India, Spain sign accord for movie co-production

India and Spain today signed an audio visual co-production agreement in the area of feature films, documentaries and animation films.

"The agreement provides opportunities for both the countries to pool their creative, artistic, technical, financial and marketing resources to co-produce films," a statement issued by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry here said.

It was signed by Information and Broadcasting minister Ambika Soni and Spanish Minister for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation Jose Garcia Margallo Y Marfil.

The co-production agreement would provide an opportunity to create and showcase 'soft power' of the two country and it would also lead to generation of employment among artistic, technical as well as non-technical personnel engaged in the arena of film production including post-production and its marketing, adding to the country's GDP, the statement said.

The Ministry also said that the utilisation of Indian locales for shooting raises the visibility and prospects of India as a preferred film shooting destination across the globe.

It will also lead to inflow of foreign exchange into the country and transparent funding of film production, the Ministry said.

India already has co-production agreements with Italy, the UK, Germany, Brazil, France, New Zealand and Poland.