The general director and founder of Series Mania has said the result of the forthcoming French election will have a significant bearing on the future of the Paris event.

Series Mania, founded by Laurence Herszberg, stands to lose a significant chunk of its funding as a result of funding body Centre National du Cinéma et de l’Image Animée (CNC) diverting financial support to the French government’s planned international series project in Lille.

The Lille event is due to take place in June 2018, while the ninth edition of Series Mania is poised to run in April next year.

Another setback has come after French pay TV operator Canal+, a Series Mania sponsor this year, switched ^[1] its allegiance to Reed Midem’s Cannes Series, a new event set for April 2018.

“The elections are key to a lot of things in France, of course. They are also key to what’s going to happen regarding an international TV festival for series. So we’re really focusing on having the greatest edition of Series Mania as possible. Then we will see after the election and will start to work from there,” Herszberg told C21.

The first round of the French election takes place on Sunday and a run-off between the top two candidates will be held on May 7.

Series Mania has been grown significantly in recent years, with 900 attendees registered to attend its Coproduction Forum in 2017, according to Herszberg.

The CNC “has pointed out the high quality of Series Mania and pointed out that it should be involved in any kind of international event created in France,” Herszberg added.

Series Mania kicked off on April 13 this year and finishes on Sunday. This year’s event saw it offer a cash prize of €50,000 (US$53,700) to the winner ^[2] of its European coproduction pitching competition for the first time, while its screenings have expanded to take in more cinemas in central Paris.