Valladolid
For millennia an economic and cultural crossroads, Valladolid, with 300,000 inhabitants, is the capital of the Castilla-y-León region. For 64 years, the International Cinema Week (SEMINCI) has placed the city at the heart of international independent cinema. The city offers a programme of creative activities that seeks to inspire people vocationally, provide support for independent cinema, and foster the exploration of new cultural horizons, with the aim of using cinema to educate, integrate and generate wealth and equality.
Cultural businesses in Valladolid represent 12% of the total local businesses and 20% of the cultural businesses in Castilla-y-León region The direct employment created by the more than 1,000 businesses in the Creative and Cultural Industries (CCIs) amounts to more than 5,000 workers and 10% of the city’s workforce.
Valladolid Film Office, created in 2014, seeks to raise the profile of the seventh art in the city by supporting film-making activity. Likewise, the University of Valladolid has been organizing summer courses in cinema aesthetics for 50 years.
The city is developing exchange projects for cinema professionals on the subject of "Filming and Tourism", as well as a programme to promote the visibility of women in film industry, one-day events in advertising film production, with the support of the Association of Spanish Advertising Film Producers and Jornadas Sobre la Distribución Independiente. The high-profile of the SEMINCI festival is an effective springboard for young audio-visual artists. A dedicated office provides advices on filming, as well as makes a directory of businesses and professionals registered in the municipality available to national and foreign professionals.
As a Creative City of Film, Valladolid envisages:
- creating a documentation centre for cinema, with specific activities for schoolchildren, the elderly, cinema buffs and professionals, and a space to promote Creative Cities;
- creating a Forum of Screenwriters in order to more closely link literature and cinema;
- creating a Masters in cinema, as well as a centre for audiovisual creativity to host and assist young people wishing to move to Valladolid;
- sharing the city´s skills in the field of documentary digitization and offering to host the Creative Cities film archives;
- reorienting the #Meetyou festival towards the field of transmedia and hybrid creativity with an artist residency, conferences and academic and technical support; and
- strengthening CulturAfrica, which seeks to integrate and enhance African cultures, through artist residencies for young African film-makers, student internships in leading cities of African cinema, as well as the screening of African outputs in Spain and within the UCCN.
