Colombia Adds Massive Soundstage as Bogotá Audiovisual Market Attendance Soars and ‘Narcos’ Star-Led ‘Rookies’ Cleans Up in Project Prizes

Jul 10, 2026 11:11pm PT Colombia’s Bogotá Audiovisual Market (BAM) has wrapped its 17th Edition July 10 with an uptick in attendance. The numbers say it all: 2,336 accredited participants and 271 industry activities and 882 one-on-one business meetings connecting selected projects with a host of international guests, advisors and potential partners. “BAM once again showed that Colombia has world-class stories to tell and the talent to bring them to global audiences.

We’re confident that many of the projects that came through the market leave stronger than they arrived—and one step closer to becoming the films, series, and audiovisual experiences audiences will see in the years ahead,” said BAM director Carlos Eduardo Moreno. Related Stories Netflix’s ‘Little House on the Prairie’ Is a Charming Reimagining of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Beloved Adventure: TV Review Social Issue Gore, Very Latino Gumshoes and OMG 2D Animation Power Up the Project Lineup at 2026’s Bogotá Audiovisual Market The ever-expanding five-day event was packed with panels, masterclasses and training sessions among a dizzying array of activities. It only paused when Colombia played against Switzerland in its failed bid to make the semi-finals of the FIFA World Cup on July 8.

Even the traffic-clogged streets of Bogotá went virtually silent. Popular on Variety This year’s edition awarded 70 in-kind prizes from national and international partners to selected projects and emerging talent across various categories including Fiction Films, Documentaries, Series, Rough Features, Animation, Rough Shorts and Bammers. Among the big winners was José Luis Rugeles and Ana María Tarazona of Rhayuela, who took home five awards for their TV series project, “Rookies” (“Oficina de Detectives”).

Jose Luis Rugeles and Ana María Tarazona of Rhayuela Won Five Prizes for ‘Rookies’Credit: Paul Cataño Among documentary feature contenders, “La Sombra de Yolüja” by Hanz Rippe Gabriel and Fernanda Pineda and “De la Villa” by Mónica Taboada and Beto Rosero split the prizes. Meanwhile, Agamenón Quintero’s “De naranjas y otros demonios” snagged the most awards in the fiction feature section. Organized by Proimágenes Colombia and the Bogotá Chamber of Commerce, BAM remains a key engine driving Latin America’s audiovisual sector.

TIS Studios Opens Massive 18,300-Square-Foot Stage 7, VFX Companies Folks, Loma Expand Clientele BAM took place just as TIS Studios, which has hosted a slew of high-profile projects, announced the opening of Stage 7, a new 18,300-square-foot soundstage, primed to host large-scale international film and TV productions. Stage 7, TIS Studios “TIS Studios brings highly trained crews, international production standards and the protocols to manage large-scale projects, all backed by nearly three decades of delivering premium content,” said Samuel Duque, president of TIS Studios. “Stage 7 adds to that foundation.

Combined with Colombia’s production incentives, it gives producers, showrunners and production studios around the world one more reason to bring their most ambitious projects here.” The launch of Stage 7 marks the next phase in TIS Studios’ expansion, building on nearly 30 years of production expertise and a track record of projects for major global platforms and networks including Netflix, Amazon, Disney, Paramount, CBS Studios, MTV, Fox Television Studios, Nickelodeon, NBCUniversal and Telemundo. At 18,300 square feet and 40 feet high, Stage 7 is Colombia’s largest soundstage and one of the biggest in Latin America.

Meanwhile, VFX company Folks Bogotá, run by Andrea Espinal, has attracted a slew of international projects to its studio, lured by its highly competitive rates. The shows it has serviced include Netflix’s epic “One Hundred Years of Solitude,” Taylor Sheridan’s “1883” and “Lioness” (Seasons I and II), Rodrigo Prieto’s directorial feature debut “Pedro Páramo,” AppleTV’s “The Morning Show” and survival horror pic “Boiúna: Legend of the Amazon,” formerly titled “Titan,” which shot in the Colombian Amazon. Launched in 2019 under Espinal, Folks Bogotá studio was established to harness Colombia’s creative talent for high-end VFX productions.

What began by supporting the Montreal team grew into a full-service studio delivering visual effects for major Latin American and international titles. Another burgeoning VFX company, Loma, with deep roots as a family-owned rental equipment company, has expanded into the virtual production business. Its 200-square-meter virtual production studio combines custom LED volumes with real-time technologies including Unreal Engine, camera tracking and media servers to deliver in-camera VFX and extended reality (xR) productions.

Run by COO Francisco Forero, the Bogotá-based facility supports feature films, series, commercials, live broadcasts and R&D projects, offering filmmakers a state-of-the-art environment for virtual production and next-generation visual effects workflows. Among some of the shows they have