Exclusive negotiations are underway to relocate this year’s edition of Ventana Sur to Uruguay, marking the first time in 16 years the premier Latin American market would not take place in Argentina as the country wrestles with an arts funding crisis.
Ventana Sur director Bernardo Bergeret, Marché du Film executive director Guillaume Esmiol, and Facundo Ponce de Leon of Uruguay Audiovisual made the announcement at a reception in Cannes on Monday evening (May 20).
The parties expect an official agreement to be finalised by the end of June, when further details are expected to emerge around the event in Montevideo, the Uruguayan capital that is less than a one-hour flight from the market’s traditional home in Buenos Aires.
Since inception Ventana Sur has been co-organised by Argentina’s cash-strapped national film body INCAA and the Marché du Film.
Esmiol said, “It’s been 16 years and [Ventana Sur] is a wonderful market…. We’re very proud to be a co-organiser.” He added further details will be announced at the end of June.
“We have a lot of people pushing us to host this market in Uruguay,” said de Leon. “It’s a dream. We want to rethink this market with all out colleagues in Latin America.”
“That’s all, folks,” added Bergeret.
The announcement follows reports in March that INCAA president Carlos Pirovano was evaluating the feasibility of alternating between Argentina and Uruguay each year.
INCAA has suspended audiovisual support funding for four months to stabilise the body’s finances after the government of Argentina’s far-right president Javier Milei claimed it had run up a $4m deficit.
INCAA’s Pirovano was appointed after his predecessor Nicolas Batlle resigned in protest in December when Milei swept to power. The Argentinian government has introduced radical measures in response to the country’s economic crisis.
Argentinian filmmaker coalition Cine Argentino Unido staged a gathering in Cannes on Sunday to protest the ongoing cuts to arts funding, as it did in Berlin back in February.
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