Belgian Drama 'The Inheritance' Wins Sony Pictures Television Award at Rome's MIA Market
A Belgian drama about a fight over a dead widow's fortune has won the Sony Pictures Television Award for best drama project at Rome's MIA Market, as the market's 12th edition came to a close.
The prize went to 'The Inheritance', which Variety reported. The series follows the death of a wealthy widow, which sets off a battle over her estate. Its original Belgian title is 'De Erfenis'. It is produced by Kristoffel Mertens and Kato Maes for Belgian company Panenka. According to the MIA Market's project description, the story also turns on exposing a secret kept by the widow's executor, the person charged with carrying out her will.
The jury included Andrew Plotkin, head of drama development at Sony Pictures. The MIA Market is a trade event where producers pitch projects that are still in development to buyers, broadcasters and financiers. Most of the winners are therefore ideas on paper or early scripts, not finished shows.
The other prizes were spread across formats. The outstanding animation series project award went to 'Sophie, if You Are There Give Us a Sign!', directed by Italy's Dario Piana. It is an Italy-Belgium-Spain co-production between Brand-Cross, 20 Pictures to Midnight and Digitoonz Entertainment. The outstanding animated film prize went to 'All the Softness in the World', directed by Ayce Kartal and produced by France's Les Valseurs.
The documentary award went to 'Loving Ika', directed by Emilio Di Stefano and Fabian Sigurd. The outstanding drama project prize went to the Danish series 'Day Traitors', produced by Deborah Bayer Marlow and Michael Bille Frandsen of Nordisk Film Production. It was written by Molly Stensgaard, Bo Hr. Hansen and Milad Alami.
Several other awards went to films and features. The GEDI Visual Award went to 'The Decoy Artist – The Incredible Story of Mario Moselli and Saddam Hussein's Phantom Army', directed by Gigi Roccati and produced by Verdiana. The Screen International Award went to 'Off-Season', directed by Marta Font and produced by Mireia Graell Vivancos of Spain's Ringo Media. The Mnemonica Award went to the Irish thriller 'Diatribe', written and directed by Shaun O'Connor and produced by Maureen O'Connell.
The Women in Film and Television Italia award went to 'Animal Instinct', the debut feature from Vittoria Rizzardi Peñalosa. A special mention went to 'Bleaching Nemo', a U.S.-U.K. co-production directed by Jason Brooks and produced by Pierangelo Pirak for Pomona Pictures.
For a project still in development, a prize at a market like this can bring it to the attention of buyers. A prize does not, on its own, mean a series will be made.
