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The Madrid Audiovisual Cluster (MAC), an economic interest group comprising close to 100 Madrid-based companies, has put together a two-day industry networking and peer-learning program at the Iberseries & Platino confab, taking place over Sept. 29 – Oct. 2 in the Spanish capital.

AI takes center stage again but the program will attempt to delve deeper into the hot-button topic this year, presenting eight industry case studies examining innovation across the audiovisual value chain.

“While AI is a common thread running through the projects, the session takes a broader view of innovation, covering new business models, emerging technologies and evolving production and creative workflows,” said Teresa Azcona, managing director of the Madrid Audiovisual Cluster.

“Together, they show how innovation is transforming the industry and opening up new opportunities across the value chain.”

But as Iberseries & Platino Industria co-Director Samuel Castro pointed out: “The ability to create stories should always be based on a fully human, author-driven concept and development. AI should be used as a tool, not as an end in itself.”

Under the banner Innovation ‘Case Studies in the Audiovisual Industry: New Business Models, AI and Emerging Technologies,’ the eight case studies will illustrate how companies are applying technology to address practical challenges across the industry. Running from 12:00 noon to 2:00 p.m. on Sept. 29, the workshop will feature eight case-study presentations, with approximately 12 minutes allocated to each.

The next day, Sept. 30, takes in a conversation between producer Rosa Bosch and Tanja Meissner, Director of Berlinale Pro, which encompasses major industry platforms including the European Film Market, Co-Production Market, Berlinale Talents and World Cinema Fund.

Case Studies:

1. PLIA: Applying PLIA Technology to Script Breakdown, Pre-Production Planning and Production Tracking on “Playback”

PLIA, an AI-powered production platform for film and audiovisual projects, has developed an integrated production-management solution designed to bring the information generated across the creative and production process into a single platform.

The company will present its application on the feature film “Playback,” covering script breakdown, pre-production planning and production tracking. The platform brings together scripts, notes, budgets, location photography and production breakdowns, with the aim of streamlining information management across the production workflow.

Presenting: Jose Velasco — CEO, PLIA

2. TBS (Telefónica Broadcast Services) Tech Brand Stories: From the Physical Studio to the Virtual Production Environment: Virtual Production, AR, Motion Graphics and AI

TBS – Tech Brand Stories, formerly Telefónica Broadcast Services, is the Telefónica Group’s creative production company and audiovisual agency. The company operates across live production, broadcast services, branded content and entertainment, combining creative and technical capabilities. Its team of more than 450 professionals works across major sporting and live events as well as non-fiction, entertainment, documentary and current-affairs programming.

The case study will examine the convergence of virtual production, augmented reality, motion graphics and AI, and how these technologies are being integrated into contemporary production environments.

Alberto Gonzalo — Graphics Supervisor
Luis Miguel Boedo — Technical Coordinator

3. Hark Media – Go Global: When AI Learns to Move Us: Hybrid Dubbing for Global Distribution

Go Global specializes in localization for the entertainment industry, providing translation, subtitling, dubbing and voice-over services to streaming platforms and production companies.

The company will look at the emerging role of AI in dubbing and how hybrid workflows combining technology and human expertise could support the localization of content for international markets.

Paula Ferrari — Founder & CEO

4. Xpost Studios – Secuoya Content Group: Innovation in VFX and Post-Production Workflows

Xpost Studios, part of Secuoya Content Group, is a Madrid-based post-production and VFX facility operating from Madrid Content City. Its infrastructure includes facilities for editing, color grading, sound post-production, VFX and digital workflows.

The session will focus on the application of new technologies to VFX and post-production workflows, examining how innovation is changing the way content is processed and delivered.

Marcos Requena — Post-Production Manager

5. Story Pitcher: Connecting Audiovisual Creators and Producers Through a Digital Platform

Story Pitcher has developed a digital platform designed to connect screenwriters, directors and other audiovisual creators with production companies and content platforms.

Its model combines AI-powered matching with legal-protection tools, with the aim of facilitating more direct connections between creative talent and industry decision-makers.

