More than 250 professionals from all over the world meet in Sitges from 10 to 13 October

The Euromediterranean Documentary Market (MEDIMED) opened its doors in Sitges to independent producers and international television channels in the Arab world and Europe for the 20th consecutive year. The aim is to facilitate trade and professional exchange and to promote co-production in the European Union and in the countries of the southern Mediterranean (the Maghreb, the Middle East and Turkey).
 
The work carried out in the previous 19 editions has turned MEDIMED into an internationally recognised event for documentary professionals. This year it has been co-organised by the International Association of Independent Producers of the Mediterranean (APIMED), presided by the Catalan producer Isona Passola, and the Public Diplomacy Council of Catalonia (DIPLOCAT). It also has the financial support of the Catalan Institute of Cultural Enterprises, the Spanish Institute of Cinematography and Audiovisual Arts, the European Institute of the Mediterranean, the Barcelona Provincial Council and the Sitges Town Council. The director of the event is Sergi Doladé.

During the opening ceremony, Laura Foraster, secretary general of Diplocat, explained that the entity that represents "faces the challenge of entering into the market organization with great enthusiasm" and that "the objective To promote intercultural dialogue, with a special emphasis on the Euro-Mediterranean area, is obviously a shared goal. "

More than 250 professionals

The 20th edition of MEDIMED was hold at the Hotel Calipolis in Sitges from 10 to 13 October. It was attended by more than 250 professionals of the documentary sector from all over the world, including commissioning editors, buyers, distributors and independent producers. There were more than 30 Catalan producers who are members of the associations Audiovisual Producers of Catalonia and the Association of Documentary Producers.

This edition presented a catalogue with more than 500 documentary titles produced in 50 countries of the Euro-Mediterranean region and dealing with social issues, human rights, journalistic research and social interest stories. They include Catalan productions such as Beirut, la vie en rose (Èric Motjer), Glittering Misfits (Iban del Campo), Peret: King of the Gypsy Rumba (Paloma Zapata), El viaje de Javier Heraud (Javier Corcuera), Idrissa, crònica d'una mort qualsevol (Xapo Ortega), Operació Globus (Ariadna Seuba) and The Man Who Wanted to See It All (Albert Albacete).

A total of 27 documentary projects from 16 countries that seek international financing were presented to 35 commissioning editors and distributors at the Pitching Forum. The selected projects include two Catalan productions: Erasmus In Gaza produced by Arpa Films, and The City of Women produced by Transparent Productions.

A further 25 titles were included in the speedy pitch format designed by MEDIMED to support projects that have not been selected for the Forum but show creative potential. This section of the market organizes individual 15-minute meetings between producers and the main accredited financers with the aim of offering other possibilities of co-production.

More than 1,000 face-to-face meetings were hold, between television executives and distributors and the 100 producers who are participating with a programme in the video library or with a selected project. The executives include managers from the television stations TVC, TVE, History Channel Iberia, Movistar+, 2M (Morocco), Al Jazeera Documentary Channel (Qatar), Al-Arabiya (Dubai), ARTE (France), AVROTROS (Netherlands), the BBC (United Kingdom), Česká televize (Czech Republic), France Télévisions (France), HBO (USA), HRT (Croatia), NHK (Japan), ORF (Austria), RSI (Switzerland), RTBF (Belgium), SVT (Sweden), Telewizja Polska (Poland), YLE (Finland) and ZDF (Germany).

Up to now, more than 400 projects have found the necessary funding at MEDIMED and some have won Emmy, URTI, CMCA, Prix Europa or Gaudí awards and/or been selected for the DOK Leipzig, DUBAI, Hotdocs, IDFA and Sheffield Doc/Fest festivals.