BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA — Returning to Buenos Aires after the 2024 edition in Uruguay, the 2025 Ventana Sur Rio de la Plata is on track to record the largest industry attendance of any Latin American film and television market, with certification numbers reaching a bullish 2,400 and certification numbers set to increase on Thursday. The final number of participants could be close to 3,000.
Guillaume Esmior, co-director of Ventana Sur at Cannes Marché du Film, said: “At this stage, the number of registrations is slightly higher than last year, with hundreds of certified participants from all over Latin America and key international markets, which is a very positive sign. Ventana Sur is undoubtedly a central meeting place for the business and project cycle in Latin America.”
“The decision to alternate between Uruguay and Argentina has sparked new interest and expanded the market’s influence across the Rio de la Plata region,” he added.
Participants will find a new venue in central Buenos Aires at Palazzo Libertad, an impressive neoclassical white marble mall where Eva Peron once ran her foundation. “This is an iconic space with better facilities for screenings, pitches and professional meetings,” Esmiol says.
Founded in 2009 by the Cannes Film Festival Marche du Film and Argentina’s national film and television agency INCAA, and joined last year by Uruguay’s ACAU, Ventana Sur first gained momentum by aggressively building national cinemas across Latin America. A decade later, the boom in peak TV prices provided an additional boost. That’s another story.
“In recent years, movie prices have doubled, the number of people going to movie theaters has halved, and streaming services have become cheaper than they were before the pandemic,” said Ralph Huyck, executive director of Ventana Sur.
That’s why you should choose Ventana Sur. “This challenge perfectly illustrates why a marketplace like Ventana Sur is so important; it remains a traditional marketplace that supports the international sales of theatrical releases (but also serves streamers),” Esmiol said.
The central story of Ventana Sur, which runs from December 1 to 5, is likely to be how companies navigate these headwinds and the dramatic and often exciting high-tech disruptions.
10 takes on Ventana Sul Rio de la Plata in 2025:
pivot
In the past, Ventana Sur’s crowning achievement was getting the film selected for a major festival and winding up multiple regional deals if it performed well at the event.
This can happen, especially if the title is selected for Cannes. Sirât, directed by Oliver Lacks, was a winner of the Cannes Film Festival and one of the most challenging and exciting films of the year, not only receiving rave reviews but also selling well around the world. In Berlin, Deaf (Sorda), the first feature film about deaf childbirth, received positive reviews, won the Panorama Audience Award and proved to be one of Latido’s biggest sales drivers in 2025. Some distributors’ finely curated slates (Spain’s Bendita Film Sales lineup, for example) can still make a business out of acquiring true Arrow art films. But the stars have to align, and such films become breakouts. Distributors now sell a wide range of titles, including genre fairs, thrillers, animation, and even comedies. That reality can be seen in Ventana Sur, the director’s own genre-mixing essay. Screenings or sneak peeks will feature Catalan director Fernando Tourol’s “Ballandrau.” This is a true story of blizzard survival tragedy. Uruguayan director Lucía Garibaldi’s Tribeca Award-winning A Bright Future is a moving sci-fi retro-future take on soul-destroying capitalism, and Argentine director Santiago Estevez’s propulsive action thriller about how crime threatens family bonds.
Overseas expansion of corporate bases
Another reaction seen in Ventana Sur. Ten years ago, government support for the film industry was almost guaranteed in major regions of Europe and Latin America. Asia functioned like the United States. Now, state support is even more precarious. So companies are diversifying their risks and setting up beachheads in other countries, like Spain, where they have easier access to soft money, whether it’s through tax incentives for seedlings, direct subsidies, or both. In the past year, Argentina’s Rey Pictures, Chile’s Clara Film, and Peru’s Tondero have all begun filming in Spain. Expect more details to be announced on Ventana Sur or soon thereafter.
Take a peek at Ventana Sur before the storm at “Ballandau”
Genre, Ventana Sur Market Driver
The genre is likely to be a significant part of the Ventana Sur market. A potential sales booster is Gustavo Hernandez’s Mórbido Fest winner “The Whisper.” This sophisticated genre blender has already been sold by AFM to reach half the world. Similarly, “The Awakening,” the late Jaime Osorio’s (“The Squad”) mystical deep-jungle final film from Rayuela Films, has also been shut down from Latido in major markets. At Ventana Sur, Lucila Las Heras’s long-awaited debut film “El Muglu” and acclaimed helmer Gonzalo Calzada’s (“Nocturna”)’s “The Blade” are highly anticipated, both of which will be screened at VS – Fantastic! wonderful! In the lab, director Tamae Galategui (“Match”) of “Sea Wolf” and “Piacere” co-directed by producer Ignacio Kukuković, Anaga Mede with partners Elizabeth Avellan and others. He is currently considering new projects such as “Arijuna,” directed by Gizberg Bermudez, and “The Escape,” directed by Paul Urquijo, whose folk horror film “The Night” attracted attention at the Sitges Festival in October.
