The 7th edition of Rome-based MIA market (Mercato Internazionale Audiovisivo) will run October 13-17 with an expanded documentary section that will “deal with factual and all the new languages of the audiovisual sector that have to do with reality – its storytelling and interpretation,” say event organisers.
Organised in response to the rapid evolution of the international and domestic market, and located in Rome’s Barberini District, confirmed events of MIA UNSCRIPTED will include the international Doc Pitching Forum and Italians Doc It Better, which showcases the best of recent Italian documentary output, as well as a packed program of panels, content showcases and screenings. MIA UNSCRIPTED will be curated by renowned director, screenwriter and journalist Marco Spagnoli.
With the aim of “continuing to anticipate trends and business models in the sector and to efficiently support the ecosystem from an international perspective,” MIA is also strengthening its film and drama division with Scripted, curated by Gaia Tridente, and a new Strategic Development division, overseen by Francesca Palleschi.
Building on the hybrid experience of MIA 2020, on-site activity “will once again be enhanced and integrated by the online activity thanks to MIA DIGITAL, a platform that allows exclusive access to thousands of users, the digital admission to all activities, and the gateway to a vast catalogue of original multimedia content,” organisers underline.
The MIA UNSCRIPTED Board is made up of leading names within Italian and international non-fiction and documentary, and includes: Marco Berardi, (VP GM Italy, Spain, Portugal Warner Media Entertainment Networks and Sales – CEO Boing, WarnerMedia); Enrico Bufalini, (Director of film distribution, of documentary production and of the management, preservation and enhancement of the LUCE historical archive of Cinecittà SpA, Istituto Luce – Cinecittà); Laura Carafoli, (SVP Chief Content Officer Discovery, Discovery); Riccardo Chiattelli, (Content and Communication Director, La EFFE); Pierluigi Colantoni, (New Format Development Director, RAI Format).
Board members also include: Simone D’Amelio Bonelli, (Content and Creative Director, A+E Networks); Simona Ercolani, (CEO and Producer, Stand by Me); Gabriele Genuino, (Responsible doc, RAI Cinema); Giovanni Bossetti, (Unscripted & Doc Series Italy, Netflix); Duilio Giammaria, (Director Documentary Production RAI, RAI Documentari); Gloria Giorgianni (CEO and producer, Anele); Simone Isola (Producer, Director, Kimerafilm); Erkko Lyytinen (Commissioning Editor, YLE); Roberto Pisoni (Head of Sky Arte, Sky Italia); Rudy Buttignol (President & C.E.O., Knowledge Network Corporation); Andrea Sassano, (Director Television and Artistic Resources Department, RAI), Dante Sollazzo (Head of Unscripted Originals – Italy, Amazon Studios).
MIA organisers point out that in its six editions since 2015, the market “has confirmed itself, year after year, as a point of reference for the domestic and international industry, an increasingly valuable business event that anticipates the needs of the sector in a rapidly changing context.”
Over this period MIA has recorded an 84% growth in terms of attendance and the number of titles presented. The 2020 hybrid edition recorded a total of 3,000 on-site attendances and 3,000 active users on the platform across the five days from 50 countries (with an increase of 20% of countries represented compared to 2019), 3,500 streaming content views, and 620 foreign players divided between on-site and online.
The 2020 edition was “able to offer a safe environment where global relationships with the top players of the audiovisual industry were strengthened, and contents of the highest quality were discovered in the most extraordinary places of the Italian cultural heritage,” say MIA organisers.
