Jointly organised by Argentina’s and Uruguay’s film bodies (INCAA and ACAU respectively) and the Cannes Marché du Film, Ventana Sur returns to Buenos Aires for its 17th edition, running December 1–5. Latin America’s leading hub for the audiovisual industry is taking place for the first time at the Palacio Libertad, regarded as one of the world’s major cultural centres.
This year’s Ventana Sur edition is marked by its return to Argentina after last year’s edition in Uruguay, and by a shared directorship headed by Ralph Haiek, the former INCAA president (2017–19) who now serves as Ventana Sur’s executive director. He is joined by co-directors Guillaume Esmiol, executive director of the Marché du Film, and Gisella Previtali, president of Uruguay’s ACAU.
According to Haiek, final attendance is projected at 3,000 accredited participants, including 500 buyers and sales agents — a 30% rise on last year’s 2,300 professionals from 40 countries when the event was held in Montevideo, Uruguay.
“The film industry is undergoing a profound global shift that is straining its profitability, driven by declining audiences, rising post-pandemic costs and intense competition from global platforms,” Haiek says. Underlining institutional commitment to the market, he adds: “In this context, the INCAA views Ventana Sur 2025 as strategically essential, using it as a platform to boost financing, international distribution and regional industry growth in the face of these pressures.”
Since its foundation in 2009, Ventana Sur has consolidated its position as Latin America’s central industry hub. Threatened last year by Argentina’s economic crisis, the event rebranded as Ventana Sur Río de la Plata and moved to Uruguay, earning widespread praise for the Montevideo edition.
“We believe sustained public support for a market like Ventana Sur is essential. By actively encouraging the creation, production and distribution of film and audiovisual content, the market drives skilled employment and generates foreign currency for the country,” Haiek added.
“The Montevideo experience was extremely positive, and we are working to consolidate this alternation as a strategic opportunity for the entire region, strengthening a space that drives the development of Latin American audiovisual production,” ACAU’s Previtali says.
“Ventana Sur confirmed that our ecosystems are complementary and that cooperation — from training and production to internationalisation — creates value that transcends any individual country. More than highlighting one host city, what became evident was the strength of coordinated work and the maturity of the region’s audiovisual sector.” ACAU sources confirmed to Screen that Uruguay will host the 2026 edition.
New strands
This year introduces several new strands. VS Tech replaces and expands upon the video-game section Maquinitas and will feature 10 projects, exploring emerging trends in technological innovation related to creation, production, formats, and distribution. Also new is WBD + Mundoloco CGI | Launchpad Series, a competition within VS Animation! to accelerate the development of regional animated series with strong co-production and international potential.
Another new event is Anfibia Pro, a platform to promoting literary adaptations including workshops, a script lab, masterclasses and a market day to foster new forms of collaboration among authors, publishers, screenwriters and audiovisual producers.
VS Animation! Pitching Sessions 2025 will present seven features and seven series projects, as well as a slate of five works-in-progress selected in association with the Annecy festival and market. VS Fantastic — the rebranded Blood Window genre showcase— presents 13 projects. Selections include Paul Urkijo’s Sitges entry Gaua (The Night), Francisco Pavanetto’s Peek A Boo, which won Fantastic! Fast Track at Pulsar Santa Fe 2025, and Jean-Philippe Bouix’s Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival entry Vautours.
Co-organised by the Marché du Film, San Sebastián and Ventana Sur, the eighth VS Proyecta spotlights 12 debut and sophomore features. Primer Corte and Copia Final, the two sections dedicated to late-stage post-production, will screen six features each. The Films in Progress sidebar will present eight additional titles available to accredited professionals through Cinando.
Marché du Film executive director Guillaume Esmiol highlights the market’s reach: “Its influence is clear in the steady rise in international attendance, in the partnerships and deals forged between Latin American and global professionals, in the range and quality of the projects showcased, and in the visibility these works later achieve at major festivals and markets.”
He continues: “Today it is widely seen as the go-to market for closing deals and discovering new projects and voices shaping the future of Latin American storytelling. Many of the films first presented here go on to secure partners, sales agents and festival slots worldwide.”
Notable titles that began their journey at Ventana Sur include David Casademunt’s The Wasteland, pitched in the Blood Window programme before its worldwide Netflix release; Flávia Neves’s Fogaréu, presented in Primer Corte ahead of its 2022 Berlinale Panorama premiere; and When Evil Lurks, which won the Blood Window Screenings Award in 2022 before premiering in Toronto and taking prizes in Sitges.
Other works launched at the market include Memories Of A Burning Body, winner of the 2024 Berlinale Panorama Audience Award, which was showcased in Copia Final, and Nelson Carlos de los Santos Arias’ Pepe, which screened in the same section before winning the Silver Bear at Berlin 2024.
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