A New Cinematic Powerhouse Emerges
The Canary Islands are currently enjoying a golden age in the audiovisual sector. With 154 productions filmed on the islands last year alone, generating over €218 million in investment and 14,000 jobs, the archipelago has become one of Spain’s most active filming territories. This boom is fueled by the tax incentives of the Canary Islands Special Economic Zone (REF) and by landscapes that continue to captivate productions from both within Spain and abroad. The result is clear: the islands have solidified their status as a magnet for both national and international cinema.
The Rise of a Homegrown Film Industry
While international film crews come and go, something distinct has been quietly developing on the islands: a creative network taking shape, a generation of filmmakers determined to tell their own stories, and an industry gradually learning to stand on its own feet. This maturation is now visibly paying off. The Canary Islands are racking up selections at prestigious festivals like Cannes, Berlin, Málaga, and San Sebastián, accumulating national awards, and establishing production companies that work consistently.
Although the influx of foreign shoots remains crucial for employment, training, and resources, what truly defines this moment is the emergence of a Canarian cinema that is growing outward without losing sight of its roots. A growing list of titles illustrates this leap, including “Magallanes” by El Viaje Films, selected for Cannes Premiere and the Philippine entry for the Oscars; “Mariposas Negras” by Tinglado Films, winner of the Goya for Best Animated Feature; and “La Hojarasca” by Macu Machín, awarded in Málaga and Documenta Madrid and selected for the Berlinale. Suddenly, the Canary Islands are on all the important cinematic maps.
The Persistent Visionary: José Alayón
Behind this creative fervor are years of hard work, persistent production companies, projects built on personal risk, shoots accomplished with local crews, and filmmakers betting on the islands. Few names are as persistent in the kitchen of contemporary Canarian cinema as José Alayón, founder of El Viaje Films. A director, producer, and craftsman of a model that took over two decades to consolidate, his company was born in Arona and maintains its headquarters there, now operating from Santa Cruz de Tenerife with an almost militant philosophy: he is “obsessed” with developing projects from the islands, with a Canarian perspective and accent.
After studying in Madrid and training in Cuba, Alayón returned with the conviction that to make films in the Canaries, he would have to learn to be an executive producer. Following years of commercial work, advertising, and design, he made a risky decision: he halted all commercial activity to dedicate himself solely to auteur cinema. With insufficient public funding and no financial safety net, he relied on personal credit and bank loans. His strategy was clear: make many small films instead of one big one, learn from the inside, and make mistakes with his own projects.
This gamble led him to “Slimane,” his first feature film, followed by “El Mar Nos Mira de Lejos,” which premiered in Berlin. The first major breakthrough came with “Blanco en Blanco,” co-produced with Chile, awarded at Venice, and selected by the Chilean Film Academy as its Oscar candidate. The crucial leap, however, came with “Magallanes,” directed by Filipino filmmaker Lav Díaz and starring Gael García Bernal. El Viaje Films joined thanks to a minority co-production grant from the Canary Islands Government, allowing the local producer to be part of a major international project. It was selected for Cannes Premiere, won the Golden Spike at Seminci, and has been chosen by the Philippines as its candidate for the 2026 Oscars in the Best International Feature Film category.
Local Stories with Global Ambition
Today, El Viaje Films has several films in post-production. Among them is “La Lucha,” a €1.5 million feature film about Canarian wrestling, shot in Fuerteventura. It is one hundred percent Canarian in its conception and production, with a one-off collaboration from Colombia on sound post-production. Set for release in January, Alayón insists this is the decisive test: that local people see their stories on screen and make them their own. Macaronesia Films, another purely Canarian production service company, is involved as an associate producer.
Jaime Romero, CEO of Macaronesia Films, summarizes the sector’s current moment: “The tax incentives have not only brought filming projects but have allowed Canarian companies to develop their own projects with international ambition.”
Challenges and Growing Pains
However, the path is not entirely smooth. The system lacks greater investment from Televisión Canaria, which, Alayón emphasizes, is called to play a role equivalent to that of Basque, Catalan, or Galician television. Although the current management of the broadcaster is focusing on these aids, the truth is that there is still no major investment, partly because they do not have a comparable budget.
David Baute, a Canarian director and producer, has achieved one of the biggest recent recognitions for cinema made in the islands with “Mariposas Negras,” an animated feature produced by Tinglado Films that won a Goya Award. His career is the result of a long process, built step by step, that has taken him from local projects to work increasingly connected with the international arena. He now develops several productions in parallel and defends the existence of a recognizable “Canarian gaze,” a sensitivity linked to origin, territory, and social and environmental concerns.
