Spanish Screenings Content 2023 is successfully inaugurated
Presided by Francisco de la Torre, the event was a first contact between the Spanish and the international industries
Spanish Screenings Content is part of the component 'Spain, Audiovisual Hub of Europe' of the Plan for Recovery, Transformation and Resilience promoted by the Ministry of Culture and Sports and the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformat
The new edition of Spanish Screenings Content, part of MAFIZ, the Malaga Film Festival’s industry zone which this year will be attended by 1560 accredited professionals from 59 countries, with a substantial increase in the number of Asian professionals, was inaugurated yesterday with great success.
The Balneario de los Baños del Carmen was the venue chosen to welcome the international industry. The event was presided by the Mayor of Málaga, Francisco de la Torre, who was accompanied by Noelia Losada, the Councillor for Culture, Sports and Teatinos at the Malaga City Council; Beatriz Navas, the General Director of the Institute of Cinematography and Audiovisual Arts (ICAA); Rafael Fuentes, the Provincial Director of ICEX España Exportación e Inversiones in Malaga; and Juan Antonio Vigar, the Director of the Malaga Film Festival.
The event was opened by the Mayor of Malaga, Francisco de la Torre, who welcomed the participants, naming each of their countries and wishing them this year “even more business opportunities”, highlighting that “Malaga is the best place to learn about Spanish cinema and cinema in Spanish”.
Noelia Losada intervened next, pointing out that the Malaga Film Festival “is the best cultural event of Andalusia and the ninth in Spain” and that it is not just “a weeklong event but rather a year-long commitment to culture and the industry”. She stressed that the audiovisual industry is a strategic sector” and finalised her intervention highlighting that the value of shootings in Andalusia in 2022 was 23 million euros and that “one of the City Council’s objectives was to increase its focus on the cultural industry and attract powerful companies to the city”, seeking to “enhance the visibility of the sector’s value chain”. She also expressed the hope that “all this seedbed of talent continue to germinate”.
In turn, Beatriz Navas began her intervention highlighting that “for the first time the government has a plan for our creative industries, which will enable them from now on to have a larger global presence”. She applauded the involvement in the project of ministries other than the Ministry of Culture and Sports, announced the objective of giving continuity to Spanish Screenings Content and stressed “the importance of providing tools to the different sectors inside the audiovisual ecosystem”. Lastly, she pointed out that “Malaga is an ideal location because it is devoted to production in Spanish, and to Spanish and Latin American production. She asked the industry for its feedback in order to continue improving and that “interesting projects be produced, films bought and sold, and that the relationships between the different countries be strengthened”.
Rafael Fuentes spoke about the importance of internationalisation, highlighting that “the participation of ICEX in the Malaga Film Festival has increased over time, and that this year its efforts were geared at attracting buyers, programmers and platforms from Asian countries.” He invited participants to visit the ICEX stand, to enter into many business agreements during the festival and “to make a collective effort to improve the sector’s internationalisation".
Lastly, Juan Antonio Vigar closed the act insisting on the importance of “generating synergies with Asian territories”, and announcing that it is likely that the next stop of Spanish Screenings on Tour will be the Film Festival of Busan in South Korea. He thanked ICAA and ICEX for their great efforts in giving shape to Spanish Screenings Content and wished all participants “very productive work sessions and a very pleasant stay in Malaga”.
The atmosphere of the inauguration was very friendly, enabling about 300 producers, buyers, sellers, Festival directors and other professionals of the industry to have their first contacts before initiating an intense programme of activities. The objective of Spanish Screenings Content, which is held from the 13th to the 16th of March with the theme “Talent, Diversity, Opportunities”, is to contribute value and visibility to the entire professional chain of audiovisual production in Spain, the internationalisation of Spanish audiovisuals and to promote the expansion of audiovisual professionals’ networks and the generation of new business opportunities.
In addition, this year a delegation of representatives of buyers, programmers and platforms of the audiovisual industry will visit several Asian countries, including South Korea, China, Singapore and Japan, as well as international professionals of shorts films and animation, who will come to Malaga thanks to ICEX España Exportación e Inversiones. The objective is that they discover first-hand the potential opportunities of our industry and create synergies with the sector.
Spanish Screenings is the programme for the internationalization of Spanish audiovisual productions that was given a new impulse in 2022 with a greater diversity of content, including new thematic sections and the vision to include work aligned with the new audiovisual narratives and also enhance the entire professional chain of Spanish audiovisual productions.
In consequence, its new format Spanish Screenings XXL is an international market for Spanish audiovisual productions, a project with more content and more activities adapted to the new challenges of the audiovisual industry, which benefits from the collaboration of the Ministry of Culture and Sports through the ICAA (National Institute of Cinema and Audiovisual Arts) and the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation through ICEX España Exportación e Inversiones (Spanish Trade Commission), the Malaga Film Festival and the Festival of San Sebastian.
Spanish Screenings is part of the component 'Spain, Audiovisual Hub of Europe' of the Plan for Recovery, Transformation and Resilience promoted by the Ministry of Culture and Sports and the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation.
