Audiovisual from Spain, operated by Spanish governmental export and investment org ICEX, hosted a short film screening, roundtable discussion and cocktail party at the San Sebastian Festival on Tuesday evening to promote its new screen industry promotion campaign: Spain, Where Talent Ignites.
At the city’s historic Tabakalera culture center, ICEX CEO Elisa Carbonell explained, “This campaign aims to help build an image associated with the country related to transversality, diversity and the richness of its creativity. There is talent in all countries, but not everyone values it equally. Our commitment is to put talent at the top.”
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The centerpiece of the evening’s festivities and the Where Talent Ignites campaign, which will host events at Mipcom, AFM and the Busan festival in the coming weeks, is a short musical fashion film titled “La causa del accidente que provocó el incendio,” which premiered in front of a packed house.
Directed by Lope Serrano Sol and produced by local production outfit Canada, the short includes cameos and contributions from leading Spanish talent, including Karla Sofía Gascón, who this year became the first trans actress to win best actress at Cannes for her work in Jacques Audiard’s “Emilia Pérez”; actor Berta Prieto (“Autodefensa”); European Film Award-nominated and Spanish Academy Goya award-winning actor Bárbara Lennie; Oscar-nominated “Society of the Snow” director JA Bayona; Cannes regular Albert Serra (“Pacifiction”); “Elité” actor Omar Ayuso; and “Money Heist” star Miguel Herranz.
The short is a finely polished seven-minute piece about a young and exceptionally cool director overwhelmed by anxiety after scoring a major gig: shooting a short musical fashion film for Audiovisual from Spain featuring big-name local talent to promote the country’s industry talent. It’s all very meta, but that’s part of the joke and exploited with aplomb in the film.
Featuring top-class visual effects from a team big enough to service a feature, animation from Barcelona’s Brut studio, choreography by La Veronal, illustrations from Ignasi Monresl and performances from leading actors and industry figures, the short delivers humor, horror, drama and catharsis.
Speaking with Variety after the screening, Carbonell explained, “One way to better promote Spanish talent abroad is through projects like this short film, which we will present at events around the world, including the upcoming American Film Market.”
“Spain’s audiovisual sector is very successful right now,” she went on. “But there is a lot of competition and a lot of noise out there, and we wanted to do something different to cut through that noise.”
She admits that the organization’s plan is a gamble but is confident it will pay off. She insists that without risk, reward is unlikely in such a crowded marketplace.
One reason for her confidence is the overwhelming popularity of Spanish titles with global audiences on the biggest streaming platforms. Speaking in San Sebastian on Sunday, Netflix Spain head of fiction Verónica Fernández reminded a packed industry audience that four of the 10 most watched non-English films ever on Netflix are from Spain. In a viewership data dump last week, the company also revealed that from January to June 2024, three of the 15 most-watched titles in the world were from Spain. The country led the way in non-English hits, having overtaken Korea.
In July, Prime Video revealed that in the first half of 2024, “Reina Roja” featured in the platform’s Top 10 most-watched titles internationally at launch, and Domingo González’s 2023 film “Culpa Mia” was still the most-watched international film in Prime Video’s history globally. Prime’s “La virgen roja” (aka “Hildegart “) from director Paula Ortiz who participated in a roundtable discussion at the Where Talent Ignites event – debuted in San Sebastian to an incredible reception on Sunday evening.
Another reason ICEX is confident about global sentiment towards Spain’s audiovisual sector is a desire among foreign producers to work with Spanish companies. According to the organization, in 2022, 2023 and 2024, Spanish screen industry companies have exceeded 2,000 business involvements across more than 130 global productions.
According to ICEX, while the number of business interactions is impressive, it does come with the caveat that Spanish companies need to be better promoted to spread their work across a greater number of productions. That said, things are certainly trending in the right direction.
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