Belgian fiction in the picture at the international ‘Serial Killer’ festival in Brno.
1 March 2021
March 3rd 2021 - The Serial Killer festival in Brno, Czech Republic, is a European festival exclusively dedicated to high quality international television and online series. Serial Killer has only been around for four years, but in that short space of time it has also received a quality label as a forum for top-class fiction. This year it will take place from 21 to 26 September.
Every year Serial Killer focuses on a country or region with important and innovative fiction. In previous years, these were the Scandinavian countries and Great Britain. This year however, the spotlight is on Belgian fiction and it is now up to our country to show what it has to offer in the field of high quality fiction. Belgium is allowed to present at least six fiction series at the festival. To present a representative picture of 'the best of Belgium', the selection includes top series from the VRT and other public and commercial broadcasters in our country. Flanders Image is also contributing to the initiative.
Serial Killer quickly gained credibility and recognition in the international media sector and with the public. Major players such as Amazon Studios and HBO Europe, as well as public broadcasters and commercial broadcasters are participating. Undoubtedly, the unique mission of Serial killer, to promote good quality drama from all over Europe and build bridges between creators from all regions, plays a very important role in this. The festival thus forms a platform for cross-border cooperation and new projects. It offers an international programme for the professional media sector, as well as for the public. Under normal (non-corona) conditions, the festival attracts 10,000 visitors, including many young people.
Kamila Zlatušková, CEO and founder of Serial Killer: "In my capacity as organizer of the Serial Killer festival, I visit a lot of festivals every year and talk to fiction producers from all over the world. Opinions are unanimous. In recent years, like Scandinavian drama, Belgian fiction has made its way to the fore. With its unique authentic style and storytelling Belgian fiction always manages to convince . We are very proud that we can show this to the full at our festival. Our ties with the Flemish public broadcaster have strengthened through years of good cooperation and we are now also looking forward to French-language work. We want to inspire makers from all over Europe with the pioneering Belgian work and prove that you can make internationally renowned fiction from a small area with limited budgets. As a teaser I would like to say that the VRT series 'Albatros' will play a prominent role at the festival. "
The success of Belgian fiction series abroad is mainly due to the unique way in which our makers tell stories, VRT expert Elly Vervloet also confirms.
Elly Vervloet, international drama executive of VRT: “We tell stories that move people. Our stories are character-driven and stand out because of a storytelling that is both daring and pithy. Surrealism is part of our DNA. Our makers like to colour outside the lines, they like to play with different genres. For example, we are not afraid to add humour to difficult themes such as in "Sense of Tumor" or "Albatros" or in crime series such as "Undercover". That makes us unique abroad, but it is also inspiring. For example, "Sense of Tumor" gets a Czech remake. This is pretty extraordinary in a country that does not have a culture that allows one to talk openly about cancer, let alone deal with it humorously. In this way we also break taboos in other countries. We look forward to entering into a dialogue with other makers during Serial Killer and to inspire each other. "
.jpg "Elly Vervloet, International drama executive of Flemish VRT on Serial Killer 2019")
Due to the corona crisis, the Serial Killer festival will also take place this year in a hybrid form, i.e. partly in the city of Brno, partly online.
More information about the Serial Killer programme and the selected Belgian series will follow later.
About VRT
The VRT is the public broadcaster of the Flemish Community in Belgium. It is geared towards all Flemings, in all their uniqueness and diversity. The VRT presents high-quality and distinctive content in the areas of information, culture, education, entertainment and sports. With its three television channels, five radio stations and various digital channels, the VRT reaches 90% of all Flemish people every week. In this way, the VRT can be relevant, have a social impact, contribute to a pluralistic debate and strengthen democracy. The VRT stimulates people to experience culture and language, and propagates the Flemish identity. The VRT is future-oriented and focuses on innovation and digitization. The broadcaster plays an important role in the Flemish media ecosystem and cooperates with numerous national and international partners from various fields.
More about VRT : www.vrt.be