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In 2009, nine production companies were operating in the Canary Islands using Zec preferential tax rates for being established here. Flash forward 15 years, there are now 31 companies doing live action. Below, some of the Canary Islands pacemaker production companies, and titles to track:

Anaga Media Productions

The Canary Islands’ newest kid on the block, founded in June 2023 by two U.S.-raised Venezuelans: Gisberg Bermúdez, director of hit chiller “Whistler: the Origins,” and actress-turned-producer Malena González, now based out of Tenerife’s San Cristobal de La Laguna. There it hit the ground offering production services on “Bruha,” which shot in November, directed and co-written by Bermúdez for Elizabeth Avellán. Currently in post, it stars Clara Rosager McCaul Lombardi, Jeff Fahey and González. Now developing “Black Lotus” which will be Anaga’s first production. Interested in both international co-production and offering production services, say González and Bermúdez.

Buendía Estudios Canarias

The biggest...

Last week, the Internet was abuzz with a new stop-motion ad for Planters that featured Robert Downey Jr. as the new voice of Mr. Peanut, but it was actually a commercial featuring a pre-"Iron Man" Downey Jr. that caught my eye when I came across One Cool Thing A Day's selection of "The Route," a 12-minute ad produced by Volvo for its line of V50 station wagons. Produced by the Swedish carmaker in 2004, "The Route" does indeed show off all the amenities of the V50, but also functions as a surreal, elliptical piece of noir, courtesy of "The Grifters" director Stephen Frears, wherein Downey Jr. confronts himself as a not-so-compatible travel companion for himself in his search for a town called Confidence. The first part is here (and the link to part two is here):

At the time, Martin Buckley, a strategic planner from the ad firm that produced the short,...