Read also:
RAI RAGAZZI/A panel on the role of the Public Service
A record number of screenings (with the exciting presence of stars like Ben Stiller through CBS-Showtime for ‘Escape at Donnamora’, Alvaro Morte, the protagonist of ‘The Paper House’ who stars in the new ‘The Pier’, Colman Domingo, from AMC’s global hit drama ‘Fear the Walking Dead’, who will give a keynote speech and many celebrities from China, this year’s country of honor), new pavilions (from India, Romania, United Arab Emirates, Morocco, Thailand), and over 50 new exhibitors (including Italy’s Show Lab headed by Alfio Bastiancich, which specializes in animation and kids’ programming).
Everything is ready for a shiny new edition of Mipcom, the world entertainment market, which will kick off in Cannes on October 15th, preceded by the two days of Mip Junior.
“We are expecting similar numbers to last year which went very well with 13,800 professionals from 110 countries, 4,700 buyers, 1,760 of which from online platforms. And this year is looking just as good” says Laurine Garaude, director of the Television Division of Reed Midem.
The theme of this edition is the BIG SHIFT -Transitioning to a reshaped media landscape.
“It’s difficult to say where we are going, nobody has a crystal ball, but this crucial issue will be at the forefront of our discussion” continues Garaude, “for example, with the Content delivery, rethinking streaming session, where we will focus on European initiatives to ‘contrast the OTT giants’ and the many new consortiums and alliances born to create new streaming platforms in Europe.
Like the ‘French Netflix’ Salto, for example, an alliance between French state television (TF1) and the private broadcaster M6.
“We will have the main European and global platforms, including the Chinese ones, in which, together with traditional TV, something close to 11 billion dollars is invested every year. With over 2,000 channels and 1.3 billion viewers,China is the second biggest investor in TV content in the world, ahead of the UK and right behind the US. They will showcase their content under the theme “Source of great stories”, following the big showcase of Chinese formats that took place during the last Mipformats in April”.
The focus on China will also host a keynote by YuGong,the founder of iQiyi,one of the biggest online entertainment platforms launched by Baidu.
Going back to Mipcom’s main theme, THE BIF SHIFT:“we will be looking at it from different perspectives” says Laurine Garaude. “Firstly the changes taking place in the industry, the impact of OTT, the evolution of the roles between production and distribution, the role of new creators and talents. In this respect, we will have an interesting keynote by Tim Davie, CEO of BBC Studios, which will also address the merging of the production entity and the distribution division. Secondly we will look at the internationalization of content: in our screenings, we have shows from around the world, Russia, China, Spain, Italy…content can now travel and be in different languages, like ‘The Paper House’ or ‘The Pier created by Alex Pina, or ‘My Brilliant Friend’ which is in Italian and even Neapolitan. We will have a big panel with Alex Pinaand Lorenzo Mieli, head of Wildside and the producer of ‘My Brilliant Friend’, about content that travels around the world being local, something which is not new, but which is going very fast”.
“Thirdly, since last October we have seen quite an evolution in the mindset regarding diversity and inclusion: this is reflected in our program and it is part of the transformation of the industry.
Things have moved and we are in a new era, mentalities are evolving, bringing a lot of opportunities. Diversity-Inclusion will have a dedicated program at Mipcom with the second edition of the Diversify TV Excellence Awards, where 7 categories of programs, scripted and non-scripted, will receive awards, more specifically the ones representing Race and Ethnicity, LGBTQ, Disability and (new!) the best Children Programs.
The Women in Global Entertainment Lunch will return for its seventh edition and the speaker will be Elizabeth Vargas, the American Award-winning investigative reporter.
The Personality of the Year is also a woman: Issa Rae, the creator, producer and star of HBO’s hit show ‘Insecure’. The many keynotes also include Caroline McCall, the new CEO of ITV, Jamie Oliver,the global phenomenon in food, television and campaigning and Kay Madati, Twitter’sVice President and Global Head of Content Partnerships.
This year there will be a particularly lively Italian presence: in addition to the already mentioned intervention by Lorenzo Mieli, there will be the preview screening of ‘Medici: Masters of Florence. The Magnificent’, presented by Beta Film on Wednesday 17th.
Florence is also the protagonist of the documentary directed by former Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, which will be presented at a special press conference at Mipcom.
Luca Milano, Director of Rai Ragazzi and Presidentof EBU’s “Kids’ Media experts group”,will be protagonist, at Mipjunior, of the “Public Service Broadcasters FTV, BBC and RAI,” panel together with Tiphane de Raguenel (France Television) and Alice Webb from the BBC.
Two big world premieres will be presented at Mipjunior: the new Disney pre-school series ‘Gigantosauros’ presented by Cyber Group Studios, and ‘Moon and Me’, by ‘Teletubbies’ co-creator, Andrew Davenport.