In Spanish independent cinema, some names start making noise before their debut feature is even released. Cristian Beteta is one of them. A director and screenwriter specialising in horror and suspense, Beteta brought his production team to Las Palmas de Gran Canaria to film part of Mi Zona at repeople’s spaces. What they found here was more than a location: it was a creative community ready to support a film project with significant potential.
Cristian Beteta and the World of Mi Zona
Cristian Beteta has built his reputation on the international short film circuit with a clear focus on genre filmmaking. His short film Mi Zona has accumulated more than 80 international festival selections, over 40 awards, and reached the shortlist for the 2025 Goya Awards in the best fiction short category — a landmark achievement for any emerging filmmaker.
But Beteta isn’t stopping there. Following the success of the short, he’s making the leap to feature filmmaking: the feature-length Mi Zona is the next project from ISII Group, blending psychological horror with western aesthetics. The story follows Paula, a young woman driving alone through the desert late at night when her car breaks down in the middle of nowhere. What begins as a nightmare becomes a sustained tension exploring everyday fear and family bonds.
To support the creative process and scout locations in the Canary Islands, part of the team chose repeople as their operational base in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.
When Your Film Set Is a Creative Coliving Space
Organising a film shoot means solving hundreds of small problems at once: accommodation for the crew, spaces to work through the night, reliable internet, meeting areas to review footage and make on-the-fly decisions. In a conventional hotel, many of these processes become constant friction. In a creative coliving space like repeople, most of them simply disappear.
repeople’s spaces are designed for people who work unconventionally: irregular hours, intense projects, the need to move fluidly between work and rest. The integrated coworking, spacious communal areas, and community atmosphere made the coliving the ideal environment for the Mi Zona team to focus on what really mattered: the creative work.
Gran Canaria: Film Location and Audiovisual Springboard
A film crew choosing Gran Canaria as a location is no coincidence. The island has spent years positioning itself as one of Europe’s fastest-growing audiovisual hubs. The Canary Islands’ Special Economic and Fiscal Regime (REF) offers some of the most attractive tax incentives on the continent for audiovisual productions — between 45% and 50% for domestic productions, and up to 54% for foreign productions that exceed certain local spending thresholds.
This is supported by growing infrastructure: the Gran Canaria Film Commission offers free logistical support to any production shooting on the island, from filming permits to connections with local suppliers for camera, lighting and art departments. And beyond the fiscal and logistical advantages, filmmakers who’ve shot here consistently describe something harder to quantify: a unique Atlantic light, landscapes that shift from desert to laurisilva forest in under an hour, and a city — Las Palmas de Gran Canaria — with a genuine, underexplored urban energy.
Why repeople Attracts Creative Teams
The profile of people who live and work at repeople is anything but uniform: designers, developers, entrepreneurs, photographers, writers and, increasingly, audiovisual professionals who find in coliving a way to work with more freedom and less logistics. That diversity isn’t accidental — it’s the result of a community built intentionally around the idea that creative environments are nourished by the encounter between different disciplines.
For a film crew, spending a week at repeople means more than sorting accommodation. It means access to a local network, photogenic spaces that can double as secondary locations, and a collective energy that, for long-haul creative projects, is hard to find in an airport hotel.
Is Your Next Production Coming to Las Palmas?
If you’re planning a shoot, a creative residency or simply need an operational base for your team in Gran Canaria, repeople’s El Cabo coliving offers group solutions: from individual spots to full team bookings with access to the integrated coworking space.
The Canary Islands are firmly on the European audiovisual map, and Las Palmas de Gran Canaria has everything needed to be the headquarters for your next production. The Mi Zona team has already proven it.
Want to explore options for your creative team or audiovisual production in Gran Canaria? Get in touch and we’ll find the solution that best fits your project.
