13/06/2011

Pedro Pérez (president of FAPAE producers association) and Carlos Cuadros (director general of the Film Academy) yesterday opened the sixth edition of Madrid de Cine along with the event’s patron, Oscar-winning director Fernando Trueba.

The event’s main aim is to promote sales of Spanish films abroad, although without leaving aside their cultural significance, for according to Cuadros, “cinema is the best tool we have for selling our country’s image".

Despite being held just after the Cannes Film Market, the sector’s main event, Madrid de Cine is an ideal setting for producers and Spanish sellers, who have the opportunity to show their products and negotiate possible deals with 75 buyers from 29 different countries.

Standing out among the new titles to be presented to buyers are trailers for four eagerly-awaited features: AntonioTrashorras’s Blind Alley, Vicente Villanueva’s The Opposite of Love, Xavier Villaverde’s The Sex of Angels, and Roberto Santiago’s Ivan’s Dream.

Moreover, professionals invited to the event will get a chance to see some of the most interesting recent productions, some of which have yet to be released in Spain, including Blackthorn by Mateo Gil, Sleep Tight by Jaume Balagueró,No Rest For The Wicked by Enrique Urbizu and Verbo by Eduardo Chapero Jackson.

Madrid de Cine, the leading event dedicated to the internationalisation of Spanish cinema, will also hold talks and debates about co-production opportunities.

Madrid de Cine is organised by FAPAE with backing from state institutions like the ICAA (Film and Audiovisual Arts Institute) and ICEX (Institute for Foreign Trade); local bodies like the Madrid Regional Authorities, PromoMadrid, Madrid City Council, Madrid Film Commission and the Madrid Chamber of Commerce; and sector-based organisations like EGEDA (Audiovisual Producers’ Rights Management Association).

(Translated from Spanish)