As Argentina struggles with a lack of support for the arts, exclusive talks are under way to move this year’s Ventana Sur to Uruguay, which would be the first time the major Latin American fair would not take place in Argentina for 16 years.
The announcement was made at a Cannes reception on Monday evening (May 20) by Facundo Ponce de Leon of Uruguay Audiovisual, executive director Guillaume Esmiol of Marché du Film, and director Bernardo Bergeret of Ventana Sur.
The parties anticipate that an official agreement will be reached by the end of June, at which point further information about the event in Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay, which is less than an hour’s flight from Buenos Aires, the market’s customary home, is anticipated to become available.
Since the beginning The financially challenged national film body of Argentina, INCAA, and the Marché du Film are co-organizers of Ventana Sur.
“It’s been 16 years, and [Ventana Sur] is a wonderful market,” stated Esmiol. Our pride in being a co-organizer is immense. He also mentioned that further information will be released at the end of June.
According to de Leon, “a lot of people are pushing us to host this market in Uruguay.” It’s a dream. Together with all of our Latin American partners, we wish to reconsider this market.
“That’s it, people,” Bergeret continued.
The announcement comes after rumours surfaced in March that Carlos Pirovano, president of INCAA, was considering the viability of Uruguay and Argentina rotating year.
INCAA has put a four-month hold on audiovisual support financing in an effort to stabilise the organization’s finances after the far-right president of Argentina, Javier Milei, claimed the government had incurred a $4 million deficit.
After Milei took office in December and his predecessor Nicolas Batlle resigned in protest, INCAA’s Pirovano was appointed. In reaction to the nation’s economic problems, the Argentinean government has enacted drastic policies.
As it did in Berlin back in February, the Argentine cinema alliance Cine Argentino Unido organised a demonstration against the continuous cuts to arts funding on Sunday in Cannes.
