SANTIAGO, Chile – These are times of upheaval, and film festivals are no exception. In many cases, they have been hit by public-sector cuts or the Covid-19 pandemic, but they have not stopped evolving after the pandemic, refining new priorities and responding to the sometimes volatile political context and the state of cinema-going around the world, if a roundtable held by Sanvic Industria in Chile last week, titled “The Present and Future of Film Festivals,” was any indication.
The symposium featured speakers from three leading Latin American events – Sanvic Artistic Director Carlos Nunez, Rio de Janeiro Film Festival Director Ilda Santiago, and Estrella Araiza, Managing Director of the Guadalajara Festival in Mexico.
The panel also included representatives from two festivals known for their presence in Latin American films: José F. Rodríguez, chief programmer at the Tribeca Film Festival, which regularly awards films from the region, such as this year’s “Don’t Let Me Go” from Uruguay, and Javier García Puerto, a programmer at the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival. Both are screening Spanish-language films that challenge stereotypes, such as Michel Garza’s Tribeca Award-winner “Huesera” and Agustin Toscano’s “I Trust You,” winner of the 2023 Tallinn Rebels With a Cause Best Director award.
Here are five key points from the panel discussion moderated by Gerardo Michelin of the Latin American Cinema Foundation. The remarks made during the roundtable will resonate at many events around the world.
A new normal is constantly evolving.
There are two clear cases in point. After March 2020, the Tribeca Film Institute suspended its funding indefinitely. In 2021, the Tribeca festival moved from mid-March to early June, which Rodriguez admitted at Sanvic was a “roller coaster.” Now, talks are underway to open up its industry activities with a works-in-progress showcase organized by financiers and distributors and an industry week of seminars and meetings. At the Rio festival, 20 years ago, Brazil was “far removed from the rest of Latin America,” Santiago said. “Now, because of the increase in co-productions, Rio can see the potential to attract young audiences who come to see Latin American films,” added Santiago, who came to Chile for the first time to see the films.
Festivals and Markets: A Vital Launching Platform
Latin America's four biggest markets — Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Colombia and Chile — together released 600 films last year, down just 3% from 2019, according to Fox Film Market Reports.
However, at $1.72 billion, the combined box office revenues of the five countries in 2023 are still 21% compared to 2019.
So getting films out in a shrinking market is a necessity. Festivals or markets are the only way to do it. But narrowness is the gateway. At the Edinburgh TV Festival on Tuesday, participants largely agreed that there are too many titles chasing shrinking broadcast commissions. The same consensus was largely expressed at Sanvic. “We have fewer audiences, fewer theatres, less distribution,” asked Santiago from Rio. “Who are we producing more for, why, and what does it serve?”
The consequences of overproduction in a shrinking market were highlighted throughout the discussion at the symposium.
No return to Cannes and Venice: greater focus on local and regional dishes
“You could create a festival with titles that premiered in Berlin and Toronto,” Santiago noted. But it won’t do anything like that. Both Rio and Sanvic benefit from vital public-sector funding. Guadalajara draws on federal, regional and municipal funding, Araiza said. Meanwhile, with the most ambitious productions still reeling from the pandemic, the market shares of domestic films in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Mexico in 2023 were 7.6%, 3.2%, 3.1%, 1.2% and 4%, according to Fox. Not surprisingly, one of the biggest imperatives for all three Latin American events is to showcase local fare. “The role [that festivals have] “Being a platform to launch local, Latino and Ibero-American talent is very important to us,” said Nunez, and Santiago and Ariza agreed.
fewer movies
The increased visibility of films again has serious consequences. “We believe in creating an event, not just going to see a film but also a performance or a conversation with Paul McCartney or David Fincher or Steven Soderbergh,” said Tribeca’s Rodriguez. Festivals are also cutting back on the number of films they screen. The Guadalajara festival screened 194 films in June. “We will never get back to the number of films we had before the pandemic,” Arrailza said. “We could have 50 or 60 more films, but we are interested in giving visibility to each film,” Núñez added. Santiago agreed. She used to program 400 films, now she screens 200. At the Tallinn Black Nights festival, García Puerto said, “We used to screen 400 films before the pandemic. Now, including shorts, we have about 300, 200 of them feature films.”
Festivals focus on the audience.
Festivals are also focusing heavily on getting their films to audiences, especially a new generation of moviegoers. Part of that is a cultural imperative: to introduce younger viewers before they lose out to YouTube. But as younger audiences drive box office resurgences around the world, they’re also making up more and more of the festival crowds. “There are a lot of young people, in their 20s and 30s, who are coming back to theaters,” said Nunez, who added that attendance at Sunvic, now around 40,000, is growing. “People in their 30s and 50s are still staying home a little bit, maybe because they’ve gotten used to streaming during the pandemic, but we think we’ll get them back.” The question, Garcia Puerto noted, is what festivals serve. “Why do we talk so much about co-production money and not distribution money? How many films can you make that never get seen? We should be doing more workshops on creating audiences, not creating films.”
