Turkey is the Country of Honor for MIPCOM 2015, breaking with two consecutive years’ tradition to focus on Latin America — first Argentina, then Mexico –– to a strategic position in Europe, with a view of the Middle East.
The choice of Malaysia as the Country of Honor for MIPCOM 2016 was also strategic, thus moving East to the Far East.
As for MIPCOM 2014, the Champagne was flowing, but so was the rain, with thunderstorms on Monday and Tuesday and finally a respite on Wednesday when the sun finally made an appearance, not having been seen since Sunday afternoon. But the the rain didn’t seem to put a damper on the business or the parties, which started on Sunday, the day before the market started. Among the parties were Tricon, 9 Story Entertainment and A+E cocktail parties on Sunday, FremantleMedia’s X Factor and Got Talent party on the beach on Monday night, Fox International Channel’s Wayward Pines party on Monday, AMC’s party celebrating the launch of AMC in Europe, the Middle East and Africa and TV France International, Zodiak Rights and ITV Turkey parties — all on Tuesday.
And the stars of the new shows on sale in Cannes were out in such a record number that they even were able to shine under the black clouds. Among the starts lighting up the Croisette there were MIPCOM’s Personality of the Year, Simon Cowell. Also making cameos were actors Mira Sorvino, Cuba Gooding Jr., Donald Sutherland and KISS frontman Gene Simmons.
Distributors reported a busy market, with great sales and the opening up of new territories. Away from the market floor, keynotes featured lots of representatives from U.S. studios, including Armando Nuñez and David Stapf of CBS Studio International who took part in Media Mastermind Keynote together on Tuesday. The series opened with Sony’s Steve Mosko on Monday.
To celebrate Mexico as MIPCOM 2014’s Country of Honor, the festivities started with a pre-market dinner on Sunday, sponsored by Telefims.(Telefilms’ Tomas Darcyl said that there was no need to explain why his company honored Mexico with a dinner, since it is one of their key clients and partners.)
The opening reception was sponsored by ProMexico, the country’s promotional government agency. Tuesday saw a LATAM luncheon hosted by Telemundo. On one of the many podiums, ProMexico’s Francisco Gonzalez Diaz described the advantages of Mexico’s film and TV locations and the opportunities offered by co-producing with Mexican companies.
MIPCOM 2015 will take place October 5-8. For more information on this year’s event, check out all three VideoAge Dailies at http://videoagedaily.com/.
