Studios that call the Canary Islands home are curating top talent to further diversify their audiovisual offerings, luring and retaining creatives dedicated to costume design, sound, production, animation and editing. Others are simply born in the Islands.
A further testament to the sustained development of the local sector and its increasing relevance to a broader global cinematic landscape, the Islands have seen growing audiences for their domestic films.
More on six of the players currently anchoring the regional production push:
Orlando Harris
The Santa Cruz de Tenerife-born art director and green-screen foreman has put his muster behind large studio bets such as Netflix hits “The Witcher” and “La Palma,” as well as Amazon’s “The Rings of Power.” A frequent collaborator with the isles’ Volcano Films, he notes that his work with them “has always been, without a doubt, the most rewarding professional experience.” Ahead, several international productions and a...
A further testament to the sustained development of the local sector and its increasing relevance to a broader global cinematic landscape, the Islands have seen growing audiences for their domestic films.
More on six of the players currently anchoring the regional production push:
Orlando Harris
The Santa Cruz de Tenerife-born art director and green-screen foreman has put his muster behind large studio bets such as Netflix hits “The Witcher” and “La Palma,” as well as Amazon’s “The Rings of Power.” A frequent collaborator with the isles’ Volcano Films, he notes that his work with them “has always been, without a doubt, the most rewarding professional experience.” Ahead, several international productions and a...
- 5/20/2024
- by Holly Jones
- Variety Film + TV
The best received of Spanish series at last month’s Málaga Festival, “Nights in Tefía” (“Las Noches de Tefía”) hit the festival with already strong buzz. The latest from Spain’s Buendía Estudios and SVOD service Atresplayer Premium whose titles also include “Veneno” and “Cardo,” “Nights in Tefía” proved a critics’ favourite. Written and directed by Miguel del Arco, a distinguished Spanish playwright and theater director, it turns on Airam Betancor who, living in Tenerife in 2004, recognises an old man shuffling down the street: Robles.
He’s the same man who, 42 years before, as a prison guard at the euphemistically named Tefía Penitentiary Agricultural Colony on Fuerteventura, another Canary Island, had beaten and tortured Airam as a teen inmate of the Francoist labor camp designed as a dumping ground for undesirables, from political dissidents to the socially unruly and homosexuals.
The sight of Robles, who has moved into Airam’s...
He’s the same man who, 42 years before, as a prison guard at the euphemistically named Tefía Penitentiary Agricultural Colony on Fuerteventura, another Canary Island, had beaten and tortured Airam as a teen inmate of the Francoist labor camp designed as a dumping ground for undesirables, from political dissidents to the socially unruly and homosexuals.
The sight of Robles, who has moved into Airam’s...
- 4/17/2023
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Former top Vis exec Laura Abril has been appointed EVP of scripted and global business development at Buendía Estudios, producer of “Veneno,” “Cardo” Season 1 and “Offworld,” in a move which signals the large international ambitions of one of Spain’s key production powerhouses.
Abril will report to Ignacio Corrales, Buendía Estudios CEO.
Rising through the ranks at Viacom from 2009, Abril crowned her career at the studio as the highest-ranking international TV executive in Spain named in 2019 as head of ViacomCBS International Studios (Vis) for Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia.
Launched in August 2020, Buendía Estudios has already scored heavily in creative terms, producing a Variety Best International TV Show in 2020 (“Veneno”), 2021 (“Cardo” Season 1) and 2022 (“Offworld”). In volume, in 2022, it produced seven series for streaming services, more than any other production house in Spain, according to a study by Madrid-based consultancy Geca.
Six of these were, however, for either Atresplayer Premium,...
Abril will report to Ignacio Corrales, Buendía Estudios CEO.
Rising through the ranks at Viacom from 2009, Abril crowned her career at the studio as the highest-ranking international TV executive in Spain named in 2019 as head of ViacomCBS International Studios (Vis) for Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia.
Launched in August 2020, Buendía Estudios has already scored heavily in creative terms, producing a Variety Best International TV Show in 2020 (“Veneno”), 2021 (“Cardo” Season 1) and 2022 (“Offworld”). In volume, in 2022, it produced seven series for streaming services, more than any other production house in Spain, according to a study by Madrid-based consultancy Geca.
Six of these were, however, for either Atresplayer Premium,...
- 2/27/2023
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Atresplayer Premium, the burgeoning Ott service behind HBO Max hit “Veneno,” has renewed “The Gypsy Bride” (“La novia gitana”), whose Season 1, from “Penny Dreadful” director Paco Cabezas, world premieres at the San Sebastian Film Festival.
