Monte-Carlo TV Festival Plans for Hybrid Event

The Monte-Carlo TV Festival organizers are proceeding with plans for this year’s event, which is scheduled to take place from June 18 to 22.

As Laurent Puons, the CEO of Monaco Mediax, which runs the Monte-Carlo TV Festival, explains, the event will take place in a hybrid format, both in-person and virtual. Last year’s gathering, which marked the 60th anniversary of the festival, first created by Prince Rainier III and currently run under the auspices of H.S.H. Prince Albert II of Monaco, was postponed due to Covid-19.

The coronavirus is still spreading on all continents, and vaccine rollout is proceeding at different paces in different countries. “We are aware of the situation and that it could be difficult for Americans to travel,” says Puons. “In terms of strategy, we will run an event that is more European than international. Of course, we hope to have, especially for the Honorary Golden Nymph, Crystal Nymph and maybe the jury presidents, American talent, and we are working on it.

“It’s an obligation for me to think about virtual and physical events,” continues Puons. “That means that we plan to organize press activities with American talent, even European talent, in virtual if they cannot attend the event this year. Our goal is to attract the highest caliber talent from all over the world to the festival. Our focus for this year’s festival is on quality more than quantity. It will be better for us to organize in-person events, but if, unfortunately for us, we don’t have this opportunity, we will organize press activities, public events and screenings virtually.”

The 2021 edition of the Monte-Carlo Television Festival will also feature business content, which will consist of three or four days of keynotes, one-on-one conversations and panel discussions with industry-leading showrunners, producers and executives.

“We plan to have 50 percent of the program virtual and 50 percent in-person,” explains Puons. “It will be the same for the participants. All the American speakers and keynotes will be virtual, and we hope to have participants from the rest of the world present at the festival in person.”

The organizers of the festival will announce the recipients of Honorary Golden Nymph, Crystal Nymph, as well as the jury presidents and members, keynotes and panelists in the coming weeks.