The 19th edition of the Canary Islands International Film Market is unspooling from 12-16 June in Santa Cruz de Tenerife. Once again this year, its official headquarters will be the Iberostar Heritage Grand Mencey Hotel, which will play host to meetings between screenwriters, filmmakers, production companies, TV channels, distributors, sales agents, investors and other industry professionals in order to give a boost to audiovisual creation and promote the co-production of titles destined for the global market.

A few days ago, a special event was held to unveil the market, which was attended by José Manuel Bermúdez Esparza, the mayor of the city; Laura Castro, head of island tourism at the Island Council of Tenerife; and Guillermo Ríos, director of the CIIF Market. Bermúdez Esparza pointed out, “The audiovisual industry accounts for one-tenth of the contracts that are signed in this city – this year, we’ve already surpassed 60 productions filmed, and there have been more than 600 since the creation of the Santa Cruz Film Office. The creation of synergies, which is the very essence of this initiative, will be fundamental for the future development of this industry, and the CIIF Market is key as we strive to achieve this objective.”

Guillermo Ríos stated, “On these islands, we constantly co-exist with audiovisual shoots, and the CIIF Market does its bit to ensure this will carry on and to foster opportunities for young people and Canarian companies. It’s established itself as a strategic meeting point to continue attracting producers to the islands, generate investment, publicise our local industry and convey the advantages of filming here to international professionals,” he summed up.

When making the final selection, the team attempted to strike a balance between mainstream projects and others that took more of a creative risk. This edition will see the participation of 17 audiovisual projects at the development and funding-plan stage, with at least 20% of their budget secured. They hail from Spain (eight, one of which is a co-production with the Dominican Republic), Chile (three, one of which is a co-production with Germany), Mexico (two), Argentina (one), Colombia (one), Portugal (one) and Lithuania (one). Among them are ten fiction features, one feature-length documentary, another docu-fiction feature and five fiction series. In addition, there are two screenplays that are taking part in conjunction with the second CIIF Market Lab. The full list of selected projects can be found at the end of this article.

The 19th edition of the CIIF Market will hand out a number of prizes, for which all of the projects taking part are eligible: the CIIF Market Santa Cruz de Tenerife Award for the best international project, including a cash prize as well as a travel grant to attend an international market; the Cabildo de Tenerife Award for the project with the most European appeal, which includes an accreditation to attend a European film and/or audiovisual market of the winner’s choosing; the Canary Islands Film Award for the best Canarian project, encompassing a travel grant to attend a market relevant to the sector and with an international scope; the Filmarket Hub Award, which grants access to its online market through an exclusive invitation to exhibit in its catalogue for an unlimited period of time; the Music Library & SFX Award, the winner of which will have a flat rate limited to one instance of free production using music from the firm’s Music Library & SFX catalogues; and the MAFIZ Award, for the Spanish project with the greatest co-production potential, enabling it to participate in the Spanish Copro Forum at MAFIZ 2024, the industry area of the Málaga Film Festival.

Here is the full list of projects:

International section

¡Llama al gerente, por favor! - Hermano Moreira (Portugal)
Producer: Manilha Films

Anticristo - David Herrera (Colombia)
Producer: Farenheit Colombia

Besos robados - Fede Alonso, Luis Arambilet (Spain/Dominican Republic)
Producer: A Poco A Poco Producciones

Black Water - Natxo Leuza (Spain)
Producer: En Buen Sitio Producciones

Bloody Dunes - Andrius Lekavicius (Lithuania) (series)
Producer: Magic Film

Cuarzo - Daniel Ortíz Entrambasaguas (Spain)
Producer: Danidog Films

Decibel - Pablo Agüero (Argentina) (series)
Producer: Mil Monos

El cartero - Andrés Díaz (Mexico)
Producer: Inoxidable Films

Entre libros y vino - Luis Fernando Zubieta (Mexico)
Producer: Gala Producciones

Mangata - Francisca Alegría (Chile) (series)
Producer: Río Estudios

Marte - Víctor Vidangossy (Chile) (series)
Producer: Trapo Films

Mil pedazos - Sergio Castro San Martín (Chile/Germany)
Producer: Latente Films

Tres mujeres. El asesinato de Isabel Carrasco - Manuel Dañino (Spain) (series)
Producer: Reverso Films

Focus Canarias

Eterna - Tommy Llorens (Spain)
Producer: Muak Canarias

Un supermercado en Tigaday - Paula Bilbao Aragón (Spain)
Producer: Amissus Producciones

Tomate - Arima León (Spain)
Producer: La Magua Films

Los Gunchis y la ciudad perdida - Patrick Bencomo Weber (Spain)
Producer: MGC Marketing Producción y Gestión Cultural

CIIF Market Lab

Carta sin destino - Guillermo Cabot (Spain)
Libertad de cátedra - Jeniffer Castañeda (Spain)