Buenos Aires film industry is enjoying record growth and increasing profits.

According to official figures recently released by the city's Production Ministry, Buenos Aires receives more than $65m from shootings in the area every year and the film industry employs 19,000 people in the city.

A total of 3,498 films (features, documentaries, videoclips and TV commercials) were shot in the city during 2005, up from 352 in 2003, according to BAset, a municipal division created in December 2001 with the purpose of advising producers who seek to film in Buenos Aires, and also to process free-of-charge shooting permits.

Almost half of them are international productions (17% from European companies, 16% from other Latin American countries, and 10% from the US). Before devaluation, foreign clients were only 10%.

The peso devaluation (lost approximately 65 percent of its value in 2002), the architectural aspects of Buenos Aires that enable the recreation of different sets, the city's European style and a talented, highly-qualified and experienced local film force have turned the area into one of the favourite film locations of the world.

According to the Argentinian Film Industry Union, shooting in Buenos Aires can turn out to be 20% cheaper than Canada, South Africa or New Zealand, the favourite destinations among American and European producers when it comes to shooting abroad, and 40% cheaper than Madrid.