Within the framework of the Venice Film Festival, Italy announced the creation of an ambitious annual fund of one million euros aimed at strengthening film co-productions with Latin American countries. The initiative, presented at the Italian Pavilion of the festival, will also extend to Spain and Portugal, thus broadening the scope of a strategy designed to consolidate creative ties across both sides of the Atlantic.

The plan will be managed by Cinecittà’s Internationalisation Department and will be structured along two lines of support:

• €800,000 for co-productions, with grants of up to €200,000 per project, exceptionally extendable to €400,000 for projects of special significance.

• €200,000 for project development, with contributions of up to €50,000 each.

The measure represents an evolution from the historic Ibermedia programme, from which Italy recently withdrew. According to its promoters, the new mechanism is conceived as more agile and transparent, eliminating the traditional submission windows and allowing applications to remain open permanently.

“The only requirement we have made stricter is the need to present a co-production agreement accompanied by a letter of endorsement from the film institute of the partner country,” explained Roberto Stabile, head of Internationalisation at Cinecittà/DGCA. “This guarantees the security and transparency we need when working with diverse territories,” he added.

Applications will be evaluated by a mixed commission, comprising representatives of the Directorate General for Cinema, Cinecittà and independent international experts. The stated goal is to speed up processes and simplify producers’ lives, avoiding the rigidity of previous systems.

“We want this to be a flexible instrument, in constant evolution, capable of adapting to the needs of the sector,” Stabile concluded, stressing that the fund not only seeks to strengthen co-productions but also to position Italian cinema as a strategic partner within the Ibero-American sphere.