Ventana Sur begins today (December 2) and for the first time since its inception in 2009, the leading Ibero-American market is taking place in Montevideo, Uruguay, where participants will conduct business and sample projects from returning and new sections.
Forced to relocate from Argentina this year due to uncertainty created by the country’s ongoing financial crisis, market co-organisers INCAA (Argentina’s National Institute of Cinema & Audiovisual Arts) and Cannes’ Marché du Film have partnered with Uruguayan Film and Audiovisual Agency (ACAU).
The so-called ’Río de la Plata’ edition, which was announced at a press event during Cannes last summer with Marché du Film’s Guillaume Esmiol, INCAA’s Bernardo Bergeret and ACAU’s Facundo Ponce de León in attendance, operates out of the market hub Auditorio Nacional Adela Reta, one of several venues within a 15-minute walk to the old part of Montevideo.
While close to 2,000 accredited professionals marks a significant drop from last year’s record of 3,500, the number is commendable considering the circumstances.
Ever since Argentinian president Javier Milei swept to power one year ago, alarm bells have sounded over the fate of public backing for the audiovisual industry. Support has ranged from a stirring defence of Argentinian culture and INCAA by Cannes head Thierry Frémaux at last year’s Ventana Sur, to multiple gatherings this year by Argentinian filmmakers at festivals ranging from Berlin to San Sebastián.
Opportunities on a smaller scale
“We have tried to give the event a Uruguayan imprint, so it is not just a relocation,” said Facundo Ponce de León, president of ACAU. “We have also embraced our dimensions. We are a small country with three million inhabitants, but we wanted to see this not as a problem, but as an opportunity; an opportunity for the smaller scale to make encounters more personalised, more meaningful, and more productive as well.”
Hopes are high that the event will go well. Marché du Film executive director Guillaume Esmiol said: “ACAU has done an outstanding job managing the venues and logistics, rethinking the activities, and designing this first edition in Uruguay. Together with INCAA, we have worked to sustain and strengthen our flagship programmes while also introducing new ambitions and ideas.”
Ponce de León said his team has had to overcome the logistical difficulties of relocating Ventana Sur, such as ensuring flight connections are as smooth as possible. Madrid is the only European city with a direct flight to Montevideo, for example.
As previously reported, INCAA, Marché du Film and ACAU have agreed to alternate the event through 2026. Ventana Sur is scheduled to return to Buenos Aires in 2025, before it goes back to Uruguay in 2026.
New initiatives
The 2024 event offers a vibrant slate of projects, activities, and fresh developments. New initiatives at this new Uruguayan edition include a one-on-one meetings event at the Latam Series Market featuring 11 projects; Maquinitas+, which offers video game pitching sessions to sector specialists and developers, and In Breve (literally in short), which focuses on shorts including works in progress and mentorships.
The Blood Window genre strand – one of Ventana Sur’s standout features and a hallmark of Latin American independent filmmaking tradition – presents a selection of seven films in post-production, including Mariano Cattaneo’s No One Will Hear Your Scream from Argentina and Christian Mejía Carrascal’s Colombian project Symbionts.
In the development stage, Blood Window Lab showcases 16 titles, such as Sara Sálamo’s Hortelana from Spain, Clotilde Colson’s All Monsters Must Die from Belgium, and Pedro Gusmao’s Uruguayan project The Tamed Flesh. The Lab benefits from strategic international collaborations including partnerships with specialised festivals such as Sitges in Spain and South Korea’s Asian Fantastic Films (NAFF).
The Animation! programme brings 194 submissions comprising 125 series and 69 features. While 15% down on last year’s record 229 projects, the section reflects the region’s booming animation industry, with submissions from a wide range of countries including Argentina and Uruguay, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, the Dominican Republic, and Venezuela.
For eight years, Animation! has showcased more than 1,000 projects and created an ecosystem of subsections and activities through strategic alliances with the MIFA market at Annecy International Animation Festival, Ibero-American Animation League, and Mentoring Program for Female Creators supported by the Institut Français d’Argentine and LatinX in Animation.
Among the titles from the various strands this year are the Chilean stop-motion Baptism by Hugo Covarrubias and produced by Lucas Engel; Argentinian selection Gravityland by Pablo Agüero; and Heart Of Darkness by Rogério Nunes from Brazil. The Animation! Pitching Sessions 2024 will feature 13 projects, and the works in progress showcase will include seven.
Created in 2018 by Ventana Sur, Marché du Film, and San Sebastian Film Festival, the Proyecta showcase features 12 titles designed to promote co-productions between Latin America and Europe focused on first or second directorial works. Among this year’s anticipated line-up are Borda do Mondo from Brazil, Tropical Malaise from Switzerland, and Birds from Colombia.
The established sections Primer Corte and Copia Final, which feature post-production titles, each showcase six films. Documentaries are also part of the programme through Ventana Doc Pitch and Ventana Doc WIP. Entre Guiones hosts a market for scripts at various stages and a selection of literary works offered for film adaptations.
Besides Auditorio Nacional Adela Reta, the Río de la Plata venues include Club Uruguay for industry programmes and workshops; Teatro Solís for conferences, pitching sessions, and networking activities; and Uruguayan Cinemateca and Auditorio Nelly Goitiño, both for screenings.
Ventana Sur runs December 2-6.
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