Rome MIA Content Market Set For Strong International Industry Presence At Upcoming Edition

Andrea Iervolino’s Social Media App TaTaTu Lists On Euronext

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Rome’s MIA, a market dedicated to international TV series, feature films, animation and documentaries, wrapped its eighth edition on Saturday on a positive note boasting a 20% rise in attendance compared with 2021, having attracted more than 2,400 registered industry execs from 60 countries, more than half of which from Italy. However, the pandemic was still limiting travel last year, which makes comparisons difficult. The mood was undoubtedly upbeat in the halls and terraces of central Rome’s Palazzo Barberini – which besides being Italy’s national ancient art gallery is also the market’s main hub – and in the adjacent state-of-the-art Cinema Barberini movie theater during five days of curated dealmaking and dozens of panels and project pitching sessions involving 70 TV, film, doc and animation projects.

Academy Award and Golden Globe-nominated actress Adriana Barraza (“Blue Beetle”) has joined Jean Reno in the family film “The Penguin and the Fisherman,” TheWrap has exclusively learned.“The Penguin and the Fisherman,” directed by David Schurmann, and co-written by Kristen Lazarain & Paulina Lagudi Ulrich and cinematography by Anthony Dod Mantle (“Slumdog Millionaire,” “127 Hours”) is based on the incredible true story of Joao Perei de Souza (Jean Reno), a Brazilian fisherman, who rescues a penguin (DinDim) covered in oil, near death, and far from his Patagonian home; washed up on a remote island beach off of Brazil. After DinDim returns to the wild, Joao is heartbroken…until a year later when DinDim returns.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent On a cobblestone-paved square in the ancient town of Tivoli, north-east of Rome, in late September, a large crew is prepping to shoot a key scene in Italian period drama “La Storia,” which will be pubcaster RAI’s biggest event show next year. Based on a bestselling novel by the late great Elsa Morante – whom “My Brilliant Friend” author Elena Ferrante often cites as her primary literary reference – “La Storia” is set during the final years of World War II and its immediate aftermath in Italy. The eight-episode series, being unveiled by Beta Film to buyers at Rome’s MIA content market, stars Italian A-list actor Jasmine Trinca – who earlier this year was a member of the Cannes jury – as Ida, a single mother of two sons, who hides her Jewish heritage and fights against poverty and persecution.

Welcome to the International Insider, Max Goldbart here. We’ve been all over the proverbial shop this week with Mel and Jesse in sunny Rome and Zac racing round London at the speed of light to cover LFF. Read on for the biggest news in international TV and film.

EXCLUSIVE: Dutch producer Submarine’s good week here in Rome at the MIA Market has continued as it unveiled its latest project.

The looming writers strike in the U.S. could be an “interesting opportunity” for producers working outside the country in an era of globalized content, CAA’s head of Global TV Ted Miller told a panel at the MIA Market in Rome on Thursday.

International co-productions are all the rage right now, and Europe’s top players are looking to the U.S.

Netflix’s Italian arm is hunting for anti-heroes.

Channel 4 has cast Harry Potter star Natalia Tena and BAFTA winner Chanel Creswell as Rebekah Vardy and Coleen Rooney in its upcoming Wagatha Christie courtroom drama, with Michael Sheen set to play high-profile barrister David Sherborne.

The number of Italian feature films finding a home outside of Italy doubled between 2017 to 2021, according to a new landmark study commissioned by local cinema body Anica.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Former RAI CEO Fabrizio Salini – who prior to running the Italian pubcaster held top posts at Sky, Fox International Channels, and Discovery Italy – has joined Italy’s Minerva Pictures, which is stepping up its expansion from film into the realms of TV and streaming content. The veteran TV exec will become a board member at Rome-based Minerva, the production, digital publishing and distribution company headed by Gianluca Curti. Minerva has been branching out into TV since 2019 when Santo Versace, who is the older brother of Gianni and Donatella Versace, decided to invest in the company, becoming chairman of its board. Salini, besides joining the Minerva board, will be in charge of the company’s “business activities with broadcasters and streamers,” said Curti, who added that the exec has a mandate to explore opportunities that go beyond film, TV series and docs.

Broadcaster commissioning initiative The European Alliance has put The Kollective, a journalism-based mystery drama from Leonardo Fasoli and Maddalena Ravagli (Gomorrah – The Series, ZeroZeroZero) and producer Femke Wolting, into development.

Prime Video has sent the Italian instalment of the Russo Brothers’ global sci-fi event series Citadel into production and cast Matilda de Angelis (The Undoing, Leonardo) as its lead, as Amazon Italy execs today touted the streamer’s local growth here at the MIA Market in Rome.

“It is a crazy situation. So there we are, completely screwed.”

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Rome’s innovative MIA market dedicated to international TV series, feature films, and documentaries kicks off its eighth edition Tuesday, headed by new chief Gaia Tridente, who has added an animation section and been busy raising the curated mart’s international profile. The Oct. 11-15 MIA mart – its acronym stands for the Mercato Internazionale Audiovisivo or International Audiovisual Market – this year is positioned prior to the Mipcom content market and conference that runs Oct. 17-20 in Cannes, since Mipcom has shifted its dates back.  But this non-voluntary repositioning has not impacted the number of registered MIA attendees, which is up more than 12% compared with past editions. More than 900 international industry execs are registered for the boutique event being held in central Rome’s Palazzo Barberini, which is Italy’s National Ancient Art gallery that during MIA doubles as the market’s hub where company stands are set up amid Renaissance and Baroque masterpieces. Screenings are held in a nearby state-of-the-art multiplex.

Rihanna knows what she’s doing.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Troy Kotsur, the Oscar-winning actor of “CODA,” has joined Mounia Meddour’s uplifting drama “Houria” ahead of its world premiere at the Rome Film Festival. Meddour’s follow-up to her Cesar-winning film “Papicha” tells the story of Houria, a gifted dancer with dreams of joining the Algerian National Ballet. To make ends meet, she bets in clandestine fights overnight. However after winning a final, Houria is violently assaulted by a man determined to get his money back. When she wakes up in a hospital, she no longer is able to speak and will certainly never dance again. Refusing to abandon her dream, she throws herself, heart and soul, into her physical recovery and meets at a rehab center other women damaged by life. Houria resolves to help them transcend their wounded bodies and stand tall by teaching them how to dance through a choreography inspired by sign language.