Pedro Perez: "A new law in early 2007"

by Camillo de Marco

22/06/2006 - "In terms of creativity, this is a wonderful period, but we need new rules for tax relief, to unify the audiovisual sectors through a single agency, to stem the domination of US distribution", said Pedro Perez, president of the Federation of Spanish Audiovisual Producers Associations (FAPAE), who met with the foreign press in Madrid during a presentation of recent Spanish films.

"It"s absurd," continued Prerez, "that Volver [trailer, film focus], one of our biggest successes, is being distributed by a US studio. Together will all the parts of the film industry, we have prepared a new law that the government should approve in early 2007. I’m optimistic, during his electoral campaign, Zapatero called cinema a strategic sector. And he has a lot of friends in the industry, towards whom he has already made personal commitments".

Is the explosion of creativity, with films that take on themes like gay marriage (Reinas [trailer]), artificial insemination (Semen [trailer, film focus], see our Focus), religion (Cosas que hacen que la vida valga la pena), globalization and temporary employment (El Metodo), social marginalization (El penalti mas largo del mundo ), a result of the "Zapatero era"? According to Perez, current politics "reflect a ferment in Spanish society that is due to cinema and depicting this society".

The Spanish, in the meantime, are enjoying the economic results abroad. "Business volume has recently grown from €60m to €90m", said Angel Martin Aceves, vice president of the Foreign Commerce Institute. "And it is all the more important that we spread a culture, language and image of our country through cinema".

(Translated from Italian)