The itinerant Spanish Screenings on Tour will make a splash Dec. 4 returning to Buenos Aires’ Ventana Sur, Latin America’s most important mart-meet.
Proving in the past a significant promotion platform for Spanish movies, Spanish Screenings on Tour, the 4th edition, organised by the Málaga Film Festival, is also a succinct exposition in its panel subjects of many of the drivers these days of international business: New talent, theatrical success, sales, co-production and IP.
The morning of Dec. 4 is kicked off by the winners of the Malaga Festival’s Hack Malaga which features next gen content creators presenting innovative visions, using the latest audiovisual technologies.
This is followed by presentations of clips from 2026 lineups from Spain’s most prominent movie sales companies: Latido Films, Filmax, Film Factory, Bendita Film Sales, Sideral, Begin Again Films and Cinema Republic.
Focusing on creating films which not only attracts soft-money finance but also returns, including from box office, an early afternoon session will see producer María Luisa Gutiérrez of Bowfinger Intl. Pictures, one of the most successful production companies in Spain founded by Gutiérrez and wildly popular actor-producer-director Santiago Segura, will discuss the “Bowfinger Method” with Variety International Features Editor John Hopewell.
Bowfinger has catalog of 40-plus titles, including its“Torrente” and “Father There is Only One” hit franchises, but also other titles not powered by Segura as a talent, such as 2024 breakout ETA infiltrator thriller “Undercover,” directed by Arantxa Echevarría, which has scored an extraordinary €9.6 million ($11.2 million), making it the second-highest Spanish release of 2024. “Undercover” is also hailed as the biggest hit ever directed by a Spanish woman.
Gutiérrez and Agustín Bossi at Buenos Aires’ Pampa Films, behind “Chinese Takeaway” (2011) and in TV, “Monzón” and “The Boss,” both with Disney, will then drill down on case studies of Argentina-Spain co-production hits, which include the highest-grossing local movies in both Argentina – “Homo sapiens!” – and Mexico: “Mesa de Regalos,” both involving Pampa The producers will also discuss what co-production brings to the table.
Two workshops held concurrently aim to delve into the issues of IP protection, one led by director-writer-lawyer Francisco Menéndez (“Stealing Las Vegas”), and the other on strategic IP development, moderated by producer Sydney Borjas (“Red Queen”). Each workshop will dissect five case studies, Menéndez focusing on IP protection and Borjas on IP development.
Spanish Screenings on Tour is backed by the Malaga Film Festival and the Spanish government’s Institute of Cinematography and Audiovisual Arts as well as ICEX Spain Trade and Investment and the European Union’s NextGenerationEU.
The Spanish Screenings will climax with the announcement of projects at the Malaga Festival’s 2026 Málaga Fund & Co-Production Event (MAFF). Focusing on titles from Latin America, Spain and Portugal, MAFF, now gearing up for its 9th edition, has proved one of the centerpiece industry events at Málaga. Handling the presentation are Camilo Vázquez, deputy director general for international promotion and international Relations at Spain’s ICAA, Ventana Sur Executive Director Ralph Haiek and Málaga Festival Director Juan Antonio Vigar.
Co-organized by Cannes Marché du Film – Cannes Film Festival, Argentina’s INCAA film-TV agency and its Uruguayan counterpart, ACAU, Ventana Sur runs Dec.1-5. It was held in Montevideo, Uruguay last year as part of a plan to alternate venues between the two cities.
