“Black Water” awarded at CIIF Market Santa Cruz de Tenerife, a novel event

MARKET EVENTS | PRODUCTION | EVENTS

Black Water

Un Supermercado en Tigaday

El Cartero

At the 19th edition of the Canary Islands International Film Market, the documentary feature film in development by En Buen Sitio Producciones (Spain), directed by Natxo Leuza, produced by Jokin Pascual, receives the first prize for best international project.

More than 500 meetings between creatives, producers, distributors, sales agents, television channels, and national and international investors, to encourage co-production and financing for fiction feature film projects, documentaries, and television series for the global market.

In the closing ceremony and awards ceremony of the 19th edition of CIIF Market (Canary Islands International Film Market), the event from June 12 to 16 in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, positioned itself as an important cinematographic and audiovisual market, serving as a meeting point for creatives, producers, distributors, sales agents, television channels and national and international investors, with the aim of promoting co-production and seeking financing for fiction feature film projects, documentaries and television series for the global market .

In this edition, 17 projects under development with at least 20% financing already secured were presented. These projects came from nine countries: Germany, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Spain, Lithuania, Mexico, Portugal, and the Dominican Republic. The projects included 10 fiction feature films, 1 documentary feature film, 1 docu-fiction feature film and 5 fiction series,

The participants had personalized meetings and other networking activities, as well as panels and conferences to discuss current events in film and audiovisual creation with leading executives from the sector.

The emerging talents of the CIIF Market Lab, carried out in collaboration with the SGAE Foundation, have maintained a program of training activities with online workshops on techniques and tools for pitching, marketing strategies and individual tutorials for the presentation of their scripts. They have had the opportunity to meet with professionals for advice and consultancy sessions.

All of them have been evaluated and advised by important industry players, host companies and experts, such as A Contracorriente Films, Agencia La Luz, Álamo Producciones, Atresmedia Cine, Autentika Films, Begin Again Films, Bendita Film Sales, Buendía Estudios, El Viaje Films, Filmax, Latido Films, Promenades Films, RTVC – Radio Televisión Canaria, RTVE, Scenic Rights, Secuoya Studios, Warner Bros Discovery and Zul Filmes.

CIIF Market Awards 2023

Canary Islands International Film Market has awarded several prizes to promote the development of the participating projects and their promotion abroad: CIIF Market Santa Cruz de Tenerife Award for the best international project, consisting of a cash prize and a travel bag to attend an international market of their choice, which went to “Black Water” (Spain), a documentary feature film directed by Natxo Leuza and Produced by En Buen Sitio Producciones. With Jokin Pascual as producer and Marga Gutiérrez as production director.

Other winners are the Cabildo de Tenerife Award for the project with the greatest European scope, with free accreditation to attend a European cinematographic and/or audiovisual market. Awarded to “El cartero” (Mexico), a feature film directed, produced and with a script by Andrés Díaz (Inoxidable Films).

MAFIZ Award (Málaga Festival Industry Zone), awarded two prizes: to the national project and Latin American project with the greatest co-production potential, which will obtain premium access to all the exclusive activities of the industry area of the Malaga Festival 2024, as well as its own activities of the festival.

The Spanish project that won the MAFIZ Award was “Stolen Kisses” (Spain, Dominican Republic), a comedy by A Poco a Poco Producciones, directed by Federico Alonso and Luis Arambilet. With production and script also by Federio Alonso and Juan Miguel Botía.

The Music Library & SFX Award offers a flat rate limited to one free production, which allows the synchronization of production music from the Music Library & SFX catalogs into the project content, through its music supervision division 360º Acorde. Awarded for “Call Manager Please!” (Portugal), comedy by Hermano Moreira and produced by Bruno Contin (Manilha Filmes).

Filmarket Hub Award grants both a series and a feature film, access to its online market, through an exclusive invitation to exhibit in its catalog for an unlimited time, within the curated industry area, including a script analysis of the same.

The winning series was “Decibel” (Argentina), a thriller directed by Pablo Agüero and produced by Mil Monos. Project created by Nicolás Britos and written by Nicolás Britos and Maximiliano Monzón.

The award-winning feature film was “Tomate” (Spain – Canary Islands), a social drama directed by Arima León and produced by Eric Ceballos (La Magua Films).

Guillermo Rios, CIIF Market 2023

The director of CIIF Market, Guillermo Ríos, closed this edition after the awards ceremony, once again highlighting the success of the market. And, he said that next year the most special edition will be held, since CIIF Market will celebrate its 20th anniversary. Without a doubt, it will be an outstanding milestone in the trajectory of this veteran international market of reference in the Canary Islands.

HARD DATA in the Canary Islands

Cinematographic and audiovisual production left nearly 224 million euros in the Canary Islands in 2022, with 164 shootings, including films, series, documentaries, shorts and animation, and 15,300 direct contracts to technical and artistic professionals from the islands, a figure that almost doubles the employment generated in the sector the previous year and which represents growth above the percentage increase in the tourism sector last year compared to 2021, according to data provided by Canary Islands Film and PROEXCA. The increasing presence of audiovisual companies that help to consolidate the industry in the archipelago as strategic, as well as the talent of Canarias professionals and tax incentives make the Canary Islands one of the most attractive and reference places for audiovisual productions from all over the world.