Quintana Roo Aims to Become International Film Production Hub

Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo — Quintana Roo wants to move beyond its image as a tourist destination and filming location and become a production hub for the film industry, leveraging its natural scenery, infrastructure and local talent.

In November, the state will host an international convention for film producers to showcase what Quintana Roo can offer national and international projects, said Sofía Ibáñez, president of the Quintana Roo delegation of Canacine, Mexico’s national film industry chamber.

The convention gains relevance from the changes introduced by Mexico’s film reform and the new federal cinema and audiovisual legislation, which seek to decentralize an industry currently concentrated mainly in Mexico City, the State of Mexico and Morelos.

The film and audiovisual sector contributes about 124 billion pesos to the country’s GDP, and Quintana Roo hopes to capture a larger share of that economic activity by diversifying where productions take place, Ibáñez said.

According to Imcine, Mexico’s film institute, Quintana Roo is among ten states currently being promoted as film destinations.

One of the main remaining challenges, however, is the lack of precise information on how many productions arrive in the state. There is currently no consolidated registry to measure the scale of this activity.

Canacine is therefore pushing for the creation and strengthening of a film commission in Benito Juárez, the municipality that includes Cancún. The commission would register productions that come to the destination and generate statistics on how the industry is behaving.

Once the commission’s legal structure is in place, Ibáñez said, officials will be able to measure how many productions take place in Quintana Roo, what types of projects they are and how much economic activity they generate.

The convention, scheduled to take place at the Moon Palace hotel, is intended to put Quintana Roo on producers’ radar and show that the state offers much more than natural locations.

Ibáñez said the state also has specialized talent, particularly through the Universidad Filma film school, and argued that local capabilities should be used to generate jobs and opportunities for professionals in the state.

She added that Quintana Roo should use its competitive advantages, from locations to infrastructure and human capital, to diversify the film industry and play a more important role in national and international productions.