11/06/2007

Over 120 film buyers from 33 countries are in Madrid to participate in the second Madrid de Cine, Spanish Film Screenings, which ends tomorrow.

Organised by the Spanish Federation of Audiovisual Producers (FAPAE) on a budget of €600,000, the screenings aim to boost the sales of Spanish cinema, an industry that in the words of the event's patroness Carmen Maura, "has no reason to suffer from inferiority complexes".

Madrid de Cine's programme includes commercial activities – sales stands and screenings of 56 recent titles, such as Malaga's winner Bajo las estrellas [+see also:
trailer
film profile] and Antonio Banderas' Summer Rain [+see also:
trailer
film profile] – as well as cultural ones: interviews with 20 international journalists, round tables on the consequences of the upcoming film law and the advantages of international co-production.

Several institutions are associated with the event, including the Spanish Institute of Foreign Trade (ICEX). Its vice-president Martín Acebes has in the meantime announced a 30% increase in the amount ICEX allots for its audiovisual budget. This increase will be used to strengthen the Spanish presence in international markets such as Berlin, LA, Toronto and Hong Kong. Special support was also announced to be given to the upcoming Spain TV Expo and the Market Screenings organised at the Malaga Film Festival.

ICCA's president Fernando Lara outlined that the promotional event is a way to overcome obstacles of internationalization of Spain's films, although this was considered to be a good period, following the recent screenings in Cannes of Juan Antonio Bayona's The Orphanage (El orfanato) [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (see news) and Jaime Rosales's Solitary Fragments [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (see news).