The winners of the NEM Awards have been announced as part of NEM Zagreb.
Five different categories were available to entrants with the winners as follows.
- Scripted Series: Rene Gallo – Mild Miracles
- Scripted Feature-length film: Mile Boži?evi? – Mothers of Humanity and Daria Stilin – Tied Up
- Documentary Series / Feature-Length Documentary Film: Julia Groszek – Sugarland
- Non-Scripted Entertainment Format: Martichka Bozhilova and Iskra Angelova – Eat a Book
- The Best Drama TV Series in the CEE: Spy / Master – Warner Bros. Discovery
“This year’s judging has been of the highest quality, with top professionals from Italy, France, Germany, the United Kingdom and other countries outside the CEE region as jurors. We wanted to make sure the judging would be fair to all participants, about 250 in all, in different categories of the contest, explained Sanja Boži?-Ljubi?i?, CEO of Pickbox, Mediatranslations, Mediavision and NEM.
One of the NEM Zagreb main goals has been to create a platform that would bring together regional talent and international professional experience at specialized mini networking events such as NEM Contest Gathering.
Authors of the 10 best projects from each of the categories in the NEM Contest were invited to join members of the contest jury, who could not only share their experience and expert advice but also offer an opportunity to work with them on projects they find interesting for further development.
In the panel session CEE FTA Originals on the Global Map participants were invited to discuss the pros and cons of national television strategies for developing original productions. Marek Solon-Lipi?ski, Director of International Relations, TVP, said partnerships should be part of a long term strategy: “My observation from the European public broadcasting scene is that the main condition for international cooperation is to establish leadership which recognizes its importance and utility. It is also crucial to step out of your comfort zone, redefine your understanding of the audience’s needs, and embrace a corporate culture that promotes international projects.
“The Nordic model, implemented in the Nordvision format, is a perfect example of this kind of culture. This way of thinking must be rooted in long-term strategies since it is impossible to successfully co-produce in improvised “last minute” projects, which are still quite common in our part of Europe.”
In her introductory remarks, Martina Petrovi?, Head, CED MEDIA Office Croatia, talked about the Creative Europe MEDIA initiative before proceeding to host the panel on TV series and Creative Europe MEDIA: Our Success Stories! The discussions at the panel included topics such as challenges faced by small countries whose national language is largely unknown outside the country and the specific production challenges associated with their situation.
Future coproductions between CEE countries and high-production countries was the central theme of the panel High-production Countries and CEE: How Can We Work Together?
The overlap between the gaming and television industries has been growing at an increasing speed. The future developments of the two industries and their symbiotic potential was the central topic at the panel entitled Gaming and TV: A Match Made in Heaven or a Recipe for Disaster? Helene Juguet, Managing Director, Ubisoft Film & Television shared her take on the subject: “World of video games is gigantic. There are so many stories embedded in a video game. But what we lack most of the time is an emotional connection with the characters. Getting those two to translate into movies or TV series allows us to bring some depth and also to extend the number of hours that people want to play with those characters.”
The discussion at the Difference Between Corporation-led and Public Broadcaster Co-production panel focused on the different ways regulatory legislation concerning culture may influence coproduction ventures in television and film industries.
When adapting books, is it possible at all to keep all elements of the original story functional or will some of them inevitably get lost in the transformation? The panel Book to Screen: Navigating the Unique Challenges of Book Adaptations in Film and TV provided different answers to this and many other issues pertaining to this particular writing process. Filip Bobinski, Producer and Showrunner, CEO Dramedy Productions said: “We are searching for great IPs – mostly books, but it can be video games, podcasts… anything that is significant and has great value. That is what the market is looking for. You have to feed the beast, but there are not enough ideas on the market. Books and IPs are very helpful in creating quality audiovisual content.”