A day full of emotion marked the start of a new edition of Mipcom in Cannes, the event that’s re-opening its doors with reduced attendance and exhibition spaces, a significant number of security measures and new protocols, but with the joy of a long-awaited reunion.

The first day of Mipcom began this Monday morning in sunny Cannes, as attendees walked into the Palais in disbelief. From the outside, nothing seems different, the Palais des Festivals proudly displays its huge promotional posters and, on the west side, the steps of a new edition of Canneseries frame the picture as if everything were the same as always.

But nothing is the same. On the main entrance, the day begins with a long line of people seeking to validate their vaccination certificates and thus obtain the green bracelet for the first day. The rest await to make an appointment in front of the health tent, where the antigen test can be performed (at the cost of the participants).

Once the necessary validations have been made, direction are given to the next control: access to the registration area, follow by checking of the bags and finally, access to the Palais des Festivals.

And while the process of accessing the event was more complicated than ever, inside the Palais, the event welcomed its attendees with open arms.

As for the market, it can be said that the day started timid, with an attendance that was seen in greater proportion around noon and at the end of the day.

For the most veteran attendees, it is a day of finding familiar faces, reunion and readjustment to a space that is transformed, different, with new conference and networking spaces.

Likewise, the meeting agenda is also different. For those who usually have a heterogeneous list of distributors by country, this time there will be great absences, as is the case of big American companies or Asian ones. But this doesn’t discourage meetings. On the contrary, as Patricio Hernández, the new general manager of Latina TV from Peru, comments, together with Luis Guillermo Camacho, it is also about the opportunity to find new content providers.

“It happens that many executives have changed, so it is also about meeting those new executives from the companies we already knew,” says Camacho.

For others, the event presents an opportunity to generate a new meeting agenda, as is the case with Roxana Rotundo from VIP 2000 TV, who comes to this new edition of Mipcom with the aim of acquiring new content, leaving aside her usual role as a distributor.

Another widely attended space is that of conferences and, in particular, that of The Wit’s Fresh TV Formats conference. The event is particularly interesting for those who have lost the pulse of the market during this long period of isolation.

Among the social activities at the end of the day were the presentation of the new market ONSeries Lisboa, scheduled for November 25 and 26, as a place to learn more about fictions from Portugal; as well as the cocktail organized by Eccho Rights and the traditional opening party.

Tuesday should be a more intense and “normal” day than the first. Although the forecasts also lead to think that Wednesday will have a Thursday feel, partially because of the antigen tests, which only last 72 hours.