AUDIOVISUAL INDUSTRY: SPAIN'S FILM INDUSTRY FEELS THE PINCH.

• Position: Industry Overview

"The film business in Spain is a burgeoning industry...that has a number of problems to solve," admitted Minister for Culture Pilar del Castillo on January 27. According to Alvarez Monzocillo, co-ordinator for the report, the national industry suffers from a chronic problem: "a limited market and 50% of the population who never go to the cinema". It is also harmed by a "saturation" of new releases, "more than ten a week" on average, among them 43% American films. "We cannot compete with American films because we do not have the same access to the public, due to differences in promotion budgets, magnified by the absence of advertising regulations," explained Eduardo Campoy, President of the Federation of Spanish Producers FAPAE. What is more, 10 foreign distributors control 90% of the market. Mr Campoy nonetheless tones down the Academy's alarmist view: "There is not a crisis in production. We produced only three fewer films in 2002 (114) than in 2001. The crisis is with spectators."

In 2001, the performance of Spanish films - whose market share expanded from 14% to 19% - was based on the record-breaking successes of two films: "Los Otros" by Alejandro Amenabar, financed mainly by Hollywood, and "Torrente", a comedy by Santiago Segura. Javier Pena, film professor in Madrid, commented that "Spanish cinema does not have the quality it takes to draw the...