During the second day of the Series Mania Forum 2025 which takes place in Lille March 25-27, the Content Showcases strand was opened by the Coming Next from the Balkans session organized by Sarajevo Film Festival – CineLink Industry Days. The content showcase presented five of the most promising and upcoming drama series from the Balkan region in financing and pre-production stages looking for partners to come on board. As the organizers from Series Mania Forum noted the Balkan region is often underrepresented in panel discussions and the showcase offers an opportunity to get a new perspective from 5 promising projects which are at different stages of development.

The showcase was hosted by Kristina Jelicanin from the Sarajevo Film Festival, the leading festival in Southeast Europe with a spotlight on films, drama series, and especially talent. CineLink's mission is to serve the current needs and shape the future of the film and TV business, which the festival does in three stages with three programs: CineLink Dramas, Avant Premiere Series and the Heart of Sarajevo Awards for TV series which CEETV has been extensively covering.

Jelicanin commented that the region of Southeast Europe is dominated mainly by national telecoms, private and public broadcasters, who have been working rapidly since 2016. "We have always been proud of mostly the quality of our series, not the quantity, since we are a bit of, let's say, underdeveloped region in comparison to maybe the rest of Europe and the world, but we proud ourselves with a couple of series that have been premiered at popular festivals and I hope this will happen also to these five series that we will present today."

The first presented project during the showcase was The Home Resort from Telekom Serbia and Adrenaline. The Home Resort by creators Gvozden Djuric and Uros Tomic is a darkly humorous comedy-drama about a petty bourgeois family forced to spend ten days trapped in their apartment, pretending to be on vacation. Inspired by a true event in Banja Luka, the story explores the absurdity of their situation while unraveling the deeper question: who are these people, and what led them to such an extreme act? As the days pass, long-buried emotions and hidden truths emerge, exposing the impact of a flawed social system and the struggles of modern life. The project is a 5x45' comedy/drama series.

The Vault comes from RTVS (Slovenia) which is both the producer and the broadcaster of the series. The 5x50' crime drama is directed by Matevz Luzar and starts shooting this fall. Security guard Sonja is found tied up in a vault, and several safes are empty. The investigation is led by two teams – crime scene inspector Deja Kolenc and insurance agent Sotler. Due to her troubled past, Sonja becomes the prime suspect. When she realizes that the system will not help her, Sonja takes her fate into her own hands. The project poses the question 'Who are the bigger criminals? Those who emptied The Vault or those who filled it?' The budget of the project is 1.4 million euros and expected delivery is May 2026.

8 Days is a true crime drama from Bosnia and Herzegovina, produced by SCCA/PRO.BA with BH Telecom attached as broadcaster. The 8x50' production follows police officer Mirza as she races against time to stop a relentless killer. What starts as a single murder investigation quickly spirals into something far more sinister when Mirza uncovers a chilling pattern: this murderer has struck before. Inspired by the real events of February 2019, when Bosnia and Herzegovina launched its largest-ever police manhunt, the series captures the intensity of an eight-day pursuit that ended with the demise of a notorious mass murderer. Each episode focuses on one critical day of the investigation, peeling back layers of the story as the truth unfolds. Each episode follows one day of the investigation, with one of the main motives being how people react to violence and how trauma, the complexities of navigating a patriarchal society and the blurred lines between war and peace, where yesterday's acts of violence still resonate in the actions of today. Estimated release date is mid 2027, BH Telekom is onboard with 50% of the budget.

The Adventures of a Turbo-Folk Princess was the most-unusual pitch with creators and directors Peter Vulchev and Andrey Volkashin and writer Sanya Arsovska presenting the storyline of the 10x30' comedy/crime/musical drama through the eyes of the main character Vaska and two narrators. Vaska, a small-town Macedonian girl with a golden voice, is trapped between stage fright and her mother’s belief that only marriage can secure her future. Engaged to a charming businessman—secretly a gangster—her world shatters when she accidentally poisons him. Fleeing, she meets turbo-folk legend Kuraima, who offers her a shot at the Balkavision contest. With the help of Ebony, a fiery stripper-prostitute posing as a professional dancer, and a crew of misfits, Vaska embarks on a wild Balkan adventure—dodging danger, chasing dreams, and battling her deepest fears. The creators also noted that this is the first ever TV series focusing on the phenomenon of turbo-folk (a.k.a. chalga). OXO Production is producing the series with Macedonian National TV (MRTV) being the broadcaster. The team is already working on a second season and shooting is planned for next spring.

Brothers was the last pitched project and the most-developed one, with the production looking mostly for sales partners. The 6x45' political crime thriller comes from Greece, Germany and Luxembourg. The series has already secured most of its 8.3 million euros budget from the Hellenic Film Commission, Media Slate Funding, Cosmote TV, the Luxembourg Film Fund, AGICOA Europe, RTL Luxembourg, ARD Degeto, local funds from Germany, Media TV Content, Producers Reinvestment, International Sales MG. The story: the son of a German politician is found murdered in the no-man’s land that divides Cyprus. Two opposing detectives from either side of the divide—Eleni and Fatih—are compelled to work together. As EU countries urgently seek energy alternatives amid escalating instability in the Middle East, the detectives uncover a deep-seated political conspiracy rooted in corruption. The project is created and directed by Simon Farmakas who pitched it at the event and is also directed by Rotem Shamir; produced by Deal Productions, Blonde, Hager Moss Film. Broadcasters of the project are RTL Letzebuerg and Degeto. It is expected to premiere at the end of 2026.

More info about all the projects from Series Mania