Audiovisual from Spain, the umbrella brand spearheaded by ICEX Spain Trade & Investment, is bringing approximately 50 companies, regional associations, and institutions to the annual Mipcom market in Cannes this year. This robust delegation aims to comprehensively showcase the incredible breadth and rapidly evolving nature of the country’s film, television, animation, and digital production industries.
Taken together, the diverse roster of companies heading to the French Riviera highlights a pivotal shift in how Spanish media businesses are operating today. The industry is moving heavily toward multiplatform intellectual property, highly adaptable remake-ready formats, producers retaining a much tighter grip on distribution rights, and an expanding international production-services ecosystem that continues to attract major global players.
The official Spanish presence at the market, running from October 12 to 15, combines its prominent Riviera 7 stand—located at R7.J11—with a dedicated, highly collaborative area situated within the MIP Creative Hub. This specialized zone is specifically designed to facilitate high-level financing discussions, international co-production ventures, and strategic global partnerships.
Proven IP and New Markets
The evolution of Spanish intellectual property is perhaps best illustrated by Filmax, which is bringing "Superthings: The Movie" to the international market. The project takes a massively successful kids property—which already spans physical toys, lucrative collectibles, and television animation—and successfully translates it to the big screen. Directed by Víctor Monigote and co-produced alongside Tándem Films and Turanga Films, the animated feature is scheduled to make its theatrical debut in Spain on October 23.
Alongside its push into feature-length animation, Filmax is actively working to extend the international lifecycle of its extensive scripted television catalogue. Iván Díaz, head of international at Filmax, points to active, ongoing negotiations concerning the company’s robust slate of scripted formats that carry exceptionally high potential for international remakes.
That remake catalogue features prestigious titles such as "The Red Band Society," which remains one of the most widely adapted Spanish television dramas to date, as well as gripping thrillers like "I Know Who You Are" and the hit comedy "Welcome to the Family," which was recently given a Mexican adaptation by Netflix. Additionally, Cesc Gay’s acclaimed feature "Sentimental," which is sold globally by Filmax, has spawned multiple international adaptations, most notably Olivia Wilde’s American remake, "The Invite."
The insatiable global demand for proven, remake-ready properties is certainly not confined to scripted television and film. Erika Gómez, head of sales at Onza Distribution, notes that there is currently a very strong market interest in entertainment and unscripted formats that have already proven their mettle in their domestic markets and offer significant, seamless adaptation potential for international broadcasters.
Among Onza’s premier offerings is "El Hormiguero" ("The Anthill"), produced by 7yAcción. As Spain’s most-watched entertainment show, the format is now marching into a second successful season in Romania, following a string of high-profile adaptations in major territories such as Italy, Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, and Portugal. Furthermore, Onza is actively representing "El Desafío" ("The Celeb Challenge"), another massive unscripted hit from 7yAcción that is currently being aggressively pitched for broader international adaptation.
Control of Distribution Rights
As the global content landscape continues to shift, Spanish studios are increasingly focused on a critical business objective: retaining valuable distribution rights when negotiating complex financing and licensing deals with traditional broadcasters and global streaming platforms.
Secuoya Studios is showcasing a trio of high-profile, premium series in Cannes that exemplify its ambitious production scale. The lineup includes the thriller-romance "El laberinto de las mariposas" ("The Butterfly Labyrinth"), which stars Turkish actor Can Yaman; the tense psychological thriller "El homenaje" ("The Tribute"), featuring Elsa Pataky; and "Terra Alta," which is fronted by "La Bola Negra" star Miguel Bernardeau.
Beyond showcasing star-studded casts and high production values, Secuoya’s sales push reflects a much broader, industry-wide anxiety among independent producers: safeguarding their long-term interests and distribution rights when partnering with deep-pocketed platforms. For companies like Secuoya, holding onto these rights is often the absolute key to both assembling a viable financial structure and ensuring profitable international exploitation down the line.
