India and Spain Firm up Industry Relations Ahead of Film Bazaar
Film Bazaar host nation India and Spain are seeking to improve ties in the film and TV industries.
Delegations from both countries last week signed a three-way memorandum intended to boost production and assist filmmakers. The deal was signed by the Producers Guild of India, the Spain Film Commission and Casa de la India.
“The association will help Indian producers – across film, television and digital content – to access the best of equipment, talent, facilities, locations, incentives and government support when shooting in Spain,” said the PGI on Friday.
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The two countries have an audiovisual co-production treaty that was signed in 2012. But the NFDC’s Film Facilitation Office website shows no example of it being used for a feature film. A seminar will be held at Film Bazaar on Monday on the future of Spain-India co-productions.
Adjacent to the MOU, industry delegations sat down to discuss cooperation. The Producers Guild of India delegation was led by president, Shibasish Sarkar and executives from Yash Raj Films, Netflix India, Amazon Studios, Sony Pictures, Luv Films, Applause Entertainment, Abundantia Entertainment, Roy Kapur Films and SOL Productions.
The Spanish delegation was led by Carlos Rosado Cobián (president of the Spain Film Commission) and included Juan Manuel Guimerans (Spain Film Commission); Guillermo Rodriguez (director, Casa de la India), Fernando Victoria de Lecea, president of PROFILM, the Spanish line producers association.
Several of the delegates will attend the NFDC-backed Film Bazaar project market, which runs Nov. 20-24 in Goa. They include Pok Productions Juan Antonio Casado, delegates from the Spain Film Commission, and Casa de la India’s Rodriguez.
Casado is currently in advanced preparations on the Spain-India co-venture film “The Princess of Kapurthala,” to be jointly directed by Michael Radford (“Il Postino”) and Manuel Estudillo.
Rodriguez, founder of Valladolid-based Casa de la India, is an author, scholar and producer with decades of experience specializing in relations between the two cultures. In 2010 he received the González-Sinde Award from the Spanish Film Academy for the promotion of Spanish cinema in India through the Spanish Film Festival. Two years later, he was awarded the Friendship Award by the Indian government’s Minister of External Affairs, for his contribution to Indo-Spanish cultural relations.
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