Spanish Film Biz Embraces Co-Productions

variety.com:

Emiliano De Pablos Spain’s Cannes presence this year offers testimony to its developing co-production scene, as well as economic concerns driving the search for international partners and the ambitions of a highly cosmopolitan generation of cineastes that is driving art cinema production in Spain.Four Spanish features have made this year’s Cannes cut: Albert Serra’s competition entry “Pacifiction”; Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s “The Beasts,” in Premiere; José Luis López Linares’ Cannes Classics title “Goya, Carriere and the Ghost of Buñuel”; and Directors’ Fortnight contender “El Agua,” by Elena López Riera.All four are international co-productions.

Also at Cannes, a Spanish Producers Network showcase, backed by ICEX Trade and Investment and ICAA Film Institute, will highlight eight potential overseas co-production projects.

Spain’s burgeoning co-pro scene is one reaction to the challenges of its domestic market. Bowing April 29, Carla Simón’s Berlin Golden Bear winner “Alcarràs” has become an event movie, scoring a superb 60,000 tickets sale over its first weekend, nabbing the best average per-print revenues of any Spanish release this year.

Most arthouse movies in Spain sink without a trace, however. So Spain’s indie filmmakers need a second country to make films of any ambition.“Co-production opens up options for bigger budgets, often between $2.64 million and $3.16 million, which is what we should have for indie cinema in Spain, so that the auteurs are not conditioned by financing,” says Alex Lafuente, co-founder of indie production-distribution company Bteam Pictures.Other factors are pushing filmmakers to look abroad.“We’ve been working for years for international visibility, thinking of international collaboration from the.