PROCOMER: digital animation from Costa Rica puts its talent and creativity on full display at Kidscreen Summit 2023

SAN JOSÉ, Feb. 15, 2023. Marte Studio, Herald Entertainment, and Tropics Creative together with the Foreign Trade Promoter (PROCOMER) and the country brand Essential Costa Rica are participating in the most important digital animation fair for the US market: Kidscreen Summit 2023, taking place in Miami, Florida from February 12-15.

The services offered by Costa Rican companies are aimed at the entertainment and animation industry, such as 3D and 2D animation, concept and character design, visual effects, as well as production and post-production services.

“This is the tenth time that PROCOMER has supported the participation of companies in the Kidscreen Summit to promote Costa Rican talent in the international entertainment and animation industry and, in so doing, close business deals and make strategic alliances. The Costa Rican digital animation sector is taking the leap to not only offer animation services but to create content and successfully place it in Russia, Japan, Canada, and Latin American countries. This has been made possible thanks to the talent and creativity of each company’s production and service,” said Mario Sáenz, exports development manager at PROCOMER.

In addition to what was detailed by Sáenz, the Costa Rican delegation has other objectives in regard to its participation in Kidscreen, such as positioning Costa Rica as a creator of content and intellectual property aimed at children; promoting the content of national series that are in production or pre-production to identify potential distributors and investors; and testing intellectual property concepts (series).

Every year, Kidscreen Summit brings together more than 1,500 participants from 50 countries, more than 300 content buyers, 700 studios and distributors, consultants, and industry experts. The participants include major companies such as Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, BBC Kids, Blue Sky Studios, Discovery Kids, DreamWorks Animation, NBC Sprout, and YouTube, among others.

The digital animation industry in Costa Rica

According to the study, “Profile of digital animation in Costa Rica“, conducted by PROCOMER, the sector shows a strong orientation towards the export of its services, since 42% of the companies that make up the sector record sales abroad and 40% of their total income comes from their exports.

The digital animation sector in Costa Rica consists of more than 62 animation studios and specialized companies with an offer made up of more than 30 different services, including a wide participation in 2D and 3D animation as well as rigging techniques, illustration, 3D modeling, and motion graphics, among others. These services are developed both for productions in the field of advertising as well as the creation of intellectual property (mainly series and short films).

The United States, Canada, Mexico, and the United Kingdom stand out as the main markets for the export of their productions. This list is completed with another 18 countries. Also worth mentioning are companies with experience in digital animation co-production with partners in Ireland, Denmark, the Czech Republic, Uruguay, and Colombia, as well as world-class content distributors such as Disney, Cartoon Network, Discovery, and Dreamworks TV.