Catalonia, protagonist of territories, receives the Biznaga

The Catalan delegation presented projects, films and co-production incentives to the national and international industry

Yesterday Natàlia Garriga, Regional Minister of Culture of the Generalitat of Catalunya, received the Silver Biznaga from the Mayor of Malaga. In his intervention, Francisco de la Torre highlighted the strength of Catalan audiovisual productions and celebrated that “Catalonia had paid attention to training and the whole value chain of the audiovisual sector”, adding that “for us it is an honour to hand over this recognition to a territory that deserves it so much” and that the section Territories is also a “stimulus for the necessary convergence between territories, not only at an artistic level but also in market terms”.

On her part, Natàlia Garriga stated that she “was very appreciative of this gesture by a Festival like Malaga’s, which had always respected and promoted cultural and linguistic diversity”. She said she was proud of the Catalan presence at the Festival, referring to the two Catalan filmmakers who were honoured in Malaga: Carla Simón, who will receive the Malaga Talent - La Opinión de Málaga Award and Agustí Villaronga, recently deceased and honoured posthumously.

Catalonia has been the protagonist of Territories, a section created in 2022 with the objective of facilitating the creation of cooperation networks, encouraging encounters between professionals, and promoting the brand of the guest territory.

In this sense, last Wednesday representatives of the Institut Català de les Empreses Culturals (ICEC) offered a lecture entitled “Catalonia: territory to produce and coproduce. Presentation of the lines of support and Catalan presence in MAFIZ” in which they explained the policies, aid and incentives for cinema implemented by the institution, and their strategic lines. Following words of welcome by its Director General Edgar Garcia, who thanked the Festival for its support for Catalan cinema, Francisco Vargas, Director of the Audiovisual Area, declared that the institution “has the challenge of positioning audiovisual production as a strategic sector” and explained its work to promote coproductions. For his part, Joan Ruiz, head of Catalan Films, the brand for internationalisation of the Institut Català de les Empreses Culturals (ICEC), stated that his objective was to provide services to producers and rely on their involvement, pointing out that they were working on the internationalisation of productions starting at the project phase, for coproductions that have either a majority and minority of Catalan companies.

In addition, Catalan audiovisual productions were present in all of the sections of Mafiz, with more than 40 productions in Malaga WIP Spain, MAFF, Regional Film Hub and Malaga Short Corner, where the short films of ShortCat 2023, the programme for the promotion of Catalan short films launched by Catalan Films, were also presented. Together with all the foregoing, mention must also be made of the twelve films premiered in the different sections in competition of the Malaga Film Festival.