Since 2015, Canary Islands Films, the umbrella brand that brings together all public and private agents related to the audiovisual sector in the Canary Islands, and led by the audiovisual department of the Canary Islands Government, coordinates the audiovisual strategy to be implemented in the islands. Throughout these 9 years, the evolution of this group of eight islands, managed to promote the sector, attracting international production companies and platforms.
The Canary Islands have become a preferred destination for filming and their growth is notorious. In addition to tax incentives, there is the versatility of locations, year-round warm weather, security, connections, a growing local industry and more infrastructure to receive international projects.
The Canary Islands are one of the outermost regions recognized by the European Union, and have their own Economic and Fiscal Regime. As a result, the islands offer the most competitive tax incentives in Europe for film production. Specifically, tax deductions in the Canary Islands are between 54%-45% (30%-25% on the mainland) for national and international productions. The limit established in the maximum amount to be deducted is higher in the Canary Islands, with a maximum refund of 36 million euros in the case of feature films and 18 million euros per chapter in the case of TV series.
The islands offer a package of tax incentives; however, the positioning of the Canary Islands as a territory that receives filming is accompanied by other factors of equal importance for an audiovisual production: diversity of locations with volcanic terrain, lush forests, beaches and historic cities; climate and daylight hours, with temperatures of around 19/23 degrees throughout the year and more than 4,000 hours of daylight a year; air connections with the main capitals of Europe, America and Africa, and accommodation infrastructure with luxury resorts, urban hotels and apartments adapted to all budgets; a local professional sector with a wide range of services and facilities. 4,000 hours of daylight per year; air connections with the main capitals of Europe, America and Africa, and accommodation infrastructures with luxury resorts, urban hotels and apartments adapted to all budgets; local professional sector with a high degree of experience; and film studios such as the Gran Canaria Studios, an audiovisual complex with a total built surface area of approximately 6,000 m2. Each of the islands has its own Film Commission and these in turn form part of the Canary Islands Film umbrella. As far as security is concerned, the Canary Islands are part of the European continent, which implies all the health, legal, physical, etc. security.
After the pandemic, there was a record number of shootings in the region with more than 150 productions, not counting advertising, and an investment of more than €100 million.
Among the international audiovisual productions that have been shot in the islands in recent years are The Eternals, The Witcher, Jack Ryan (Amazon), Foundation (Apple TV+), and the recent Den of Thieves 2: Pantera. It is worth noting that despite the strike of screenwriters and actors in 2023, the island had 131 productions that year.
Natacha Mora, head of Canary Islands Film, said: ‘We are a fragmented territory, and coordination in attraction and audiovisual policy in general is fundamental for our positioning. It’s not just a matter of offering good incentives, locations, connections, accommodation, but that everything works. Coordinating between the different public administrations is complicated, but we are on the right track. We have a wealth of experience and we offer a high quality service at a professional and technological level. We also have the backing of the public administrations, through the Canary Islands Film brand, when it comes to providing maximum support to the films and series that decide to shoot on the islands. The future of the Canary Islands lies in ‘continuing to strengthen’ the attraction, promotion and consolidation’ of its own industry.
Canary Islands Film also has its own training activities, such as the IsLABentura Canarias Script Laboratory, whose main objective is the creation of film and TV scripts based on stories or locations in the islands.
‘As described above, the Canary Islands is already a great audiovisual hub that receives a large volume of audiovisual projects per year. However, most of these productions do not talk about our territory, but recreate other places in the world thanks to our great variety of landscapes. In isLABentura we seek to tell our own stories’ added Natacha Mora.
