29/06/2010

There is less and less money for filmmaking in Spain. In the space of just a few months, various factors – the widespread crisis that has hit the overall economy and cinema in particular, the likely cuts to regional and state public funding, the reduction in compulsory investment by television companies and the scourge of piracy, which has destroyed entire exhibition windows like domestic video – have badly affected the sector financially.

It is therefore necessary to find new channels of financing and, as many professionals agreed at the 5th Madrid de Cine – Spanish Film Screenings (see news), the most attractive source are private investors, to whom the film sector opened its doors with the Law of 2007.

Two people are certain about this: ICAA director general Ignasi Guardans, for whom it is “a priority, almost an obsession”, and Gonzalo Salazar-Simpson, president of the newly-founded AEC (see news). The latter is aware that the integration of private investors, which is necessary in a sector deprived of traditional exhibition windows, “will change the structure of production, as they will demand a series of things that had not been asked for up to now”.

On account of the fact this system of financing is practically unknown in Spain, there is much to be done. Guardans’s efforts are focused on “creating security and trying to clarify the legal framework”, although without forgetting that “in order to have people who give, you must have people who receive” – here he refers to the fact that Spanish producers “are not accustomed to offering the conditions of professionalism, transparency and rigour necessary to receive these investments”.

Salazar-Simpson is clear on the matter: “We must offer investors profitability. They’re going to demand viable exhibition plans and this can be obtained through the two most important windows that remain: the box office and the international market”, especially the latter, which is “one of the keys to the way films will be produced in the future”.

Guardans admits that the Spanish tax system “is not one of the best in Europe, but it has more advantages than those currently being exploited”. Salazar-Simpson is not worried about this issue; he believes that “investors aren’t concerned about the regulatory framework, as long as you explain and show them that the project is potentially profitable”. However, a crisis situation, “where there is more pressure on subsidies, makes the use of fiscal incentives more attractive and logical”, commented Guardans.

(Translated from Spanish)