AGAPI, the
Asociacion Gallega de Productoras Independientes ("Galician Association of Independent Producers") presented its new
Catalogo de la Produccion Independiente´07 ("Catalogue of Independent Production07") and the new design of its website at the Fundacion Caixa Galicia of Santiago de Compostela. Attending the presentation were
Dolores Ben Pena, AGAPI president,
Luis Bara Torres, general manager for cultural creation and dissemination,
Maria Elena Veiguela Martinez, general manager for industrial promotion and the Information Society (both of the Galician Regional Government, the Xunta de Galicia),
Jose Manuel Garcia Iglesias, Caixa Galicia assistant manager for social action,
Manuel Aguilar Lopez, Caixa Galicia manager for social works, and numerous Galician independent producers. Dolores Ben Pena, AGAPI president, made a declaration of AGAPIs future plans and stated, "Galician independent production has to be shown outside of Galicia." To do this, Ben pointed out the importance of the catalogue "which will be indispensable for assisting the audiovisual markets" and offers high quality products, which are "well-known at national and international levels". At present, between 20 and 30% of the budget of a film is dedicated to its commercialization and the AGAPI Catalogue 07 facilitates the promotion and dissemination of Galician independent audiovisual production, observed Dolores Ben. The AGAPI president also announced that AGAPI is also working on an agreement with the
Instituto Gallego de Promocion Economica (IGAPE) ["Galician institute for economic promotion"] and the
Sociedades de Garantia Reciproca (SGR) [mutual guarantee societies], which will improve terms for loans for the financing of Galician productions. Luis Bara Torres, General Manager for Cultural Creation and dissemination, also spoke at the event, praising the importance of the catalogue and the website, which are "basic tools for audiovisual product dissemination in markets and at festivals beyond Galicia". Maria Elena Veiguela Martinez, general manager for industrial promotion and the Information Society, pointed out the importance of the Galician audiovisual sector, "which includes 363 businesses, gives work to more than 3,000 employees and has an annual turnover of some 200 million euros". For the general manager, the AGAPI Catalogue07 amounts to "the genuine confirmation of the quality of ideas and the technical quality of Galician works". Jose Manuel Garcia Iglesias, Caixa Galicia manager for social action, congratulated AGAPI for a catalogue which "is an example of the support given to the audiovisual sector in our country and the confirmation of Caixa Galicia bet on more innovative Galician productive sectors".
The AGAPI Catalogue 07 The Catalogue includes 118 audiovisual projects, 85 of which are finished works and 33 are in production, and information on 9 audiovisual services companies. All audiovisual production formats are represented: TV programs and series, fiction feature films and short films and television documentaries, the most represented genre, with 32 works. All of the information in the catalogue is also available on the Internet. The new AGAPI website includes all of the information on these 118 audiovisual works in three languages (Galician, Spanish and English) along with their trailers, still photos, synopses and technical details. Furthermore, the new website also includes employment listings, where AGAPI production companies present job offers. The site has news, the AGAPI newsletter and information about the association. The continual updating of the website makes it a reliable and detailed source of information on the Galician audiovisual sector, both for its members and audiovisual professionals, the communications media and people interested in the sector.
www.agapi.org
