Argentinian production consortium Cine.ar, set up in 2006, is launching InvertFilm, the country's first film trust fund, raising $5m on the Buenos Aires Stock Exchange to finance local projects. Films set to benefit are Daniel Burman's The Empty Nest, shooting in August, and projects from new talent including Mirta Raquel Ovsejevich's Beautiful and Maria Laura Gargarella's Reasons Not To Fall In Love, both winners of a Cine.ar script contest.

The two-year fund was set up by production outfits BD Cine and Filmsuez, post-production company Cinecolor, distributor outfit Distribution Company and camera suppliers Alta Definicion to ease producers' reliance on state finances. "Our fund hopes for an annual return of 20% for investors," says BD Cine's chairman Diego Dubcovsky.