25/09/2023 - The 9th International Audiovisual Market (MIA) will unspool between 9 and 13 October, with 62 projects from 36 countries selected for this year’s Co-Production Market and Pitching Forum

The 9th edition of the MIA – International Audiovisual Market will unspool in Rome between 9 and 13 October 2023, in the historic setting of Palazzo Barberini and Cinema Barberini. A total of 62 projects hailing from 36 countries have been selected for this year’s Co-Production Market and Pitching Forum (15 animations, 18 documentary and factual works, 14 dramas and 15 feature films), out of the 500 submissions received from 80 countries (a 30% rise in country numbers on 2022). It’s an increase which demonstrates the international appeal of the MIA, which was also clear in 2022 when over 2,400 participants from 60 countries took part in the market (up 20% on 2021). 

The MIA Digital platform will also be in operation for this year’s edition of the market directed by Gaia Tridente and organised by ANICA and APA, allowing badgeholders to access the various market sessions remotely (either live or on demand), wherever required.

The Co-Production Market & Pitching Forum hosted by the MIA is geared towards audiovisual animation, documentary, series or feature film projects designed for distribution in cinemas, on TV and via streaming platforms. The 62 selected works will be presented – almost all in world premieres – in one of the four different pitching forums depending on their genre (Animation, Doc&Factual, Drama and Film) with the aim of finding them co-production partners, buyers and financiers. One year on from its inception, the MIA’s Animation Co-Production Market & Pitching Forum has already achieved excellent results. This selection of 15 projects from 24 countries includes 3 one-off TV programmes, 3 feature films and 9 TV series. It gathers together unseen projects taking their first bow in the MIA market alongside previously presented projects which have made solid progress in development terms and are ready to be seen by an audience of institutions and funding partners in order to move closer towards production. Some strong and diverse female-focused projects feature heavily among these 15 projects…

Stealing focus among European works in the one-off TV programmes selection is Motherhood by the multi-award-winning Romanian director, writer and producer Anca Damian (Aparte Film), which is co-produced by Miyu (Romania-France); director and animator Angela Conigliaro (Dragonara Studio) is trying her hand at the medium-length format with an animated project in 2D called The Storm, while The Prey (Egypt-UK), hails from the multi-award-winning Egyptian studio Giraffics.

Animated feature films in the showcase include Drumland by the Ghanaian company Afrootoon, involving the creative team composed of Ama Adi-Dako, Ronaldo Cameron and Esther Ohrt, while the multi-award-winning director and artist Magdalena Osińska, who recently directed the long-awaited second chapter of Lucasfilm’s series Star Wars: Visions, is offering up an intimate, stop-motion feature film called Ro, jointly produced by Poland’s Animoon and France’s Les Film du Cygne.

The creativity involved in TV series is very well demonstrated by 10 projects, including Taste Buddies, directed by Veronica Lassenius and produced by Pikkukala (Spain-Ireland-Finland); Mia Moké, created by the Bécquer brothers and produced by France’s Special Touch; surreal comic series Rubharian, developed by Copenhagen Bombay (Denmark); Miniraja, developed by MondoTV (Spain-India); The Odd Adventures of Ninja & Bibby, created by Polish director Piotr Różycki for Laniakea Pictures; and Toink!, a series written by Bert Lesaffer and its director An Vrombaut (Belgium-Holland). The young-adult category will give us Highly Gifted, which is a semi-autobiographical series created by Jeremy and Daniel Lehrer, produced by Spain’s Moonrise Pictures, and adapted from the Snapchat web-series. And, last but not least, we’ll be treated to the unexpected superheroines gracing Doris & Betty, which is a series brought to the market by the Scandinavian powerhouse Nordisk Film Production, adapted from Ellen Ekman’s Doris & Bettan Strikes. 

