Canaries.- The Canary Islands is part of the island delegation represented by Canary Islands Film, along with Proexca as well as the Film Commission of Tenerife and Gran Canaria, which participate in the MIFA, the world’s most prominent animation film market, which is being developed in parallel to Annecy’s International Antimation Film Festival, in France, the reference awards for this sector, in which over 200 films are competing this year. In this environment, from today, Tuesday 12 and for 4 days, the professionals from 74 countries will have more than 1,600 square metres to establish links and enhance the animation industry. The Canaries, specifically, has prepared an agenda with more than 30 meetings with international producers interested in knowing the advantages offered by the islands.
One of the new features this year is that they will accompany the group four producers that have been invited by the Regional Government to attend this outstanding market. This invitation is the result of an initiative recently launched to support those producers from the islands that currently have a project ready for internationalisation in an advanced phase.
These companies are Ánima, Perruncho Studio, Tomavision and Windlanders Studio, consolidated in the Canary Islands for years, along with others also coming from the islands, which are going on their own account in the search for co-producers, distribution or sales: 3 Double Productions, Mondo TV Canaries, La Casa Animada, Salero Animation Studio and B Water Studios.
Canary Islands Film, the stamp that represents the public and private entities that work together to attract audiovisual productions to the Islands, will be present this week for the second consecutive year in MIFA, the world’s most prominent animation film market. It is worth noting that the Canary Islands is currently among the three most attractive places in Europe in the animation sector thanks to their tax incentives and their technological commitment, attracting a growing number of specialized companies from different parts of the world that have been gradually installed in our territory.
Currently, thanks to these incentives, there are more than 10 animation film companies in the Canary Islands, which generate an average of 200 jobs. The multiple productions made in the islands in recent years in this sector include, among others, the television series ‘Cleo & Cuquín’ (modern version of the Telerín Family), from the Anima Estudios y Anima producers, released in January 2018; ‘Emma & Gooro’, of Tomavision and which is already going for its second season; ‘Crayons, let’s play!’, of B Water Studios , ‘Invention Story’, of Mondo TV, ‘The Steam Engines of Oz’, of 3 Doubles, all from 2017, or the many times awarded ‘Rupestre’, of Perruncho Studio (2015).
In addition, MIFA is being developed in parallel with Annecy’s International Antimation Film Festival in France, the reference competition for this sector, in which this year more than 200 films compete. In this environment, from tomorrow, Tuesday 12 and for 4 days, the professionals from 74 countries will have more than 1,600 square metres to establish links and enhance the animation industry. The Canaries, specifically, has prepared an agenda with more than 30 meetings with international producers interested in knowing the advantages offered by the islands.
The Potential of the Canary Islands
Another example of the boom in the animation film in the Canary Islands is the creation of the Quirino Awards that recently gathered in Tenerife more than 250 professionals from this sector in the Iberoamerican area (Latin America, Spain and Portugal), an event where, in addition to giving the awards for its first edition, included a Co-production Forum and the International Animation Congress.
On the basis of this, the Canary Islands Agenda in MIFA also has the presentation of the Quirino Awards for its second edition in 2019, in addition to the event organized by the Tenerife Film Commission under the title ‘Tenerife Soirée’
Another of the recent milestones relating to this sector has been the celebration in Gran Canaria of the Cartoon Business, an international event that was attended by about 100 professionals from more than twenty nationalities.
Attending the MIFA is within the framework of a timetable that the Government has agreed with all the entities that are part of the Canary Islands Film label and which plans to attend this year a total of 14 fairs and markets linked to audiovisual production.