Frank Belyeu — CEO, Story Pitcher

6. Mercedes Santalla: From Talent to Market: Strategy and Business for Creative and Technology Projects

Creative strategist and talent manager Mercedes Santalla works with projects and talent operating at the intersection of creative practice and technology. Her session will examine the commercial and strategic considerations involved in taking creative and technology-led projects from development to market, alongside the evolving relationship between talent, technology and business.

Mercedes Santalla — Creative Strategist & Talent Manager

7. Scoutters – Scout & Film: A Digital Platform for Location Scouting and Production

Scoutters is a digital location-search and management platform developed by Spanish company Scout & Film. Built on Scout & Film’s experience managing locations for film and advertising productions, the platform connects location scouts, agencies, production companies and film commissions with locations suited to their production requirements.

The case study will explore how digital tools are changing the traditionally location-based process of sourcing, managing and presenting filming locations.

Rubén Souto — Co-Founder, Scout & Film
Jose Díaz — Co-Founder, Scout & Film

8. HaMo – Paramotion Films: HaMo Real-Time Animation System: Digital Puppetry and Next Lab R&D

Developed by Paramotion Films through the Next Lab Generation R&D initiative, HaMo is a real-time motion-capture system designed for 3D animation and digital puppetry.

The system uses inertial sensors to capture an operator’s physical movements and Unreal Engine to transfer them in real time to a CGI character. The technology enables virtual characters to perform live alongside human presenters and audiences, with potential applications across studios, live events and social media.

This case study will look at the development and practical application of the system as an example of R&D moving from prototype to production technology.

Jose Luis Farias — CEO, HaMo
Alfonso Fulgencio — CTO, HaMo

In one of the later deals pacted at the San Sebastian Festival, Spain’s David Matamoros of Doce Entertainment boarded Matías Rojas’s adaptation of Chilean cult novel “Dog Legs” (“Patas de perro”), joining four other producers from Chile, France, Germany and Colombia.

With this, “Dog Paws” enters the final phase of its financing and is expected to shoot in Valdivia, Chile during the second half of next year. Chile’s ever popular Alfredo Castro (Pablo Larraín’s “The Count,” “The Club”) is attached to star.

“Spain’s involvement decisively strengthens the project and puts us in a very strong position to complete its financing,” said Federico Durán, the film’s Colombian producer through his new company El Sol Ermitaño. Durán, who has produced such notable films as “The Squad” and “Alias María,” just won a major post production award for his WIP project “Lovers Go Home!” at San Sebastián.

“’Dog Legs’ is an ambitious project, both technically and artistically, but it also aims to reach a broad audience,” he told Variety.

Matamoros, whose credits include “The Platform” and “The Virgin of the Quarry,” was also a producer at Zentropa Spain, the company founded by Lars von Trier.

Chile’s A Simple Vista, led by Tomás Gerlach, first began developing “Dog Legs” some four years ago. This year, Reality Films, the production arm of French distributor Epicentre Films, which distributes Colombia’s Cannes-winning film “A Poet” and submission to the 98^th Academy Awards international feature category, came on board at the 76^th Berlinale, joining German company Klinker Films, a co-producer of “A Place Called Dignity,” Rojas’ previous film.

Visual effects will be handled by French company MPC, whose credits include Thomas Cailley’s “The Animal Kingdom,” winner of Best VFX at the 2023 Sitges Film Festival and the French César Awards.

Rojas’s ties to San Sebastian run deep. He premiered his debut feature, “Root,” at the festival 13 years ago. He later returned to its Europe-Latin America Co-Production Forum with his second fiction feature, “A Place Called Dignity.”

Throughout his career, he has presented his films and projects at major international festivals including Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight, the Berlinale and the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (PÖFF).

Published in 1965, “Dog Legs “is a landmark of Chilean literature…radical, powerful, and still deeply unsettling. Six decades later, its themes of exclusion, abuse and violence remain strikingly relevant. The story follows Bobi, a 12-year-old boy born with literal dog’s paws, hidden away by his family until Carlos, a lonely, childless man, takes him in. His act of compassion turns the town against them, casting Carlos as a madman and Bobi as a monster and setting them on a devastating path toward violence.

The Durban FilmMart returns for its 17th edition with a full slate of conversations and events looking to build on the legacy of innovation, disruption and industry-defining discussions at what is arguably the most influential film market on the continent.

