome \u201cCamarades,\u201d \u201cEldorado\u201d with J\u00e9r\u00e9mie R\u00e9nier and Karim Leklou, \u201cSummer Of \u201936,\u201d \u201cUnchained\u201d and \u201cPrivil\u00e8ges\u201d with Manon Bresch and Melvil Poupaud.<\/p>\n

\n\tAnd as for genre offerings? There will be \u201cburlesque Western\u201d (\u201cLucky Luke\u201d), Japanese science fiction (\u201cQueen of Mars\u201d) and Korean and German comedies (\u201cThe Legend of Kitchen Soldier,\u201d \u201cThe Flaws\u201d).\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cMore necessary than ever, this year\u2019s series remind us that telling stories about the world remains an essential way of questioning it. And sometimes, an invitation not to resign ourselves to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tCanada\u2019s \u201cThe Glass House,\u201d created by Martin Matte, will close the event, while \u201cPeaky Blinders, The Immortal Man\u201d<\/a> will be shown out of competition. <\/p>\n

\n\tSpeaking to\u00a0Variety\u00a0after the conference, Laurence Herszberg called the depiction of rising fascism in the series, whether set in the past or a near future, \u201cthe most impressive trend\u201d of this year\u2019s edition.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe received fewer shows than in previous years, about 20%, which illustrates the current contraction of the market. In terms of creativity, European shows are prominent. Last year was Spain\u2019s year; this year seems to be the UK\u2019s and Belgium\u2019s, as well as the Nordic countries,\u201d she said. The selection of two Polish shows marked \u201cgood news for the Eastern European industry.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u00a0\u201cWe received less shows than previous years, about 20% which illustrate the current contraction of the market. Creativity speaking, European shows are prominent. Last year was the year of Spain, this one seems the one of UK and Belgian, and of course Nordic countries,\u201d she said, with the selection of two Polish shows marking \u201cgood news for the East European industry.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWhile the Lille audience is bound to be impressed by the \u201cbrilliant recreation of Escobar\u2019s drug empire in the \u201880s and \u201890s\u201d in \u201cDear Killer Nannies,\u201d \u201cThe Audacity\u201d will prove that \u201ccable shows are still in the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt resonates with what we read in the press about the craziness of the GAFAM [Google, Apple, Facebook (Meta), Amazon and Microsoft] and their executives,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tJohn Hopewell contributed to this article.<\/p>\n

\n\tInternational Competition<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe Anatomy of a Moment\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tSpain \/ Movistar Plus+, Arte \/ 4\u00d750\u2019<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe Audacity\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tU.S\/ AMC, AMC+ \/ 8\u00d745\u2019<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cDear Killer Nannies\u201d\u00a0(World Premiere)<\/p>\n

\n\tColombia \/ Disney+, Hulu \/ 8\u00d735\u2019<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cDustfall\u201d (World Premiere)<\/p>\n

\n\tAustralia \/ ABC TV, BBC, ZDF \/ 6\u00d750\u2019<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cLove Is Enough\u201d (working title)\u00a0(World Premiere)<\/p>\n

\n\tPoland \/ HBO MAX \/ 8\u00d735\u2019<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cMajor Players\u201d\u00a0(World Premiere)<\/p>\n

\n\tU.K. \/ Channel 4 \/ 6\u00d730\u2019<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cMy Brother\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tSweden \/ SVT, DR, NRK, YLE, R\u00fav \/ 4\u00d745\u2019<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cPaolo\u201d\u00a0(World Premiere)<\/p>\n

\n\tFrance \/ HBO MAX \/ 7\u00d752\u2019<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWaiting For the Out\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tUK \/ BBC \/ 6\u00d745\u2019<\/p>\n

\n\tFrench Competition<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cAll Shapes of Us\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tFrance \/ TF1 \/ 6\u00d752\u2019<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cCamarades\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tFrance \/ Arte \/ 8\u00d730\u2019<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cEldorado\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tFrance\/Belgium \/ Arte, RTBF \/ 6\u00d745\u2019<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cPrivil\u00e8ges\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tFrance \/ HBO Max \/ 6\u00d752\u2019<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cSummer Of \u201836\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tFrance \/ Tf1 \/ 6\u00d752\u2019<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cUnchained\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tFrance \/ France T\u00e9l\u00e9visions \/ 6\u00d752\u2019<\/p>\n

