🏆 Realist Web Series Festival Announces Winners
The inaugural Realist International Vertical Web Series Festival has announced its list of laureates. The festival’s top honor—the Grand Prix—went to the Chinese project My Mother Is a Royal Guard, produced for the dedicated mobile streaming platform Hongguo.
The winners in the key categories were chosen directly by the format’s target audience, with voting conducted online via the festival’s official platform. The viewer-choice triumph went to the story of Chu Qiaoyu, the former head of the Royal Guard. According to the micro-drama’s plot, after many years away, the protagonist is forced to take up arms once again, re-enter public service, and lead an elite unit to save her daughter and thwart a major political conspiracy.
The international jury and viewers also distributed awards across genre and national categories, highlighting the global footprint of the emerging format. The status of Best Classic Micro-Drama was awarded to the Turkish project From the Boardroom to the Bedroom. In the Best Genre Vertical Series category, the victory was shared by two projects: India’s The Puppeteer and the Russian comedy micro-drama In Bruges in Zhelokhovo (locally titled Lie Low in Zhelokhovo).
Domestic production companies secured three more key festival awards. The project Call Back When You’re Dead won for Most Vivid Character, while the series Trapped Between Floors was named Best National Vertical Series. The special prize from ON Media for “Seeking New Forms of Audience Engagement” was awarded to the project Umka Invites You to the North. In the animation segment, the Indonesian feature M.C.BUNNY: The Tower Incident celebrated its victory.
The organizers of the Realist festival noted that this inaugural edition demonstrated not only the vast genre diversity of vertical content but also its capacity to generate millions in reach across international markets.
Source: Kinometro
