During a split-screen, three-way chat from our computers, while confined to our homes – as Madrid residents are currently in phase 2 of lockdown easing – we talked to Beatriz Navas, managing director of the Spanish Film and Audiovisual Arts Institute (ICAA), and Tito Rodríguez, the institution’s marketing policy director. They detailed the activities that they have planned for the Cannes Film Festival’s Marché du Film (this year being held online), which will be taking place at their virtual pavilion.

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Cineuropa: How have your strategy and your objectives for this edition of the Marché du Film (which is being held digitally for the first time) changed compared to previous years?
Beatriz Navas: We are continuing down the path that we started one year ago: as representatives of the ICAA, we aim to have a bigger presence at Cannes and to boost the internationalisation of Spanish cinema. Last year, we started to bolster our presence at the festival (for example, with a visit from the Minister of Culture) and to create a fresh, new image, with brand-new projects and partnerships with ICEX (which coordinates the pavilions at Berlin and Cannes) and the companies, professionals and Spanish autonomous communities in attendance, as well as the autonomous film commissions and the Spain Film Commission.

Tito Rodríguez: We kicked things off with the Just Spainted. New Spanish Films brand for last year’s Marché du Film: it’s been evolving, it’s been used at all the markets, and it’s been working well. We want our film industry to be associated with the concept of “newness”, and to bring a breath of fresh air to those lines of work that have been well established for quite some time already. The switch to a virtual Marché allows us to grow stronger in terms of our advertising and our campaign to create a community, increasing the visibility of the Spanish cinema brand there, and thus extending its outreach. Thanks to the internet, the universe of potential professionals able to attend is growing, and we can reach far more people. Our basic premise is to follow last year’s strategy, and we have transposed it – together with the events aimed at professionals – to the virtual space. It’s about attracting professionals to our stand, and then redirecting them to the things that each of them is interested in. We’ve come up with a wide-ranging programme of activities and media presence in order to bring the Spanish cinema brand to everybody.

BN: We’re not afraid of this new way of participating in the market – quite the opposite, in fact. In addition, as Spain currently heads up Ibermedia, we thought it would also be important for it to have its own corner, which is complemented by a talk organised in conjunction with both the programme itself and the countries that form part of it, and to reinforce the idea of unity and of Spain being a gateway from Europe to Latin America.

This Ibermedia event will take place via the website of the Marché du Film on 25 June at 5.30 pm CEST. What will it entail?
TR: It will be a chat with producers from seven Latin American countries, talking about the tax incentives and the most practical way of using them. We also believe Ibermedia’s presence to be interesting because we draw traffic from the Latin American industry to the Spanish pavilion: we provide them with visibility, and we get something in return. It will be a virtual bridge enabling information to flow across the Atlantic.

The day before that, 24 June, at 5 pm CEST, there will be a talk on tax incentives in Spain.
BN: We had to make the most of the opportunity that arose after the amendment to the Corporation Tax Act and the tax abatements that were passed, and there was really no better place to present it than Cannes. It was a plea from the whole sector, and it’s finally happened: we are still working on it, promoting the circulation of the new tax incentives, because they put Spain in a much more competitive situation when you compare it to the rest of the countries in Europe. It’s ideal to be able to make it public at a time like this, when the recovery of the sector is so vital.

There is no dearth of fresh Spanish talent, and this is demonstrated by the ten projects that you have selected to be presented on 25 June.
TR: Yes, in one-to-one meetings, from 9 am until 9 pm. Some are in search of funding, while others are seeking production partners, sales agents and so on. It’s all about highlighting the importance of projects that need this in order to be able to grow a little more [you can access the platform where these meetings will be taking place by clicking here].

BN: One of the criteria they had to meet was that they must already have a CV, of sorts: they must have taken part in a platform or lab, which means that they have already met a range of selection criteria, and we think this lends them a certain robustness. The selection process was carried out using a large number of criteria and with the oversight of someone external to the ICAA, with considerable experience in markets and matchmaking programmes, having worked with projects that are similar in style to what was being sought in the selection.

TR: It’s also worth noting that on 23 June, at 5 pm CEST, we will have a third live event with the sales agents, in cooperation with ICEX, where each company will present one of its titles as a kind of “highlight” at the market, and which will see the participation of actresses, actors and filmmakers. It’s going to be useful and enjoyable, using Spanish talent as a strategy to arouse international attention. We will announce who will be taking part in a few days’ time.

Will you be using the Marché du Film website as your platform at Cannes?
TR: Yes, we’ve decided to use the elements that the Marché is offering us: we’re developing a virtual pavilion and will insert it into Cannes’ platform. We wanted to build a space that would guarantee a pleasant browsing experience and the accessibility of information, with a decent website design, but always giving pride of place to the Spanish movies present at the market. As well as being available on the Marché website, we will also bring the streams of the live events somewhere outside of that platform so that they will also be accessible for anyone to watch on our social networks, with a Facebook Live-type system. We’ll link them to events that we’ll be able to create beforehand on the same network in order to already start drawing attention to those activities, creating a buzz, and trying to ensure the participation of a representative and broad range of people.