Andrés Zamora, Secuoya Studios’ director of global sales and distribution, explained that while partnering with major platforms helps get ambitious projects off the ground, it also requires producers to fiercely defend their territorial positioning. Zamora noted that when negotiating a new series with a broadcaster or platform, producers can no longer take it for granted that the global distribution rights will automatically remain with the commissioner.
For creators and producers in the children’s animation and family entertainment space, retaining the long-term value of intellectual property increasingly means designing properties from the very beginning to live across multiple distinct platforms. For instance, Krakatoa is heading to Cannes with the preschool property "Bumpy, the Bear." Conceived as a co-production with Spiritum Entertainment and with the participation of public broadcaster RTVE, the project was intentionally engineered across digital, television, and music ecosystems, with comprehensive expansion plans already mapped out into licensing, publishing, toys, and live experiences.
Víctor M. López, CEO of Krakatoa, emphasizes that international buyers are shifting their purchasing criteria. He notes that it is no longer sufficient to simply bring a good story or high-quality animation to the table; instead, buyers are actively hunting for properties that demonstrate a proven ability to connect deeply with young audiences across a wide array of digital and traditional platforms.
This multiplatform philosophy fundamentally shapes how modern kids brands manage their audiences and maximize monetization. Iñaki Orive, founder and president of Brands & Rights 360, points to platforms like YouTube as a critical, strategic piece of the overall puzzle, functioning hand-in-hand with subscription video-on-demand streaming services, social media channels, and traditional linear television.
Ylka Tapia, head of growth partnerships and producer at Madrid-based Puro Studio—the creative force behind the massive kids network El Reino Infantil—echoes this sentiment. Tapia stresses that the modern strategy is no longer about forcing a choice between television, streaming, or digital platforms, but rather about building mutually supportive, complementary strategies that allow each brand to realize its absolute full commercial and creative potential in every unique market.
More Ways to Sell
The proliferation of digital distribution windows and exhibition formats is proving particularly advantageous for factual and documentary distributors. Ártico Distribution arrives in Cannes with a slate led by "Leo XIV: The Man Behind the Pope," a timely biographical documentary that reportedly surged to the No. 1 spot on Prime Video Spain’s film rankings during the Pope’s official visit to the country in June.
Ártico’s extensive Mipcom lineup also features high-end wildlife programming such as "African Chronicles," the travel and discovery series "Descubrir," the sweeping historical documentary "The Manila Galleon," and the archaeology-focused special "The Last Traces of the Neanderthal."
For factual distributors, this multiplatform push holds immense value, particularly when dealing with evergreen programming that has a long shelf life. Carlos Sevillano, CEO of Ártico, highlights the industry-wide search for content that possesses the versatility to work seamlessly across different platforms, windows, and international territories, noting that the explosive growth of free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) and ad-supported video-on-demand (AVOD) services has unlocked significant new revenue streams for factual titles.
Meanwhile, Deep Com Roots, operating as the international sales arm of Spain’s ISII Group, is witnessing this global appetite translate into robust sales far beyond Spain’s borders. According to Emir Duzel, head of international sales, the action-adventure western series "Trinidad" has successfully secured distribution deals across French-speaking territories. At the same time, the compelling drama "Días de agosto" ("Summer Days") has found buyers across Latin America, India, Japan, South Korea, Poland, German-speaking Europe, and the CIS region.
Duzel notes that international buyers are exhibiting a clear preference for content driven by strong fundamentals. He states that the company is observing a steadily growing global demand for content built on a clear, compelling premise, a recognizable visual identity, and an easily identifiable target demographic.
Spain as a Production Base
Spain’s presence at Mipcom extends far beyond completed finished content and formats, reaching deeply into the foundational production chain itself. Companies such as Echo Post House are on hand to provide advanced multilingual localization and audio post-production services, while RCAudio specializes in high-end sound post-production. Additionally, Canary Islands-based Imaco89 offers comprehensive local production services, specialized logistics, and communications support for international film and television shoots.
