Spain, China sign co-production agreement

Spain has become the latest country to sign a co-production film agreement with China.

The agreement coincided with the visit of Spanish president Mariano Rajoy to Beijing. Both governments signed the deal, which was approved by the parliaments of the two countries earlier in the year.

China remains a difficult market in which to secure distribution, with a quota of 38 international films sanctioned in 2013 and 34 in 2014.

The new agreement will allow Spanish films to be distributed within the Asian superpower, providing each co-production partner has contributed a minimum of 20% to the feature.

In an statement, the ICAA (Spanish Government agency for cinema) celebrated the agreement and highlighted the new tax deduction for foreign productions in the country of 15% with a maximum of €2.5m.

However, the Spanish film industry has said 15% is insufficent for attracting internatiponal shoots in Spain.

Two projects have been eagerly awaiting this agreement. Javier Fesser is preparing a film about the disappearance of a Chinese civilization. The film, titled Sanxingdui (The Hill of the Three Stars), occurs within an ancient culture in China 3,000 years ago.

It will be produced by Larry Levene, who has been working in Asia for 17 years, and was initially planned as a documentary before Levene suggested making “a science fiction film in the past”.

Levene is also behind Dragonkeeper, an animated feature set in the Han dynasty that centres on a young girl who takes care of a dragon.

Based on a book by Australian writer Carole Wilkinson, and it is co-produced by Manuel Cristóbal, best known for Wrinkles and The Last Forest.