Running from Oct. 9 – 12, this year’s event is organized around the theme “Shifting Worlds, Turning Toward Ourselves,” a focus that Durban FilmMart Institute director Magdalene Reddy says was inspired by the pioneering Senegalese filmmaker Ousmane Sembène’s memorable assertion: “Why be a sunflower and turn towards the sun? I myself am the sun.”

“We are very much looking inward [at this year’s edition],” Reddy tells Variety. “In a world where…everything is shifting, we find that, at this time, it’s important for us as the African cinema community to look at what we need to create systems that will work for us. How can we consolidate? How can we create solutions?”

The four-day event features a wide range of panel discussions, masterclasses, one-on-one meetings and mentorship sessions designed to capitalize on a moment of unprecedented visibility — and unparalleled disruption — for the African screen industries.

In a departure from previous editions, which ran parallel to the Durban Intl. Film Festival, this year’s DFM will open with a screening, of Rwandan debutante Marie-Clémentine Dusabejambo’s Cannes Caméra d’Or winner “Ben’Imana.” The film, an alumnus of DFM’s influential pitching and finance forum, was selected to highlight the event’s outsized impact on the African filmmaking community.

“This was a DFM project. It was pitched at DFM two years ago, and they were able to win two awards at Cannes [including the FIPRESCI prize],” says Reddy. “For us, the celebration of hosting a screening at the market — which we’ve not done previously — is based on the fact that we want to show our local content in our local context.”

A crucial pillar of every DFM is its influential Think Tank strand, whose conversations and conclusions often “become a blueprint for the next DFM and the direction which the industry is going,” according to Reddy.

Central this year will be a closed-door session gathering key distributors, financiers and industry leaders looking to tackle some of the vexing challenges of film distribution on the African continent, which has been hit especially hard by successive waves of corporate consolidation in the global industry. Another session will focus on audience development, “trying to see how we can connect better with our local [audiences],” Reddy says.

A backbone of this year’s event will be a spotlight on equitable co-production, with a series of sessions organized in collaboration with the European Audiovisual Entrepreneurs network (EAVE). Tackling knotty issues such as how to best incorporate inclusivity into financing, development and production, the conversations will address the systemic imbalances that face African producers when partnering with outside co-producers, “even when they are coming with the stories, coming with the IP,” says Reddy.

“How can they go in as an equal partner? How can they sit confidently at the table, so they are engaging in a way that will benefit them? Engaging in a way where finances can still come back to Africa?” she asks.

Collaboration is a theme across the Durban FilmMart’s various strands, with the event forging a wide range of partnerships with industry bodies such as EAVE; the Nature, Environment and Wildlife Filmmakers (NEWF); the Cape Town Intl. Animation Festival (CTIAF); Documentary Africa; The StoryBoard Collective; and the Ladima Foundation, which supports African women working in the film and television industries, and will launch an initiative to push for greater gender equity at African film festivals.

“Collaboration is something that has underpinned all the work that DFM has been doing over the years,” says Reddy. “In order for the industry to survive, we need to be working together.”

This year’s Durban FilmMart unfolds at a turbulent time for the host nation, whose screen industries have been “struggling,” according to Reddy, particularly with ongoing uncertainty around South Africa’s 25% cash rebate.

To that end, leading South African policymakers are expected to be on hand at DFM, which will host a closed session for local industry to meet one-on-one with representatives of the influential Dept. of Trade, Industry and Competition, which manages the country’s rebate policy; the National Film and Video Foundation; and various local and regional film commissions.

“For us as DFM, the platform that we create is a platform for filmmakers not just to create a community for the filmmaking industry on the continent, but also a space for filmmakers to connect with policymakers,” says Reddy. “A space for policymakers to understand what are the challenges, what are the issues our filmmakers are facing. We try to bridge that gap between industry and policymakers so we can create a conducive environment and ecosystem for our filmmakers.”

That mandate, she adds, extends to DFM’s broader engagement with the African continent as a whole. “Last year’s theme was creating bridges, and that’s what we continue to do. Even though it’s challenging within the continent to work with each other, we are trying to find ways to do that.”