The Film Verdict (TFV) is proud to announce the debut of CINE VERDICT, a section featuring Spanish language content written by Spanish language critics for the international marketplace. CINE VERDICT is conceived as a tool for Spanish language professionals who buy, sell, and make films; our intention is to bring awareness of these films to international buyers in Spanish language markets, which of course includes Hollywood.
Since its launch, TFV has reviewed over 650 films from around the globe, many of them in Spanish, the primary language in twenty countries and the second most spoken language in the world. Recognizing the cultural and commercial power invested in the Spanish film and content industry, we feel the time is ripe to use the power of serious reviewing as part of the production-promotion-distribution value chain, where critics can make a difference.
The Film Verdict strongly believes in the cross-border potential of non-Hollywood-centric content, both in commercial and cultural terms. The growing consumption of international product on streaming platforms is but one example. While it may seem that English dominates the film and media business, the outreach of Spanish is well understood by streaming platforms like Netflix, Amazon and Disney. According to Nielsen’s Stacie de Armas, “Hispanic influence on the U.S. entertainment industry is becoming ubiquitous. The shift isn’t surprising, though, as Hispanics now represent 19% of the U.S. population, up 23% over the past decade, outpacing the nation’s overall population growth of 7%. With a buying power of $1.9 trillion, U.S. Hispanics would be the world’s seventh-largest GDP, at $2.7 trillion, if they were a standalone economy.” (Sept-2022-Hispanic-DIS-report.pdf (nielsen.com)) That should be enough to convince Hollywood to invest more in Spanish language content. CINE VERDICT is already there.
