Illuminating the benefits of creating films in Basque country

If you were at the San Sebastian International Film Festival, then you know. If you were walking around the designed Frank Gehry, the Guggenheim Museum with titans on the former Nergión River Industrial bank in Bilbau, you know. If you were daring to Pintxos or had a luxury of a dining room at one of Michelin’s Michelin restaurants in the region, you know.

The Basque country is unique. This northern autonomous community of Spain is sophisticated, innovative and successful – and its film sector is not different. Now the region consolidates its efforts in the achievement and support in the new initiative called the Basque County film, which will be launched on Berlinale on February 16th.

“A movie Basque is an initiative that Basque County positions as the best destination for audiovisual production,” says Ruth Aristondo, the film’s head of Basque County (FBC). The organization, which also triggers the site on February 16, will promote the territory as a whole. “This is key because now we will have a platform that offers a unique window for those interested in recording in Basque.”

The project, which Aristonda says, has been over 10 years, coincides with a recent increase in stimulus – tax reliefs up to 60 to 70 percent (more about it later) – and increased interest in recording in the region. “The project that has been in so many years is now coming out to light at a time when the industry is demand and the need to show (this) Basque country.”

As a centralized platform, FBC will offer basic information such as locations details, competitive incentives for tax, access to a qualified local talent, unique culture and language of Basque and its diverse natural landscapes and historical architecture. “Everything is designed to ensure a smooth production process and offers a combination of creative inspiration and practical advantages,” Aristond says.

FBC also aims to encourage international cooperation and support local companies to position them in global markets, working with the Basque Audiovisual, existing brand that supports Basque professionals in international markets and promotes co -productions and distribution of Basque projects.

“Not only does the Basque country offer competitive incentives, but also a small environment of great versatility, professionalism and talent, where creativity, efficiency and constant support to the sector are combined to make any audiovisual project reality,” says Aristondo.

The “institutional commitment to the industry” is key, she adds, promises “friendly and affordable local administrations and institutions, which support and help productions to ensure that the shooting result is effective and without problems, from pre -production to cracking and post -production.”

Basque Country offers some of the most concise tax reliefs in Europe and the largest in Spain: up to 60 percent of the feature films, short films, series and documentary films, fiction or animation, spending more than 50 percent locally. Defensions can be increased by an additional 10 percent on projects that meet certain certain criteria. After the incentives were introduced, Bilbao and the surrounding Provinces of Bizkaia reported a 140 percent increase in featuring feature film and 40 percent in a row of 2023, and an economic return more than four times the previous year.

“I think the Basque Tax Incenium, which somehow revolutionized the Spanish industry, is a very attractive endeavor because it is a very high tax rate,” says Alvaro Longoria, producer, director and co -founder Morena Filjs, who made the dream of the new film by director Julio Medema Julio Medema Who,, 8and part of Agustine Macri’s Coal failure In Basque last year, approaching the tax loan on both.

“They were very proactive in achieving crews and studios and facilities as soon as possible, which made a lot of films be made there,” Longoria adds. Local providers and talents have more stable work and gain experience in larger and more complex editions, although the crews are still often brought from somewhere in Spain or Europe.

“There will be a lot of professionals in a few years,” says veterans production manager, assistant director and producer José Luis Escolar, who recently founded a production company based in Bilbaou Gurutze Kale to use local incentives. His company shot a co -produced series of Spanish Swiss In the open sea To a large extent in Bilba’s port last year. Escolar adds that the housing and salaries in Spain are still relatively low “for the quality you get.”

“The incentives relate to national and international production and are designed to stimulate not only major productions, but also smaller projects that create economic and cultural influence in the region,” says Aristondo, adding that one of the great advantages of the tax system in the Basque country is Its transparency: “The Provincial Council offers a direct and clear approach to these benefits, in addition to having a (geographical) close administration, which he uses to manufacturers in their financing process.”

When Woody Allen shot Rifkin’s festival In San Sebastian (and elsewhere in the Basque country) in the summer of 2019, it is a little surprise for the locals. “He has been several times, and he has always said that he will make a movie in San Sebastian, that it is a beautiful city,” recalls José Luis Rebordinos, director of the San Sebastian International Film Festival (SSiff). A romantic comedy – which includes SSiff in its story – was the festival an introductory movie about the night of next year.

Now the walking tour of “Woody Allena San Sebastian” can find online. Likewise, interactive maps and excursions from the entire Basque country are referred to the locations of a distinctive global audience, from the San Juan de Gaztelugatxe desert (aka aka Game of Thrones‘Dragonstone) to the modern Bilbaa buildings seen in the recent Netflix series Intimacy. And there is the memory of James Bond Pierce Brosnan who performed the window in front of Guggenheim in 1999 The world is not enough.

“You can do anything” in the Basque country, says Escolar. “You can surely make a lot of European cities in Bilbau or San Sebastian or Vitoria. There are corners in Bilbau where you can work Vienna, you can do Paris. And the landscapes are amazing.”

Ignacio Corrales, GM from Buendía Studio, which fired in a thriller No cover In Bizkaia last year and Mexican telenovela Angela There in 2023, he says that the Basque country has a huge landscape value, with diversity that allows films in extremely different periods and settings. “For example, Angela is a contemporary thriller that takes place in design urban environments, luxury housing, coasts and mountains, while No cover It takes place in the Middle Ages, in a medieval castle. Bizkaia is a huge set in which, within a one -hour radius, you can find spectacular urban and natural landscapes, which greatly facilitates logistics and optimization of the budget. “

Aristond adds: “Recording in the Basque country is not only in the exploitation of a place with incredible practical advantages, but also the immersion in the environment that improves creativity, optimizes processes and offers a positive experience for any production team to return to the region.”

In a report published in January by Fundación Contemporáne Culture, Basque was named the third most respected region in Spain (behind Madrid and Catalonia) for “The Quality and Innovation of his Cultural offer”, and SSiff was the third third most important cultural event of 2024. , after the Prado Museum and the Reina Sofia Museum, both based in Madrid. Guggenheim was fourth.

“The support of the Basque government in the Basque cinema in recent years has been great and very intelligent,” says Ssiff Rebordinos Director. “I am 63 years old and have been working in China as a programmer of my 27 years, and I dare say that I have never seen such a good time for the Spanish cinema in general, in terms of quantity and diversity, and especially in the Basque cinema.”

Rebordinos emphasizes that there was at least one Basque movie in the official selection of the festival every year since the 2014 premiere in the drama competition Flowers (Flowers), from director Jon Garaño and Jose Mari Goenag, who became the first movie of Basque to represent Spain for the best international Oscar.

The festival aims to support the Basque cinema. “The Basque cinema is increasingly producing quality productions that give us the opportunity to program them with an international character,” says Rebordinos. “At the same level, as the most important Spanish productions are.”

Provordinos adds that the Basque directors left the Basque country from before the generation to make their films. Today, they say, they remain: “For several years, all the cinema sectors have been working together – Basque television, the Basque government, a production company – we all work together in the same direction.”