26/09/2004 00:00
TW
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by Staff Reporter
MAJORCA will soon have a Film Commission which plans to attract 100 productions a year to the island.
The Commission is being set up by the Palma city council, which plans to have it up and running next year. Its mission will be to promote the local film industry and to promote the island on an international level.

Representatives of the city council have already had talks with the Chamber of Commerce, the Calvia Council, Ibatur (Balearic Tourism Institute, in charge of promotion) and the tourism ministry, as the Commission will not work exclusively for the city but for the whole island.

The Commission was the brainchild of the Chamber of Commerce, which took the idea to the city council. “When we received the proposal, we decided to set to work right away,” said Sebastia Sanso, the councillor in charge of the labour and commerce departments and head of the Municipal Job Training Institute (IMFOF).

He went on to say “Majorca has a favourable climate nearly all year round, a very varied landscape, places with a lot of history, hotels and airport, and a wide ethnic variety.” As a result of this, he said, directors, producers and scriptwriters could find the island the perfect choice for making their films. “Setting up a Film Commission would mean a new source of income for Majorca,” Sansó said, explaining that “30 percent of production would remain on the island.” It would also provide new jobs all year round, he added.
The Film Commission would have an office in Los Angeles and this, according to Sansó, would open the doors to Hollywood and the big studios, and “when a director starts looking for a new location, he could be offered the possibility of coming to Majorca.” Barcelona has seen a huge increase in the number of films shot there, thanks to its Film Commission which does everything from finding locations to smoothing out the paperwork.

In Majorca, it would have three functions. “The first,” said Joan Ignaci Mory, the director of the IMFOF, “will be international promotion as the island will be shown on a world level.” The second will be “to make work easy for companies which decide to film on the island,” while the third will be “to speed up permits and other paperwork.” Between ten and 15 films a year are shot on Majorca, most of them German. The Commission hopes to increase this to 100 productions (films, series, short films) within three years.