Spainproduced more feature films in 2005 than in any year in the past two decades,according to new figures released by the Ministry of Culture.

Some142 features were made in Spain last year, nine more than the previous year,with another 30 currently in post-production.

Ofthose 142, 53 were international co-productions.

The mostfrequent co-producing partners in Europe were France, the UK and Italy, andArgentina and Chile in Latin America.

Thefigures continue what has been an upward trend since the early 1990s, punctuated only by the occasional dip.

In1993, only 53 films were made in Spain but that nearly doubled to104by 2000.

TheMinistry's Film Institute ICAA pointed to the production rise as a sign ofthe industry's vitality.

Its figures were not without controversy, however, with the classification ofhigh-profile Spanish co-productions Kingdom Of Heaven and Sahara as local films.

ICAAcalculates Spanish cinema's year-end market share to have jumped by almost 3.5 percentage points to 16.74%, the highest figure in 15 years except for the 17% reached in2001.

Without Kingdom Of Heaven and Sahara, both KanZaman co-productions,Spanish cinema's market share drops to a figure closer to 14%, similar to thatof other recent years.