The Canary Islands Fantastic Film Festival Isla Calavera presents the second edition of the Audiovisual Industry Meeting, one of the most outstanding parallel activities of its program, which on this occasion has been developed in compliance with the restrictions due to the pandemic. The event, which was presented by journalist Miguel Ángel Rodríguez Villar and sponsored by the Development Society of the Santa Cruz de Tenerife City Council and the Tenerife Film Commission, was recorded for broadcasting, with the aim of creating opinion and debate on the Canary Islands' capacity to attract audiovisual productions and meet the demands of the sector at the international level.
The Industry Meeting of the Isla Calavera Festival was attended by the Mayor of Santa Cruz de Tenerife José Manuel Bermúdez, the CEO of the Development Society Alfonso Cabello; David Pérez, CEO of Tourism of Tenerife; and the filmmaker Juan Carlos Fresnadillorepresenting the film industry. In addition, the popular actors Imanol Arias and Santiago Segura, the film director Juanma Bajo Ulloa and the Canary Islands actress with international renown Paola Bontempi.
In the words of Alfonso Cabello: "Culture must be one of the basic pillars that will allow us to recover economically and socially. Santa Cruz de Tenerife is the capital of a tourist island; a city with a history linked to a tricontinentality: we are Europe administratively, we are Africa geographically and we have a link with America, and that shapes our character and should allow us to have a differentiated discourse. In the case of culture, it must allow us to define ourselves as a people, make us more attractive, and above all, also allow us to relate to each other".
David Pérez reviewed the trajectory of the Tenerife Film Commission, a department of Tenerife Tourism created in 2000 to encourage audiovisual production on the island by foreign and Spanish companies as well as local ones, and to promote Tenerife as a filming location. "The beginnings were hard, we had to create an ecosystem that did not exist, a series of circumstances that would make it possible for that industry to develop on the island," he recalled, and pointed out as important milestones the production of Intactothe first feature film by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo after the success of the short film Esposadoswhich was nominated for an Oscar Award; and the filming of Fury of Titanswhich "opened the doors of Hollywood and made them look more closely at the Canary Islands and Tenerife as a filming location".
For his part, Fresnadillo, from his professional experience, corroborated that "there is already a very clear perception within the industry of the great virtues of this land". "I have been working with the American industry since 2005 and it has been incredible to see in these 16 years the evolution of this perception. I remember at the beginning, in my conversations with them, talking about the Canary Islands and it was a completely unknown place. Nowadays you mention Tenerife and they immediately talk about the shooting of Rage of the Titans and Fast & Furious, or you talk about the Canary Islands in general and other productions appear".
"A festival like Isla Calavera contributes to make known the uniqueness and strength of this land internationally, to project a consolidated image of Tenerife to the outside world. I believe that the Festival in that sense works by bringing talent from abroad to the island and generates a meeting place between international filmmakers and the local industry, which I consider fundamental and basic when it comes to continuing to implement this image of Tenerife as a meeting place for film and industry," added the filmmaker.
About the Festival de Cine Fantástico de Canarias Isla Calavera (Skull Island Fantastic Film Festival of the Canary Islands)
The Festival de Cine Fantástico de Canarias Isla Calavera is promoted by the Asociación Cultural Charlas de Cine, the Asociación Cultural Isla Calavera, Multicines Tenerife and the specialized publication TumbaAbierta.com, under the direction of Daniel Fumero and Ramón González Trujillo. The organization is already working on the fifth edition of the Festival, to be held in November 2021.
The fourth edition of the Isla Calavera Festival was sponsored by the Government of the Canary Islands, Canarias Cultura en Red, the Department of Culture of the City of La Laguna, the Development Society of the City of Santa Cruz de Tenerife and the Tenerife Film Commission. Coca-Cola participated as the official beverage of the event, which also counted with the collaboration of the Stan Winston School of Character Arts, the University of La Laguna, Fly Luxury, Reel One Entertainment, Juan Antonio Ribas Subtítulos y Ediciones Digitales, Canary Pictures Vehicles, Play Medusa, Applehead Team, Blackout Films, TuBillete.com, Mercado Nuestra Señora de África, Bokanka, Audi Canarias and As Publicidad. Fundación Diario de Avisos, Planet Horror, Televisión Canaria and FlixOlé acted as media partners.
