CanneSeries, the new television festival set to launch alongside MIPTV next year, has named Albin Lewi as artistic director.
Lewi, former head of iTunes TV and Independent Movie team in Europe, will oversee the selection of competition shows as well as appointing the jury.
The festival is headed by former French culture minister Fleur Pellerin and former TF1 executive vp Benoit Louvet. It aims to capture some of the glamour from the city that hosts the most famous red carpet in the world at the film festival just a month later, as well as capitalize on the international executives in town for the TV market.
“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.
The festival will have two juries, one each for both traditional programs and short-form shows. The juries will be announced Oct. 16 during MIPCOM.
The new television festival was announced in January by Cannes mayor David Lisnard after the city was eliminated from a national competition.
That festival was eventually awarded to the northern city of Lille, which effectively killed Paris long-running festival and will now take over the Series Mania moniker.
The two competing festivals will launch next April, with Cannes running alongside the annual TV confab April 4 – 11 and Lille running April 20 – 28.
This article was originally published by The Hollywood Reporter.
