MINING IN MEXICO S - ProMéxico

30 Negocios Photo archive
Lights,
Camera …
Mexico!
BY CRISTINA ÁVILA-ZESATTI
Films “made in Mexico” are not just Mexican
productions, which are gradually receiving more
international exposure. There is another side to
the coin: the international film industry that comes
to Mexico to film large-scale productions.
With the increasing professionalization of
specialists, together with financial and tax
incentives offered to foreign productions and
Mexican co-productions, Mexico has become a
major player in the international film world.
Between April and May 2009, Mexico
City looked almost unreal with its
empty streets, closed stores and the
few people who ventured out of their
homes wearing facemasks. The authorities had
raised the health risk alarm due to a new influenza
virus, AH1N1.
The real “horror film” began just a short
while later, when the globalized fear of travelling
to Mexico began to appear a little exaggerated.
The restaurant, entertainment and tourism industries
immediately felt the side effects of an
illness, which, fortunately, did not lead to the catastrophe
that was first feared.
And there was another Mexican industry
which expected to be hard hit by this fiction-like
situation for very genuine reasons: Mexico’s film
industry, one which offers 500,000 direct jobs
every year and generates increasingly sizeable
revenue, according to figures released by the
Mexican Film Institute (IMCINE).
The Show Must Go On
Despite the health emergency conditions imposed
across the country, preparations for
scheduled filming continued, says Hugo Villa, IM-
CINE’s director of film production support.
“Last year we had a good year that was in line
with our expectations, and the usual number
of foreign movies were filmed in Mexico … of
course we were anxious about the possible effect
of health restrictions on the industry but at the
end of the day it didn’t affect us too much.”
IMCINE’s figures show that during 2009 the
institute collaborated on the production of 70
film projects, 44 of which were foreign. And that
does not include commercials, which are now
made to the same standard as films. In 2009, 27
large-scale commercial productions were filmed
in Mexico, 15 of which were foreign.
The threat posed by an unknown virus was
not the only dark cloud hanging over the world
in 2009. The specter of the global financial crisis
also loomed over the world’s strongest economies
and affected various industries, including
the film industry, and Mexico also suffered as a
result from cuts in international budgets.
“We mustn’t forget that the entertainment
industry depends on public financing to a large
extent. Films are often financed thanks to government
incentives or support. But the negative
effects will only actually be felt in 2010,
because fortunately the planning required by
a large film production means that those in-
volved need
to think about
projects far in
advance,” Hugo
Villa adds.
And although some
analysts believe that the
global film industry will face
massive cuts in mid-2010, other
specialists consider that it will be one
of the industries to get off lightest, given
the increase in audience numbers - because
it is precisely when times are tough that people
look for distractions.
And maybe if the major producers and investors
plan ahead so far, with some luck films will
only be about the crisis rather than suffering
from it.
“Avatar, for example, James Cameron’s latest
film, began to be planned while the director
was wrapping up his other great success, Titanic
[…] we are talking 1997, no less than 13 years ago,”
says Villa.
Movie Tourism
When “The King of Rock & Roll” Elvis Presley
came to Mexico in 1963 to film Fun in Acapulco,