BERLINALE 2024: The Madrid Film Office has been in Berlin promoting the Spanish capital, which just last year hosted shoots for more than 41 films, 55 TV series and 410 adverts

The shoot for the Netflix series Berlin in Madrid (© Netflix/Carla Oset)

Madrid is a city in which to tell great stories – so goes the claim of the Madrid Film Office, the audiovisual office of Madrid City Council. Exemplifying this is the current status of the city as a production hub for series, films and other audiovisual projects. In the last decade, Madrid has gone from 20 films and 20-30 series shot annually on its streets ten years ago to 40-45 films and 50-70 series in recent years. Just last year, it hosted shoots for more than 41 films, 55 TV series and 410 adverts.

To press on with this work, Madrid Film Office has once again just been present, together with Film Madrid (the office of the Region of Madrid), at the European Film Market of the Berlin Film Festival, with the aim of highlighting the city as a filming destination and promoting the projects developed in the Spanish capital.

“Our objective is to underline all of the opportunities that Madrid offers to the audiovisual industry, not only in terms of filming opportunities, but also as a relevant centre for creative and business activity in the audiovisual sector,” says Raúl Torquemada, director of Madrid Film Office.

The city offers a first-class industry environment with talented and experienced professionals, top service companies and suppliers, and a huge variety of locations in a small territory, which have been used to tell stories about Madrid, but also to recreate stories that take place in other places in the world, such as Berlin, Paris, Mexico, Buenos Aires and Arizona. This has piqued the interest of international production companies and platforms such as Netflix, HBO Max, Prime Video and Disney+, which have established production centres and offices in Madrid for the development of originals such as Berlin (Netflix), the eagerly awaited spin-off of Money Heist; Red Queen (Prime Video), based on best-selling Spanish writer Juan Gómez-Jurado’s thrillers; Vestidas de azul (Atresmedia), the sequel to the award-winning series Veneno [+see also:
series review
series profile]; Maestro (Disney+), directed by renowned Spanish genre filmmaker Paco Plaza ([REC] [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jaume Balagueró, Paco Plaza
interview: Julio Fernández
film profile], Verónica [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Paco Plaza
film profile]); and Custodia compartida, the first series created by Javier Fesser (Champions [+see also:
trailer
film profile], recently remade in Hollywood), which was produced by US production company The Immigrant with the aim of breaking into Spanish-speaking markets on both sides of the Atlantic.

Hildegart, directed by Paula Ortiz for Prime Video, is one of the most eagerly awaited titles among the 41 films shot in the city last year. It is worth noting that at least 15 of them were international co-productions, including Daniela Forever by Nacho Vigalondo (a co-production with Belgium and the USA), The Wailing by Pedro Martín-Calero (see the news) and Adiós Madrid by Diego Corsini (both with Argentina), Escape by Rodrigo Cortés (see the news), Saturn Return [+see also:
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film profile] by Isaki Lacuesta and Volveréis by Jonás Trueba (all three with France), Mientras Cupido no está by Alejandro Aimetta, Sobre las olas by Horacio Alcalá and V de Víctor by Frank Ariza (all with Mexico), Hamburgo by Lino Escalera (see the news) and Goat Girl by Ana Asensio (see the news – both with Romania), and El silencio de Marcos Tremer by Miguel García de la Calera (staged with Uruguay and the Dominican Republic).

Moreover, 16 of the 41 films shot in the city have been able to complete their financing with some of the grants for the audiovisual sector that Madrid City Council offers, including movies such as Políticamente incorrectos by Arantxa Echevarría, Buffet Libre by Zoe Berriatúa, Tu madre o la mía by Chus Gutiérrez (see the news) and El correo by Daniel Calparsoro, which has become a box-office hit in Spain since its theatrical release a few weeks ago. The city also provided the backdrop for projects such as Buscando a Coque by Teresa Vellón and César L Calvillo (see the news), Alumbramiento by Pau Teixidor (see the news) and La mitad de Ana by Marta Nieto (see the news), all of which took part in the Film Academy Residencies, a programme supported by Madrid City Council that provides emerging and professional filmmakers with the resources they need to develop audiovisual projects related to Madrid.

In addition to filming, the city of Madrid is becoming a relevant place for the international industry in terms of sector meetings, content purchases and business opportunities. Annual events such as the Iberseries & Platino Industria market, the next edition of which will take place from 1-4 October in the city, position Madrid as an indisputable bridge between the European and Ibero-American industries. Added to this are forums for the animation and documentary sectors that Madrid Film Office is supporting as part of the Animario and Documenta international festivals, and Madrid Film Office’s afterwork, which brings the sector together at various times each year to exchange experiences, contacts and business opportunities.

“The city of Madrid and its audiovisual sector are enjoying an unparalleled moment on a creative and industrial level, with great international reach, and important business opportunities and project development possibilities for companies from other countries – a situation that Madrid Film Office and Madrid City Council are working to support in order to continue growing together and expand the stories that are told and filmed in Madrid,” concludes Torquemada.