The Canary Islands continue to serve as a crown jewel in Spain’s pitch to international service producers. Foreign film and television productions shooting in the region can take advantage of an exceptionally attractive tax incentive framework, offering a tax deduction of up to 54% on the first one million Euros of the qualifying expenditure base, and 45% on all qualifying spending thereafter.
This compelling financial incentive, combined with diverse landscapes and world-class local crews, has drawn a steady stream of massive international projects to the islands. Recent international productions filmed in the Canary Islands include the upcoming feature "Pluribus," the thriller "Day Drinker" starring Johnny Depp and Penélope Cruz, the action film "Just Play Dead" featuring Samuel L. Jackson, and "Black Tides" starring John Travolta.
At the same time, top-tier Spanish filmmakers are increasingly utilizing the region for their own prestigious works. Acclaimed directors Pedro Almodóvar have filmed projects like "Bitter Christmas," while Rodrigo Sorogoyen utilized the locale for "The Beloved," a high-profile production starring Javier Bardem and Victoria Luengo that has positioned itself firmly within the international festival circuit.
However, industry leaders emphasize that raw attraction figures are no longer the sole metric of long-term success. Natacha Mora, director of Canary Islands Film, argues that the paramount challenge facing the territory is maintaining a delicate, sustainable balance between the explosive growth of international inbound production and the actual capacity of the local industrial infrastructure and talent pool.
Mora points out that regional growth cannot be measured simplistically by counting the sheer number of international shoots hosted in a given year. She stresses that a region cannot grow indefinitely without careful planning, and that it is crucially necessary to strike a careful balance across the entire local audiovisual ecosystem to ensure long-term stability and workforce health.
A Canada-Spain Co-Production Push
The intellectual and analytical side of the Spanish delegation will be prominently featured on October 13, when Madrid-based consultancy GECA presents its comprehensive report titled "Spanish Fiction 2026: Between New Stories and New Seasons" within the MIP Creative Hub. Gloria Saló, GECA’s director of production and content consulting, is set to dissect evolving genre crossovers, thematic hybridization trends within contemporary Spanish fiction, and the enduring commercial value of established television intellectual property returning for new seasons.
The focus shifts explicitly toward international collaboration the following day, marked by a dedicated Canada-Spain matchmaking session designed to bring together producers, creators, and executives from both countries across a wide spectrum of genres and formats.
These targeted networking meetings arrive on the heels of a major legislative milestone: the formal signing of a brand-new Spain-Canada audiovisual co-production treaty during the Toronto International Film Festival. This fresh agreement completely replaces the outdated bilateral framework that had remained in force since 1985. The modernized treaty significantly broadens the scope of eligible co-productions to encompass film, television, and digital video works regardless of their length or genre, while also cleverly allowing producers from third-party countries to participate under specific collaborative conditions.
The treaty serves as the capstone to a highly productive year of deepening bilateral industry ties. Earlier in the year, Spain was honored as the Country of Honor at the Banff World Media Festival in June, where Atresplayer’s original series "Mariliendre," produced by Suma Content, triumphed by winning the prestigious Rockie Award for Best Non-English Language Comedy Series.
The broader Spanish contingent at Mipcom also features independent exhibition stands from major players such as Atresmedia Sales, DeAPlaneta Entertainment, Movistar Plus International, RTVE Commercial, and The Mediapro Studio. They are joined by powerful regional umbrellas including Basque Audiovisual and Catalan Films, alongside specialized exhibitors ranging from the rights-management organization EGEDA to cutting-edge casting-technology company MODFIE.
Audiovisual from Spain is scheduled to conclude its busy Cannes agenda with a major networking reception at the Riviera 7 stand on October 14, bringing together key international partners, prospective buyers, and clients of Spanish companies to celebrate new collaborations and preview upcoming Spanish content.