Atresmedia Television will produce with Banijay Iberia’s Diagonal TV, producer of Netflix hit “Heirs to the Land.”Produced by Vis with the participation of Atresmedia Television and the collaboration of the Diagonal TV, the first season of “The Gypsy Bride” will bow on Atresplayer Premium on Sept. 25.
Directed in its totality by Cabezas, whose credits also include “American Gods,” Season 1 is set in a gypsy community on Madrid’s humble outskirts as homicide inspector Elena Blanco, is called in to investigate the torture and assassination of a young woman just before her wedding.
Channelling echoes of a Lorca tragedy, the series, shot with large visual ambition by Cabezas – mixing bold panoramics and hand-held camerawork...
Atresmedia Television will produce with Banijay Iberia’s Diagonal TV, producer of Netflix hit “Heirs to the Land.”Produced by Vis with the participation of Atresmedia Television and the collaboration of the Diagonal TV, the first season of “The Gypsy Bride” will bow on Atresplayer Premium on Sept. 25.
Directed in its totality by Cabezas, whose credits also include “American Gods,” Season 1 is set in a gypsy community on Madrid’s humble outskirts as homicide inspector Elena Blanco, is called in to investigate the torture and assassination of a young woman just before her wedding.
Channelling echoes of a Lorca tragedy, the series, shot with large visual ambition by Cabezas – mixing bold panoramics and hand-held camerawork...
- 9/15/2022
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
As other European TV giants such as the Rtl Group, Spain’s Atresmedia, owner of the Ott service Atresplayer Premium, is finding the sweet spot between auteur and broad audience shows.
Launched two years ago, Atresplayer Premium boasts fast growth in terms of subscriptions – reaching 400,000 users in Spain alone – and content production volume, readying some 20 new TV projects for this year.
Promoting original voices, the platform is winning international visibility. Iconic original series “Veneno,” created by Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi, “Los Javis,” successfully launched on HBO Max in the U.S. and Latin America, with a strong impact on the international media, which contributed to strengthening the Atresplayer brand.
Now, “Cardo,” from creators and writers Claudia Costafreda and Ana Rujas, executive produced by Los Javis after becoming one of the hottest indie series of last year for TV critics and audiences, is close to an important international distribution deal.
Launched two years ago, Atresplayer Premium boasts fast growth in terms of subscriptions – reaching 400,000 users in Spain alone – and content production volume, readying some 20 new TV projects for this year.
Promoting original voices, the platform is winning international visibility. Iconic original series “Veneno,” created by Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi, “Los Javis,” successfully launched on HBO Max in the U.S. and Latin America, with a strong impact on the international media, which contributed to strengthening the Atresplayer brand.
Now, “Cardo,” from creators and writers Claudia Costafreda and Ana Rujas, executive produced by Los Javis after becoming one of the hottest indie series of last year for TV critics and audiences, is close to an important international distribution deal.
- 2/15/2022
- by Emiliano De Pablos and John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Spain’s Atresplayer Premium unveiled a slate of new and returning programs on Monday evening in a live presentation streamed from Madrid’s famed Gran Via, hosted by the streamer and featuring some of the most recognizable faces behind its impressive lineup of original local programming.
2021 was a banner year for Atresplayer, which closed agreements with major broadcasting and streaming partners including Movistar, Vodafone, Google and Apple. Due to its global reach, the service has also become a lifeline to Spaniards living abroad, with hundreds of thousands of subscribers worldwide who tune in to keep up on Spanish news and culture.
Below, highlights from the first Atresplayer Premium Day:
“Vestidas de azul” A continuation of the service’s award-winning global hit series “Veneno,” picked as one of Variety’s best international series in 2020 which sold to HBO Max in the U.S. Series creators Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi are back to produce,...
2021 was a banner year for Atresplayer, which closed agreements with major broadcasting and streaming partners including Movistar, Vodafone, Google and Apple. Due to its global reach, the service has also become a lifeline to Spaniards living abroad, with hundreds of thousands of subscribers worldwide who tune in to keep up on Spanish news and culture.
Below, highlights from the first Atresplayer Premium Day:
“Vestidas de azul” A continuation of the service’s award-winning global hit series “Veneno,” picked as one of Variety’s best international series in 2020 which sold to HBO Max in the U.S. Series creators Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi are back to produce,...
- 12/14/2021
- by Jamie Lang
- Variety Film + TV
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