The First International Conference 'Madrid Plató' kicks off the plan to promote cinema in Madrid

Professionals and institutions from the film and audiovisual sector, both local, national and international, will meet on November 14 at this meeting that will address the current filming policy in Madrid, the measures to encourage them and the economic impact of this activity.

The I International Conference Madrid Plató: Filming in Madrid will bring together national and international experts from the sector on November 14.

The meeting, organized by the Culture and Sports Area and the Madrid Business Forum, in collaboration with the Madrid Audiovisual Association, is part of the Madrid City Council's plan to promote cinema and audiovisual. A plan that will see its budget triple in 2017 to reach 1.2 million euros.

The first specific activity within this plan is the celebration of this day Madrid Plato which will be attended by representatives of renowned filming offices such as the City of Toronto, a city that has become a reference in filming in North America, taking over from cities such as New York, or Film London, one of the most prestigious in Europe. Likewise, Filming Europe, Spain Film Commission, Film Madrid, ICEX, APPA, CIMA and APCP have confirmed their presence.

The program will be structured around four round tables that will address the following topics: analysis of the current model of filming policy in Madrid, measures to attract more filming to the city, economic impact, and municipal actions to increase this activity.

In that sense, almost 10,000 film, television and advertising shoots were carried out in the city of Madrid in 2015. However, as the Councilor for Culture Celia Mayer pointed out during the design of the plans to promote cinema and audiovisuals in Madrid, "although this figure is important, the relationship between Madrid with cinema and cinema with Madrid must be strengthened even more and one of the keys is to speed up the possibility of filming in our city. We are very aware of this and that is one of the lines of work that the plans for cinema and audiovisual are going to launch.”

Plan to promote cinema

To bring the city's relationship with cinema closer, the Culture and Sports Area has designed a strategy that focuses on four axes of action, including the promotion of festivals, a chapter in which the commitment to a greater projection of Documenta Madrid stands out, which will be reinforced and expanded thanks to a 30 percent more budget.

Also included is the launch of a specific Film Office of the City Council, which facilitates dialogue and processing with national and international production companies that want the capital as the setting for their films or advertising works, and the strengthening of Cineteca Madrid as a privileged place for exhibition and also as a vehicle to bring the seventh art to all the neighborhoods of the city.

Increasing local production is another of the municipal bets. To this end, municipal spaces and resources will be provided for new creators; The creation of local networks of audiovisual initiatives will be stimulated and this type of productions will be institutionally supported.

The renowned filmmaker Lola Salvador, National Cinematography Award winner, winner of a Goya and Gold Medal for Merit in Fine Arts, is the person who heads the implementation of these projects. Salvador will also be one of the guests at the First International Conference Madrid Plató: Filming in Madrid which will take place at Cineteca.