The San Sebastián International Film Festival held the fifth edition of the Creative Investors’ Conference on September 22 and 23, an event dedicated to examining the transformations taking place in the film market and new alternatives for financing, selling and distributing films. The initiative was held in partnership with CAA Media Finance as part of Spanish Screenings: Financing & Tech, and also featured the participation of the Cannes Marché du Film and its Investors Circle.
One of the sessions brought together Vincent Maraval, CEO of French sales and production company Goodfellas, and Roeg Sutherland, co-head of CAA Media Finance and International Film Group. The conversation explored Goodfellas’ business model and its commitment to emerging talent at a time when local productions have been claiming an increasingly significant share of the market in many countries. Maraval also addressed the impact of artificial intelligence, which the company has already begun using for administrative and organizational tasks, while noting that it could also become a tool for emerging filmmakers to expand their creative possibilities and make films in less time.
The second discussion focused on Pijama, a transactional video-on-demand (TVoD) platform created by Chilean brothers Juan de Dios and Pablo Larraín. Moderated by Wendy Mitchell, the conversation addressed one of the central problems facing the current distribution system: a large number of films that screen at major international festivals never secure commercial distribution across numerous territories.
According to Pablo Larraín, between 80% and 85% of films that make it to major festivals do not obtain distribution, although this does not necessarily mean they lack an audience. Pijama aims to address precisely this gap through a system that allows rights holders to upload their films, select the territories where they are available and set a rental price directly, generally between $3 and $10.
The project therefore seeks to provide an outlet for films that fall outside traditional distribution circuits, including older works, while gradually building a platform conceived as a kind of global film library. The initiative reflects a broader search within the industry for new ways to help films reach audiences when the conventional international sales model fails to secure distribution for them.
