With summer nearly halfway over in this part of the world (sorry to be the bearers of bad news to those of you in the northern hemisphere!), we thought we’d turn our attention to the fall entertainment markets, and what to expect once the temperature drops.
As usual, the last week of August and beginning of September will be about film. First, from August 23-September 3, the 36th Annual Montreal World Film Festival will take place in Canada, and will include screenings of some 400 films from 80 countries.
The festival announced earlier this month that Amazon.ca will be a sponsor of its Canadian Student Film Festival, which will take place within the Montreal fest, from August 25-29.
A bit further west, in Toronto, film execs will gather for the Toronto International Film Festival, from September 6-16.
For many entertainment execs, the bulk of September will be spent in Italy, with a trifecta of events we’ve dubbed the “Italian Triangle” (the Bermuda Triangle, it’s difficult to escape).
It all kicks off with the star-studded 69th annual Venice Film Festival (a.k.a. La Biennale) from August 29-September 8. The film line-up will be announced this Thursday, July 26.
The Biennale festival will be followed by the sixth annual Prix Italia television festival, which will take place in the northwest city of Turin from September 16-21.
The big news for Prix is that starting this year, the event has been placed under the RAI World umbrella.
Prix will precede another Italian event — the Roma Fiction Fest, which will be held in central Italy from September 30-October 5. At MIP-TV, Roma Fiction Fest and the BBC announced that they’ll hold a BBC Day at the festival.
Later on in the fall, the Roma Cinema Fest will be held November 9-17, and will be led by Marco Muller, formerly of the Venice Film Festival. Expect plenty of drama there.
But not all the action’s in Italy this year. From September 9-12, TV France International’s 18th annual Le Rendez-Vous will take place in Biarritz, France, at the Espace Bellevue Convention Center, the same location as last year. This year’s event will kick off on a Monday morning, one day earlier than usual. The decision to start earlier, according to Mathieu Bejot, executive director of TVFI, was to “allow buyers to also attend the Cartoon Forum from September 11-14 in the nearby city of Tolouse.” Bejot said he’s expecting 65 French companies to exhibit for some 220 buyers from over 50 countries.
In October, it’s back to France — Cannes, to be exact. MIPCOM 2012 will take place from October 8-11 (with MIPCOM Junior preceding it, from October 6-7). This year, Canada will be its country of honor. Among the key industry players who’ve already confirmed are Warner Bros., Disney, Fox, Sony, Fremantle and Paramount. There will be 35 national and regional pavilions. Keynote speakers from Hulu, Conde Nast and Lifetime Entertainment have been confirmed, with many more on the way.
Those attending MIPCOM can then take the short trip to SportelMonaco from October 15-18.
And finally, it’s back to America from October 31-November 7 for IFTA’s American Film Market. The event will take place in Santa Monica, Calif., at the Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel, its home since 1991.
Additional exhibition space is available at JW Marriott’s Le Merigot Beach Hotel and conferences will take place at Fairmont Miramar Hotel & Bungalows. The conferences, scheduled for 9:15-12:45 from November 2-6, will be comprised of a Finance Conference, Pitch Conference, Marketing Conference, Video-on-Demand Conference and Micro-Budget Conference.
Wow, we’re tired just thinking about all this traveling. We recommend you start booking those flights now….