The Doc Co-Production Market & Pitching Forum has selected 18 projects for its showcase, of which 9 are Italian works. Stand-out titles include the Italian-French co-production Letizia Battaglia. Her name is Battle, directed by Cécile Allegra and produced by Zenit Arti Audiovisive and Nilaya Productions; The Modigliani Affaire, directed by Luca Rea and produced by Fandango; Achille Lauro - The Terror Cruise, a docuseries directed and produced by Raffaele Brunetti of B&B Film; the Swiss project Jesus Goes to Hollywood, directed by Norbert Busè and produced by DokLab GmbH; and Luxembourg’s Waiting for Fränk, directed by Désirée Nosbusch and produced by Alexandra Hoesdorff.

The Drama Co-Production Market & Pitching Forum will present 14 series projects from 9 countries. Three are the product of co-productions between a variety of countries and international players: Hallyu-Korean Wave, which is an Italian-French co-production by Volos Films Italia, 24images Production and Revolver; The Ridge, which is co-produced by New Zealand (Great Southern Television) and France (Oble TV); and The Golden Egg Hotel, a dramedy series produced by Asacha Media Group (France) and The Big Picture Studios (Lebanon). Two projects hail from Greece - Costa Armonia by Neda Film and Loom by Filmiki SA - while Ireland is offering up Factory Girl, produced by Deadpan, Spain Lucio’s Treasure, a mini-series written and produced by Alberto Rull, and Belgium Ale Mary by AT-Production. 

For its part, the Film Co-Production Market & Pitching Forum will present 15 feature-length movie projects hailing from 13 countries. Six of the selected projects are by women directors and over half explore female themes, confirming the MIA’s sensitivity to inclusivity and gender parity. These titles include A Story of Three Girls by Nursen Çetin Köreken, Consuelo, which is a first work by Tatianna Kantorowicz, Far from the Trees by Meritxell Colell Aparicio, and Céline Dondénaz’s debut film The Woman I Love. Other films in the line-up include Anthology by Nicolas Saada, Children of the Monkey by Tommaso Landucci, and I Will Find You by György Kristóf, whose previous movie Out was presented in Cannes. 

In addition to the afore-mentioned international selection, for the fourth year running the Film Co-Production Market & Pitching Forum will be offering up Wanna Taste It?, a section wholly devoted to Italian movies in development. The 3 selected projects are Angiolina and the Captain by Costanza Quatriglio, Beyond the Smoking by Gianluca Granocchia and Jazz Suite for a Dysfunctional Family by Tommaso Pitta.

Eight films (including 2 first works and 2 second works) have been selected for C EU Soon, the work-in-progress line-up dedicated to European films currently in post-production and looking for international sales agents. The selection demonstrates the vitality of European cinema, showcasing established and well-known directors and producers alongside new talents making their debut or presenting second films: Antonin Svoboda, who founded the famous Austrian collective Coop99 filmproduktion together with his director and producer colleagues Jessica Hausner and Barbara Albert, will be offering up Persona Non Grata; Guido Chiesa is returning to drama with For the Love of a Woman; Ringo Media are back with The Imminent Age, a first work by Clara Serrano Llorens and Gerard Simó Gimeno; the multi-award-winning Estonian production company Allfilm will present Lioness by Liina Trishkina-Vanhatalo; Under the Flame of a Candle is the debut feature film by the promising Portuguese director and producer André Gil Mata, and that’s without forgetting Souther Chronicle by Ignas Miskinis, Bluish by Lilith Kraxner & Milena Czernovsky and The Answer to All Questions by producer and director Dimitar Kotzev.

The full list of invited projects is here.

Last but not least, the 2023 MIA is set to host the Spanish Screenings on Tour, one of the main initiatives of Spanish Screenings XXL, offering up 31 titles at different stages in their life cycles, from development all the way through to market premieres (read news). This copious film showcase will be bolstered by professionals taking part in round tables and conferences, and a series of networking meetings between the Spanish audiovisual industry and its international counterparts. Full details can be found at spanishscreenings.online.

(Translated from Italian)