24/02/2004 - The Milan market will now take place from October 12 to 16, 2004, to avoid a direct clash with the AFM in Los Angeles, and is offering a series of new promotional initiatives

The Milan MIFED market has decided not to declare war on the AFM (American Film Market) in Los Angeles and has brought forward its dates. MIFED, organised as part of Audiovisual Industry Promotion, will now be taking place from October 12 to 16, 2004, and not from October 31 to November as was previously planned. Last summer AFM decided to run two appointments in 2004, adding a new autumn edition, which clashed with the Milan event.
"The date change means companies don’t have to choose between MIFED and the AFM" said Carlo Bassi, the director of the Milan market and managing director of A.I.P. “The decision was made on the basis of a survey of 600 companies we carried out, with the aim of discover the market’s needs. This research gave us a series of suggestions that allowed us to draw up a new MIFED project, even better suited to the sector operators”.

The research shows that 74% of the sellers need to attend as many markets as possible during the course of the year, as long as they are economically viable. In addition, 63% of the American sellers interviewed said that the MIFED market is extremely important to their export businesses. Finally 80% of those surveyed say that costs are one of the main difficulties to participating in the markets. Bassi continues “It’s mainly the small to medium size companies, who actually make up 80% of the businesses operating in the market, who say that there need to be more markets; whereas the big companies, which only make up 10% of those who attend the markets, are the ones who say there are too many".

So, the Milanese market will now try to optimise operator’s costs. "From October 4 to 8" explained Bassi, "there’s Mipcom at Cannes; people who go there can then travel straight to Milan. On the cost front, the tariffs have been frozen, and not just for 2004, but also for 2005-2006, and there’ll be a discount of between 15 to 20% for those who book early. In addition we’re working on a special package of hotel prices in Milan”.
Based on suggestions made by sellers, MIFED has drawn up a list of around 150 buyers who will be invited to attend the market as guests, also participating in the weekends both before and after the official market itself. Many buyers have also asked for a greater number of sellers to choose from as well as a wider range of products on offer. “MIFED is also looking at ways to secure the presence of important films and premieres for the Italian market. We’re working on the possibility of introducing a “Green Card”, in collaboration with Venice and Toronto, for the films presented at the two festivals. Finally we’re looking at exporting the MIFED brand, through AIP, to countries that are seeing a strong rise in the film sector, like Russia and Egypt”.

(Translated from Italian)