Five Madrid-based companies, led by leading Spanish production house Tornasol Films, producer of Oscar-winner “The Secret in Their Eyes,” are teaming to launch services consortium Centro Navarro para la Producción Cinematográfica in Navarre, Northern Spain.
Based out of the Sarrio industrial park in Berrioplano, a town near Pamplona, CNPC will provide production services, develop R&D projects and launch industry training programs in a region of Spain that is consolidating as a film-TV hub bulwarked by tax incentives.
Since 2015, Navarre offers a competitive 35% tax credit for Spanish shoots and co-productions.
“The CNPC aims to complete the value chain of a film’s production,” said Miguel Iturralde, manager of CNPC, which officially starts operations in October.
“Navarre is in vogue thanks to its tax incentives, although in order to be eligible for them, production must meet a series of requirements. The main one and the most complicated: Making 40% of production spend in the region,” he said.
“Companies face the problem of where to spend that money, apart from on hostelry expenses. Today’s reality is that there’s a lack of specialized suppliers in Navarre,” he commented.
One of Spain’s biggest and most resilient indie production outfits, Tornasol produced Argentine Juan José Campanella’s Academy Award-winning “The Secret in Their Eyes.”
A member of the Navarre Audiovisual Cluster (Clavna), the prolific company, led by Gerardo Herrero and Mariela Besuievsky, has shot seven movies in Navarre over the last three years, among them Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s “The Realm” and Mariana Barassi’s Argentine co-production “Game of Power.”
Beyond Tornasol, the CNPC partnership takes in camera rent company Camara Rental Services, costume rental and manufacturer Peris Costumes (“The Crown,” “Peaky Blinders,” “Isabel”), post-production and VFX provider Free Your Mind (“Padre no hay más que uno,” “Padre no hay más que uno 2”), and sound post house Adhoc (“Es por tu bien,” “Toro”).
“We have managed to persuade these companies to set up in Navarre, not only ensuring services for third-parties but also helping to sow the seeds of an incipient Navarrese film industry,” Iturralde explained.
CNPC members are already working on TV drama “Ana Tramel. El juego,” a co-production between Tornasol Films DeAPlaneta and public broadcaster RTVE in Spain, as well as Germany’s ZDF Enterprises.
The series is shooting in Pamplona and Madrid from July, adapting Roberto Santiago’s novel “Ana.” Maribel Verdú (“Blancanieves,” “Pan’s Labyrinth”) plays a brilliant lawyer in crisis who takes on a large corporation of gaming industries.
“By increasing the attraction of shoots, we’re contributing to the creation of a solid industry which will need, and therefore demand, both film professionals and companies,” Iturralde argued.
“The key advantage is that Navarre’s film-TV sector is going to consolidate as a priority strategic investment forming part of the creative and digital industries,” he added.
The creative and digital industries represent one of six strategic areas of economic development featured in Navarre’s Smart Specialization Strategy. It aims to generate synergies allowing for the creation of Navarre’s own audiovisual business infrastructure, which can then carry out production and post-production processes with the largest number possible of Navarrese professionals.
Navarre also offers a 40% tax deduction for R&D and tech innovation activities to attract animation and post-production firms, a sector where CNPC will also be exploring opportunities.
(Pictured, left to right: Jorge Santos, Arpa Abogados; Eduardo Jiménez, Free Your Mind; Gerardo Herrero, Tornasol Films; Miguel González, Free Your Mind; Isidro Parrondo, Camera Rental Service; Arturo Cisneros, Clavna; Javier López Blanco, Tornasol Films, and Miguel Iturralde, CNPC)