Belgian Drama 'The Inheritance' Takes Top Prize at Rome's MIA Market

Belgian drama series "The Inheritance" won the Sony Pictures Television Award for best drama project as Rome's MIA Market closed its 12th edition on Friday. The show, produced by Kristoffel Mertens and Kato Maes for Belgian production company Panenka, centres on the death of a wealthy widow that ignites a battle over her estate.

The jury, which included Sony Pictures' head of drama development Andrew Plotkin, praised the project for "making a lasting impression through its complex, charismatic female protagonist in a traditionally male-dominated setting." The jurors added that "the universally relatable theme of family inheritance" gives the series "an authentic and distinctive resonance that sets it apart in the television landscape." Notably, the award honours a project in development, not a finished broadcast — the cash prize supports further work, and no air date exists yet.

Who else won at MIA?

The MIA Development Awards, each carrying cash prizes to support development, went to projects across four categories of the co-production market and pitching forum:

• Animation series: "Sophie, if You Are There Give Us a Sign!", directed by Italy's Dario Piana, an Italy-Belgium-Spain co-production between Brand-Cross, 20 Pictures to Midnight and Digitoonz Entertainment. It follows a 13-year-old who mourns her grandfather in a Milan cemetery before two ghost children pull her into the "World Below."
• Animated film: "All the Softness in the World", about a Turkish family in 1950s Istanbul living under an ancient curse, directed by Ayce Kartal and produced by France's Les Valseurs.
• Documentary: "Loving Ika", on the ethics of relationships between humans and artificial intelligence, directed by Emilio Di Stefano and Fabian Sigurd and produced by Sweden's Daniéla Frykstrand and Gunilla Film AB. A special mention went to "Bleaching Nemo", a U.S.-U.K. investigation into ocean ecosystems directed by Jason Brooks and produced by Pierangelo Pirak for Pomona Pictures.
• Drama project: Danish series "Day Traitors", about an intelligence agent who, per the synopsis, "betrays his country to protect his family, only to destroy it." Nordisk Film Production's Deborah Bayer Marlow and Michael Bille Frandsen produce; Molly Stensgaard, Bo Hr. Hansen and Milad Alami write.

What other prizes were handed out?

The closing ceremony distributed further honours. The GEDI Visual Award, for a title in MIA's Italians Doc It Better showcase, 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", Marta Font's feature set in a Costa Brava campsite outside the tourist season, produced by Mireia Graell Vivancos of Spain's Ringo Media. The new Mnemonica Award went to Irish thriller "Diatribe" by Shaun O'Connor, produced by Maureen O'Connell. The Women in Film and Television Italia — WIFTMI Award, for the project with the greatest potential in addressing gender inequality and promoting inclusion, went to "Animal Instinct", Vittoria Rizzardi Peñalosa's debut feature about a 16-year-old who kidnaps the father who abandoned her, produced by Cinefonie.

What does this change for the market itself?

The numbers suggest MIA is holding its ground rather than growing: 2,800 professionals from 64 countries attended, on a par with last year, with more than 100 projects from 43 countries presented. The bigger change was logistical. Seven venues this year consolidated Rome's historic Via Veneto — of "La Dolce Vita" fame — and the adjacent Piazza Barberini into a single hub for the film and TV industry.

"We close this edition of MIA knowing that we have taken an important step in the market's evolution," market chief Gaia Tridente said in a statement. She described an industry "undergoing profound transformations" in content development, production, financing and distribution, and said the edition aimed "not only to keep pace with these changes, but also to help interpret their dynamics and open up new perspectives." Whether the compact new footprint translates into deal volume, the statement does not say; next year's figures will be the test.