4.14.2006
4.2. The cases: Spain and Colombia
- Both have a history of supportive film policy implementations but using different instruments.
- Colombia is still trying to build an “industry” – as opposed to singular and sporadic film projects, while Spain already has an industrial structure that in 2002 produced 114 domestic films (not including co-productions) and growing 170% in the number of domestic productions since 1990 (Alvarez Monzoncillo, 2003). Colombia, on the other hand, has had an average of productions and co-productions of 3 films per year in the period 1990-2002 (Cuadernos de Cine Colombiano, 2003: 54-55).
- By 1995 Spain was disputing with Italy the second spot as the largest producer of films after France in the EU (Jackel, 1998: 148) and was recognized as an international film player, with a strong (and awarded) domestic production and above-the-line talent exports to Hollywood. The platform for this growth, especially in creative terms, was built after the end of the Franco regime in 1975 and through the “after-dictatorship” creative explosion of the 1980’s. More to the South, and across the Atlantic, Colombia is still struggling to get its film industry into a path of growth, but with a solid audiovisual infrastructure waiting to get ignited and diversified into film from the fields of advertising and television.
It is in these differences and commonalties, in each country’s history, that a rich and diverse set of contextual elements and of successful and failed film policies, film industry efforts, and structural challenges can be found and explored in order to understand the inner workings of these two different National Film Industries and of film industries in general.
Follow to the Next Section
.
This project will gather and analyze evidence from two case studies: the film sectors in Spain and Colombia. Four main units of analysis will be covered within each sector:
- The size of the industry in terms of the amount of films produced and the production budgets used.
- The types of films produced in terms of the markets they cover and the financing sources they have access to.
- The government legislation shaping film industry policies and strategies in each country.
- The opinions of film industry professionals and film policymakers on the situation of the industry.
The Colombian and Spaniard nation-states were not chosen randomly as case studies for this research. Nevertheless, there are certain operational characteristics, beyond my personal interest in the National Film Industry of my country and that of its former colonizer, that make them suitable candidates for study. Although both countries share the same language and an important part of their national histories, they offer two contrasting film industries:
- Both film sectors compete against Hollywood product, but Spain has a far more developed National Film Industry than Colombia.
This project will gather and analyze evidence from two case studies: the film sectors in Spain and Colombia. Four main units of analysis will be covered within each sector:
- The size of the industry in terms of the amount of films produced and the production budgets used.
- The types of films produced in terms of the markets they cover and the financing sources they have access to.
- The government legislation shaping film industry policies and strategies in each country.
- The opinions of film industry professionals and film policymakers on the situation of the industry.
The Colombian and Spaniard nation-states were not chosen randomly as case studies for this research. Nevertheless, there are certain operational characteristics, beyond my personal interest in the National Film Industry of my country and that of its former colonizer, that make them suitable candidates for study. Although both countries share the same language and an important part of their national histories, they offer two contrasting film industries:
- Both film sectors compete against Hollywood product, but Spain has a far more developed National Film Industry than Colombia.
- Both have a history of supportive film policy implementations but using different instruments.
- Colombia is still trying to build an “industry” – as opposed to singular and sporadic film projects, while Spain already has an industrial structure that in 2002 produced 114 domestic films (not including co-productions) and growing 170% in the number of domestic productions since 1990 (Alvarez Monzoncillo, 2003). Colombia, on the other hand, has had an average of productions and co-productions of 3 films per year in the period 1990-2002 (Cuadernos de Cine Colombiano, 2003: 54-55).
- By 1995 Spain was disputing with Italy the second spot as the largest producer of films after France in the EU (Jackel, 1998: 148) and was recognized as an international film player, with a strong (and awarded) domestic production and above-the-line talent exports to Hollywood. The platform for this growth, especially in creative terms, was built after the end of the Franco regime in 1975 and through the “after-dictatorship” creative explosion of the 1980’s. More to the South, and across the Atlantic, Colombia is still struggling to get its film industry into a path of growth, but with a solid audiovisual infrastructure waiting to get ignited and diversified into film from the fields of advertising and television.
It is in these differences and commonalties, in each country’s history, that a rich and diverse set of contextual elements and of successful and failed film policies, film industry efforts, and structural challenges can be found and explored in order to understand the inner workings of these two different National Film Industries and of film industries in general.
Follow to the Next Section
.
¶ 9:21 PM