“The Devil’s Well” in Ventana Sur’s Primer Corte Ongoing Works Competition
buzz title
“Devil’s Well,” which exposes water scarcity rather than genre, “Blaid,” a climate change drama from Puerto Rico, and “Low Rights,” a gender abuse story, have all been well-received, all of which are included in Primer Corte/Copia Finale, which also includes the latest works by Colombia’s Juan Carlos Arango, Dominica’s Natalia Cabral, and Mexico’s Kenya Marquez. “Culebra Cut” by Ana Elena Tejera, “False Positive” by Theo Montoya and “Houses Are Silent” by Roxana Stroh could be featured on Proyecta, a project platform supported by Marche and San Sebastian Festival. Brazil’s “Sunflower March”, Chile’s “Anita Froggy” and Colombia’s “Noah” are similarly notable projects at Ventana Sur Anime. The dazzling, high-tech Ibermedia Next 2.0 lineup includes Sofia Carrillo’s stop-motion Insectario: Despelter, which could be one of the most exciting animation projects of any time in 2026.
Colombia’s Diego Gaviria’s “Noah” is now an animation!
Ventana Sur Market Terminology Good and Great
“Ventana Sur is a market, not a festival. ” says Huyck. Speakers at intensive conferences include producers who have achieved great success in the market. At VS Tech, Leticia Christie and Matias Mostellin of Argentina’s K&S Films delve into their pioneering virtual VFX work on Netflix’s hit The Eternaut; Paul Pressburger, co-founder of Globalgate Ent., talks about funding Hispanic films in the era.This is a very relevant issue when it comes to content budget cuts at major streamers. María Luisa Gutiérrez delves into the “Bowfinger Method” behind Santiago Segura’s film, as well as “Undercover,” the last-minute story of an ETA infiltrator, the mother of Spain’s 2024 breakouts.
high tech overview
Once upon a time, high tech was for geeks. Now, when it comes to movies and television, it’s everyone’s job. Mipcom emphasized that new technologies are game-changing for the industry, whether it’s YouTube, production VFX, LED walls, AI or Unreal Engine. In its biggest innovation and timely, Ventana Sur launches VS Tech. That panel will discuss virtual production in Argentina, the use of AI, and one of the highlights of Dec. 3: Humans + IA: In Action, 10 short films created using AI by studios and filmmakers from across Latin America, some in VR. “The most exciting thing about this year’s Ventana Sur is that it will bring together innovative content from across the region,” said Gisela Previtali, head of Uruguayan film and television agency Acau.
Furthermore, changes…
All projects and work in progress in Proyecta, Primer Corte, and Copia Final will benefit from expanded 1:1 professional matchmaking. That means personal scheduling with targeted decision makers, an approach introduced last year that has proven to be highly effective, Esmiol said. Your movie library will be powered by Cinando, giving you even more visibility online. But Esmiol added: “What remains unchanged is Ventana Sur’s core DNA: carefully selected projects and works in progress with a strong artistic identity and international commercial potential, such as Proyecta, Primer Corte and Copia Final.”
Spanish screening tour
Ventana Sur in 2022, MIA in Rome in 2023 and AFM last year, Spain Screening on Tour, the international platform organized by Malaga Festival, returns to Argentina this year for an almost day-long frenetic event in Buenos Aires. The event serves as a concise showcase of the many panel themes that are driving international business these days: new talent (Málaga Hack’s next generation of creators), theatrical success (María Luisa Gutiérrez), sales (Spain’s top distributors sneak peek at clips of 2026’s latest and upcoming titles), and co-productions (Gutiérrez and Agustín Bossi’s Man in Buenos) Aires’ Pampa Films, which co-produced the top-grossing local films of 2025 in Argentina (Homo sapiens?) and Mexico (Mesa de Regalos), gave two presentations on intellectual property protection (Francisco Menéndez) and development (Sidney Borjas) ahead of the presentation of the traditional Málaga Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries project line-up in Ventana Sur.
Homo sapiens? Co-starring with the unknown Guillermo Francella, who will become Argentina’s top regional box office grosser in 2025.
real drama about micro drama
What do Colombinas watch most often: terrestrial TV with telenovelas or global streaming services led by Netflix? The answer, as Spanish analyst Geca announced at Iberseries & Platino Industria in October, is neither. If you look at the numbers, both have been overtaken by microdramas. The December 2nd workshop will be grounding in a vertical format. But how can small businesses benefit? “The challenge is global competition. It’s not enough to just create an app; you need to invest heavily in technology and user acquisition and retention,” says Haeik. At the Dec. 3 panel, trad production companies will discuss production strategies using microdrama.
Uruguay
“A Bright Future” by Lucia Garibaldi (“The Sharks”) won at Tribeca. Another Uruguayan, Daniel Hendler, is based in San Sebastian.Meanwhile, Uruguayan industry leader Cimarrón has set up shop in Colombia. Although Uruguay is one of the smallest countries in Latin America, Ventana Sur will host the largest delegation from any country in Latin America, consisting of approximately 80 participants. This is until 2023, when Ventana Sur was last held in Buenos Aires, and reflects “how active and growing Uruguay is in major international markets,” said Gisela Previtali, director of ACAU, which co-organized Ventana Sur in Montevideo last year. “This experience strengthened my professional network, opened new opportunities, and deepened my creative interactions,” she added. There are two driving forces behind Uruguay’s rise. The international filming scene and the local subsidies that allowed Uruguay to produce more films (29) than Chile (24) last year.
“27 Nights” by Daniel Hendler and Maril Marini Presented by San Sebastian Festival
Joe Ekonen / Netflix
