Elástica Films, producer of the film Romería, which has been so successful since its release, even being one of the three finalists to represent Spain at the Oscars, has just signed a contract to produce one of the screenplays participating in the current edition of IsLABentura Canarias.
The announcement comes in the final stretch of the international laboratory, which this week faces its last phase with the presentation of the completed scripts to the twenty or so national and international film and television production companies that will come to the islands in search of stories for new films and series.
The place chosen this year to directly connect producers with screenwriters in person will be La Palma. The entire group will stay in Puerto Naos, one of the areas most devastated by the volcano, which is now beginning to regain some normalcy four years after its eruption.
A few kilometers from there, at the Casa Massieu in Argual, sixteen screenwriters will defend their stories before these production companies on Friday, October 24, in intense morning and afternoon sessions. The following day, Saturday the 25th, they will all be at the awards ceremony to be held in the nearby Antonio Gómez Felipe Park, in Los Llanos de Aridane.
The Department of Culture of the Government of the Canary Islands, organizer of IsLABentura Canarias, has deemed it of interest that an event of such relevance be held in La Palma, thus also contributing from its Department of Culture to reactivate its economy and attract investment to the area.
Representatives from around twenty production companies will be there, including Movistar Plus, Amazon, MediaPro, TeleCinco Cinema, Mediacrest, Onza, Portocabo, and Elástica Films, to name just a few of the best known to the general public.
This presentation to producers and the funding opportunities are the culmination of an entire creative process that goes further, since one of its mainstays is "the support they receive in the development of each story," highlights Cristóbal de la Rosa, general director of Cultural Innovation and Creative Industries of the regional government, from a top-level tutoring staff.
### ### **Scripts That Break Ground**
The script that has caught the attention of Elástica Films, producer of the film 'Romería', among other successful titles, is titled 'Goda' and is signed by screenwriter Katia Klein for a feature film set in Lanzarote. María Zamora, head of this production company, will personally travel to La Palma to learn firsthand about the rest of the projects presented.
This story is thus added to the list of IsLABentura scripts that have been making their way in this highly competitive industry, where time is measured in years from the seed (the script) to seeing the story on a screen. From previous editions, around 16 projects have signed contracts with production companies, four of them in the final stage of financing, which means that we will soon see more fruits of this Canary Islands project.
In the laboratory of this fourth edition, sixteen scripts have been developed, whose stories take place on different islands of the archipelago. Of these, seven are for feature films and another seven for television series, with the other two, for the first time, corresponding to animation projects.
From Lanzarote, the feature film ‘Goda’, by Katia Klein, about a girl who travels to the island to meet her father and sisters, and which has already managed to close a contract with Elástica Films for its production; and the series ‘Malvasía’, by Laura Pérez Gómez, which explores universal themes such as ambition and identity and other more particular and exclusive to the island, such as volcanic eruptions or the strains of the Malvasia grape variety. For this island there is a third proposal, the animation project ‘López y el factor marino’, by Pablo Dávila Castañeda, a story for a family audience in which an amphibian aspiring singer participates in a talent show under the sea.
What is IsLABentura?
On another note, it should be pointed out that IsLABentura Canarias is an initiative of the Government of the Canary Islands, through the Canary Islands Institute of Cultural Development (ICDC), which has the collaboration of Proexca and the seven island councils. For the final awards and recognitions, it has the collaboration of DAMA Derechos de Autor de Medios Audiovisuales, Movistar+, Canary Islands International Film Market, Fundación Algo en Común (Colombia), CIMA Asociación de Mujeres Cineastas y de Medios Audiovisuales, Music Library & SFX, and Laboratorio Audiovisual. Other essential collaborators are the Audiovisual Cluster of the Canary Islands, the Canary Islands Music Cluster, and the Ibero-American Federation of Film and Audiovisual Producers, among others.
Silk worms from La Palma and music from the Canary Islands
Parallel to the celebration of these events, and as in previous years, there will also be a sustainable initiative related to reforestation. This time, the chosen plant is the mulberry tree, whose leaves feed silkworms, an industry that reached its peak between the 16th and 17th centuries in La Palma and that is still alive today thanks to the work of several artisans. This action will take place on Thursday the 23rd, starting at 11:00 a.m., in El Paso.
IsLABentura Canarias, furthermore, wanted to also focus this year on the music being made in the islands, a fundamental piece in the film industry. For this reason, it has added a new collaborator, the Canary Islands Music Cluster, with whom the participation of island-based groups has been managed. Thus, the group of producers that will attend the awards gala will be able to listen to a live sample with the performance of Simbeque Project, Lajalada, and the palmeras of DJ Pimientas selectoras, which are the proposals selected for this year.
For the development of this latest meeting, several local collaborators have joined the project: the Los Llanos City Council, through its Department of Culture, Spar La Palma group, Hyundai, Cupalma, Alisios Tropical Fruits, and Bodega Teneguía.
