17 projects from 8 countries will participate in the Canary Islands International Film Market

Four Spanish projects in development, one Italian and seven from six Latin American countries (Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Chile, Mexico and Peru) have been selected in this edition.

This Wednesday, the Santa Cruz de Tenerife City Council hosted the presentation of the XVI edition of Canary Islands International Film Market, which will be held from October 8 to 12 in the capital of Tenerife.

At the event, where the participants of CIIF Market 2019, as well as the activities that will be held throughout the market, Laureano Pérez Rodríguez, director of Economic Promotion of the Government of the Canary Islands, participated; Patricia Hernández Gutiérrez, mayor of Santa Cruz de Tenerife; Matilde Zambudio, first deputy mayor and councilor for Economic Promotion, Culture, Tourism and Historical Heritage of the Santa Cruz de Tenerife City Council; and Guillermo Ríos Bordón, director of CIIF Market.

CIIF Market 2019, whose official headquarters will be the Iberostar Grand Hotel Mencey, will bring together production companies, television channels, distributors, as well as other industry agents, with the aim of contributing to its development and becoming a meeting point and business space to explore new avenues of financing and promote the co-production of projects aimed at the European and international market.

Likewise, with a view to continuing to expand actions and stimulate cinematographic and audiovisual creation, CIIF Market wanted this year to give a new boost to the market by inviting Canarian literary works with the opportunity to be presented and evaluated for their possible adaptation to different screens.

In order to provide each project with the necessary attention and space, the number of projects invited to participate is limited to a certain number, which has been expanded compared to the last edition due to the high number of registrations received, as indicated by the director of CIIF Market.

In total there have been selected 17 cinematographic and audiovisual projects. Of all the projects received, 4 Spanish, 1 Italian and 7 from Latin American countries have been selected: Argentina (2), Bolivia, Colombia, Chile, Mexico and Peru.

All of them show a great variety in the formats and genres selected, since there are feature-length fiction projects of comedy, drama, thriller, film noir, urban western and television series, achieving the greatest possible diversity and representation.

The main selection criteria have been the quality of the projects, their diversity and viability, the financing plan, the evolution of the script, its international vocation and the talent of the directors or producers, so an attempt has been made to find a balance between projects that may be more commercial and others with greater creative risk.

In this sense, Guillermo Ríos wanted to show his satisfaction and gratitude to all the professionals who have applied to participate in this edition, since more than 80 film projects from 15 countries and 25 Canarian literary works have arrived. "This year we are in luck, we have received more than 100 registrations, so it is a great symptom of the growth of the market. We have selected up to 17 projects for this edition and next year it is our goal that the number of participants will increase," said the director of CIIF Market.

Laureano Pérez has indicated that "one of our policies is the operational strategy of internationalization and to support audiovisual productions we must take into account the advantages that the Canary Islands offer, such as deductions in corporate tax, with a differential compared to the peninsula of 20 points, as well as other lines of support and a series of instruments that can boost the audiovisual industry on the islands."

The director of Economic Promotion of the Government of the Canary Islands has stressed "taking advantage of the international visibility of CIIF Market to promote the attraction of projects, both in terms of the advantages in terms of economic and tax incentives, as well as in the unbeatable locations of the Canary Islands as a destination for investments in this sector."

The mayor of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, for her part, highlighted that "the creation of this international market is a form of entrepreneurship and diversification of the economy and is fully part of our commitment to culture and promoting talent, especially that of the youngest."

“We are very happy to celebrate the new CIIF Market and that it is growing year after year, and for this it has the support of the Santa Cruz de Tenerife City Council and of course, the entire city,” continued Patricia Hernández.

For Matilde Zambudio, Canary Islands International Film Market "is a very important event for Santa Cruz, because professionals from the audiovisual industry will meet, forming a great network, which we, as an institution, have the obligation to continue supporting, because the impact it has on an economic level is very notable, and therefore, we will be there from the City Council."

Within the Focus Canarias section, 5 Canarian projects will attend the market: Glass (Kikazaru Films); Vampire Holocaust 2 (The Invisible Man Films); Imperceptible (Glow Films Entertainment); I turn Copernican (JR Productions); and 2024: World War II (Ikarus Media)

As for the literary works, seven have been chosen, considered to have the greatest potential to be adapted to film and television screens or platforms, also from various genres ranging from fantasy to drama, through adventure, intrigue, romance, family, and much more, aimed at different audiences (children, youth and adults): In search of the Kola treasure, by the writer Edna López; on the blue line, by the author Luis García Rebollo; The house of panic, by Carlos Guillermo Domínguez; indiana, by Jorge Hernández; The fairy tale store, by Sarah Maher; The sins of the baroness, by Texy Cruz; and Black John, by Francisco Estupiñán.

Scheduled activities

Participants will have pitching days y una agenda de reuniones con posibles inversores, canales de televisión, distribuidoras, agentes de ventas y empresas receptoras de los proyectos, entre los que se encuentran Televisión Pública de Canarias (RTVC), Canary Islands Connection, Tenerife Film Commission, Clúster Audiovisual de Canarias, Filmax, Latido Films, Danidog Films, Imval Producciones, El Viaje Films, Filmarket Hub, Macaronesia Films, Music Library & SFX, Scenic Rights, Volcano Films y Zeta Studios.

In a non-face-to-face manner, Atresmedia Cine and Movistar for Latin America will also receive the film and television series projects, respectively, selected in the market.

On the other hand, several conferences and colloquiums for all attendees and interested professionals, such as the adaptation workshop From Literature to Cinema, which will have the collaboration of Sydney Borjas, general director of the Scenic Rights agency, who has held prominent institutional positions related to Latin America, including as head of projects for the digitalization of the audiovisual sector of the Ibermedia Program and has participated in more than 60 international co-productions throughout his career.

He will be accompanied on the panel by Gervasio Iglesias, from Zeta Studios, a producer with an extensive career in films such as The minimum island, 7 virgins, Group 7 or more recently The man of a thousand faces and the television series for Movistar+ To Fish.

In addition, Gemma Pascual, Director of Film Project Development at Filmax, will teach the masterclass I have a script, and now what do I do?, in which he will talk about how to publicize the project and keys to presenting a project to the industry.

Likewise, a Meeting of the Canary Islands audiovisual sector with market participants is planned, which will be attended by institutions and organizations under the promotional brand Canary Islands Film, which will be joined by other regional companies to make themselves known to all those invited to the sessions.

Selected projects

• The year of dirty memory, by Reverso Films (Spain)
• Time of silence, by La Dalia Films (Spain)
• the thousand lives, from Meridional Producciones (Spain)
• poor devil, de Los Hermanos Polo & Japónica Films (España)
• Murder at low tide, de Teleaut Produzioni (Italy)
• Disconnected, from UN3TV (Argentina)
• The Preacher, from Pennsylvania Films (Argentina)
• The dog in the year of the dog, by Abubaya Productions (Bolivia)
• son of tiger, from Los Notarios (Colombia)
• My name is Casablanca, by M Films Producciones (Mexico)
• Schafer is looking for, by Grita media (Chile)
• Curfew, de Alquette Producciones & FM (Perú)