Today, the Council of Ministers approved a royal decree under which the San Sebastián Festival will receive a direct subsidy for the sum of 500,000 euros serving to consolidate the area dedicated to the industry at the event, the only one to boast A-listing in Spain. It is the highest category recognised by the International Federation of Film Producers Associations (FIAPF), to which the Cannes, Venice and Berlin festivals also belong. The Ministry for Digital Transformation and Civil Service therefore becomes the sole sponsor of the industry activities of the Festival. The aim of the initiative is to consolidate this section serving as a meeting point between producers, investors, platforms, distributors, funds and institutions, while enabling strategic debates, networking, project development, innovation, access to funding and the international projection of Spanish talent.   

The royal decree therefore envisages actions such as backing of the Creative Investors’ Conference and of the Conference on Leading the Audiovisual of the Future which, organised by the Ministry for Digital Transformation and Civil Service, convenes members of the Spanish audiovisual sector and international agents and will take place this year on Sunday 20 September at the Kursaal with the slogan ‘The New Script of the Audiovisual Industry. Diversity, investment and future’. It will also serve to promote the Zinemaldia & Technology programme and to increase the prize for the best Spanish project in the Zinemaldia Startup Challenge to €30,000.

As highlighted by the minister Óscar López during this Tuesday’s discussion at the ministerial headquarters with José Luis Rebordinos, current director of the Zinemaldia, “with this commitment to the San Sebastián Festival, we reinforce an infrastructure which is strategic for the Spanish audiovisual world, given its ability to attract investment, create opportunities, connect talent with international financing and project the image of the initiative: Spain Audiovisual Hub of Europe”.

For his part, José Luis Rebordinos voiced his gratitude to the Ministry for Digital Transformation and Civil Service for this support, which will “serve to consolidate growth of the Industry department, something it has been doing consistently for more than a decade”. The number of  industry badgeholders rises edition after edition, hitting its highest figure ever last year at 2,411 persons. This sponsorship will give an even greater boost to activities such as Zinemaldia & Technology and to the Creative Investors’ Conference, an event which assembles in San Sebastián important international leaders from the audiovisual sector”, he said. 

This action falls within the ‘Spain Audiovisual Hub of Europe’ Plan (Spain Audiovisual Hub) which, financed with European funds from the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan and conceived as a national strategy, has been working since 2021 to attract investment and talent, strengthen the industrial ecosystem and turn Spain into a leading country of the digital era. And, specifically, it boosts the goals of the Hub’s second phase, focused on financing instruments, private investment, public-private collaboration and industrial maturity, through the Spanish Society for Technological Transformation (SETT). Strengthening and supporting the entire value chain and all of the industry sectors represents yet another step forward in this subsidy, which multiplies the options of the San Sebastián Festival as a benchmark space for audiovisual innovation, development and culture.