Mexico strives to lure more locations

Depending on who you ask, the state of the film industry of Mexico is waxing or decreasing.

The Twin Labor attacks of 2023 saw less American film and TV productions that year and the following year. However, the first trimester of 2025 reported a peak of 16% in overall audiovisual activity, said Guillermo Saldaña, the film commissioner of Mexico City.

“I would like to think that we have a symbiotic relationship with the US and Colombia because we share talent, industry and information. We always work closely with the MPA, the most important studios, Netflix and the others,” he said, adding: “Lately there has been a feeling of a kind of home in American industry. And the American Latino community.”

“Some local production companies saw a limited activity in 2024, but now gained strength in 2025 with two to three projects,” said Saldaña. Others are still discouraged by the bat stable in incentives for domestic productions and have been inactive.

“The presence of Mexico on the international stage has recently fallen,” said Pimienta Films’ Nicolas Celis (‘Roma’, ‘Emilia Perez’), who has just been president of the Mexican producers Association Ampi and the newly launched Mexican Federation of FilmProdents.

Ephicine, the stimulans for co -productions, rejected the bids from local producers to participate in both films that have won in Cannes’ Un certain esteem this year, Chile’s’ The Mysterious Stand of the Flamingo ‘and’ A Poet ‘by Colombia.

When Netflix’s Co-CEO Ted Sarandos appeared in February with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum to announce a milestone of $ 1 billion in production in the next four years in Mexico, the local audiovisual industry had a collective cheers.

“It was very well recedived by the film community, I got calls from everywhere in the world,” Said Redrum’s Stacy Perskie, who has worked on some of the biggest international productions in Mexico, LED by the 2015 James Bond Thrillar “Whathaced” WHYS Streets of Mexico City, Neil Blomkamp’s Dystopian “Elysium” and Netflix’s Upcoming “The Gringo Hunters” and “Man on fire.” In addition to other large -scale local projects, he also worked on “Narcos: Mexico”, “Pedro Paramo” and Alejandro González Iñárritu’s “Bardo”, in which the center of Mexico City was closed.

Reflecting on the growing competition of elsewhere in Latin -America and other areas, he be on it: “There are all these stimuli in Latin -America and also in Europe, but sometimes when you compare Mexico with all these places with stimuli, you see that at the end of the day no equipment, crew, crew members or New York!” Mexico currently offers a VAT discount of 16% to international productions at the federal level. Only the state of Jalisco expands an incentive in cash, but has an annual $ 5 million limit.

“If we had incentives, Mexico would be so much more attractive,” noted Celis who has a whole series of productions in the pipeline, including the newest fiction functions of Lila Avilés (“The Chambermaid”), Tatiana Huezo (“The Echo”), “Hura Miller, the debut, Miller, the Debuunt Miller,))) and the Debaute Millerer, the Debaute Miller,)))) Coriller, Sofia Carrilling.

The issue of a national location film stimulus is discussed and closely coordinated with the presidency and the Ministry of Economy, according to Saldaña.

“In Mexico City, the film industry is almost 12% of the GDP of the city, which reflects an important investments. The president is well aware of its importance – hence her joint announcement with Netflix. Discussions are underway in the Creative Industries Roundtables of the Ministry of the Economy, the Ministry of the Ministry of the Ministry of the Ministry of the Ministry of the Ministry of the Ministry of the Ministry of the Ministry of the Ministry of the Ministry of the Ministry of the Ministry of the Ministry of the Ministry of the Ministry of the Ministry of the Ministry of the Ministry of The Ministry of The Ministry of the Ministry of The Ministry of The Ministry of The Ministry of The Ministry of The Ministry of The Ministry of The Ministry of The Ministry of The Ministry of The Ministry of The Ministry of The Ministry of The Ministry of The Ministry of The Ministry of The Ministry of The Ministry of The Ministry of The Ministry of The Ministry of The Ministry of The Ministry of The Ministry of The Ministry to. Curiel, and various industry, “he.

Asked if Netflix provides for challenges to fulfill its $ 1 billion commitment for Mexico, Carolina Leconte, Netflix VP of content for Mexico, replied: “We have been producing original content in Mexico for ten years now, so we have built strong local partnerships with cast and crew, for the camera and we continue to grow together.”

“We always strive to tell and learn to use better stories as the industry evolves in the latest production standards and technologies, and luckily Mexico has so much talent and so many stories to tell,” she added, with a whole series of projects.

