Gathered at the Costa Rica Media Market, Latin American industry leaders took the temperature of the independent film scene in the region, zooming into how to successfully enter major markets such as the U.S. and Europe, as well as how to foment and grow local burgeoning industries.
Producer Lynette Coll (“In The Summers”) spoke about starting label Luz Films in 2024 after years of working within the studio system in the U.S. and realizing that “the stories of Latinos, within both Latin America and the U.S., don’t tell the correct perspective.” “It’s always the stereotypes, and they give us much less money to make movies and don’t market them. We both quit our jobs to start a company to make movies from the perspective of the Latin American community and also to unite the U.S. and Latin America.”
“In this context, it’s a constant fight, at least for us,” added the producer. “For us, it was about how to tell stories at an author level, but that could also be commercial. In the U.S., if you want to enter the market, it’s 80% in English, 20% in Spanish. The goal is 60-40, but the market still doesn’t understand, and if you want to enter the market in Spanish, you have to be from Latin America.”
Coll also highlighted a frequently-mentioned issue when it comes to Latin American projects in non-Latin American markets: the perception of the cultural region as a homogeneous mass. “Latinos are not all Mexicans. We are from many countries, with many stories and a lot of mythology. It’s a constant education of audiences, studios, buyers, and even theaters. We are winning, but it’s through little steps.”
Karina Avellán Troz, co-director at Pacifica Grey, one of the largest independent distribution companies in Costa Rica (“The Seed of the Sacred Fig,” “Evil Does Not Exist”), highlighted how the context in Central America — and more broadly in Latin America — has changed in the 13 years since she launched the label. “In the last five years in particular, the cinema we are making in our countries is a cinema that is fully in international markets.”
Courtesy of Rafa Sales Ross
“[In the early 2000s] we were starting to develop our stories and, suddenly in 2019, we had a film from Central America in Berlin and one in Cannes, and every year since we have had at least one Central American film in a major international showcase,” she adds. “In terms of our regional cinema and talent, this has reconfigured the way we think about our cinema and [that] has opened many doors.”
Still, Avellán is quick to point out how the pandemic dimmed this wave, calling the two years a “bomb in many countries in the region.” “Something like this has a commercial effect but also a cultural one. Audiences have gone through a very important time in their lives without being able to go to a movie theater. That experience changed, and we can’t deny it.”
Coll also spoke about the effect of the pandemic, claiming that, if “In the Summers” had been made before that period, winning a major award like U.S. Grand Jury Prize – Dramatic in Sundance “would have meant a bidding war.”
“It was very difficult for us to sell the movie,” she added. “Everyone saw it, but told us they didn’t know how to sell the movie. I was like: How do you not know how to sell this movie? You have ‘Minari,’ ‘Moonlight,’ ‘Aftersun.’ It was very similar to these films. The issue was, and I will say it out loud, that we were all Latinos and they didn’t know how to market a story about our culture. It was very difficult for them. In the end, Music Box came in and we loved it, but it took many months.”
The producer mentioned how she believes the key to making authentic Latin films today — or to make any film at all as an independent filmmaker — is to compromise. Coll is currently working on “El Sombreron,” a new film by “La Llorona” director Jairo Bustamante starring Edgar Ramírez and Adria Arjona. The producer mentioned how Bustamante wanted to shoot the film in Spanish but was also adamant in casting Arjona and, with Coll being good friends with the latter, she knew the actor would not make a film entirely in Spanish at this point in her rising career.
“We convinced him to make the film 80% in English and 20% in Spanish,” she recalled. “Jairo also wanted to make the film in Guatemala, but it is a very big project, an epic, and the financiers did not understand how to make a film of this size in Guatemala, so Jairo decided not to shoot it in Guatemala but to have actors from the country. It’s a negotiation. As a filmmaker, you have to be flexible if you want to make your film.”
Avellán echoed the producer while also adding that a key element to sustaining the indie industry in countries like Costa Rica is being able to tap into national funds from co-producing countries. With Nathalie Álvarez Mesén’s “Clara Sola,” Avellán had the support of the Swedish Film Institute, which sponsored screenings for festival programmers across Europe — the film would eventually land a coveted Directors’ Fortnight premiere slot — as well as supporting travel costs for talent during the pandemic.
“These things come down to a country’s investment and vision,” added the exec. “This year, the Costa Rican media program understood it was important to support the circulation of Latin American films in the region, so things do happen because of our hard work and talent, but also due to institutional support.”