Latin America's Tallest Film Industry Building to be built in Argentina

The $300 million plan for the Buenos Aires' Audiovisual Pole includes a 50-acres lot and the highest skyscraper in the region.

Argentine president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner announced today on her Facebook page the winning project for the Buenos Aires’ Audiovisual Pole, a titanic urban plan to accommodate the local film industry in one single area.

The funding for the project was won by Riva S.A., which planned a 1100 ft. skyscraper – which would make it Latin America’s tallest building — on the Demarchi island, a 50-acres lot that will be organized in four sectors: industrial, educational, institutional, and private.

Film and TV studios, business offices, film museums, archives and schools, as well as the Argentine Film Institute and the headquarters for public and private TV networks, will be some of the uses for the 67-stories building, called Argentina Audiovisual.

The area, which will be mostly designated for the country's expanding film and TV industry, will also include a public park and a multi-purpose stadium to accommodate 15,000 people.

A public-private initiative, the Audiovisual Pole was announced two years ago by the president, and will reportedly require a $300 million investment and a construction period of five years.

The Argentine film and TV industry has accompanied a regional booming trend in recent years, growing steadily in film and TV production figures, mostly fueled by government subsidies and funding, including regional co-prod agreements with neighbor Brazil.

For the past three years, Argentina's film institute INCAA has distributed funds federally to boost local production companies in the interior, as a way to decentralize production and obtain content for free open digital TV.