In one single, bold move, Costa Rica has secured SVOD distribution in one of its largest international markets — Spain — by launching a dedicated channel on
popular streaming platform Filmin.

To be unveiled at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, the new Costa Rica Channel, Canal Costa Rica, will spotlight a curated selection of up to 20 recent and standout feature films, documentaries and shorts from the small but increasingly prolific territory.

This initiative represents an innovative path to international distribution and underscores the growing support for cinema from the Costa Rican government, a rising wave of local productions and the country’s increasing creative ambition.

Indeed, Costa Rica is emerging as a leading filmmaking force in Central America.

“After the great experience we had with Chile last year, we were encouraged to repeat the experience with Costa Rican films,” says Filmin co-founder and chief creative officer Jaume Ripoll, who noted that many of these gems are seldom seen outside of the festival circuit. While the dedicated channel for Chilean pics was only for a month, this unprecedented initiative with Costa Rica will run for a year. The Costa Rica Channel will also be available in Portugal. 

The idea for the strategic alliance sparked between the Costa Rica Film Commission and Filmin last year when Ripoll was invited to speak at the annual Costa Rica Media Market, where he met with the country’s relatively new film commissioner, Marysela Zamora. 

Filmin will debut the channel with an initial selection of 12 Costa Rican films and an animation series, “Ivick Von Salza,” from its current catalog. Additional titles will be added by the Film Commission, curated to align with the platform’s concept and intended audience.

Among the standout titles in the Costa Rican channel are films by Antonella Sudasassi, “The Awakening of the Ants” and “Memories of a Burning Body,” both of which represented Costa Rica at the Oscars. Interest in Costa Rican films peaked in Spain after “Memories of a Burning Body” was nominated for a Goya, Spain’s Academy Awards, according to Ripoll. 

Also in the lineup are the acclaimed “Clara Sola” by Nathalie Alvarez, Valentina Maurel’s “I Have Electric Dreams” and Paz León’s debut feature, “Aqui y ahora.” 

“Our strategy since I joined the Film Commission has been clear: Costa Rica on every screen—our films, our locations, our stories. This first step is about getting audiences used to seeing and enjoying Costa Rican cinema,” says Zamora.

“The long-term vision is for people to actively seek out our films, just as they do with Spanish or Argentine cinema, which already have strong identities. We’re a small country with a limited output, but the more people connect with our stories, the easier it will be for our filmmakers to keep creating and finding their audience,” she adds. 

Costa Rica has spawned a number of excellent female filmmakers. “I think this is because it’s a relatively new industry so the traditional hierarchy has not had time to establish itself,” Sudasassi notes, adding: “Our film schools have also levelled the playing field.”

Also in the Filmin channel lineup is Costa Rica’s submission to the 2016 Academy Awards, “About Us” (“Entonces nosotros”) by Hernán Jiménez (“Elsewhere,” Netflix’s “Love Hard”). Jiménez has lived in Los Angeles for about a decade, but went back home to shoot his fifth film, “April” (“Abril”). “After more than 10 years away, I felt a positive shift in the industry, certainly a more professional and robust creative energy,” he says.

“Let’s hope that other countries in Latin America, like Mexico and Colombia, will be encouraged to launch their own channels on Filmin as a result of this new venture,” says Ripoll.