The Kinolatino Festival continues its tradition of fostering dialogue around Latin American and European co-productions, this time with support from the European External Action Service (EEAS). The 2025 festival hosted a discussion to explore how these transcontinental partnerships can reach a wider audience while maintaining creative diversity.

Co-productions offer valuable opportunities for young filmmakers and creative diversity, but often struggle to reach the general public. The dialogue brought together public authorities and film professionals to develop approaches that not only facilitate co-productions, but also improve their accessibility to audiences on both continents.

Heike Schneider, Deputy Head of Division for the Americas at the European External Action Service, highlighted the EU’s strategic interest in cultural collaboration with Latin America.  The European External Action Service has gradually prioritised cultural diplomacy as an essential component of international relations. 

Jeanne Brunfaut, Deputy Director General of the Audiovisual and Media Department and Director of the Centre du Cinéma et de l'Audiovisuel of the Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles, spoke about the Belgian funding mechanisms that have contributed to the success of projects such as "Nuestras Madres".

César Díaz, the award-winning director whose film "Nuestras Madres" won the Caméra d'Or at Cannes 2019, shared his experience in facing the challenges of co-production. His latest film "Mexico 86" continues to benefit from the European-Latin American collaboration. Díaz’s experience illustrates how co-productions can elevate stories to universal human themes while preserving cultural authenticity.

Julie-Jeanne Régnault, CEO of the Club des Producteurs Européens, addressed the crucial distribution challenges facing co-productions. She noted that while festivals provide excellent launch platforms, more robust distribution networks are needed to reach the general public.

The Club of European Producers has been instrumental in developing co-production guidelines that balance creative and commercial interests, helping productions to achieve both artistic integrity and commercial viability. 

Enhancing the impact of co-productions

Participants identified several promising approaches to enhance the impact of co-productions, including building partnerships with digital platforms to expand distribution reach; public development initiatives to enhance narrative diversity and establishing targeted training programs for emerging filmmakers.

The discussion concluded with a shared commitment to continue developing co-production frameworks that serve both creative expression and public engagement. As streaming services continue to globalize content consumption, Latin American and European co-productions are particularly well positioned to deliver authentic stories with cross-cultural appeal.

Through ongoing dialogue and policy innovation, these collaborations can overcome distribution challenges while preserving the distinctive voices that make international co-productions so valuable to global cinema.

Background

The Kinolatino Festival is linked to the values and objectives of the initiative EU-LAC Cinema: promoting audio-visual cooperation on youth, gender and diversity (#EULAC #Cinema). 
EULAC Cinema is one of the bi-regional initiatives of the EU-CELAC Roadmap 2023-2025, presented at the 2023 Summit between the EU and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) in Brussels and preparing the forthcoming EU-CELAC 2025 Summit in Colombia.