Ibermedia funds 25 co-productions

Puenzo, Termens projects amoung recipients

By JOHN HOPEWELL, EMILIO MAYORGA

MADRID — Argentinian Lucia Puenzo’s “El nino pez” and Ramon Termens’ “Negro Buenos Aires,” two follow-ups to strong debuts, are among 25 co-productions that have pulled down coin from Ibermedia, the Madrid-based, multi-million dollar pan-regional fund for films from Spain, Portugal and Latin America.

An awaited thriller-love story, “El nino pez” toplines Ines Efron, the lede in Puenzo’s hermaphrodite drama “XXY,” which won the Cannes Critics Week Grand Prize last year.

“Negro,” a flamboyant, noirish Buenos Aires romancer, is Termens’ first solo effort after “Youth.”

Among better-known projects, other recipients of co-pro aid are Argentinians Mariano Cohn and Gaston Duprat's art world satire “The Artist,” Mexican producer-helmer Gustavo Montiel’s Patagonia-shot psychological drama “Marea de arena,” and “El sexo de los angeles,” a long-in-the-works contempo relationship romantic comedy from Spanish director Xavier Villaverde, one of the founding fathers of modern Galician cinema.

Ibermedia will also fund a flagship Latin American production, “Of Love and Other Demons,” Hilda Hidalgo’s big-screen transfer of the Gabriel Garcia Marquez classic.

Pic marks a step-up in ambition for Clara Maria Ochoa’s CMO Prods in Colombia, which is producing with Costa Rica’s Alicia Films.

Another Ibermedia recipient from Colombia is Guillermo Calle’s “The Muleteer,” a drug trade love triangle.

Co-pro funding, which runs up to around $200,000 per pic, has been announced after an Ibermedia meeting July 17-18 in Quito, Ecuador.

A second round of subsidy awards — which also cover development, distribution and training — will be unveiled in November.