Canana Films is a Mexican film and television production company and former distributor. Founded in 2005, Canana is focused on Latin American-focused projects in Spanish and English and became one of Mexico's leading producer-distributors during the late 2000s/early 2010s.[1][2][3] Canana has been inactive since 2020.
Canana was founded in 2005 by Mexican actors Gael García Bernal and Diego Luna and producer Pablo Cruz.[4] García Bernal and Luna departed the company in 2018, with Cruz and Arturo Sampson providing leadership.[5] García Bernal and Luna subsequently founded their studio La Corriente del Golfo.[5] Cruz went on to co-found the international production studio El Estudio in 2020.[6]
In 2005, they partnered with Focus Features for worldwide film rights.[4] Beginning in 2007, Canana began distributing films in Mexico focusing on both promoting Mexican and international independent film around the country.[7][8] The company "pioneered upscale VOD, genre pic and indie 3D movie distribution in Mexico."[9]
2010 was an important year for Canana: they produced their first commercial hit, Abel directed by Luna, and significantly ramped up their film distribution.[8] That same year, it joined Golden Phoenix Productions to jointly produce a number of television documentaries about the unsolved murders of around three hundred women in the border city of Ciudad Juárez.[10] In 2011, they made their first big television deal with Netflix picking up their original series Soy tu fan.[11]
In 2012, a new global deal was made with IM Global, launching the joint venture Mundial to promote worldwide sales of Latin American movies.[12][13] In 2013, Canana joined Participant Media's five-year production deal Participant PanAmerica;[14] their first project was the film No starring García Bernal which was nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar.[15] Also in 2013, the company launch a branded content division.[2]
Canana has had multiple collaborations with directors like Mariana Chenillo and Gerardo Naranjo, among others.
Canana distributed a number of international films to Mexican theaters, particularly during the late 2000s.[7] List adapted from the company website and IMDb.[16][17]
