Bia and the Beats Wins MIPJunior Pitch

Bia and the Beats from Birdo (Brazil) was selected as the winner of this year’s MIPJunior Pitch, focused on projects for the preschool audience ages 3 to 6.

Bia and the Beats centers on the titular Bia, who is the most excited, intense and musical 5-year-old you’ll ever meet. When she puts on her favorite headphones, Bia’s musical energy becomes so powerful that it explodes into funny little creatures called the Beats.

The jury consisted of Maud Branly, children’s acquisitions director for M6’s Gulli; Rick Clodfelter, executive director of content acquisitions and partnerships for Disney Branded Television; Kate Morton, senior head of children’s commissioning for 0-6 at the BBC; and Luiz Filipe Figueira, head of licensed content at Grupo Globo, in a conversation led by Amanda Gummer, founder and CEO of FUNdamentally Children.

The pitch also featured Monsieur Roscoe from Beakus (U.K.), which follows the capers of a rather silly happy-go-lucky basset hound called Roscoe; Dogs Need Jobs from Dominion of Drama (U.K.), featuring siblings Casey and Terri who get their dog Nikki new jobs in the “real world” with hilarious and sometimes disastrous results; Pumpkin Finds Her Queen from Paper Jet (South Africa), about a little girl who comes from a long line of healers and needs to complete a task from their family book of magic to access her special gift; and Littlest Robot from Toon2Tango (Germany), which tells the fantastical stories of adventure and discovery of a simple little robot no bigger than a teacup.