MIPTV 2023 starts formally today, with the push of its ‘Super Sunday’ which proved that this spring MIP edition is on a good mood: many people, including about 300 buyers, attended both MIPdramas and MIPdoc facilities, receiving new tips from the organization that reinforces the value of the events. ‘MIPTV is up again’, RX France emphasizes at every step, and the first sensations in Cannes seem to be on the line.

Which have been the new tips? At MIPdramas, now the selection of the 10 titles were the same from the jury of CannesSeries, and as buyers have no time of watching all the products, it was held a ‘Preview screening’ with 10-15 minutes of each title, all together. And the good system of MIPdramas was emulated by MIPdoc, which had a selection of 10 titles + one more from Paramount Global Distribution, the main sponsor of the event and cocktail we see in the pictures. The public chose two winners by ‘Coup de Coeur’, spontaneously. All these tips were made for the first time.

Title preferences? At MIPdramas the trend was dark stories & black humor. Among the most commented series, there were ‘Cartago’, a WWII drama about the human miseries in war times; ‘Bon Matin’, a black comedy about the effects of drugs abuse in fame race; and ‘Prisoner’, about a female prison guard who confronts ethical conflicts in her job due to family reasons. The ‘feel good’ programming was not chosen this time.

At MIPdoc, the two winners were: ‘Little Scandinavia’, a SVT Sweden docummentary about if the more humane methods used in Scandinavian prisons can work in the US. One US facility decided to copy one and find out. And ‘The Caravan’ from Cabal Films (Spain): the story of an eight months pregnant woman, her son and her partner, who leave Honduras in a migrant caravan intending to reach United States, across terrible dangers. As at MIPdramas… niche, outsider stories were preferred.

First buyer testimonials for MIPTV itself? Milagros Mayi, head of FP acquisitions, RTVE (Spain): ‘Now we buy all the contents taking care of digital rights, this didn’t happen some years ago. For our main free TV channels we look for strong movies and series as ‘The Paradise of the ladies’, with female tips. For digital, young audience programs’. Olga Zhurova, acquisitions manager, HBO Central Europe: ‘We buy for the two sides: the digital platfom and linear channels. For the first one is more the traditional HBO approach, for the second we have more programming niches, as arthouse movies’.

The tech titans are already present at MIPTV: Samsung TV Plus, which is expanding fast in Europe, Sony, that develops a high-end tech devices event on Tuesday, and Huawei, which today provides both SVOD and AVOD systems, already included in all its new devices. At MIPTV is looking for all kinds of programming, especially thrillers.

About the markets calendar, PRENSARIO checked that buyers are tending to attend more secondary events than in the past, as a way to find alternative providers and fresh product. Traditional CEE free TV buyers attended SeriesMania in Lille, and plan to attend NEM Croatia, Budapest shows in June. In Latin America, buyers from Netflix and Disney+ will attend Rio Content Market again, at the end of April. ATF Singapore will have a very good edition this 2023. The growing numbers of MIPTV 23 can be added to the trend, too. Let’s see now the main week.

Nicolás Smirnoff, Francisco Ferreyra, Mariano Gutiérrez Alarcón

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