From 8th-11th April, MIP, the global television festival on the French Riviera, celebrated its 50th birthday. The sun wasn’t out much, but the stars were with a red carpet opening function with guests including French actor Christopher Lambert, English actress Thandie Newton, Italian actress Caterina Murino actress and princess Clotilde de Savoie and her prince Emmanuel Philibert de Savoir, legendary Kiss rocker Gene Simmons and Felix Baugartner, the Austrian man who recently jumped from the edge of space for Red Bull. A Paris hip hop dance group, the Pekin opera and fireworks lit up the rest of the evening.
Not on the red carpet but arriving as a UN special envoy for education, former British PM Gordon Brown hosted a special event for Global Education First with guest Ziauddin Yousafzai, the father of education and women’s rights activist Malala. Other speeches and conferences featured experts on youtube, branded entertainment, social media and multi-devices user trends.
The Australians again punched above their weight coming away with the Digital Emmy award in Children and Young Perope’s category for dirtgirlworld… dig it all that uses apps to encourage children back into the world and nature. The awards, organised by Reed MIDEM and sponsored by Canada’s Bell Fund was attended by over 300 international executives from tv, mobile and broadband industries.
“Maybe what resonated with the people judging the award is that we’re using technology in quite a different way,” Creative Director of mememe productions, the creators of dirtgirlworld, Cate McQuillen told Ruby TV. “We’re using technology to not have kids sitting inside on the couch and increasing their thumb muscles- we’re using technology to get them outsode to learn about nature but also to get them to interact with nature in really meaningful ways.”
MIPCUBE is ‘the hub for the community re-inventing the content experience’ and the MIPFormats International Pitch is the global pitching event for companies with innovative concepts for new, non-scripted entertainment formats. BIG AGAIN by Sydney based Hatch Entertainment. Presented by Greg Logan, Owner/Executive Producer, the feel-good music show taps into a generation yearning for nostalgia and discovers a new generation of talent. Take 70’s/80’s pop icons, their 3 biggest hits and 3 aspiring new artists who reimagine their songs… and they’re BIG AGAIN. The series culminates in a concert in front of a live audience where all the episode winners perform on-stage with the original artists.
ABC Commercial hosted an event for Eddie McDougall, the Flying Winemaker, whose program produced by US based Australian Wes Dening aims to introduce the world to Asian and Indian wines to match global cuisine trends. It has been pre-sold to Discovery Networks Asia-Pacific and selling to further territories during the festival.
Other industry heavies and innovators attending included Chris Hilton from Essential Media, Lizzy Nash from The Feds, Souther Star, Universal Pictures, Renegade and reps from all the broadcasters and distributors found around the Screen Australia hub. Not only are they discussing the trends of television, they are creating them and shaping the future. And what’s that future? Find out here on the ruby tv MIP interviews video currently in edit.
