Sixty decision-makers from 35 countries have registered for the 15th Malmö financing forum for kids content showcase, unspooling fully online March 16-18.

After last year’s last-minute cancellation due to Covid-19, M:brane’s 15th edition is set to break several records according to director Lennart Ström and Senior Creative Advisor Annette Brejner. Projects presented online at the Forum are worth a record €50 million, 60 decision-makers (against 45 in normal times) and 233 delegates from 35 countries have signed up. Those include Sunny Side of the Docs, IDFA, Sola Media, Nordisk Film, SF Studios, Studio Hamburg and TV Ontario.

This year’s high-profile conference on March 16’s Opening Industry Day will focus on Science and Natural History, with issues including climate change, natural resources exploitation and wild life preservation. “This is probably the most urgent field of problems, that children and young people face today,” said Ström. Education and dissemination of science as a way to counter fake news or conspiracy theories will also be among the topics discussed.

Besides the pitching session of six case-studies, moderated by filmmaker/producer Hussain Currimbhoy, this year’s keynote speaker will be Donata von Perfall, director of Silbersalz' & Documentary Campus, as part of M:brane’s first collaboration with the Silbersalz Science & Media Festival in Halle, Germany.

The Opening Industry Day will also offer its platform to Canada - the first non-EU country in focus. “Canada has been in the frontline of XR and immersive storytelling for many years and what Canadian professionals do is so inspiring,” added Ström. Canadian speakers include Louis-Richard Tremblay from the National Film Board of Canada, Thomas Azoug, immersive experience developer Phi Studio; Nicolas S. Roy from Dpt, and moderator Audrey Pacart, producer and immersive content specialist.

Meanwhile KIDS Regio will be co-hosting the panel ‘One film can’t have it all!”, about innovative approaches in exhibition to retain young audiences and attract new ones. Speakers include Pack Magic’s sales and acquisitions manager Alfred Sesma (Spain), producer Agnieszka Dziedzic (Poland), Folkets Bio’s head of the children’s film department Rose-Marie Strand (Sweden) and Lichtburg Filmpalast Oberhausen’s cinema manager Petra Rockenfeller (Germany). The panel will be moderated by Paul Tyler.

March 17-18 are dedicated to live pitch sessions of 26 projects, looking for co-producers and co-financiers. The projects were selected for their core themes around science and the natural world, but Ström also stressed that half of them tackle the future, and several VR projects will be pitched for the first time. Those include Sweden’s The Garden (Skillinge Theatre) and Everything You Need to Know (Ivar Studio).

A total of seven projects from the Nordics will be presented, including the TV series in works in progress Game of Minds (Napafilms, Finland), Between Sajvee and the Sky (Bautafilm, Sweden), and The Bearville Buddies (Tiny Film, Denmark).
New countries attending including Jamaica, Chile, Jordan, Greece, Philippines, Israel and the US.

M:brane also invited eight projects for the 7th RealYoung Documentary Workshop.

The kids content industry event was supported among others by Nordisk Film & TV Fond.

For the full programme check: www.mbrane.se