Ventana Sur: 10 Takeaways, from Breakout Female Directors to Fede Alvarez and Having Fun, Market Hits and Buzz Titles

variety.com:

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay — “As a meeting place, Ventana Sur was fantastic, the sales agent presence was good, focused on companies which really do buy, and the organization was impecable, run by highly dedicated and nice people,” said Antonio Saura, at Madrid-based sales agency Latido Films.

Most other attendees would buy into that. Transferred for the first time since its launch in 2009 from its traditional Buenos Aires base to the heart of Uruguay’s Montevideo, this week’s Ventana Sur proved an upbeat affair, highlighting a clutch of titles likely to make A-List festival selection, plus some of the Latin America’s movers and shakers in the region and beyond, and the latest trends in an ever evolving regional industry.

Following, some first takeaways from Ventana Sur, Latin America’s weightiest film-TV market, co-hosted by the Cannes Festival’s Marché du Film, Uruguay’s ACAU agency and Argentina’s INCAA. Ventana Sur Hits: “Vainilla” “Vainilla” had many fans and some very big fans. “It’s the best work in progress I’ve ever seen,” glowed distributor Antoine Zeind at Quebec’’s A-Z Films.

Backed by Stacey Penskie’s Redrum, a co-executive producer on “Narcos: Mexico” and producer on Rodrigo Prieto’s “Pedro Paramo.,” the stylish portrait of a family of seven women battling convention and eviction in late ‘80s Mexico, swept most of the board at Primer Corte on Friday, bagging five prizes, including the key Cine+ Award from Canal+, key for distribution in France. Ventana Sur Hits: “The Condor Daughter” David Puttnam said recently at the Seville Festival that the films he was interested in connected with audiences, but also had ideas and social relevance.