Yahoo News Market In Focus: How Italy’s MIA Market Has Fast Become A Key Destination For Top Industry Execs
While the boom of local content has seen increased ambition from streaming platforms to compete with local broadcasters, local industry events with strong regional focuses are increasingly becoming attractive destinations for U.S. companies and executives and Rome’s MIA market is no exception.
The innovative Italian event, which stands for Mercato Internazionale Audiovisivo or International Audiovisual Market, has fast become Italy’s key film and TV market since its inception eight years ago. The market, which runs October 11-15 alongside the Rome Film Festival (which kicks off October 13), has already confirmed a 120% increase in registrations year-on-year with delegates from companies like Disney+, Paramount+, CAA, Fremantle, Sundance Institute, Sky, Warner Bros. Discovery, A+E Networks, Wild Bunch, StudioCanal and Banijay all confirmed to attend.
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Its new director Gaia Tridente, who was previously head of scripted at the event, tells Deadline that she believes this upcoming edition looks set to be its most dynamic edition yet.
“When MIA was born, it was more focused on film distribution and was a place for sales and buyers of theatrical films,’ Tridente says. “But, in the last five years, the key pillars of the business have moved.”
Indeed, the theatrical distribution model has never been more challenged and the growth of investments from major streaming platforms for local product has become much more evident. As a result, Tridente, who has worked at MIA since 2017, says the prominent industry event has pivoted accordingly year-on-year.
MIA
“We’ve had to adapt and try and anticipate this kind of focus,” she says. “Therefore, we are balancing things more with global production in mind and, of course, the changing models for helping support the distribution arms, especially for theatrical, which have been affected a lot by the pandemic years.”
The curated event is a joint venture between Italian orgs ANICA (the trade association representing the Italian film and audiovisual industry, chaired by Francesco Rutelli) and APA (the Italian audiovisual producers association chaired by Giancarlo Leone) and has financial support from the government and regional cultural bodies. It covers all segments of the audiovisual industry from film to drama to documentary and, for the first time this year, animation. There’s a range of industry programs and panels as well as networking sessions and pitching events.
MIA also plans to hold several activities in support of the Ukrainian audiovisual industry. These include a dedicated booth and hospitality section given to Kyiv Media Week 2022, the Ukrainian audiovisual forum. That event cannot be held in its home country because of Russia’s ongoing invasion of the territory, so it is taking place in a traveling format with a series of sessions developed in cooperation with major European fests and markets such as the Czech Republic’s Serial Killer, Italy’s MIA market and France’s Mipcom.
Tridente wants this year’s MIA to represent a “big picture of the whole ecosystem.”
“We are launching an animation division, offering more and more co-production segments for documentary, drama and film and we are giving more strength and will go more in depth for the innovation segments. We are presenting more content related to virtual worlds and how new technology are giving benefits to the business in some way.”
Last year, MIA saw more than 2,000 professionals from 58 countries touch down in the Italian capital for the event. Running alongside the Rome Film Festival and a few days before Mipcom kicks off in Cannes on October 17, it’s a convenient and attractive destination for execs on their fall market travels. MIA’s main hub sits in the Palazzo Barberini, the 17th century palace in Rome that houses the country’s ancient art and stands are dotted around the Baroque art – who wouldn’t want to do business in such an impressive setting?
MIA
“We of course have to consider the agenda of international players attending not only the TV market but also the Rome Film Festival in October,” Tridente stresses when it comes to curating the agenda at MIA.
Confirmed guests this year include CAA Media Finance’s Roeg Sutherland, Anonymous Content’s David Davoli, Element Pictures’ Ed Guiney, CAA’s head of global television Ted Miller, Netflix Italy’s Eleonora Andreatta and MUBI’s co-head of global acquisitions Cate Kane to name just a few.
For Tridente, attracting these big players is key as the global content industry continues to evolve.
“What I’m trying to do is work really close between institution group players and I think that this is bringing interesting or new opportunities not only for me but for the whole market because what we are doing now is building an editorial program based on the pillars of content. Content has always been the main part of my job, so I think if we are able to bring in high level producers working on the hottest projects or topics of the moment or newest kind of shows, then we are doing a good job.”
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