
Official Opening of CIIF Market 2024
Guillermo Ríos, director of the Canary Islands International Film Market, thanked the participants for their presence “without which CIIF Market would not have celebrated its twentieth anniversary. The support of the institutions has been essential to reach the position it currently occupies, a market with great potential to boost the audiovisual industry.”
The Terraza de los Laureles at the Hotel Mencey in Santa Cruz de Tenerife was the space chosen to officially inaugurate the market activities of the CIIF Market 2024, which will be held until October 18.
An event supported by the sponsoring and collaborating institutions and entities, as well as all participating creatives, scriptwriters, producers and directors, who will have the opportunity to have a personalized agenda of one-to-one meetings with invited professionals, national and international experts and potential investors to co-produce their projects, which they have already had the opportunity to learn about first-hand through video pitches.
There will also be various panels, where the most current trends in the industry will be analysed, as well as other networking activities. The selected projects will also be eligible for various awards for their internationalisation.
Among the special actions to mark the market’s 20th anniversary, there are open screenings for the public with the screening of the films Padres, which was held on 14 October, and Lo carga el diablo, this Thursday 17 October, and awards to producers Eduardo Campoy and Sebastián Álvarez, thanks to the support of the Development Society of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, in addition to the Tenerife Networking Meeting and subsequent Fam Trip, held on the morning of 16 October with the collaboration of the Canary Islands Audiovisual Cluster and Tenerife Film Commission.

At the opening of CIIF Market, its director Guillermo Ríos thanked everyone for their presence “without which this market would not have celebrated its twentieth anniversary. The support of institutions has been essential to reach the position it currently occupies, a market with great potential to boost the audiovisual industry.”
It was precisely the Deputy Minister of Culture of the Government of the Canary Islands, Horacio Umpiérrez, who assured that “we understand that a project with such solidity and history as CIIF Market has to have guaranteed financing that does not involve the constant uncertainties of having to request a subsidy. For projects like this and so many others, of recognized solvency, we are working to make the mental and economic burden of launching it each year lighter and not subject to bureaucracy that is ineffective in these cases.”

PROEXCA’s CEO, Pablo Martín Carbajal, recalled that he himself participated in the CIIF Market trying to get one of his books turned into a film, which is why he looks at this market with special affection. “The audiovisual industry has become the most important in terms of our foreign trade work. Before it was agriculture, but right now the audiovisual market is the most powerful for our field in the Canary Islands.”
The coordinator of Canary Islands Film, Natacha Mora, who was also present at the start of the market, stressed that “on the first day we were able to see a huge number of companies based in the Islands and dedicated to the audiovisual sector. In these twenty years we have seen how a sector with a lot of potential has been consolidated and we no longer just receive filmings, but we also create the employment and services necessary to accommodate them with professionalism and solvency.”

Finally, Teodoro Ríos, honorary president of CIIF Market, reviewed the history that led to the birth of the market, recalling the creation of the “Spanish Film Screenings” in Lanzarote in 1999, with screenings of each year’s Spanish film harvest for international buyers, and where the first Spain Film Commission was created. “The screenings ended in Madrid and we then focused on setting up a market, which was first Euroforum and was based at the Las Palmas de Gran Canaria Film Festival, and then evolved independently to become this CIIF Market in Tenerife, which is a necessary space for the development of projects and the strengthening of the industry.”
CIIF Market is organised by Festeam, Communication and Events, with the sponsorship of the Tenerife Island Council, Department of Culture, Museums and Sports; the City Council of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, through the Development Society; and the Government of the Canary Islands, through the Canary Islands Institute for Cultural Development, Canary Islands Film and PROEXCA.
The market is supported by the Tenerife Tourism Board, through the Tenerife Film Commission; the Canary Islands Audiovisual Cluster and Macaronesia Films, among other entities, such as Music Library & SFX, AECINE, Bankinter, Blurr Stories, CIMA Impulsa, Control Freaks, IsLABentura Canarias, MAFIZ Málaga, PNR, RAHN Star, Riverflow Pictures, Térrea and ZEC (Zona Especial Canarias).