Nollywood graces Series Mania, puts Nigerian content on global stage

AS part of its commitment to industry development, support and elevation, the French Embassy in Nigeria supported Nigerian producers of television series in attending the annual Series Mania Festival. 

After bringing a Nigerian delegation to MIPCOM in Cannes, France, last year, the Embassy invited 10 top Nigerian TV series producers to Lille to attend the biggest TV series Market in Europe from the 25th to the 27th of March 2025. It was three days of pitching, networking and high-level conferences.

The producers met other top-level TV industry leaders from studios, channels and platforms, shared their views on subjects that structure the global audiovisual industry and worked to promote international cooperation. The event also featured showcases of series from all over the world, round table discussions and impactful masterclasses.

Started in Lille in 2018, Series Mania has become the biggest event dedicated uniquely to television series in Europe. The festival offers exclusive world premieres of the greatest international series on the big screen, giving its audience, up to 85,500 spectators, eight days of discoveries, parties and masterclasses with some of the most renowned personalities in the series world.

At the same time, Series Mania welcomes French and foreign professionals of the TV industry at Series Mania Forum. It is the industry event and in 2024, welcomed 4,200 professionals from more than 72 countries and from five continents. 

It has become a must attend event to fully support drama series, from writing to broadcasting and in particular, its best-and-upcoming writers. Many intensive writing workshops, as well as programmes aiming at breaking the silos of series production and encouraging international collaboration are undertaken throughout the year before being presented to professionals during the Forum.  

Over three days, participants networked, shared insights and collaborated to elevate Nigerian content on the global stage.

Industry professionals and TV series producers also explored new opportunities and tackled industry challenges.
“Séries Mania offers several opportunities for African creators” says Christophe Pecot, Audiovisual Attaché of the French Embassy in Nigeria, “notably through programs such as AuthenticA Series Lab and the Creation Africa pavilion.

This initiative of the French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs showcases African talent and facilitates meetings with industry professionals. Two networking events (Industry Breakfast with African Talents and a conference about how to initiate projects in Africa: opportunities and success stories) are also organized to foster collaborations.”

Moses Babatope, CEO, Nile Entertainement Group added, “Nollywood’s journey to Series Mania is key in our industry’s global narrative. 

French Government’s initiative demonstrates remarkable consistency in strengthening creative industry ties between our nations, despite cultural and language differences.

For Nigerian producers, Series Mania offers invaluable networking opportunities and opens doors to content development and production collaborations that were previously unimaginable. 

This is a strategic gateway to partnerships that will elevate our content. This sustained diplomatic investment in creative exchange is all we need to craft a future where global television will be written with African ink.”

Nigerian companies that attended include Nile Media Entertainment Group, BAP Productions, FilmOne Limited, Kap Motion Pictures, LaVida Studios, Bluhouse Studios, Raconteur Productions, Blackverse Studios, Anakle Films and Inkblot Productions.

This support to the Nigerian Audiovisual Industry was made possible thanks to specific funds. This year again, the program called “Creation Africa” helped to support entrepreneurship in the sector of cultural and Creative industries. This fund has been entrusted for a period of 18 months by the French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs.