Within the framework of the 73rd San Sebastián Film Festival, institutions, production companies, and sector agents debated the challenges and opportunities that will mark the future of the industry: sustainability, artificial intelligence, intellectual property, and new financing avenues.
Last Sunday, September 21, the Spain Audiovisual Hub gathered key figures from the industry at the San Sebastián International Film Festival in a conference that focused on the challenges and opportunities of the Spanish audiovisual ecosystem. The event, which included the participation of institutional representatives, platforms, production companies, and investment funds, consolidated itself as a space for collective reflection on a sector in full transformation.
Among the central themes, technological and legal challenges accompanying digitalization were addressed, as well as the role of artificial intelligence in creation, the value of intellectual property, and the need to strengthen the training of specialized talent. As Alfonso Blanco, president of the Galician Audiovisual Cluster, summarized: “we have an ambitious sector, but we lack the necessary tools to develop productions.”
The European perspective was also present with the intervention of Lucía Recalde, Deputy Director of the DG CNECT of the European Commission, who recalled that the continent’s audiovisual sector is experiencing a moment of profound transformation marked by technological acceleration, changes in consumption, and market concentration. “The challenge is to ensure that Europe not only competes but leads culturally,” she stressed.
One of the most outstanding moments came with the announcement by Óscar López, Minister for Digital Transformation, about the public investment of 4.9 million euros in the Moby Dick Film Capital FCRE fund, a key step to facilitate co-productions, attract international filming, and strengthen the competitiveness of the sector.
The conference concluded with the certainty that the Spanish audiovisual sector faces not only a technological challenge but a paradigm shift that requires institutional vision, creative leadership, and effective tools. In the words of the participants, it is about “doing things differently, not just doing more,” listening to what is happening at the margins of the ecosystem to anticipate the trends that will transform the industry.
