Raúl Torquemada, director of the Madrid Film Office, outlines the plan to support Madrid's industry in order to promote its development and the region's attractions.

Cineuropa: What is the Madrid Film Office? When was it created and what are its objectives?
Raúl Torquemada: It is a public service of the Madrid City Council which, as part of the office of Tourism, was created in 2018 with the aim of promoting the city as a location for filming and developing audiovisual productions, assisting companies and professionals who choose the city of Madrid to carry out their projects and supporting the local audiovisual sector. We work from the pre-production phase to help find locations, advise on permits and accompany the development of audiovisual projects. We also promote the audiovisual heritage related to the city.

The City Council and the Community of Madrid have allocated €5,400,000 in 2022 to support the audiovisual sector. How has this aid worked and what has been the criteria?
In recent years, both administrations have wanted to promote support schemes to access financing for all phases of the creation of a project: development, production, promotion and distribution, both for feature films and fiction, documentary and animation series, as well as short films. In terms of the city, in 2021 the Madrid City Council launched its first call for applications for grants in two areas: production and promotion, and any project related to Madrid can apply. The budget for 2022 was €3,000,000, but the success of the call and the quality of the projects presented was so great that the council finally decided to allocate €4 million to the grants.

Also, this year more than 2.5 million euros have been invested between the two administrations in training and networking programmes in the audiovisual sector. What are these programmes?
We have promoted a wide range of programmes, primarily jointly. Madrid City Council has continued its collaboration with the Film Academy for the fourth year of its Residences programme. The Torino Film Lab project has also been introduced. And the Madrid Film Office has promoted activities to improve the skills of Madrid professionals, such as a production assistant workshop for international projects and a practical training day on sustainable audiovisual production, developed under the Another Way Film Festival. It also continues its commitment to the Madrid Audiovisual Association (AMA) with Ventana CineMad; Cartoon Springboard has been introduced and we are working with Documenta Madrid and Animario to set up industry forums.

How many film shoots does the Madrid region attract? 
In recent years Madrid has become one of the main content production centres in Europe, with an annual increase in the number of projects shot in the city in 2021: the city hosted the filming of 68 series, 44 films and more than 350 advertisements on its public roads, record figures for films and series. And in the first six months of 2022, 37 series and 27 feature films have been shot in the capital.

Any of those that were particularly interesting?
Some of them include Todos los nombres de Dios, by Daniel Calparsoro; Padre no hay más que uno 3 [+lire aussi :
bande-annonce
fiche film] and A todo tren 2, comedies directed by Santiago Segura; Chinas, by Arantxa Echevarría; Mi otro Jon, by Paco Arango; Que nadie duerma [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
interview : Antonio Méndez Esparza
fiche film], by Antonio Méndez Esparza; and Verano en rojo, by Lucía Alemany.

And what is it about Madrid that attracts film shoots?
It is the epicentre of the audiovisual industry in Spain .The city and the region have talented creators, highly qualified professionals, experienced production companies and first-class equipment suppliers, which explains the growing commitment of international platforms to the production of originals here. In addition, this is a region that offers an unimaginable variety of locations, with a great diversity of typologies that are very close to each other. I would also like to highlight the great versatility of the region to recreate other regions of the world, already seen in multiple projects, having been used to film scenes that take place in fictional Buenos Aires, New York and Los Angeles, for example.Madrid is also known for its hospitality and quality of life, with more than 3,200 hours of sunshine a year, a wide selection of accommodation on offer and exceptional transport connections.