PARIS — Veteran producer Teresa Enrich has been tapped as director of the Catalan Institute of Cultural Companies (ICEC), which runs Spain’s biggest regional film fund.
She replaces Gorka Knorr, who was in the post for just six months.
Enrich broke through as a producer with Agusti Villaronga’s controversial 1987 Berlin hit “In a Glass Cage.” She has long track record as a producer and line producer, working in film, TV, documentaries and international co-productions.
Enrich’s appointment has been welcomed by the sector. As a jobbing producer, “Enrich won’t need to adapt to the sector as is the case with politicians,” said producer Manuel Monzon.
“This is a bet on pragmatism, action and experience,” added David Matamoros, at Zentropa Intl. Spain.
Enrich takes over during a desperate period for much of Catalonia’s film biz.
Once admired for its financial muscle and sophisticated, multiple funding lines, the ICEC saw its film and TV investment budget slashed 31% to Euros8.2 ($10.9 million) last year.
Catalonia’s TVC maintains the most significant movie and fiction drama investment of any regional pubcaster in Spain. But TVC coin for fiction films, toons and docus dropped 13% in 2012 to $14.6 million.
Enrich’s biggest challenge will be to clarify for the industry what money ICEC can bring to the table this year.
Her biggest problem is beyond her control: Uncertainty about the future of central government subsidies, because of which banks will no longer cash-flow productions against the promise of future subsidy payments, said Miguel Angel Faura.
In this context, international pre-sales and commercial broadcasters Mediaset Espana, which backed “The Impossible,” and Antena 3 Group, which backed “Mama,” have emerged as the most reliable sources of movie funding in crisis-struck Spain.
