At the Locarno Film Festival this week, Italian-born Marco Perego of producer and financier Leaf Entertainment outlined his strategy for backing international arthouse filmmakers.
His in-conversation talk as part of Locarno Pro came in the year in which he has supported films including Cristian Mungiu’s Palme d’Or winner Fjord, Andrey Zvyagintsev’s Cannes Grand Prix winner Minotaur, and James Gray’s Cannes competition title Paper Tiger.
He also backed Kantemir Balagov’s Directors’ Fortnight title, Butterfly Jam.
Without revealing precise figures, Perego said he is “deploying a lot of capital” in investing in and supporting films by auteur directors.
A former football player turned conceptual artist, the Italian-born Perego is married to Oscar- winning actress Zoe Saldana and is co-founder of production company Leaf Entertainment with Michael Cerenzie.
He started investing in film in earnest in 2025, citing as one inspiration the Academy Awards nominations that year, which had nods for six international films with budgets of under $20m. They included Emilia Perez, which starred Saldana, as well as Anora and I’m Still Here.
“I started thinking that we need to think about it very internationally. Who is the auteur we can help to produce? I don’t want to be the first in line – I’m happy to stay in the team.”
Upcoming films being produced by Perego in some capacity alongside other producers include Isabel Coixet’s Days Of Abandonment, starring Penelope Cruz and Philippe Parreno’s Riverrun, starring Charlotte Gainsbourg, Vicky Krieps and Angela Molina. Perego said he is also working with filmmakers including Mexico’s Carlos Reygadas.
He said that on some films his role will be to help complete the finances, while on others he will provide support at the very beginning to help ”build it together” with the director.
Perego is also directing his second feature Petrichor, starring Valeria Golino, after making his feature directing debut with 2023’s The Absence Of Eden.
At a time when many investors are investing in artificial intelligence, he said he wanted to “invest in everything that is about the purity of culture”.
Perego said it was important to support and to protect artists with a vision. “The mission I have is to support somebody with an important vision. And, if the vision fails, I want to support him again…The idea is to find the filmmaker or artist you believe in, and be a supporter. That is the key.”
He noted many artists, such as Steve McQueen, move from the art world into films “because film has the capacity to touch so many people”.
Perego’s strategy appears to be to invest in a broad slate of films by well-known arthouse directors and to mitigate risk by investing alongside other producers. But he said nobody should enter the independent film world with the expectation of making money.
“If you decide to be a producer in the independent world, don’t do it for the money…go to a bank and do something else; don’t do independent film. Independent film is for people who take risks. It’s about respecting the vision, and the vision is not yours.”
Perego said he is “obsessed with film. You can ask my wife. I watch one film a day, Monday to Friday, before I go to sleep.”
Throughout his Locarno Pro talk, which was attended by Saldana, Perego emphasised he was not afraid to fail, and that his strategy was to surround himself with people who are better and more experienced than he is.
Members of the audience, speaking to Screen after the talk, likened Perego’s producer role on many films as being more like an executive producer bringing finance, and noted he was not yet backing first-time filmmakers but placing his bets on well-established names. But they welcomed any individual prepared to invest in arthouse film at such a challenging time for the industry. “He is a rare angel investor,” said one delegate.
After the talk, Perego appeared on stage in the Piazza Grande at the Locarno Film Festival with director James Gray ahead of an outdoor screening of Paper Tiger, alongside fellow producers Raffaella Leone of Italy’s Leone Film Group and Rodrigo Teixeira of Brazil’s RT Features.
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