AF Films: Spain's Indie Studio Revolution

0:00It's April 30th. Welcome to Entertainment and celebrity news today, powered by AI and PAC with headlines. AF Films is blowing up as one of Spain's hottest new indie studios founded just three years ago by producer Franco Riza and actor Manu Vega out of Madrid. They've gone full circle, handling development, financing, production, and now distribution through their label AF Pictures, plus two sound stages on, the tax-friendly Canary Islands called AF Stages. They're teaming up with big names on international projects like the Sundance Head, Sorry Baby, Antonio Banderis's Shark Thriller above and below, and upcoming ones such as No Man's Land starring Numi Repace in Millicent Simmons, plus Hammer Down co-produced with Oppenheimer's Charles Rhoven. Riza got the idea after working in Los Angeles for MGM and Disney, spotting how Spain's 30% national tax rebates up to 54%. In the Canaries, they were pulling in global shoots. He wanted to go beyond service work, creating and

1:02owning intellectual property with hands on efficiency. Now they've released five Spanish films through AF Pictures, from thrillers to dramas, giving indie projects longer theater runs. They're shooting two big ones this year in the Canaries, collaborating with local posthouse matchpoint for that seamless 360 approach. Spain's production boom is fueling outfits like AF films to build global ecosystems, prioritizing quality scripts and partners over quantity, aiming, to own a library of hits that play worldwide.