The amounts to understand the phenomenon
Details of the production and consumption circuit
The main numbers that show the filming industry: production, exhibition, education and cultural consumption.
Production
50.000. Is the amount of jobs created by the audiovisual industry in 2008. The film production process concentrates more than 68% of the work force, followed by commercialization (20%), and development (10%)
156. Is the amount of jobs involved in the making of each feature length film.
100. The average of feature length films produced in Argentina. An estimated 60% corresponds to fiction projects and 40% to documentaries.
215. According to a survey conducted by the City’s Cultural Industries Observatory, there are 215 registered audiovisual production companies in the city of Buenos Aires alone. An estimate of 90% of production companies are based in the country’s capital city.
40%. Is the percentage of films made in the Argentine provinces.
70%. According to a survey conducted by the National Film and Audiovisual Arts Institute in 2005, 70% of the costs of a feature length is added value. It also underlines that “besides the State’s valuable monetary support through the INCAA’s promoting policies, film financing also includes the contribution of labor, service, and venture capital from the private sector”. A total of 69, 48% of the finance for investing in film production comes from the private sector.
34,75%. The percentage of jobs destined to extras on each feature length film. 32.62% of jobs are in the artistic area; 21.75% in indirect form; and 10.87% in the technical area.
Releases
290. The amount of local and foreign films released in commercial theaters all across the country in 2008.
73. Were the local films released in 2008. The record was in 2007, with 92 new films. The highest number of releases during the golden age of local cinema was 56, in 1942. The lowest number in the last 50 years happened in 1992, with only 19 local films released.
2573. The amount of local films released between 1933 and 2008
Exhibition
900. There’s an estimate of 900 screens located in theaters and commercial multiplexes all across the country.
34.500.000. The number of tickets sold around the country reached 34.500.000 in 2008. The record number was 42 millions in 2004.
4.000.000. More than four million people went to see Argentine films in 2008. Local films made 44.687.385 pesos in the box office. The market share went up from 9% in 2007 to 11.5% in 2008. The favorite Argentine film was Juan Taratuto’s A Boyfriend for My Wife, with 1.450.000 spectators. If you add the Espacio INCAA theaters, the percentage of movie goers for Argentine cinema climbs up to 13.4% of the total of spectators.
58, 3%. Between Thursday 10th and Sunday 13th, September 2009, Argentine cinema got a market share of 58.3% of the total of spectators. Juan José Campanella’s The Secret In Her Eyes and Marcelo Piñeyro’s The Widows of Thursdays topped the ranking of most seen films in the country. In September 2005, three local films - Fabian Bielinsky’s The Aura, Damián Szifron’s On Probation and Tristan Bauer’s Blessed by Fire – were the box office top three.
2°. Argentina holds the world’s second place regarding the number of hours of cinema broadcasted on public television, and third when it comes to cable. Regarding public television, Channel 7 programs 61.98% of the total, followed by Channel 13 with 24.38%, America TV with 6.20, Telefé with 5.79% and Channel 9 with 1.65%. As for the programming of Argentine cinema in cable television, the Volver channel concentrates 92.77% of films, and Retro has 6.17%
Festivals
400 films from 46 different countries were screened in the 23rd Mar del Plata International Film Festival. Created in 1954, it’s the only class “A” festival in Latin America, in accordance to the rating issued by the International Federation of Films Producers Associations (FIAPF)
245.000 people attended the 2009 edition of the Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema (BAFICI). 417 films were screened in 1069 showings, including feature length films, short films and outdoor screenings. 65 Argentine films (feature length and shorts) were screened, out of which 59 were world premieres (local feature length and short films)
Education
15.550. Is the amount of students attending public and private film schools. According to the National Census of Audiovisual Education, in 2005 there were 43 educational cinema institutions (65& public and 35% private) in the country. A study conducted by the INCAA in 2009 stated that “there’s a large number of institutions dedicated to the training of future filmmakers, technicians and content producers. The offer of university programs as well as film related courses not only contemplates and supports the affluence of local students, but also welcomes an infinite amount of young students from other countries, who learned of our academic excellence and our technical and teaching resources” Most of the institutions are based in the capital city, and the provinces of Buenos Aires, Santa Fe, Cordoba, and Mendoza.
3.500. Is the estimated total people working as principals, academic coordinators, teachers, instructors, workshop professors, and teaching assistants in different educational institutes all across the country.
