From (new) co-productions to new distribution
- The Seville Film Festival has hosted a conference dedicated to the internationalisation of the Spanish film industry, from the funding phase right through to distribution
Yesterday, 10 November, the Seville European Film Festival hosted the International Audiovisual Conference, dedicated to the internationalisation of the Spanish film industry, and specifically that of Andalusia. The event, organised together with Extenda (the Andalusian Agency for Foreign Promotion), included talks focusing on all phases involved in the handling of films, from the new tools and legal frameworks for funding and international co-production, to distribution and the need to adapt to digital technology.
Director of the Euro Mediterranean Coproduction Forum Alberto La Monica, producer from Lastor Media Sergi Moreno, executive producer of the National Geographic Channel Spain Iván Bouso and legal expert Patricia Motilla were tasked with enlightening the attendees about funding and international co-production processes, zooming in on the tools used to enhance cooperation between players from different countries. One of the best examples of this process of optimisation in the Spanish film industry, Long Distance [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Carlos Marques-Marcet
film profile], was in fact co-produced by Lastor Media. “We need to study the tax advantages of each country and examine which is the most interesting, just as in any other business,” said Patricia Motilla at a conference that highlighted the opportunities of working together with public institutions, film commissions, private investors and other entities. “In terms of legal and fiscal planning, it is vital to finalise every single aspect before starting to produce the film,” she went on.
Once the film has been produced, and the moment to distribute it has arrived, one of the main concerns is a landscape that has been profoundly altered by the digital revolution. Diana Santamaría of Capricci Films, Pascale Dillemann of Under the Milky Way, Jaume Ripoll of Filmin, Olimpia Pont of Coproduction Office, Raúl Díez and Esperanza Moreno of the Youfeelm project, and Aritz Cirbián of the Verkami crowdfunding platform focused on the opportunities and methods of digital distribution. The TIDE Experiment (day-and-date releases in different European countries), which aroused particular interest; the comparisons between the markets in various countries (hinging on the unyielding inflexibility of the French market); and the partnerships between VoD platforms and rights holders (one example being the cooperation between Filmin and Coproduction Office) sowed seeds of hope among the agents, who are attempting to consolidate this new form of film distribution that, for various reasons, is still in a more embryonic state than would ideally be the case. “The results are still not conclusive, but they do allow us to get in touch with market developments, as we believe that is the right way to distribute independent films,” explained Diana Santamaría.
The event continued with one-to-one meetings between the attendees and the speakers.
(Translated from Spanish)
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