Italy’s MIA Market has unveiled its 2025 line-up, with 15 drama series selected for its pitching competition.
The vent, held at Rome’s Palazzo Barberini and Cinema Barberini, will run between October 6-10, and this year attracted nearly 500 submissions from 81 countries in total for its Co-Production Market and Pitching Forum. From these, 62 were selected across animation, docs, drama (TV series) and film.
The Drama Co-Production Market & Pitching Forum will present a selection of 15 series projects from 12 countries following evaluation from the likes of Lauren Stein, Executive Vice President & Head of Creative Affairs at Sony Pictures Television; Larry Grimaldi, Senior Vice President of Creative Affairs and Original Movies at FOX Entertainment Studios; Steve Matthews, Head of Scripted, Creative at Banijay; Marianne Furevold-Boland, Head of Drama at NRK; Maria Pia Ammirati, Head of Drama at RAI; and Elettra Canovi, the recently appointed Director of Scripted Content for HBO Max.
Projects include Rage, produced by Manon Robillot and Laetitia Quentin de Gromard from Madelon Production), and directed by Xavier Dolan. Scripts come from Anais Topla, Mathieu Gouny, and Marc Herpoux. Set in early 1980s Paris, it explores the rise of the skinhead movement that gave birth to militant groups known as the skinhunters.
From the Netherlands, are two crime series, including Hitler’s Horses: An Arthur Brand Story, produced by Femke Wolting (Submarine) and written by Ed McCardie, based on the true-life art investigations of the renowned Dutch detective.
There is a Palestinian effort, Dyouf (Guests), a dramedy series from the DFI Series Lab (MIA Drama partner), produced by May Jabareen from Philistine Films and written by Saleh Saadi. It follows a man who returns to his Bedouin village in Palestine to help his mother manage a guesthouse.
From the UK come Plunder, an art thief thriller produced by JT Wong at Three Tables Productions and written by Chris Cornwell, and Writer’s Retreat, produced by Chiara Cardoso from Blackbox Multimedia, written by Lindsay Shapero, and set at a luxury retreat in Spain where the disappearance of a guest forces the owner to investigate the conflicting stories of a group of eccentric writers.
From the Czech Republic comes mystical drama The Last Goddess (Žítkovskébohyne), from Finland are terrorist plot drama Hunting For Ghosts (Polku Pimeyteen) and Dirty Play, a Norwegian co-pro following a young African footballer confronting exploitation and the dark side of sports.
From Greece is Aïnta! about a Ghanaian-Greek rapper on a journey of self-discovery, from Ireland is The Roaring Banshees, a female-led gangster tale set to Prohibition era Chicago. Switzerland is providing P26, about a suburban housewife recruited by a secret Swiss army unit in the 1980s, and German-Italian co-pro Connection Lost – The Story of Lia Olivetti, follows a young mathematical prodigy who inherits her deceased father’s secret computer and his enemies.
Finally, from Italy are Casanova Investigates (Le Indagini di Giacomo Casanova), a thriller inspired by Casanova’s life; and Caterina, which follows a young prosecutor returning to her hometown to confront past traumas while fighting for justice.
The doc selections include Baseball Island, which is from the Netherlands and explores Curaçao’s surprising passion for baseball; Building Venice, from Italy; German-Hungarian-American co-pro Caretakers; and Tsybli, an Ukrainian-Italian co-production about a love story.
The animation selections include seven features and nine TV projects, and the film selection features titles from the likes of Andrea Benjamin Manenti, Ivan Kavanagh, Ahmed El Zoghby and Palestinian writer-director Razan Madhoon.
Other highlights include a Book Adaptation Forum and training initiative Apollo Seires, which has been developed in partnership with Series Mania Institute and Goteborg Film TV’s Drama Vision track. There will also be UNBOX | Short Film Days, which showcases short films, ‘Vertical’ AI workshops curated by Largo.ai, and an Industry Insider Bootcamp, which is presented by UTA.
As usual, there will also be content showcases, the MIA Buyers’ Club, the C EU Soon work-in-progress program, market screenings, networking sessions, workshops, roundtables and conferences. The 2024 edition attracted 2,800 participants, up 10% year-on-year.