Basque Audiovisual at MIPTV´08
The Basque audiovisual industry is consolidating its international presence at the MIPTV in Cannes under the Basque Audiovisual brand. The commercial success of formats like “the Calendar of the year” or the animated feature film “Black to the moon” certify the quality of the content developed by Basque companies.
With MIPTV 08, the greatest television market in the world, about to conclude in Cannes, Eiken – Basque Audiovisual Cluster, which promoted the joint participation of companies in the sector under the Basque Audiovisual brand, has positively assessed this new incursion of Basque Audiovisual industry onto the international scene, which has helped consolidate the Basque Audiovisual brand on foreign markets.
The success of formats like “The calendar of the year ” by production company 3 Koma or the animated film project “Black to the moon ” by Baleuko endorse the quality of the content developed by the companies, which, moreover, are the main focus of interest on international markets at a time when diffusion media and channels mainly calling for original ideas and interesting, top quality content are flourishing.
“The calendar of the year”, which could be seen on ETB 2, is an original format by 3 Koma, creator of such successful formats like “The prison choir ” which is being produced in Italy and Norway and which, at this edition of MIPTV, was also sold to South Africa.
With its “The calendar of the year”, the production company took advantage of the attraction of Cannes’ international fair in order to enter into exclusivity agreements for Norway, Italy, Finland, Greece, Sweden and Australia. Likewise, Baleuko has made numerous contacts with a view to furthering its distribution of the animated feature film “Black to the moon”, which has already assured its production. “Basque animated films are reaping great success internationally; it must not be forgotten that their language is universal, and, consequently, they can help internationalise the sector”, Itziar Mena, director of Eiken – Basque Audiovisual Cluster pointed out.
A solid presence
Ten of the sector’s main companies went to France to take part in MIPTV 2008, which commenced on Monday and will today close its doors until next year. The delegation is made up of: 3Koma , Baleuko , EiTB , Expressive , Flying Apple , Jarkatza, K2000 , Mediabost , Pausoka and Vilaumedia . The companies, which had their own information point and support from the institutions through Basque Audiovisual as an exhibitor, were able to make worthwhile professional contacts.
“Every year almost 4,000 buyers from all parts of the world meet in Cannes, a significant 68% of them from Europe and 13% and 12% from Asia and North America respectively. In this sense, it is an enormous market. Demand in the field of TV is particularly focussed on formats and animation and this is where our companies have been able to find their niche because, as has already been shown, the products that they offer meet this demand”, Itziar Mena added.
Eiken’s aim is simply to facilitate the presence of a significant number of companies, bodies and organisations related to the audiovisual sector so that they can show their products and make interesting contacts, while at the same time strengthen the image of the Basque audiovisual sector with its own, differentiated space in Cannes. For this objective, Eiken and Basque Audiovisual companies have been aided by the Ministry of Culture and the Department of Culture of the Basque Government and the Bilbao and Donostia Film Commission, generating synergy for the sector.
The Audiovisual Scene
The companies that attended the Cannes fair took part in congresses and work meetings with production companies and distribution companies from France, the United Kingdom, Germany and Austria, among others, which were mainly interested in content produced in the Basque Country. “There is no doubt that contacts in this type of market are always top quality. It is a market we have to be in”, Eiken’s director pointed out.
The fair likewise afforded Basque Audiovisual the opportunity to come into touch with the reality of the sector and, particularly, with everything that is yet to come, in a market in which formats, multiplatform content and the new consumer use of television (IPTV, mobile phones..) attract most attraction.
With over 13,000 experts attending the fair, more than 4,000 exhibitors and as many buyers, MIPTV is one of the indispensable world markets for focussing the internationalisation of Basque companies in the field of content, fiction, animation and the new media linked to digitalisation and new technologies in the audiovisual field.