Canada: from subsistence to Rosalía

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a theirs is an undisputed success story and a clear exception within the Catalan and Spanish audiovisual industry. In 2008, three filmmakers and good friends decided to join forces and work together, with the intention of protecting themselves and being stronger in a universe as complicated and ungrateful as that of advertising. They created the production company Canadá in Barcelona.

Luis Cerveró (Valencia, 1974), Nicolás Méndez (Madrid, 1973) and Lope Serrano (Madrid, 1976) share cinephile tastes, admiration for certain independent pop and a fresh and uninhibited outlook. They look in the mirror of The Directors Bureau, a production company founded in Los Angeles by Roman Coppola in 1996, which also represents Sofia and Wes Anderson, and which over the years would also end up representing them. They shoot on film, something no one does anymore, and unleash all their creativity in music videos for Joe Crepúsculo, Christina Rosenvinge, La Bien Querida or Russian Red. They also produce advertising and audiovisuals for museums and art centers. The Internet marks a new way of doing things and making oneself known. In Canadá, they try the operation of bypassing the communication agency and going directly to the client to offer their projects. They succeed and do some brilliant work, such as Mango with Dakota Johnson, but the numbers don't add up and in 2010 they consider closing and abandoning the large and beautiful space they have rented on Almogàvers street, in the heart of Poble Nou.

At that moment, Bombay arrives, a music video for El Guincho that has an unexpected international repercussion. The phone starts ringing and right in the middle of the crisis, when most production companies close or drastically reduce their staff, Canadá begins to grow and starts an unstoppable ascent. Òscar Romagosa joins as executive producer and Canadá becomes a brand that represents young and talented directors.

One of the keys to their success is investing money and resources in music videos, in which, with some exceptions, there is almost never a budget, to achieve a dazzling reel that makes them win advertising contests, where they more than recover their investment. Thus, successes begin to arrive, one after another, such as Trying To Be Cool, by Phoenix, or Up All Night, by Beck, and awards, from the MTVs to the Grammys. And Canada begins to become a cult production company, as admired as it is sometimes envied and criticized.

In 2013, in the midst of the company's takeoff and expansion, and after some tensions between the three founding partners, Luis Cerveró leaves the ship and decides to set up Estudio Creativo "O", something like a creative factory, where the avant-garde of photography, realization, and art direction meet. A place of reflection and experimentation around the image that once again dazzles agencies, brands, and trend trackers.

Nicolás and Lope remain at the forefront in Canada, along with producer Òscar Romagosa and production director, Alba Berneda. Leading a great project that has its own headquarters in London and continues to reap resounding successes, as in the recent case of Rosalía, who with Malamente and Pienso en tu mirá has slipped among the most viewed and commented videos of the year.