Baute believes it is a good time for Canarian shoots but also warns that the current model needs an urgent review and “should have been planned.” In his opinion, the incentive focus shifted incorrectly. It should have prioritized co-production with those already established here, not the installation of external companies. He points out that the pressure of so many simultaneous shoots is leaving local production companies without technical staff; that the inflated salaries of large productions are impossible to match; and that the massive arrival of outside companies has exacerbated problems like housing shortages. David Baute argues that it is now necessary to demand a cinematic “moratorium, a pause,” similar to what was done with the tourism sector.
Nurturing the Next Generation
Another key player is Chedey Reyes. With 25 years in the Canarian audiovisual sector and at the helm of Jugoplastika, he combines his own creative work with teaching at the Instituto del Cine Canarias. His first feature, “Mi Ilustrísimo Amigo,” reconstructs the relationship between Benito Pérez Galdós and Emilia Pardo Bazán and was shot with an entirely Canarian technical crew. His second feature, “La Cosa en la Niebla,” a direct homage to John Carpenter’s cinema, was developed within the Instituto del Cine Canarias, which is listed as a co-producer. The team mixed veteran professionals with students from the school, creating a real, living talent pool.
Reyes argues that tax incentives and service work are vital because they create pools of local talent. Regarding challenges, the most complex remains financing their own projects, despite the existence of financial tools like grants and tax incentives. He also highlights, like José Alayón, that the fundamental difference with other autonomous communities like Galicia or the Basque Country lies in the need for Televisión Canaria to become more involved, to project and broadcast its own content so that local talent can develop and have a platform to be seen.
A Bold New Business Model
Lydia Palencia of ISII Group has burst onto the scene with a model as atypical as it is powerful: 100% private financing, with the tax incentive being the only form of public participation. Palencia explains that ISII Group controls the entire chain: an internal tax consultancy, distribution, communication and marketing agency, and its own legal, human resources, and health and safety departments. This autonomy eliminates delays: they do not work with subsidies and do not depend on public grant calls. Their muscle is private investment.
In their first year, they have closed 19 productions, including features, shorts, and documentaries. Four of their films are already in post-production for a 2026 release. The group is preparing studios in Miller Bajo, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, with a soundstage and a post-production lab to do everything on the islands. They maintain a fixed staff of 100 people—40 of them in the Canaries—and during shoots, they hire hundreds of local professionals.
Palencia indicates there is a deficit of local technicians due to the large number of simultaneous shoots attracted by the tax incentive but insists that each year there are more top-level professionals from the archipelago. She emphasizes a clear definition: if a film is shot in the Canaries, post-produced in the Canaries, and the majority of the crew is local, then it is Canarian cinema. Their bet is to continue growing with larger-scale projects.
Strategic Support and Sustainable Growth
The Canary Islands’ arrival at this point is no accident. There is a REF that works, administrations that are understanding the strategic value of the audiovisual sector, talent that has decided to stay, and an international market that is starting to look at these islands with newfound respect.
Pablo Hernández, president of the Canary Islands Special Economic Zone (ZEC), explains that since 2022, the organization has prioritized attracting entities that are genuinely established in the Canaries and develop their own projects from here. In this sense, they have increased the number of entities developing their own Intellectual Property from three in 2021 to twelve in 2025. He also highlights that the Canary Islands is the third Spanish region receiving the most aid from the Ministry of Culture, with 8% of the total. While not a huge amount, it reflects growth in local production and shows that most activity is international service work. The intangible fixed assets—an indicator of this development—have increased by about €3.6 million per year in recent years, reaching €47.3 million in 2024.
Cristóbal de la Rosa, Director General of Cultural Innovation and Creative Industries for the Government of the Canary Islands, emphasizes that the REF tax incentives “are not a gift” but regulated tools that require a real impact on the territory. The Canarian Certificate of Audiovisual Work obliges productions to hire local personnel and develop the shoot on the islands, which has had a direct effect on professionalization and the consolidation of Canarian talent in both national and international projects.
The public official also highlights the growth of the local industry and the qualitative leap in regional aid. The government has structured a system that covers the “entire value chain,” from scriptwriting and development to production, minority co-production, short films, audiovisual events, and, starting in 2025, aid for the creation of Canarian scripts and the maintenance of cinemas. These funding lines, now totaling around five million euros—a modest figure considering the average film cost of around three million—have driven works that give the archipelago international visibility. De la Rosa defends that this support, reinforced by a presence at international markets and the growing role of Televisión Canaria, is aimed at consolidating a sustainable and recognizable industry.
