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  • Indian pavilion at Mipcom 24 in Cannes makes a positive impact

    Indian pavilion at Mipcom 24 in Cannes makes a positive impact

    CANNES: It’s sunny and very warm in Cannes on the French Riviera. But inside the famed Palais des Festivals the Indian pavilion put up by the Service Exports Promotion Council (SEPC) along with the ministry of information &  broadcasting (MIB) and the ministry of commerce & industry  is a hustle-bustle of activity.

    It’s almost 9:30 am in the morning and the clock is counting down the minutes as Prasar Bharti CEO Gaurav Dwivedi, Telangana special chief secretary of the industries & commerce (I&C) and information technology (IT) Jayesh Ranjan, counsel general of India in the Indian consulate in Marsielles Rupjyoti Brahma Karjee,  SEPC chairman Karan Rathore and director general Abhay Sinha are all geared up to inaugurate the pavilion which is the watering hole for many Indians who have come together to attend the  largest and most successful content trading and co-production market globally.

    Once the signal is given the four of them cut the ribbon and cheers go around celebrating India’s largest ever presence and pavilion at Mipcom. Close to 235 Indian delegates from 70 or more companies and independent creative professionals have signed up with RX – the organiser of Mipcom – to boost India’s content trade with the world.

    “We are delighted to build the platform – with the support of the two ministries –  for India’s independent animation and VFX studios, film and TV producers and distribution companies, and media and entertainment service providers at this very vibrant market,” says Sinha. “The MIB’s message is very clear: create in India and make it the content hub of the world. Our role to help achieve that goal and, If possible, crunch the time frame required to get there .”

    It is Dwivedi’s first visit to Mipcom  and he’s quite gung-ho about the opportunities it provides for the pubcaster to get connected with other public broadcasters, expose DD India, the English news channel, which provides an India view on global and Indian developments to the world. Finally, he is also looking at acquiring all genres of content from domestic Indian content owners and international producers and distributors in preparation for DD’s OTT service which is slated to start streaming next month.

    The Indian pavilion is also home to Telangana and Karnataka states. The former is promoting its image tower for the AVGC sector, inviting international companies to come and invest in the state, and to it’s annual gathering of the AVGC confab India Joy.  The latter is promoting Karnataka’s AVGC Centre of Excellence and its annual event Bangalore GAFX.

    55 other companies registered for Mipcom are also using it as a meeting place with their international clients with who they have either distribution, coproduction, or acquisition relationship.

    While the Indian presence is marked by veterans and seasoned animation studio professionals, the youngest exhibitor on the pavilion is 19 year old animation student in Paris Joyce Ahuja who has come armed with all her art work and a small teaser for her animation feature film.  

    “Mipcom is an awesome place and I am glad to have made up  my mind to attend and get feedback on my project so I can make it even more appealing globally,” she says, her eyes gleaming with excitement, despite her aching legs. She has the confidence that her project will attract the right fund providers and partners to help it get off the ground. 

  • Mipcom Online Plus attracts sizeable Indian presence

    Mipcom Online Plus attracts sizeable Indian presence

    MUMBAI: Mipcom began its virtual edition of the annual content syndication get together on 12 October. Titled Mipcom Online+, it is based on a high end artificial intelligence driven platform called Grip, developed by a sister tech firm under Relx group, of which organiser Reed Midem is a part.

    The virtual exhibition has proved to be a smash hit with more than 6,000 professionals – including 800 virtual exhibitors and 26 country pavilions – and 2,200 buyers participating virtually from 100 countries.

    Reed Midem was initially considering to run both digital and physical versions in Cannes like it has done for decades, but dropped the idea because of the continuing Covid2019 menace. It pivoted quickly and, over a month, attracted sizable participation – probably the most by a trading market in its online avatar in 2020.

    Read more news on Mipcom 

    “We are very pleased to be receiving strong support from the industry which is quite excited about meeting online in the current international environment when meeting in person from around the world is not yet possible,” said Reed Midem TV division director Laurine Garaude. “We are, of course, sad not to be meeting in Cannes for the 36th Mipcom. But we are also excited about the new Mipcom experience that we are creating online.”

    Mipcom Online Plus has attracted several initiatives and partners such as Korea Country of Honour, A&E Networks, Nippon TV, Sony and Televisa.

