A total of 36 new audiovisual projects, including feature films, series, animation, documentaries, and short films with an island origin, will receive support from the Government of the Canary Islands. The selection was made through two public calls organized during 2025 by the Directorate General of Cultural Innovation and Creative Industries, aimed at projects in the production or minority co-production phase, as well as those in development or for the creation of short films. The total investment is 3,329,000 euros.
The projects that will receive grants have been chosen by three expert committees and their selection is available at www.icdcultural.org (Calls for proposals section).
In **Production**, **nine projects** are subsidized, out of a total of thirty-seven submitted, corresponding to fiction, animation, and documentary films. Production companies will have until 2028 to complete their proposals, and may receive advance payment in installments. In addition, for the third consecutive year, there is support for **Minority Co-production**, which encourages Canary Islands production companies to benefit from collaborating with major projects driven by companies from outside the islands. In this category, **six projects** have been selected out of a total of ten submitted.In the Development section, **twelve projects** are supported out of a total of sixty submitted; while in the Short Film Production category, nine have been selected out of forty-three submitted.
Selected Films and Shorts
The films selected in Production are the feature fiction films: ‘Especies distintas’, by Especies distintas AIE (a project by Laura Pérez Gómez that was part of the IsLABentura Canarias 2022 Screenwriting Lab); ‘El jardín de Té’, by Mantarraya Films, to be directed by Gonzalo López-Gallego; ‘La sombra de la arena’ by La Creme Films, with Aarón J. Melián directing; and ‘Fiesta negra’, by Hormigas Negras, written and directed by Guillermo Magariños, which was part of IsLABentura Canarias 2023
Added to this are the feature documentaries ‘Milagro y miseria’ by El Viaje Producciones, co-directed by Marina Alberti and José A. Alayón; ‘Regreso al rayo verde’, by Insularia Creadores and directed by Juanma V. Betancort; and ‘Herr Franco must go!’, by Miguel G. Morales, as well as the animated series ‘Limbo ville’, by Israel Hernández; and ‘Super Truck’, directed by Rubén Zarauza and Iria G. Caballero and produced by Supertruck Season 1 AIE. It should be noted that four of them (‘Fiesta negra’, ‘Especies distintas’, ‘El jardín del té’ and ‘Herr Franco must go!’) also received a grant last year in the Development category.
In minority co-production are the feature films ‘The Day the World Ends I Will Find Your Past’, by El Viaje Producciones with Chile’s Globo Rojo; ‘Señoras de la limpieza’, by Mararía Films with Portugal’s Uma pedra no sapato; ‘Caza y pesca’, by MGC with Uruguay’s Kiko Vivo Producciones and Argentina’s Pensa&Rocca; and ‘Ya no siento el corazón’, by Volcano International Productions with Sweden’s Doppelganger Film.
The other titles correspond to the documentaries ‘The possibility of man’, by Tourmalet Films with the Dutch Worldisuals Film and Stichting ten Zuiden van de Grens; and ‘La mujer del barco’, by Ngaro Games La Casa de los Enigmas with the Spanish Burbuja Films and Freews.
In the Development stage are the feature films ‘Tropic’, by Helena Girón and La Banda Negra; ‘La fuga’, by Samara Galán Ramos (La Comarca Films), directed by Verónica Galán; ‘Tierra’, by La Magua Films, directed by Arima León, which was part of IsLABentura Canarias 2024; ‘Seres eléctricos’, by David Pantaleón and Los de Lito Films; ‘¿Quién es la virgen?’, by Ana Sánchez Gijón and La Mirada Producciones; ‘Los extraños’, directed by Gonzalo López-Gallego of Mantarraya Films; and ‘Arroró (canción de cuna)’, by Insularia Creadores with director Carla Valdés
In developing documentaries are 'Heurtebise', by Octavio Guerra of Calibrando Producciones, a project included in the Academy Residencies; 'Y punto', by Siroco Factory and directed by Javier Tolentino; 'Ruidos en el agua', by Imaco 89 and Joan López Lloret; the animated film 'Cave of dreams', co-directed by Dorota K. Welchman and David Baute, of Tinglado Film; and the series, also animated, 'Howly wooly', by Pierre Paris at Anima Kitchent Canarias.
The short films are ‘Cayó la tarde’, by Carolina Montesdeoca at Las Hormigas Negras; ‘La teta’, by Dailos Vega at La Magua Films, ‘Graniza en Tacoronte’, by Airam Rodríguez at La Isla Media; ‘El traductor de pájaros’, by David Pantaleón (Los de Lito Films); ‘Barranco’, by Pablo Vilas and Volcano International; ‘210’, by J. Morala and Ngaro Games La Casa de los Enigmas; ‘Naturaleza cálida’, by Joel Cazorla and Chemi Pérez, from Cabo Sur Films, ‘Por los pelos’, by Jeniffer Castañeda García (Nostrana Films); and, finally, ‘La maceta’, by Octavio Guerra.
Expert Committees
The selection has been in charge of different committees of specialists in each category. In Development: Douglas Stuart Wilson, independent producer and screenwriter; Tània Balló, filmmaker, writer, communicator, and cultural researcher; and Néstor López Ferreira, Spanish-Portuguese film director and screenwriter, winner of three Goya Awards.
Short Films: Alberto Díaz López, producer at Mordisco Films; Carlota Moseguí Gasó, critic at Cinemanía; and Rodrigo Espinel Martínez, producer at Morena Films.
In Production and Minority Co-production: Jaime Maestro Sellés, co-founder, creative director, and producer at La Tribu Animation; Gemma Laura Vidal Villasur, external expert for funds such as the MEDIA Creative Europe Programme, among others; Diego Alejandro Mas Trelles, Head of Industry and member of the DocsBarcelona programming committee, programmer for DocumentaMadrid, and juror at numerous festivals; Isona Admetlla Font, coordinator of the Berlinale World Cinema Fund; and María Isabel Ivars Sancho, sales director at Protagonist PICKS and Library.