Industry and Diversity

If anything has changed in recent years, it is the way in which we express ourselves and relate to our environment, and the audiovisual industry is certainly no stranger to this. Non face-to-face formats and digital platforms continue to establish contact between industry agents and audiences, and film festivals are the nexus for the development and maintenance of these relationships. That is why ZG/PRO 2023 maintains its commitment to the visibility of agents and spaces that work in the development of films related to sexual diversity, and takes another step towards becoming an international window for LGTBIQ+ film projects produced in Spain.

While it is true that in recent years there has been more queer cinema in commercial circuits that reaches the public through theatres with enormous success, for most projects this remains an impenetrable wall. Examples of this success are 20,000 Species of Bees (2023), by Estibaliz Urresola, La amiga de mi amiga (2022), by Zaida Carmona or Sediments (2021), by Adrián Silvestre – presented as a project in the WIP section of Zinegoak three years ago.

To support this trend, we once again count on Incoproduction, the digital marketplace for film and television projects, which increases its collaboration with the creation of the ZG/PRO Work in Progress (WIP) platform. Through its INCO [Match & Meet], a digital space for the reception and viewing of LGTBIQ+ projects in development has been created, which will be the basis for the WIP of the LGTBIQ+ Festivals Network for Southern Europe.

We will count on the participation of the Queer Cine Lab of the LesGaiCineMad – LGBT International Film Festival Madrid and the FIRE LAB of the Mostra FIRE!!! in Barcelona, which are the only spaces dedicated to specific consultancy for the development of LGTBIQ+ projects in Spain. Their support, as well as that of Music Library & SFX, and the Creative Europe office MEDIA Desk Euskadi, is key to the development of the ZG/PRO WIP.

Five or six projects in development stage will be selected and presented in pitching format to the Jury, made up of different professionals from the sector and a representative of the Southern European Network of LGTBIQ+ Festivals. The Jury will select the winner of the ZG/PRO Award, which consists of a flat fee with access to the AudioNetwork and AltMusic production catalogues, as well as the 360º Acorde Music Supervision services, plus discounts on commercial music rights negotiation fees, and the provision of studios and SFX with an estimated value of €1,500.

Finally, with the CIFP Tartanga centres, the ECPV and the UPV/EHU are once again collaborating with the Festival by offering workshops, internships and master classes for the agents involved in the ZG/PRO, as well as for the members of the Jury and invited directors.