Chilean producers have launched a cinema brand at the EFM in a bid to raise the profile of Chilean films internationally.

Asociacion de Productores de Cine (APCT) has brought a delegation of 12 producers to the market for the first time to support the launch of Cinema Chile.

APCT president Bruno Bettati told Screen he hoped the new brand would also help to convince Chilean politicians of the need for a tax-credit scheme to encourage productions to shoot in the country.

He added: “I think this branding campaign could change our politicians’ attitude to supporting the film industry because, until now, film was for many of them only an economic and not a strategic activity.”

Bettati is also at the Berlinale Co-Production Market with Alicia Scherson’s latest project, The Future, to be co-produced by his Jirafa Films with Spain’s Ulysses Films.

In addition, Bettati is organising the first Valdivia Austral Industry Meetings with producers from the Ateliers du Cinéma Européen, which aims to promote professional networks in Latin America.