Starting out as the brainchild of Annette Brejner, former project coordinator at the Danish Film Institute, and Lennart Ström, at the time director of the BUFF Youth Film Festival in Malmö, Sweden, m:brane first saw the light of day in 2007. The mission was to promote and enhance co-production and distribution possibilities for film, TV, web, immersive and other media aimed at the youth market. “Smart content for savvy young audiences” has been the reoccurring catchphrase for this lively B2B forum, delivering “business for art’s sake” ever since – to this day with the same dynamic duo at the helm.

9-12 March are the dates for m:brane’s edition number 20, with 200 national and international delegates expected to attend, champing at the bit for some networking. It all kicks off on Monday with the REALYOUNG documentary workshop sessions, connecting producers with youth experts, assigned to evaluate projects in their early stages. Tuesday brings the main industry conference, this year significantly devoted to assorted immersive formats, gathering experts and players from a breadth of fields and territories, with Canada at the forefront. Jeanne Dompierre, director at Xn Québec and producer at NUMIX LAB, delivers a keynote on “The Power of Immersive and Interactive Storytelling”, and her Montreal-based compatriots Julie Dalbec and Denys Lavigne, both with extensive experience in multimedia content, will present creations “Beyond the Flat Frame”, shaping and re-shaping works of music, literature and gaming into new dimensions.

Other participants include the VR director-producer team comprising Lilia Paul and David Houston, from Luxembourg; Norway’s Julie L Parisi, of Oslo’s MUNCH museum; Swedish gaming guru Björn Flintberg; Danish director and AI innovator Iris Magdalene Schmidt; and Clara Sætren, of the Nordic Animation Association. A special panel exploring new perceptual worlds within the dome format will include Christine Reisen, of The European Science Film Association (ESFA); Micky Remann, of the Jena FullDome Festival, from Germany; directors-creators Fredrik Edström and Costanza Julia Bani, from Sweden; and Renaud Pourpre, from France. The line-up has primarily been curated by Brejner, who, by her own admission, has ventured “to the edge of the new frontier”. She sees vast potential both in the formats addressed and in budding audiences to come. “It could possibly open up and inspire some minds in the room,” she anticipates.

As announced in early February (see the news), 26 projects will be presented at the pitching sessions, taking place on 11 and 12 March, with subsequent meetings happening between creators and decision makers. As is proud m:brane tradition, all project presenters have been put through a special learning programme in “the art of pitching”, and a cash prize will also go to the best presenter. Five additional projects in early development have been entered in the REALYOUNG and Observer Plus sections.

Full information on all programme items can be found here.