Mipcom Delves Into Artificial Intelligence Concerns With ‘Unlocking AI Summit’
Questions (and concerns) about AI will come to the foreground at this year’s Mipcom international co-production and content market, which runs Oct. 16–19 in Cannes. Alongside the thousands of buyers and preeminent audiovisual execs expected to hit the mart, immersive producers, media regulators and legal experts will take the stage for an Oct. 17 “Unlocking AI” summit meant to address ethical concerns and better contextualize those two anxiety-inducing vowels on everyone’s mind.
“We are staging this summit because AI has universal importance in each of the 100 different countries that attend Mipcom,” says event director Lucy Smith. “And we hope our contributors can both demonstrate and demystify [the new technology].”
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Hewing along more traditional lines, October’s edition will kick off with an event screening of the Secuoya Studios’ “Zorro,” a small screen comeback for the swashbuckling Don Diego de la Vega — here played by “Elite” and “1899” star Miguel Bernardeau — in a production presented by Mediawan Rights and set for broadcast on Amazon Prime. On Oct. 17, Mipcom will host the world premiere of “Concordia,” a technological thriller, presented by Beta Film & ZDF Studios, that fuses those lingering fears about AI to wider concerns about data collection and the surveillance state.
Other market showcases include the BBC One/Amazon Freevee broadcast crime drama “Boat Story,” and “In Her Car,” a road drama set during the early days of the war in Ukraine that pulls from lived experiences of Ukrainians scrambling for shelter following the Russian invasion in February 2022. Told from inside the protagonist’s car, the series, presented by Beta Film, explores stories of resilience and civic responsibility.
Honored as personality of the year, Paramount Global president and CEO Bob Bakish will deliver a keynote address, while other speakers include Warner Bros. Discovery international chief Gerhard Zeiler and the Mediapro Studio CEO Laura Fernández Espeso. Meanwhile, Canal+ Group chairman Maxime Saada will receive the Variety Vanguard Award and will sit for a fireside chat moderated by Variety co-editor-in-chief Cynthia Littleton. Finally, Tencent VP Sun Zhonghuai will offer a media mastermind keynote tied in with China’s country of honor spotlight at this year’s edition.
Taken altogether, the speaker lineup might indicate a returning interest in third-party licensing, as keystone studios look to juice sales revenue, complementing the B2C model rather than competing with it. On a parallel note, an Oct. 17 summit dedicated to the free ad-supported TV model will federate voices from Fremantle, BBC Studios, Banijay and Rakuten TV as global execs look to extrapolate lessons from the FAST model’s U.S. deployment towards wider international applications.
Returning for a sophomore year, Mipcom’s Seaview Producers Hub will once again afford attendees a scenic networking space, programmed with daily case studies, presentations and mixers. If anything, the success and growth of this recent initiative reflects the growing trend towards international co-production made all the more imperative by recent market contractions.
“Co-production has always been important,” says Smith. “And it has always been a part of Mipcom, but what’s evident is that a global network has never been so crucial in getting projects off the ground. That’s why we wanted to bring back this home for co-production and catalyst for dealmaking.”
Counting 100 countries, anticipating 11,000 attendees, and locking in 300 exhibitors, Mipcom will easily best last year’s participation record, while event organizers are particularly jazzed that nearly 20% of exhibitors will attend for the first time. Nestled next to stalwarts like Amazon, Disney, NBCUniversal, Newen Connect and Fifth Season will be new stands manned by likes of OTTera, Xumo and — surprisingly enough — Lego, altogether giving the organizer a new reason to beam.
“Of the 300 stands, over 55 are exhibitors are making their debut,” says Smith. “Here is a clear example that this industry constantly renews.”
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