‘The Night Watch’ Wins MIA Drama Development Pitch As Italian Market Closes With Attendance Up 10%

Dutch drama series The Night Watch has prevailed in the MIA Market drama development category in Rome, as the tenth edition of the Italian fest drew to a close.

The show, written by Steven Friedman and produced by Edvard van’t Wout for Continent Studios, was a winner of the MIA Development Awards at the Co-Production Market and Pitching Forum, along with the Guillermo de Oliveira-directed Death in Your Eyes, which landed the film project award. Reborn-Perfect Love took the doc prize and Belgian-Polish-French co-produced animation Big Bang Parade won in the kids category. Over 600 projects were received this year in total.

The winners were announced as MIA revealed more than 2,800 attendees for the 2024 edition, up 10% a year ago.

The Night Watch is billed as a tale of magic, friendship and mysteries buried beneath the city of Amsterdam. The jury — composed of France Télévisions’ Head of Cinema and Young Adult & International Fiction Manuel Alduy, France Télévisions ; NRK Head of Drama Marianne Furevold-Boland; and Buendía Estudios Executive Vice President Scripted and Global Business Development Laura Abril — said: “The Night Watch presents a bold and deeply engaging concept that is sure to captivate audiences around the world. We hope the team behind it will go far with this project and wish them all the best on this journey.

“This show has the potential to entertain at a time when there is a need for escapism and humor, in a world that can sometimes feel overwhelming. It has the ability to create common ground for audiences of all generations by offering shared experiences based on quality storytelling.”

Death in Your Eyes, produced by Silvia Fuentes from Sétima and Nuria Landete García from Sideral Cinema, was billed as “a project that offers, through a deeply personal lens, a complex portrait of characters who lose their humanity in a world dominated by greed, corruption and violence” by judges Robert Aaronson, Executive Vice President at Cohen Media Group; Jennyfer Gautier, Head of International Sales at France’s Luxbox; and Benjamin Kramer, Co-Head Media Finance, CAA.

Outstanding doc winner Reborn-Perfect Love is about ‘reborn dolls’ — hyperrealistic reproductions of newborns who are treated as babies, was called a “strong, emotional and very personal presentation on an untold story” by judges Björn Jensen, Managing Director of Ginger Foot Films in Germany; Pamela Martinez, CEO if Limonero Films in Spain; and Myriam Weil, Chief Documentaries Officer and producer at France’s Federation Studios.

Several other awards were handed out today in Rome, including the Paramount New Stories Award going to Julia-Horrillo-directed feature Aya in the Desert, which is from Alhena Production in Spain.

MIA began on Monday and drew to a close today, having furthered its reputation as a key European meeting point for co-productions across genres. The event claims that over 100 films and TV programs have been produced after their participation in at the Rome fest.

“Thanks to its strong identity and credibility, MIA has now earned an important place in the agendas of international operators,” said Gaia Tridente, Director of MIA International Audiovisual Market. “It is a unique curatorial market, a strategic player in the co-production market and a fundamental engine for the financing, distribution and circulation of works and talents.

“It represents the needs of an entire ecosystem made up of the different industries and genres that make up the audiovisual sector, offering dedicated activities for the different formats, taking into account both distribution in theaters and consumption on TV and platforms. It is a mirror of the transformation of the audiovisual sector, capable of capturing and anticipating changes with particular attention to technological innovation for the creative industries.”

“MIA continues to grow and has established itself as a high-profile event capable of engaging the entire audiovisual industry. In its tenth year, it reaffirms its ability to attract international players’ attention, interest, and resources to the national system, contributing to the growth of Italian companies’ capacity to develop dialogues and collaborations essential for the advancement of the industry, employment, products, and the soft power of our country,” said Francesco Rutelli, President of ANICA, which promotes the event alongside APA. 

“This edition of MIA has successfully attracted and expanded the international audience, a result that, as APA, strengthens the voice of producers in the audiovisual sector,” added Chiara Sbarigia, President of APA.  “The internationalization of the industry depends both on our sector’s ability to modernize and train new professionals, and on making our regions more competitive. I am confident that the path we are pursuing and the work we are doing are heading directly in this direction.”

MIA is supported by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, ITA-Italian Trade Agency and the contribution of Creative Europe MEDIA. It also receives support from the Italian Ministry of Culture, the Italian Ministry of Enterprises and Made in Italy and the Lazio Region.