Israeli-Palestinian Romantic Comedy ‘Non-Issue’ Wins Top Drama Prize as MIA Market Closes Out Charged Edition
A romantic comedy about an Israeli-Palestinian couple based on the real life story of creators Nayef Hammoud and Gal Rosenbluth, the development series “Non-Issue” won the Paramount+ drama prize at this year’s MIA Market, which wrapped its ninth edition on an optimistic note. Of course, well before Friday’s closing award ceremony, the heartbreaking crisis in the Middle East cast a heavy pall over an otherwise ebullient audiovisual market, often informing conversations professional and otherwise.
While a number of industry execs were unable to travel from Israel, and though slated speaker Ari Folman was even forced to cancel a remote interview, attendance was otherwise up across the board. The Roman film and television market welcomed 2,600 industry participants – marking a 10% increase on last year’s record (which, in turn, saw a 20% uptick from the year prior), and encompassing more than 65 countries.
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Running five days in Rome’s Palazzo Barberini, in the adjacent Cinema Barberini, and on an online platform that offered remote access to most events (a boon that no doubt boosted the market’s growing presence across social media), this year’s edition hosted more than 80 conferences and presentations, alongside five content showcases, four pitch forums and five dozen market screenings. This year also MIA introduce its Tech Pavilion, inviting VFX industry stalwarts like Jake Morrison and Victor Perez to present the latest in digital and AI-assisted innovations.
Chosen by a panel of industry experts, Paramount+ Award winner “Non-Issue” follows an Israeli-Palestinian couple from Tel Aviv to Berlin, only to find that the political and cultural tensions they hoped to leave behind followed in tow. Hammoud and Rosenbluth compare the series’ uneasy comic tone to that of “Ramy” and “Atlanta,” promising “a romantic comedy that takes on all mundane fears of a romantic relationship, and adds the complex relationships between societies, cultures, nationalities and a shared existential dread.”
The series is produced by Efrat Dror for Herzelia Studio.
Following a trio of female bodybuilders navigating the contradictory social mores of contemporary Turkey, Nursen Çetin Köreken’s “A Story of Three Girls” won the best film co-production prize, while Tommaso Pitta’s deep dive into fraternal disarray “Jazz Suite for a Dysfunctional Family” claimed the Tuscany Film Studio award – an accolade meant to foster homegrown talent.
Described as “Parasite” meets “Dark Star” on the set of “The White Lotus,” the Neda Film produced series “Costa Armonia” shared the EDI MIA Visionary award with Nicolas Saada’s “Anthology.” Open to film and series alike, the award celebrates development titles that place VFX at the center of storytelling. The awards committee credited Saada’s “dreamlike and horrific” film project for its ability to “find an original form to represent the threats and advantages of Artificial Intelligence on screen.”
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