We are saying goodbye to this 2022, a year that has left us many feelings and emotions. To be able to meet again in a face to face manner, the many awards, premieres, big nominations and the new wave of creators for the Chilean audiovisual.

We invite you to our latest stellar edition of exclusive interviews. Gabriela Sandoval (APCT President) and Hernán Caffiero (APCT Vice President) talked exclusively with CinemaChile to do a retrospective on our cinema and series, telling all the details of what is coming for the national audiovisual next year.

Do not miss any details and relive with us this 2022 and the importance of continuing to promote productions from Chile to the world.

How do you define 2022 for the Chilean audiovisual industry?

Gabriela Sandoval: Extraordinary and promising.

How has 2022 been for series and tv shows in Chile and what do you foresee for this coming 2023?

Hernán Caffiero: It has been complex, I say this thinking mainly on the professional players and exhibitors, Chilean television channels have been low in terms of investment for high quality productions.

However, the proliferation of content for international platforms from Chile has allowed us to balance this local low quality in terms of the investment of long-lasting works for television channels.

Unlike other years we have had a cleansing this time, which has allowed us to have greater certainties after the pandemic with the new projects of CNTV (National Film and Television Council), which has allowed us to renegotiate with the platforms that allow us to internationalize the projects, giving greater volume of production to each of the series.

What are the results for international film premieres?

Gabriela Sandoval: It has been extremely fruitful, from the point of view of contents (thematic) and diversity of talented eyes, both in projects in development, WIPs, premieres in festivals and platforms.

We have seen how the national audiovisual participated in the most important festivals, markets and platforms of the world, not only did we mark our presence but also obtained multiple awards, which reflects the excellent level of talent in an artistic (direction and performance) and production level.

Projects have been developed and promoted with themes that represent us not only at the national level but also as a region, with a focus on global audiences.

What do you think of this big milestone of the more than 7 series being released on international platforms this year? 

Hernán Caffiero: It has been the success of a collective work, which also depends on a country’s image perspective, making Chile more attractive to the world. Cinema has been that ambassador, to give it that sense of quality, status and productions

What is the main strength you have seen in national productions and projects?

Gabriela Sandoval: The diversity of themes and points of view of both creators, producers and new talents, which demonstrate that the Chilean audiovisual industry is one of the strongest in the region, since they have not only increased their good record of achievements and recognition but also continue to bring symbolic value to the country, to the cultural development of its citizens, they deliver values and elements of identity construction that are indispensable for our society, making our emerging industrial sector a contribution to the country’s social and economic development.

What actions need to be taken so that this number of series released on international platforms can triple in the future?

Hernán Caffiero: We are in some way imbalanced in terms of population and number of people who can see the national content compared to other countries, where the population is four times the inhabitants of Chile. So, what we have left is to be able to work on making these issues attractive to investors, at the level of identity and cultural projection, that is something that we must start working and resolve in the medium term.

We hope that next year the promise of this 1% investment in culture will be seen more concretely from new productions and how this is manifested in the international scope.

What agreements or new discussions could be initiated this year? 

Gabriela Sandoval: We are a sector that relies on a large percentage of international co-productions to make our productions, as well as national incentives.

From APCT we have promoted conversations and connections between national and international institutions so that they can be concretized in the different markets and realize co-production agreements with Spain, Colombia, Uruguay, among others, which are important for the development of our productions.

Chilean and Spanish authorities promoted co-production agreement within the framework of Iberseries & Platino Industria

As for the series.  What would be the strategic allies to co-produce with for this 2023?

Hernán Caffiero: Mexico has always been attractive, as we do not compete directly with them in terms of investment and the reimbursement that investors like other South American countries can receive.

With Mexico there is an interesting cultural junction, and generating ties with industries as large as those where the Latino community also covers other territories would favor us to reach more people.

In addition, the proliferation of actors and actresses as Chilean ambassadors in countries like Mexico will allow us to position talented faces and that somehow we acquire more visibility in these types of markets

And as for cinema. What are the allies and goals for 2023?

Gabriela Sandoval: Our international partners are markets and festivals.  And at a national level our institutions, where the goals to pursue with them by 2023 are to be able to work on generating other financing and export tools that will allow us to improve the development, promotion, incentives and protect the creative industries.

This will benefit our cultural sector in general, so that we can advance not only in the pending co-production agreements, but also in a law for real cultural donations -which can be implemented for the financing of our productions-have tax incentives such as a permanent TAX Rebate, as well as a film commission -which is currently non-existent in Chile – and it is certainly very necessary because we need to continue to promote the diversity of landscapes, technical and artistic talent we have in the country.

How would you project 2023 in two words?

Hernán Caffiero: Work and Alliances.