Rome’s MIA Market dedicated to international TV series, animation, feature films and documentaries kicked off its 10th edition on Monday, with 60 selected projects from 90 countries ready to be unveiled to potential partners.
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The Oct. 14-18 pre-Mipcom boutique event – which is celebrating its first decade by continuing to adapt its innovative informal market concept to ongoing industry changes – will also feature a rich roster of panels and keynote speakers, who will help take the global industry’s pulse at a time when business models are changing and co-productions have become more crucial than ever.
As previously announced by Variety , this year’s keynote speakers include Sony Pictures Television Studios president Katherine Pope, who has overseen such global hits as “The Last of Us”; “Ripley” producer Clayton Townsend; and Canadian-American producer Odessa Rae, who was instrumental in the making of Oscar-winning doc “Navalny” about the late Russian dissident.
Ed Havard, who is senior VP of unscripted programming at Universal International Studios, and Monica Rodman, EVP of development at Universal Television Alternative Studio, will make the trek to the Eternal City to discuss the future of unscripted in a panel focused on the European TV production market.
As is customary, sales companies have set up booths in central Rome’s Palazzo Barberini, which besides being Italy’s National Ancient Art gallery, is also the market’s main hub.
MIA (the acronym stands for the Mercato Internazionale Audiovisivo or International Audiovisual Market) is headed by Gaia Tridente, who prior to kickoff said she’s been surprised at how many projects MIA received this year – 600 submissions to its co-productions call, as opposed to roughly 500 last year.
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This means that “there are a lot of producers who are working hard on developing new stories,” she noted, just as “streamers are making different kinds of investments” and “producers are asking to retain more rights for their shows.” This scenario makes new forms of co-productions “a good basis for securing bigger budgets,” she added.
Standout TV projects that made the cut for MIA comprise U.S.-Japan co-prod “The Aosawa Murders,” based on Riku Onda’s book about the 1973 murder of 17 people who consumed poisoned sake and soft drinks that were delivered as a gift to the rich Aosawa family. Takeo Kodera from Kadokawa Corporation and former Sierra/Affinity president Jonathan Kier’s L.A.-based Upgrade Productions are producing the show.
Feature films seeking partners at MIA include “Fish,” a Venice-set fantasy directed by Carlo S. Hintermann, whose debut film “The Book of Vision” opened the Venice Critics’ Week in 2020; and Sicily-set coming-of-age drama “The Place of Eternal Summer,” which is the directorial debut of ace Italian screenwriter Maddalena Ravagli (“Gomorrah”).
The rich selection of animation projects on display includes “Gainsbourg: Rue De Verneuil,” a film about the life of French singer-songwriter Serge Gainsbourg. “Gainsbourg” is produced by France’s Logical Pictures and its The Jokers Lab distribution outfit.
A novelty this year is the MIA XR showcase of interactive and VR works that features 13 titles, including six world premieres.
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