San Sebastian, Spain – Latin American cinemas have talent, but economics requires creativity. With unstable state funding, low prices and fragmentation of distribution, producer creativity becomes paramount. Six takeaways from the session:
Room for Action
In the case of Javiera Balmaceda from Amazon MGM Studios, there will never be any genres that are traditionally not associated with the region. Produced by Chilean environmental action fan Fabra, Sayen traveled extensively across Latin America and Europe, promoting the Amazon and bringing up the upcoming Mexican action thriller Benganza into theaters.
That strategy is supported by the weight of the company. “Amazon has acquired MGM, a huge theatre distributor,” Balmaceda reminded the audience. “It’s addictive and a great opportunity for word of mouth. People go to the theatres and get the experience and see it again at home or catch it if they missed it.
Narrow global reach
However, the scale remains a stumbling block. “Latin Americans don’t go to the cinemas and watch Latin American movies,” said Fabra’s Juan de Dios Laline, referring to Chile’s 3% local share. Prices are part of the problem. “When you’re in the cinema, you’ll pay $10 for a $1 million or $2 million movie. It costs $200 million and the tickets are the same. Are the pricing set up the right way? That’s the question.” Beyond Latin America, “With the Portuguese, the capital of Brazilian audiovisual investment, Laura Rossy (five or six capitals) consistently traveled films to steal the noise of the festival,
Building your audience little by little
Snowglobe’s European producer Katrin Pors said, “It’s obviously difficult for a film to travel well. There are always festival films and the audience is limited, but that’s there. She argued that festival discovery still drives the cycle, but Latin American films are increasingly needing cast, scale and co-producing to compete for international slots.
Fragmented distribution, vulnerable funding
Fragmentation is often seen as a challenge, but for Rossi, “From a financial standpoint, the more fragmented the better.” She argued that more local distributors with their own ecosystems could boost prices and negotiation power, rather than pan-regional transactions that would lower them. At the same time, Balmaceda argued that the budget must be “the right size.” “Everyone always wants more. We should keep it and don’t explode. Otherwise it would be inefficient and impossible to repeat the next year.”
Streamer Cycle
The relationship with the platform is also shifting. “There was a bubble under the assumption that more content would bring in more subscribers, but that didn’t work,” Larraín recalled the streaming rush cited Starz and Vix as companies that came and went in when it came to fiction production. Even if the project checks all the boxes, he said producers face fierce competition as there are fewer slots available from global streamers.
Towards maturity
The panelists agreed that Latin America needs greater stability. “Be more Europe,” urged Rossi. More predictable funding cycles, more independence from government schedules. Colombia’s cash rebate is already filming. Oscar winner Brazil’s “I’m Still Here” was funded entirely personally personally, just like “A Dogs Will 2.” “It says a lot about the government’s schedules not dependent on what they can do,” Rossi said.
Latin America saw a remarkable rebound in the 2000s thanks to prominent talent supported by government funding. Think of Carlos Reigadas of Mexico and Pablo Laline of Chile. Now, panelists warned that a robust financial model would be needed to maintain momentum.
