Through Madrid Film Office, Madrid City Council’s office for the promotion of film shoots and audiovisual content, the City Council’s Department of Tourism was present at the Marché du Film until 22 May. Madrid Film Office attended the gathering with the ultimate aim of highlighting the value of Madrid as a location for audiovisual shoots and promoting the projects that have been taking shape in the capital. To this end, it has been making use of a space that it shares with Film Madrid (representing the Community of Madrid) in the “Cinema from Spain” pavilion, organised by ICEX-Invest in Spain and the Spanish Film and Audiovisual Arts Institute (ICAA).

Spain attended this rendezvous as Country of Honour, using the slogan “Our cinema is having its moment”. This emphasis on the Spanish audiovisual sector underlines its recent international successes and will help the country’s industry to enjoy a healthy presence in the different programmes of the market. Almost 130 companies and Spanish talents were in attendance, thanks to ICEX Spanish Export and Investment together with the Ministry of Culture’s ICAA.

The 76th edition of the French festival itself also boasts a healthy Spanish contingent. Standing out among the participants is Víctor Erice, who returns to directing after a 30-year hiatus. He is in the Cannes Première section, presenting his film Close Your Eyes [+lire aussi :
critique
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fiche film], which was shot in Madrid (in locations such as the Prado Museum, including its façade, its surroundings and the Goya Room, particularly the painting of Charles IV of Spain and His Family; the Calle Claudio de Moyano and the Plaza de Platerías, as well as sets located in nearby Alcalá de Henares and Ciudad de la Imagen) and Andalusia. Furthermore, the latest movie by Wes Anderson, Asteroid City, is also worth mentioning, as it has been selected in competition, and was filmed in the towns of Chinchón and Colmenar de Oreja, near Madrid.

The festival also hosted the premiere of the medium-length film Strange Way of Life by Pedro Almodóvar and welcomed its Madrid-based production company, El Deseo. It did likewise for two short films co-produced with Spain: the Madrilenian project Aunque es de noche by Guillermo García López, a fictionalised portrait of life with no electricity in the Cañada Real shanty town in Madrid, and Nada de todo esto by Patricio Martínez and Francisco Cantón, another co-production, this time with Argentina.

On Sunday 21 May, Madrid Film Office also took part in the presentation of the third edition of Iberseries & Platino Industria, which will be held from 3-6 October in Matadero Madrid, with the support of Madrid City Council and the Community of Madrid. Also taking part in the presentation were representatives of ICEX, the ICAA, Spain Film Commission, EGEDA, FIPCA and Film Madrid. Madrid Film Office has high hopes for this event as an international meeting point for the audiovisual industry, taking place in Spanish and Portuguese – a bridge between Spain and Latin America, which seeks to bolster the positioning and image of the city in the eyes of the Latin American industry and audiovisual sector by facilitating the organisation of events that foster synergies and alliances in the sector.