Madrid goes to Cannes to show its love for cinema

On the fringes of the festival, Film Madrid will hold meetings to promote the region as a filming destination

The Cannes Film Festival – the premier destination for all things cinematic – is currently running until 28 May, and the Region of Madrid is attending it through its Film Madrid agency. The latter is in charge of promoting the Spanish region (the capital city and its surroundings) as a high-quality destination for filmmakers.

More specifically, parallel to the festival, until 25 May, the so-called Film Market (Marche du Film) takes place. It is the most important international meeting of the film industry and one in which the Regional Government of Madrid participates with collaboration from the Municipality of Madrid.

Growing popularity as a film set

At the Market, there is a Spanish pavilion, with the aim of giving support to the companies of the region that attend the event, in addition to promoting the region as a filming location.

During the days of the market, Film Madrid staff, dependent on the Regional Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Sports, will hold various meetings with companies in the sector and, in turn, will provide information on funding subsidies, procedures, activities, training, support companies and filming locations.

The Madrid Regional Government also has several calls for subsidies for the production of feature films, short films, series and video games, with the aim of contributing to the economic and technological development of the industry. This is also seen as a way to promote cultural diversity and support new creators in their work.

These measures amounted to a total of 1,450,000 euros in 2021. Тogether with the investment made in the Madrid Cinematography and Audiovisual School (ECAM) of 1,750,000 euros and other nominative subsidies, the contribution of the regional public coffers to this sector came up to 3,285,000 euros.

Last year, the region of Madrid hosted more than 900 film shoots in almost one hundred municipalities, with the city of Madrid standing out as the main filming location. Madrid was the region in Spain with the highest number of audiovisual productions, accounting for 35% of feature films and 71% of series nationally.

More specifically, a total of 88 feature films, 68 series, 119 short films and more than 400 commercials were shot there last year, according to the yearly review conducted by Film Madrid.