Epicenter

Castilla-La Mancha once again becomes this month the national and international epicenter of the audiovisual entertainment industry with the celebration of the VII edition of ‘Conecta Fiction & Entertainment’ (‘Connect F&E’), a professional meeting that annually brings together more than 700 professionals from more than 30 countries and that contributes to consolidating the region as a film destination.

This has been assessed by the Minister of Economy, Business and Employment, Patricia Francoduring the presentation of this seventh edition, where he pointed out that the Castilla-La Mancha Film Commission will once again play a proactive role in the meeting, holding meetings with industry professionals to continue expanding the impact of its work.

The presentation of this new edition of ‘Conecta F&E’ was held at the Cultural Institute of Mexico in Madrid, coinciding with the selection, by the organization, of Mexico and Poland as ‘focus’ countries for this year. During the act, the counselor assessed the positive impact of the previous meeting held in Toledo and in Castilla-La Mancha, recalling that the organization registered more than 4,000 professional meetings and counted 728 accredited people, also pointing out the proactive role that the Castilla-La Mancha Film Commission also had, holding meetings with professionals from the audiovisual industry, a role that will once again be prominent in this edition. In the same way, it has invited professionals to attend, the next June 27to the paper ‘Why shoot in Castilla-La Mancha’, within the program of the meeting.

Patricia Franco has endorsed the commitment of the Autonomous executive with ‘Conecta F&E’, as part of the strategy that the Executive has undertaken to consolidate Castilla-La Mancha as a film destination and as a prone territory for filming and audiovisual projects. On this point, the Minister recalled that the tourism promotion strategy for Castilla-La Mancha at FITUR has revolved around cinema, with a campaign closely linked to audiovisuals under the slogan ‘Tere and Luisa’, with short films in all provinces that allude to classic films paired with the tourist attractions of the territory.

In addition, during the presentation of ‘Conecta F&E’, Patricia Franco reported the entry into force, after its publication yesterday in the DOCM, of the decree confirming the investment of €18.7 million -from the MRR program of European Next Generation funds- in the Cohesion and Development action promoted by the Government of Castilla-La Mancha and approved last December at the Tourism Sector Conference.

A initiative “which includes a very important commitment to the development of the film industry in Castilla-La Mancha, with an investment of almost 8.9 million euros in the Fort of San Francisco, in Guadalajara, to launch the largest set of period filming in our country”, explained the counselor.

During the presentation of ‘Conecta F&E’, in addition to the counselor, the director of the professional meeting, Geraldine Gonard; the general director of CMM and president of la Forta, carmen loves; the head of the Audiovisual Department of Invest in Spain, Fabia Bonaventure; the president of the Spain Film Commission, Carlos Rosado; the vice president of DAMA, Francisco Xavier Royo; the institutional director of Audiovisual of the SGAE, Silvia Perez de Pablos; and the deputy director of the Cultural Institute of Mexico in Spain, host of the act, Jaime Vigna.