Hands across the water
Ibero-American co-prod mart ends on upbeat note
But producers still face a long and winding road for their projects to secure completion financing.
Sixty-plus execs attended the Forum, where producers unveiled 27 feature film
projects, 20 from Latin America. Buzz was upbeat on a clutch of projects: Brazilian Ugo Cesar Giorgetti's soccer-world-set "Boleiros 2," a follow-up to a Brazilian B.O. hit; the Patagonik Film Group downbeat noirish drama "Los ojos de Max;" "La sangre y la lluvia," which drew wide interest, being dubbed by one attendee as "a Columbian 'Amores Perros' "; Spain's "El Triunfo," from established helmer Mireia Ros, a low-life take on Barcelona; and Elena Lario's "Las tres edades del crimen," about a three-generation family of murderers.
More top Spanish producers rolled into the southern Spanish industrial town of Huelva this year, including Columbia Film Producciones Espanolas prexy Iona de Macedo, indie player Mate Cantero, DeAPlaneta head of business affairs Eduardo Escudero and Patrick Juarez, the new production head at Intuition Media.
Barring Cantero, these execs rep relatively new production ops, reflecting an increase in Spain's production base. But any Latin American film still needs a pre-buy from Spanish TV -- whether pay or free -- to lower co-financing risks. And there's still little visibility on what Spanish projects, much less Latin American, many Spanish TV operators will be buying.
That's led to a far greater realism at the Forum, in production pitches and strategies: Producers are leveraging shoestring budgets as a principal draw on a film. Much of "Max's" $1 million Spanish completion finance could be covered, for instance, by one Spanish TV sale. Meanwhile, would-be Spanish co-producers welcomed the presence at the Forum of a gaggle of European outfits -- the U.K's Fame and Celtic Films and Germany's Look! Filmproduction. On paper, these shingles can provide top-up coin for
hotter prospects. At the same time, heavier-weight Latin America companies -- Argentina's Patagonik and Mexico's Tequila Gang -- drew interest on their projects, in part because they command the clout to tie in third-party financing.
Attendees were still positive about this year's event. "I'm surprised by the creativity and talent shown by the projects at this year's Forum," said De Macedo.
"It's a good place to make a first contact with the latest generation of Latin-American film producers and directors," Juarez added.
