As the Spanish Screenings at the Malaga Film Festival come to a close today, (March 24) organisers revealed the most-watched films were comedies led by Dani de la Orden’s The Te$t, as well as Football Heroes Of The Block, You Keep The Kids, Full Of Grace, and Toscana.
Labelled as an “XXL edition” due to the significant increase in public funding in promoting the country’s industry abroad, the Screenings have gathered about 500 Spanish and international players and buyers in the Andalusian city.
As part of the public support and funding known as the Spain Audiovisual Hub launched by Pedro Sánchez’s government a year ago, the Screenings initiative is continuing throughout the rest of 2022 and into 2023. It will include an event at the San Sebastián International Film Festival in September, as well as an on-tour worldwide edition and an online screenings platform.
Attending the Spanish Screenings in Málaga, Beatriz Navas, head of the Spanish film body ICAA (the Film and Audiovisual Arts Institute), said she was particularly impressed with the success of the emerging animation sector, which had its own strand at the Screenings. She pointed to Alberto Mielgo’s Oscar-nominated short film The Windshield Wiper and Fernando Trueba’s upcoming They Shot The Piano Player as well as Annecy 2021 work-in-progress winner Unicorn Wars,.
“We are invested in promoting the presence of professionals and companies in co-production forums, minority co-productions and international distribution,” said Navas of ICAA’s strategy. “International partners are key in helping the sector tot leap forward in terms of quality and size.”
The ICEX [the Spanish institute for Export and Investment] works with ICAA to to stimulate and support co-productions, international sales and the distribution of Spanish films, series, animations and video games around the world,. It also helps to showcase Spain as a location for international shoots. Capital from European funds has been channelled to ICEX to help them with the task at hand with €20m for the next three years.
At the Screenings, Pablo Conde, ICEX’s cultural industries director, said he was pleased to see the Spanish industry is “opening more and more to the international market”.
Perfect date
The Spanish industry largely welcomed this year’s Screenings.
“It has been an extremely positive experience, with many more key players invited,” said Latido head Antonio Saura. “I would have maybe liked to see more buyers from platforms, not only the big US companies, but also from European smaller companies. This aside, it’s been a great initiative that we fully support. The event is also very conveniently placed in the calendar, between Berlin and Cannes.”
When it came to deal-making on site, Saura said the last two pandemic years had changed the way companies now do business.
“[Markets] now tend to run 365 days a year and you don’t always finish a specific market with sales sealed and signed,” he said. “Deals started at a market like Berlin’s, for example, might close weeks later.”
The Malaga Film Festival continues until March 27.
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