The Series Mania Grand Prize Winner " The Actor "

For writers of hardboiled fiction, the private eye could act as a conduit, an unmoored guide moving freely across social ranks and situations. For director Nima Javidi – whose new series “The Actor” is the first Iranian production to premiere in competition at Series Mania – the thespian might play a similar role. Forging an intriguing mix of serial and procedural, and with a season order of 26 episodes, “The Actor” moves at a beguiling and deliberate pace, keeping viewers on-edge with an ever shifting tonal register. Like a scene partner — another “Yes And” party accompanying the two leads in bouts of make-believe — the series’ very style accentuates the roleplaying, extending notes of dread or humor or harrowing tension into one of the duo’s staged scenario, pushing forward more on mood than narrative all the way through. “We’ve fallen into an abyss of repetition,” says Javidi, who came up from Iran’s auteurist filmmaking sector. “At least in terms of Iranian series production. So I think this series will offer audiences a new taste – to offer them something fresh and unique.” - part of Ben Croll article in VRIETY