MIA Unveils Board Members for Seventh Edition

MIA—International Audiovisual Market is set to return to Rome for its seventh edition, which will take place from October 13 to 17 with the participation of a raft of top industry execs.

This year’s event will feature a program of panels, content showcases and screenings for a total of nearly 200 sessions over four days. The on-site activity will be enhanced and integrated by online activity thanks to MIA DIGITAL, a platform that allows exclusive access to thousands of users, the digital admission to all activities and access to a catalog of original multimedia content.

MIA has strengthened three divisions for 2021—Scripted, curated by Gaia Tridente; Unscripted, curated by Marco Spagnoli; and Strategic Development, entrusted to Francesca Palleschi.

Film and Drama, the core of the MIA Scripted division, will offer programs while making use of guidance from members of the Drama and Film Advisory Board 2021.

Confirmed for the 2021 Drama Board are: David Levine, president of television, Anonymous Content; Jeniffer Kim, senior VP of international originals, HBO Max; Christophe Riandee, vice CEO, Gaumont; Mo Abudu, CEO, EbonyLife Group; David Davoli, president of television, BRON Studios; Erik Barmack, CEO and founder, Wild Sheep Content; Françoise Guyonnet, executive managing director of TV series, Studiocanal TV; Anne Thomopoulos, partner, Legendary Global; Gaspard De Chavagnac, co-founder and co-CEO, Asacha Media Group; Laura Abril, head of ViacomCBS International Studios EMEA and Asia and senior VP all brands for South Europe and the Middle East, ViacomCBS; Carlo Dusi, executive producer and strategy director, Endor Productions; Julien Leroux, CEO and founder, Paper Entertainment.

Some board members also play a key role within the Drama Pitching Forum, together with Moritz Polter, managing director, Windlight Pictures; Melissa Myers, president and partner, Kinetic Content; Isabelle Lindberg Péchou, VP of creative and development for dramas, Nucleus Media Rights; and independent producer and talent manager Philipp Steffens. Among the Italian members, MIA confirms the participation of RAI, with Director of RAI Fiction Maria Pia Ammirati serving on the Drama Board alongside Andrea Scrosati, chief operating officer of Fremantle.

The Film Board is welcoming such members from the U.S. as President of Shoreline Entertainment Steve Macy; Carolyn Steinmetz, executive VP and head of content finance, Motion Picture Group STX Entertainment; Scilla Andreen, CEO and co-founder, IndieFlix Group; Jonathan Kier, former president of Sierra / Affinity; Maxime Cottray, VP of finance and production, XYZ Films; Edoardo Bussi, VP of international film sales, Metro Goldwyn Mayer Studios; Sean Furst, co-president of film and TV, Skybound Entertainment.

Andrea Scarso, investment director, Ingenious Media; Robin Kerremans, head of international co-productions, Caviar Content; Tobias Seiffert, head of international acquisitions and co-productions, TOBIS Films; and Alexandra Hoesdorff, co-founder and CEO, Deal Productions, are on the 2021 Film Selection Committee.

The documentary section has been revamped with the expansion of its production horizon and becoming MIA Unscripted. It will deal with factual and all the new languages of the audiovisual sector that have to do with unscripted programming. Among the confirmed events are the Doc Pitching Forum and Italians Doc It Better. There will also be a series of activities related to the world of animation, including a showcase with the best of Italian production.

The Unscripted Board includes: Marco Berardi, VP and general manager in Italy, Spain and Portugal for WarnerMedia Entertainment Networks and sales and CEO for Boing, WarnerMedia; Enrico Bufalini, director of film distribution, documentary production and management, preservation and enhancement of the LUCE historical archive of Cinecittà, Istituto Luce—Cinecittà; Laura Carafoli, senior VP and chief content officer at Discovery, Discovery; Riccardo Chiattelli, content and communication director, La EFFE; Pierluigi Colantoni, new format development director, RAI Format; Simone D’Amelio Bonelli, content and creative director, A+E Networks; Simona Ercolani, CEO and producer, Stand by Me; Gabriele Genuino, responsible for documentary at RAI Cinema; Giovanni Bossetti, unscripted and doc series in Italy, Netflix; Duilio Giammaria, director of 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 and CEO, Knowledge Network Corporation; Andrea Sassano, director television and artistic resources department, RAI, Dante Sollazzo, head of unscripted originals, Italy, Amazon Studios.