Lower costs and proximity to the US have helped make Mexico City Latin America’s top destination for audiovisual production, with the city’s film commission reporting a 23% increase in shoots in 2022 from the previous year, officials told reporters at an event in Mexico City. Investments — mostly salaries — rose to $656 million from $564 million, according to the commission.
The growth has parallels with the so-called “nearshoring” boom that refers to factories moving to Mexico to be closer to the US market, added mayor Claudia Sheinbaum. Industrial park occupancy hit a record high last year as global companies relocate their supply chains to Latin America’s second-largest economy.
“This process that is talked about so much of nearshoring is already a reality in Mexico City, and particularly with the creative industry,” Sheinbaum said, boasting that the city’s film commission is now granting permits within 24 hours.
Mexico is becoming a top choice for US filmmakers as other production hubs lose appeal due to high costs, said Avelino Rodriguez, managing partner at The Lift, one of the country’s top production houses. The Lift filmed five of the commercials shown during this year’s Super Bowl.
‘Once-in-a-generation opportunity’
Rodriguez is part of a younger generation of filmmakers who followed the success of Oscar-winning directors Guillermo del Toro, Alfonso Cuaron and Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu. While those directors found success outside of Mexico, the country has struggled to build its own viable film industry after production collapsed from a golden age in the 1950s following the economic crises of the 1980s and 1990s.
In the years that followed, Rodriguez said his generation faced successive challenges. First, the H1N1 virus shut down the capital in 2009. Then, President Felipe Calderon’s crackdown against drug cartels spooked foreign crews. That was followed by the 2017 earthquake.
Rodriguez said Mexico had bounced back stronger each time and then the pandemic acted as a “catalyser” to help revive the industry as Mexico stayed open to foreigners.
“Everything is pushing the agenda to make Mexico even more competitive now,” he said. “This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity for the industry.”
