Rome will once again become a key meeting point for the international audiovisual industry as the MIA – Mercato Internazionale Audiovisivo prepares to host its 12th edition from 19-23 October. The gathering will bring together projects spanning film, animation, documentary and scripted series, alongside an expanded range of initiatives targeting different stages of development and financing.

Promoted by ANICA (chaired by Alessandro Usai) and APA (chaired by Chiara Sbarigia), and headed by Gaia Tridente, MIA will welcome producers, buyers, financiers, distributors and other decision makers to the Italian capital for five days of pitching sessions, co-production meetings and industry activities.

More than 530 projects from 82 countries were submitted for the 2026 edition. The Official Selection comprises 67 projects: 24 live-action features, ten animated features, 11 feature-length documentaries, two docuseries, two TV one-offs and 18 scripted series. A further seven documentary projects will take part in the newly introduced Doc Connect initiative.

The market has also reworked its co-production offering for this edition, with the aim of providing producers with more highly structured access to potential financiers, buyers, distributors and international co-producers. Among the additions is a new Gap Financing strand dedicated to animated series, whose selected projects will be announced in the coming weeks.

The Film Co-Production Market brings together projects from both established names and emerging filmmakers. Among the live-action titles is Blue Souvenir, the new project by Italian director Alain Parroni, produced by Alcor and Fandango, and written by Damiano and Fabio D’Innocenzo. Mohamed Kordofani, whose debut, Goodbye Julia, premiered in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard in 2023, returns with About Love & September Laws, while Polish filmmaker Olga Chajdas is developing The Case of E.E., adapted from the novel by Nobel Prize winner Olga Tokarczuk.

Animation is also strongly represented. Ayçe Kartal will present All the Softness in the World, set between 1950s Istanbul and Paris, whilst Canadian filmmaker Kim Nguyen is behind the sci-fi project The Time Bender. The selection also includes projects exploring memory, identity and displacement through a range of animation techniques and international co-production models.

The Drama Co-Production Market comprises 18 projects from 17 countries. Emmy-winning director and producer Douglas Mackinnon will present Burntime, following a young paramedic working during the Edinburgh Festival while pursuing the doctor she blames for her son’s death. Luxembourg joins the Drama selection for the first time with Ulysses Moore, based on Pierdomenico Baccalario’s series of adventure novels, while the Italian project Wanda centres on Wanda Ferragamo and her role in transforming the family company into an international fashion brand.

The documentary selection encompasses 15 projects across features, docuseries and TV one-offs. Among them, the Emmy-nominated Sara Goldblatt directs Get the F**K Out, examining Americans relocating to Europe in response to the US political climate, while Music of Chance focuses on physicist Fabiola Gianotti. The programme will be complemented by Doc Connect, whose seven projects range from portraits of figures such as Amii Stewart to works examining historical memory and political violence.

Meanwhile, the Wanna Taste IT? strand continues to support emerging Italian filmmakers and producers. Its four projects include Animal Instinct by Vittoria Rizzardi Peñalosa; Alberto Diana’s Intra Montes; Match, produced by Fargo Film; and Parabasis, which marks the directorial debut of Baustelle frontman Francesco Bianconi and is co-written with filmmaker Paolo Strippoli.

MIA will also bring back C EU Soon, its work-in-progress showcase aimed at European films seeking international distribution. This year’s selection includes 12 films from 21 countries, among them From Dust to Dust, the latest project by veteran Polish filmmaker Krzysztof Zanussi, as well as animated works by Signe Baumane, Anca Damian, Upamanyu Bhattacharyya and Carlos Gómez-Salamanca.

The 2026 edition will once again present the MIA Development Awards, offering cash prizes to projects in the Co-Production & Gap Financing Market. The Women in Film and Television Italia – WIFTMI Award and the Screen International Award, presented to a project from C EU Soon, have also been confirmed.

MIA 2026 is supported by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and ICE – Italian Trade Agency, with contributions from Creative Europe – MEDIA and the Italian Ministry of Culture, as well as support from the Fondazione Roma Lazio Film Commission and the Lazio region. Eurimages has granted the event its patronage.