\n\tInternational Panorama<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cBabies\u201d (World Premiere)<\/p>\n

\n\tU.K.\u00a0\/ BBC \/\u00a06\u00d760\u2019<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe Best Immigrant\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tBelgium\u00a0\/ Streamz \/\u00a05\u00d745\u2019<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cBreendonk\u201d\u00a0(World Premiere)<\/p>\n

\n\tBelgium\u00a0\/ VRT, Streamz, New8 \/\u00a06\u00d755\u2019<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cBurden Of Justice\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tSweden\u00a0\/ Svt \/\u00a08\u00d745\u2019<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cEternal\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tBelgium\u00a0\/ RTBF, Proximus \/\u00a06\u00d745\u2019<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe Flaws\u201d\u00a0(World Premiere)<\/p>\n

\n\tGermany\u00a0\/ ZDF \/\u00a04\u00d725\u2019<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cPrisoner 951\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tUK \/ BBC One, BBC iplayer \/\u00a05\u00d755\u2019<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cQueen Of Mars\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tJapan\u00a0\/ NHK \/\u00a06\u00d749\u2019<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cSmall Prophets\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tUK\u00a0\/ BBC \/\u00a06\u00d730\u2019<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThese Sacred Vows\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tIreland\u00a0\/ RTE One \/\u00a06\u00d752\u2019<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWelcome To Kingston-Falls\u201d (World Premiere)<\/p>\n

\n\tCanada\u00a0\/ Ici Radio-Canada \/ 6\u00d743\u2019<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cVariola Vera\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tPoland\u00a0\/ TVP \/\u00a07\u00d745\u2019<\/p>\n

\n\tSpecial Screenings <\/p>\n

\n\t\u2018Etty\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tThe Netherlands \/ ARTE \/ 6\u00d745\u2019<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cFlunked\u201d (World Premiere)<\/p>\n

\n\tFrance \/ Netflix \/ 8\u00d730\u2019<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cLucky Luke\u201d (World Premiere)<\/p>\n

\n\tFrance \/ Disney+, France T\u00e9l\u00e9visions \/ 8\u00d735\u2019<\/p>\n

\n\tOpening<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe Testaments\u201d (World Premiere)<\/p>\n

\n\tUSA \/ Disney+ \/ 10x(38\u2019\/59\u2019)<\/p>\n

\n\tClosing<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe Glass House\u201d (World Premiere)\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tCanada \/ Prime Video \/ 6\u00d732\u2019<\/p>\n

\n\tShort Forms Competition<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cAtlantis Pasila\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tFinland \/ Yle \/ 14\u00d715\u2019<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cAyer\u2019s Cliff\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tCanada \/ Ici\u00a0Tou.Tv\u00a0Extra \/ 7\u00d715\u2019<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cHappiness\u201d\u00a0(World Premiere)<\/p>\n

\n\tFrance \/ Arte \/ 9\u00d710\u2019<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cHirayasumi\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tJapan \/ Nhk \/ 20\u00d715\u2019<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cHomebodies\u201d (World Premiere)<\/p>\n

\n\tAustralia \/ Sbs \/ 6\u00d710\u2019<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe Last Hour\u201d\u00a0(World Premiere)<\/p>\n

\n\tFrance \/ Arte \/ 6\u00d710\u2019<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cSaturniids\u201d\u00a0(World Premiere)<\/p>\n

\n\tCanada \/ Tv5 Qu\u00e9bec Canada, Unis Tv \/ 6\u00d712\u2019<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cUnfiltered\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tSpain \/ 3cat \/ 9\u00d718\u2019<\/p>\n

\n\tScreenings Out of Competition<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cPeaky Blinders, The Immortal Man\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tUK \/ Netflix \/ 105\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"France\u2019s Series Mania, the biggest TV festival in Europe, will open with Disney+ title \u201cThe Testaments,\u201d the sequel…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":280780,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[2398,156,111,139,69,157230,157231,127371,437],"class_list":{"0":"post-280779","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-disney","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-new-zealand","11":"tag-newzealand","12":"tag-nz","13":"tag-series-mania","14":"tag-the-audacity","15":"tag-the-testaments","16":"tag-tv"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280779","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=280779"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280779\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/280780"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=280779"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=280779"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=280779"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}