    The highlight of this year’s edition is the continued presence from the Services Export Promotion Council (SEPC) virtual pavilion, with more than 12 companies coming under its umbrella and taking advantage of the cost benefits it offers.

    “Mipcom is one of the important markets we have identified to help push Indian entertainment exports,” says SEPC chairman Manek Dawar. “We wanted to be aggressive, but we will wait for next year’s edition in Cannes and really fire on all cylinders.”

    SEPC has roped in content export veteran Hirachand Dand to spearhead its entertainment division. The online SEPC initiative is being headed by SEPC deputy director general Abhay Sinha.

    Overall, more than 70 executives from India’s media and entertainment sector – covering TV, TV production, animation, distributors of TV shows and films, dubbing services – are taking part in Mipcom Week which is slated to end on 16 October. However, the platform will be open for screenings, virtual meetings, networking and matchmaking till 17 November.

    “I am really delighted with the India presence at Mipcom Online Plus,” says India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh representative Anil Wanvari. “Content syndication and trading has been at a low because of Covid2019. For many companies it is a crucial revenue stream. I am really hoping the next few days and weeks will help kickstart this engine for India’s content folks.”

  • SEPC pavilion makes waves at MIPCOM 2018

    SEPC pavilion makes waves at MIPCOM 2018

    CANNES: It was indeed a historic moment for India’s content creation, distribution and broadcast industry at this year’s MIPCOM which concluded at Cannes, France on 18 October 2018. More than 300 Indian delegates swarmed the French Riviera village – the largest delegation in the Reed Midem market-cum-festival’s history.

    The highlight of the market was the first ever Indian pavilion which had around 38 companies registered on it, the screening of Eros Now’s digital series Smoke, the presence of Shemaroo Entertainment CEO Hiren Gada and Zee Entertainment’s Sunita Uchchil on a panel which discussed how Asia was developing.

    What generated the most oohs and aahs was the India pavilion which was located in the basement of the Palais des Festivals. Led by Services Export Promotion Council director general Sangeeta Godbole and her team, it had a mixture of service providers such dubbing and subtitling company BOL, Native Ninjas, animation studios such as Digitoonz, Eplus Technologies, BFX CGI, Big Animation, Ayanaa Cinematics, Animantz, Aadarsh Motion Philm CGI, Nilesh Patel Studios, Locomotive Films, Phoebus Creations, Rockline Group, Rotomaker India, Sacom MediaWorks, Sony Music, Technicolor India, Though Cloud Studio, Vedatma Studios, and Broadvision Group.

    Said Godbole: “It is the Indian government’s intent to help India’s very small and small content creators to take their work globally. And also help highlight the fabulous creative talent we have in India. We have subsidised the rates that they have to pay to enter what can otherwise be an expensive market for the small studios. This was our first entry into MIPCOM and we are very enthused by the response and can only look forward to scaling up our presence by taking a larger pavilion with many more smaller entertainment companies registered in MIPCOM 2019 apart from promoting the Indian presence in a bigger way.”

    Present at the celebration was Indian embassy’s Paris-based chief of the economic and commercial wing Sarvjeet Soodan who said that he was delighted by the presence of the pavilion and the plethora of Indians at MIPCOM. He promised that the Indian embassy and its officials would be available to support the initiatives of the SEPC at the coming MIPCOMs in any way that was needed.

    Film maker Ketan Mehta who now heads animation powerhouse Cosmos-Maya was also delighted about the pavilion. Said he: “It took me as a creator a long time to get to know how to take my content global and sell it internationally. We struggled in our time and I am very happy that the smaller studios have this opportunity to leap frog and achieve in a couple of years what took us many more in our time. Congrats to the SEPC.”

    Reed Midem India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh representative Anil Wanvari – who drove the initiative from the Paris-based organisation’s side along with international sales manager Paul Barbaro – said it is an initiative that is very welcome though it took some time doing. “In earlier years too, efforts were made to set up an India pavilion but the response was tepid from both industry and government. We started the conversation with the SEPC a year or more so ago and it took the grit of Sangeeta to see this to its logical conclusion,” said Wanvari. ‘Now smaller studios who come in as participants can at last have the  address of the Indian pavilion from which they can operate and fix meetings to show case their content or services to potential international customers and buyers.”