Colombia’s Bogotá Audiovisual Market (BAM) concluded its 17th edition on July 10th with an increase in the number of participants. 2,336 accredited participants, 271 industry activities and 882 one-on-one business meetings connect selected projects with a large number of international guests, advisors and potential partners. The numbers say it all.
“BAM has once again shown that Colombia has the world-class stories to tell and the talent to bring them to audiences around the world. We are confident that many of the projects that have come out of the market have come out stronger than they started, moving us one step closer to the films, series and audiovisual experiences that audiences will see in the years to come,” said BAM Director Carlos Eduardo Moreno.
The ever-expanding five-day event was packed with a whirlwind of activities, including panels, masterclasses, and training sessions. It was only paused on July 8 when Colombia faced Switzerland for a place in the FIFA World Cup semi-finals. Even the congested streets of Bogotá were virtually silent.
This year, 70 in-kind awards were awarded by national and international partners to selected projects and emerging talent across a variety of categories including fiction films, documentaries, series, rough features, animation, rough shorts, and bummar. Among the big winners are José Luis Rugeles and Ana María Tarazona from Rayuela, who won five awards for their TV series project “Rookies” (“Oficina de Detectives”).
José Luis Rujeres and Ana María Tarazona from Rayuela won 5 awards in the “Rookies” category
Credit: Paul Catagno
Among the documentary feature nominees, Hanz Lippe Gabriel and Fernanda Pineda’s La Sombra de Yolüja and Mónica Taboada and Beto Rosselló’s De la Villa shared the award.
Meanwhile, in the fiction feature category, Agamenon Quintero’s “De Naranjas y Otros Demonios” won the most awards.
BAM, organized by Proimajenes Colombia and the Bogota Chamber of Commerce, remains an important driving force for the audiovisual sector in Latin America.
TIS Studio Opens Huge 18,300 Square Feet Stage 7, VFX Company Expands Customers in Roma
BAM comes just as TIS Studios, which has hosted numerous high-profile projects, announced the opening of Stage 7, a new 18,300-square-foot soundstage prepared to host large-scale international film and television productions.
Stage 7, TIS Studio
“TIS Studios offers highly trained staff, international production standards and protocols for managing large-scale projects, all backed by nearly 30 years of delivering premium content,” said Samuel Duque, President of TIS Studios. “Stage 7 further strengthens that foundation. Combined with Columbia’s production incentives, it gives producers, showrunners and production studios around the world another reason to bring their most ambitious projects here.”
The launch of Stage 7 marks the next step in TIS Studios’ expansion, building on nearly 30 years of production expertise and project track record for major global platforms and networks, including Netflix, Amazon, Disney, Paramount, CBS Studios, MTV, Fox Television Studios, Nickelodeon, NBCUniversal and Telemundo.
At 18,300 square feet and 40 feet tall, Stage 7 is the largest soundstage in Colombia and one of the largest in Latin America.
Meanwhile, VFX company Folks Bogota, run by Andrea Espinal, is attracting a number of international projects to its studio, attracted by its competitive rates.
The company’s programming includes Netflix’s blockbuster One Hundred Years of Solitude, Taylor Sheridan’s 1883 and Lioness (seasons I and II), Rodrigo Prieto’s feature directorial debut Pedro Páramo, AppleTV’s The Morning Show, and the survival horror film Boiuna: Legend of the Amazon (formerly Titan), which was filmed in the Colombian Amazon.
Founded in 2019 under Espinal, Folks Bogota Studio was created to harness Colombian creative talent for high-end VFX production. What started with the support of a Montreal team has grown into a full-service studio providing visual effects for major Latin American and international titles.
Another fast-growing VFX company, Loma, with deep roots as a family-owned equipment rental company, has branched out into the virtual production business. The 200 square meter virtual production studio combines custom LED volumes and real-time technologies such as Unreal Engine, camera tracking, and media servers to enable in-camera VFX and augmented reality (xR) production.
The Bogota-based facility, run by COO Francisco Forero, will support feature films, series, commercials, live broadcasts, and research and development projects, providing filmmakers with a state-of-the-art environment for virtual production and next-generation visual effects workflows.
Some of the shows they offered include Netflix’s factual skyjacking series “The Hijacking of Flight 601,” SPT’s “Hasta que amanezca,” and Dago Prods’ “Como perderlo todo.” BAM’s Vaivén is a large-scale immersive audiovisual installation created by artist collective Project Aurora.
Unsurprisingly, as with TIS and Folks, its biggest client is Netflix, and the company continues to grow in Colombia, recently appointing Ana María Londoño as head of content in Bogotá.
Venezuelan filmmaker Mariana Rondon reflects on “All Nights Without Caracas”
On stage at BAM Talk, Venezuelan filmmaker Mariana Rondon reflected on her path to film, from her award-winning Bad Hair (Pelo malo) to her latest feature, It Would Be Night in Caracas, produced by Edgar Ramirez.
London revealed that her creative journey began with an unexpected fascination with genetics. She spent 10 years developing her own “genetic laboratory” through art, imagining transgenic beings and creating installations that produce just 12 seconds of video. “That process changed my understanding of film. Powerful stories begin with images, not just scripts,” she said, emphasizing the emotional power of images to create curiosity, surprise, and meaning.
Exile from Venezuela later reshaped her artistic focus. “Seeing people walking from Venezuela, step by step, across the border to Chile, felt like something out of the Bible,” she said, speaking of a crisis that has forced many, including herself, to rethink identity, belonging, and the possibility of imagining the future.
Unable to film Caracas at Night in the Venezuelan capital, London and co-director Marite Ugas worked with hundreds of displaced Venezuelans to recreate the city in Mexico. In scenes reenacting protests, the boundaries between fiction and reality collapsed. “We called it a ‘cut,’ but there was no way to stop it,” she recalled. Many participants relived their own experiences and led the production to provide psychological support.
Ultimately, the film became an act of restoration, a way for many to reconnect with the country they had lost and explore their identity through film. “Issues of identity are at the heart of why we make films,” she said.
Colombia’s film boom has sustainability issues
New industry research presented at BAM confirms the historic impact of Colombian Film Law 814, which transformed the country into a thriving production hub through the Film Development Fund (FDC) and tax incentives. From 2015 to 2025, Columbia released 548 feature films (up from about two per year before 2003). More than half of that was funded by public support and tax incentives, and it attracted about $160 million in private investment.
However, the survey also revealed a major problem: production growth is not leading to stronger companies. Only 25% of production companies supported by FDC or tax incentives return for a second project, and 75% fail to build long-term production capacity. The report warns that while Colombia has been successful in financing films, it has yet to build a sustainable film business, as most companies operate with just two employees and films only make up a portion of their revenue.
The study recommends 12 strategies to strengthen the ecosystem, including expanding financing options, improving tax incentives, supporting distribution and promotion, and recognizing the operational costs needed to build resilient production companies.
“This study confirms the need for a more integrated approach to film policy. Twenty-six years ago, the priority was the production of Colombian films. Today, those films exist, but their market share is still minimal and they still do not reach audiences,” said panel leader, producer and director Cristina Gallego (“Birds of Passage”).
“We need to embrace technological change, incorporate it into our funding strategies and move beyond piecemeal interests. Screenwriters, regional filmmakers, workers, festivals, producers, distributors and public institutions, including the ministries of culture, education, technology and commerce, all have a stake in the audiovisual sector, but often operate separately,” she added.
“Without a sustainable ecosystem that supports both the production and distribution companies and the people who power the industry, long-term growth will remain impossible.”
TIS Studio’s new stage 7
