The Ventana Sur film market, one of the largest film business events in the region, will not be held in Argentina this year for the first time since its creation in 2009. The event will be held instead in Uruguay, according to an announcement by Cannes’ Marché du Film, a co-organizer together with Argentina’s National Film Institute (INCAA, for its Spanish initials)  

“We are thrilled to announce that the Marché du Film, INCAA, and ACAU [Uruguay’s Film and Audiovisual Agency] are entering into exclusive discussions to organize the next edition of Ventana Sur in Uruguay in December 2024!” posted the Marché du Film account on Instagram.

The decision circumvents Javier Milei’s austerity plan for Argentina’s state-fueled film production. Among other measures, the government has shut down the INCAA to reorganize its film funding structure and suspended expenditures for most national film events.

Created in 2009, Ventana Sur is a week-long film market for distributors, sales agents and producers who trade on LatAm productions’ screening and remake rights, as well as co-production agreements. It welcomes 3000 accredited participants every year, including more than 250 buyers and sellers from all five continents, as well as representatives from top TV networks and international streaming platforms.

The market also features several promotion programs for Latin American films, including the  Primer Corte (First Cut) competition for unfinished projects. It also regularly offered the Cannes Week in Buenos Aires, a week-long film program that screened the most relevant films of the French festival, presented by Cannes’ director himself, Thierry Frémaux. In Argentina, the program usually takes place in the Gaumont Cinema

Earlier this week, film professionals gathered in the United Argentine Cinema collective held a demonstration in Cannes to protest Milei’s policies for the industry, stressing that the president’s moves are not part of a merely economic decision but an ideological attack. 

“We are currently facing an absolute paralysis that has inflicted a deadly wound on Argentine cinema,” they stated in a statement outlining their position.