The Italian Audiovisual Market MIA, founded and organised by ANICA (the Italian National Film and Audiovisual Industry Association) has announced the names of its advisory board members for the Film, Drama Series and Doc divisions of its fifth edition. MIA will be returning to Rome from 16 to 20 October 2019 and will bring together 1,500 professionals hailing from 58 countries: international producers, commissioning editors, creators and showrunners, industry talent, directors, authors, buyers and heads of acquisitions, heads of drama, programming directors and executive producers, international distributers, public and private funds, financial partners, international sales agents... The Market is a platform for the top players in the national and international audiovisual sector and is aimed at producers and distributers of high-end content; it’s a hub where agreements on film and transnational TV series are signed, and where business relationships are forged and reinforced between global market leaders.

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MIA|Film
The MIA|Film 2019 advisory board consists of key figures from the international film industry who will be lending their experience and knowledge of the sector to help find content for and to encourage international participation in the next edition of the MIA.

The 2019 board members are as follows: Vicente Canales, managing director of Film Factory Entertainment, the Spanish international sales outfit (whose most recently released titles include the new film by Isabel Coixet, produced by Pedro Almodóvar, It Snows in Benidorm); Cristina Cavaliere, international sales executive at RAI Com, the commercial arm of the RAI group which sells titles by some of the most established Italian talents on the international circuit (Matteo Garrone and Gabriele Salvatores among others); Jakub Duszynski, head of acquisitions at Gutek Film, one of the leading Polish distribution companies (which has represented authors including Michael Haneke, Lars von Trier, Mike Leigh and Jim Jarmusch); Jason Ishikawa, international sales executive at Cinetic Media, an American agency specialising in film financing, sales and distribution, which has a particular interest in independent cinema presented in major international festivals, whose distribution on US soil it then goes on to promote; Vincenzo Mosca, the president of TVCO, an international sales company famous for its unique collection of Italian and foreign films and formats; Catia Rossi, managing director & head of international sales at True Colours – Glorious Films, a firm co-founded by Lucky Red and Indigo Film, whose catalogue spans emerging authors through to the most firmly established (Ferzan Ozpetek, Sergio Castellitto) and also includes high-grossing Italian titles (Perfect Strangers [+lee también:
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MIA|Film Co-production Market
The MIA|FILM Co-production Market selection committee, which is responsible for selecting the projects due to be presented in the next edition of the MIA, consists of Silje Nikoline Glimsdal, sales & project manager at Trustnordisk; Antonio Medici, CEO of Bim Distribuzione, one of the biggest Italian distribution companies for high-level, international auteur cinema (the Dardenne brothers, Kore-eda Hirokazu, Atom Egoyan), as well as that of national derivation (Giuseppe Piccioni, Claudio Giovannesi, Gianni Zanasi); Katriel Schory, senior international relations and activities consultant at the Israel Film Fund – the principal film foundation in Israel which supports and promotes Israeli film productions – and also a consultant for numerous other international events, laboratories and markets, as well as a member of the EFA board (European Film Academy, the European equivalent of the Oscars).

Medici, Schory and Duszynski will likewise have a seat on the Selection Committee of the C EU Soon line-up (devoted to works in progress which are either first or second directorial projects), which will shine a light on emerging European talent by showcasing the most promising titles set to be released in 2020.

MIA|Drama 
MIA|Drama is the Italian Audiovisual Market’s division dedicated to supporting the co-production market for drama series. Its aim is to foster new business opportunities and to encourage international co-productions, as well as the creation of new original content for television and digital platforms. This section focuses on scripted TV series and looks to attract major international players in the Italian market who are then able to participate in a highly specialised and exclusive market event, which works towards the international co-production of high-end series.

The advisory board of the MIA|Drama division boasts an array of impressive, high-profile names whose owners will participate in market activities and will speak on selected topics, both to help promote the MIA itself and to encourage projects owners to participate in the Drama Series Pitching Forum.

Confirmed members of this year’s Drama advisory board are Pascal Breton, the founder and president of the independent European studio Federation Entertainment; Ignacio Corrales, CEO of the Spanish TV broadcaster Atresmedia; all the main members of the European public television broadcasters alliance (The Alliance), created so as to encourage international co-productions between partner countries, led on the Italian side by Eleonora Andreatta, director of RAI Fiction, alongside Nathalie Biancolli, EVP of co-productions and acquisitions at France Télévisions, and Simone Emmelius, SVP of international co-productions and acquisitions at the German TV broadcasting group ZDF.

The new faces hailing from the USA are many and varied, and these include Davide Ellender, president of  Sonar Entertainment’s International Distribution and Co-Production division; Nina Lederman, EVP of global scripted development and programming for the major American firm Sony Pictures Television; Kristen Del Pero, senior vice-president for Current Series and New Business Development in the new Universal Television division of the major group NBC Universal; and Sean Furst, president of the Film & TV division of Skybound Entertainment, a multi-platform company founded by Robert Kirkman and creating content for all kinds of screens (cinema, TV, VR and interactive, gaming), also licensing comic books and merchandise relating to their own intellectual property, such as The Walking Dead.

In terms of Italian board members, Mediaset will be returning once again, this time represented by director of fiction Daniele Cesarano, as will Sky Italia in the form of Nicola Maccanico, executive vice-president of programming. Also making a repeat appearance on the board are David Davoli in his new role as executive vice-president of international television for Canada’s independent outfit Bron Studios, Carlo Dusi, the commercial strategy, scripted EVP working for the German distributer Red Arrow Studios International, and Walter Iuzzolino, the co-founder and curator of Walter Presents, who will once again be presenting the new edition of GREENLit, the MIA Drama division’s main event, which will present new Italian TV series co-produced with international partners.

MIA|Doc
The main players from the Italian documentary world all find themselves represented on the board of the MIA|Doc section, ranging from RAI, in the form of David Bogi, head of international distribution and business development for RAI Com, and Gabriele Genuino, head of documentaries for RAI Cinema, through to Sky, represented by Roberto Pisoni, head of Sky Arte Sky Italia. Featuring international companies with operations in Italy such as Fox Channels, represented by Andrea Bosello, executive producer of Fox Network Group Italy, and A&E Networks, represented by its content & creative director Simone D’Amelio Bonelli, through to independent producers of huge cultural clout such as Anele (Gloria Giorgianni, CEO/Producer) and EIE produzioni (Davide Valentini, producer), the MIA|Doc is availing itself of highly reputable professionals within the national industry in order to make the best possible choices for the local film industry.

The Doc section will also include an impressive array of foreign names, ranging from Britain’s BBC (represented by commissioning editor Mandy Chang) to American outfit Submarine, which has distributed eight Oscar-winning films (co-president Josh Braun will be travelling to Rome for the occasion), not to mention Canada’s Knowledge Network (namely its president & CEO Rudy Buttignol) and Finland’s YLE (represented by commissioning editor Erkko Lyytinen); industry leaders who will be coming together to provide the event with their invaluable foreign perspective in a bid to internationalise the Italian documentary offering.