These include: “Las Muertas”, the first series of film director Luis Estrada (“Herod’s Law”) and Mexican revolution period “Mal de Amores”, based on the novel of Ángeles Mastretta.

It recently started production on four new series: “Santita”, “Love 9 to 5”, “I’m not Bang” (no Tengo Miedo) and “Corruptors” (“Los Corruptores”).

The state of Jalisco, whose capital of Guadalajara organizes a number of cultural activities, including the Guadalajara International Film Festival (FICG), a book festival and a gay-pride parade, among others, launched a 40% cash discount on production and post production in 2023. At least three years.

Non-resident producers should forge a co-production deal with a jalisco-based producer to use the discount. News broke at FICG that post-production huisemaemia bundled the forces with his Guadalajara-based counterpart Semillero Estudios to better tap the benefits.

Netflix shot season 3 of “The Manny”, as well as “Snakes and Ladders” in Guadalajara, while appletv+ photographed “Acapulco” in Puerto Vallarta on his Eugenio series series.

While Jalisco does not yet have to reach Mexico City levels in terms of heads of the crew and department, the state has a wealth of locations. “Subject to snow, we have cities, we have deserts – in other words, Jalisco offers a wide range of locations, which is not the case, for example in Mexico City where if you would like a beach location, it would take at least five hours to get there. That on average organizes five to six international audiovisual projects.

“We have organized a FAM trip here for producers from Los Angeles, directly in coordination with the Los Angeles consulate. It was great that they came first of all how easy it is to do things here, etc. As you know, Hollywood is to make the Head of the Connectivity, the Head of the Connectives, for the Head of the Connectives, the Head of the Connectives, the Head of the Connectives, the Head of the Connectives, the Head of the Connectives, the Head of the Connectives, the Head of the Connectives, the Head of the Connectives, Airports of the country are in Jalisco, and we have direct flights to Canada, Europe and the US “

Guadalajara has also become an animation hub with the Guillermo del Toro-stundled film school El Langer Chucho that leads the genre. During the weekend during the Guadalajara festival, El Taller revealed “Sira”, an ambitious hybrid animation function co-produced with Spain, written by actor-writer director Ángeles Cruz.

Also: “They do a lot of work with students, thanks to strong ties with the University of Guadalajara; it has become an important training area for emerging filmmakers and a talent pipeline for the animation industry,” Tavares noted.

About 20 animation studios have worked on various international projects, including some Van Marvel. FICG’s opening night film, the first stop-animation function “I AM Frankelda” from Mexico, was post-produced in Guadalajara and tapped the Cashfate. Some of the photos in Ficg’s Made in Jalisco section used the discount covering, in particular “Abracadaver” and “Over The Waves” (“Sobre Las Olas”).

“The political urge of other states to develop their regions has benefited everyone, because a larger number of regions developed means that more audiovisual growth of industry and production services are coming to Mexico,” said Saldaña.

“We are open to exploring locations where the story calls for it, and we continuously to explore new regions,” Said Netflix’s Leconte, Adding: “So far, we have filmed in over 50 locations in 25 States – for Example in Oaxaca (” “Groto del Río”, Puaja, Puaja, Puaja, Puaja, Puaja, Puaja, Puaja, Puaja, Puaja, Puaja, Puaja, Puaja, Puaja, Puaja, Puaja, Puaja, Puaja, Puaja, Puaja, Puaja, Puajaa), Puajaaa The Amores’), San Luis Potosí (‘Pedro Páramo’ and ‘Las Muertas’), Tijuana (‘ Santita ‘) and Veracruz (‘ No Tengo Miedo ‘), among other things.

Saldaña zei: “We zijn van plan om de infrastructuur van Mexico City volledig te benutten en werken aan het diversifiëren van het vergunningsproces. Het doel is om het filmen weg te schakelen van de gebruikelijke centrale gebieden – zoals Roma, Condesa en Coyoacán, die meestal worden uitgelicht – en in plaats daarvan spotlight en bezoeken aan andere delen van de stad, zoals Iztapa, en zijn ook Focus op stadsdelen With important protected natural areas, such as Milpa Alta, Magdalena Contreras and Tlalpan, we want more exposure to this under -represented, ecological and culturally rich areas of Mexico City.

And to tackle the beach problem in part, the city is working on an agreement with the famous city of Acapulco. “Our goal is to breathe new life into the audiovisual corridor between Acapulco and Mexico City, with the initiative led by the Ministry of Tourism. We have been deeply invested in restoring Acapulco’s rich cinematic inheritance and the long -term history in film,” said Saldoña.