Ventana Sur Proyecta 2026: New-Gen Powerhouse Slate Backed by Some of Latin America's Top Producers

Twelve projects at the Ventana Sur Proyecta co-production forum, fully packaged by first- and second-time directors, present a new generation backed by some of Latin America's top producers and offer a stark portrait of contemporary realities. Brazilian actor Mayo Jenkings, known for his central role in Walter, is among the key cast […]

Natalia Oreiro, Maeve Jinkings are attached to star in the projects. Producers include Rei Pictures, Piano, Tarea Fina, Luxbox and Cannes Un Certain Regard winner Simone Mesa Soto.

The 12 projects in the Ventana Sur Proyecta co-production association, fully packaged by first- and second-time directors, present a picture of the new generation, supported by some of the best producers in Latin America, and offer a harrowing picture of contemporary realities.

Brazilian Mayo Jenkings, best known for her starring role in Walter Salz's Oscar-winning film I'm Still Here, is set to star in Cabildo 71. Natalia Oreiro ("Yossi, the repentant spy") in "The Other Mountain". RELATED STORIES After Kelly Clarkson slams Brooklyn novelty store, shop says 'unique' songbird she wanted wasn't actually for sale

The project was approved by San Sebastian Oil on Tuesday. The festival, which partners in Proyecta with Marché du Film of the Cannes Festival and Ventana Sur, Shelter Me is one of the latest projects from Rei Pictures. Set in Argentina, Mexico and Spain, the film follows Lucrecia Martel's Venice selection Our Land, Argentina's Oscar winner Killing Jockey and UN Cannes winner The Settlers. Popular Movies at Variety

Shelter Me will mark Nicolas Perez Viega's debut after a competitive career littered with awards, including Seven Lions, an International Emmy nomination for There and directing Ringo, The Glory and the Death.

Absence, which premiered at the Cannes Critics' Week Next Stage Workshop, is produced by renowned pianist Julio Chavezmontes, a Mexico City-based producer who has produced films by Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Ruben Östlund, Lucrecia Martel and Leos Carax.

Rabbits is the Colombian directorial debut from Colombia-based Ocúltimo, co-founded by Simon Mesa Soto, director of the acclaimed Cannes Jury Prize A Poet. Mesa Soto told Variety that Ocúltimo aims to "become a platform for new generations of Colombian filmmakers with bold, director-driven films."

"Los Mejores Días" takes place in Juan Pablo Miller's Tarea Fina, a bastion of Argentine art cinema, behind such notables as the Cannes Camera d'Or winner Los Acacias, "Accident Light" and "The Sleepwalkers."

The title of the Ventana Sur Proyecta co-production with the title "Portrait of Huaco" by the French channel Luxbox Spain, Amore Cine is Melina Leon's second film, "Canción sin nombre" (Canción sin nombre), which premiered in 2019. Cannes Directors' Fortnight

A closer look at the 12 film projects in this year's Proyecta collection:

"Absence" (La Osencia, Jorge Cistos Moreno, Mexico)

Cistos Moreno's first film, Darkness, was selected for the 2022 Cannes Critics' Week. Morelia in the 18th century, a mestizo woman, a landlady, uses an ancestral god to search for her husband's syphilis. Cistos Moreno says: Our heritage is due to the forces and paradigms that have been imposed on us.

"Cabildo 71" (Victoria "Pitoca" Pena, Uruguay, Brazil, Argentina, Spain)

The second outing for Victoria "Pitoca" Pena, whose debut film, Delia, won the Silver Award for Best Director at the Malaga Film Festival, Cabildo 71 is based on real-life events about women incarcerated in the Cabildo - a prison convent run by the Nuns of the Good Shepherd. An intimate take on the largest women's prison break in history. Board of Una Presencia (Argentina) and Vitrine Filmes (Brazil/Spain), lead producer Monarca Films of Uruguay and co-producer of Boulevard Filmes, Brazil.

"Dirty Face" ("Cara sucia", Ignacio Acconcia, Spain)

Aconcia draws on a decade of working with people with intellectual disabilities for her first feature film. Led by Ayhe Productions alongside Barcelona-based Kabiria Films and Contraria Media, behind the Berlinale VFF Outstanding Talent Award winner "March 14," the drama follows a black teenager with vitiligo who is admitted to a disability care home while doing community service. Verse's David Eymerich says the goal of the film is to showcase communities that are underrepresented.

"Give Me Shelter", ("Un Lugar Seguro", Nicolás Pérez Veiga, Argentina, Mexico)

A true thriller based on the facts, just days before the military coup in Argentina in 1976, a story of resistance and courage that almost

No one knows." Perez Viga says. When his father is kidnapped by a militia task force days before the coup, Dr. Gustavo Vaca Naroja returns to his family and decides to risk everything in a desperate escape.

"Isabel Hernandez" (Giorgio Giampa, Italy-Mexico)

Italy's Zoe Films directs Giampà's feature debut alongside LaDoc and Mexico's Fiasco and Madrefoca, following the Venice competition of A Bit of Light. Set in Guatemala, this drama is about a young farmer who investigates his long-absent father in the midst of a migration crisis. The project participated in TorinoFilmLab's FeatureLab 2026 with Teodora Film, the Italian art house distributor. "I was immediately drawn to the depth of Fiasco," says Valena Fortes of Fiasco, "the complexity of its characters and its careful exploration of how trauma is transmitted across generations."

"Los Majores Dias" (Maria Zanty, Argentina)

Second film by Maria Zanetti, AMPAS Argentina 2025 Best First Film for the first film "Alemania". A potentially powerful portrait of young love and enduring passion, "an exploration of unadorned love" despite its darker sides, Zanetti says, it faces and resonates with Argentina and Spain.

"The other mountain" ("La otra montaña", Horacio Reyes Páez, Uruguay-Argentina)

Natalya Oreiro ("Wakulda") is attached to star in a new take on the 1972 Andes plane crash, told from the perspective of a mother waiting for news of her son's disappearance. Her real-life grandson, Reyes Paez, calls it "a mother's intimate, invisible battle, away from the snow and rubble." Uruguay's U Films and Sueño Cine are producing alongside Argentina's FAM Contenidos.

"Place and Hope" ("El lugar y la esperanza", Ariagna Fajardo Nuviola, Cuba-France)

Noviola revisits the impact of a community filmmaking initiative launched 30 years ago in his hometown of Sierra Maestra. This narrative documentary by Julio Raúl Vega Garçe, Torrent Films, uses family archives to explore the power of cinema to preserve the collective. Hafeza, supported by the Cuban Film Promotion Fund, received the Eurodoc Special Award at Montreal's RIDM.

Portrait of Huaco, ("Huaco Retrato", Melina Leon, Peru, France, Spain)

The long-awaited adaptation of Peruvian author Gabriela Wiener's autobiographical novel "Portrait Huaco". Gabriela returns to Lima after her father's death. Returning home, he discovers a book by his grandfather, the Austrian explorer Charles Wiener. His search for the family past becomes an account of the enduring legacy of colonialism, internalized racism, and abandonment. Produced by Peru's Mano de Obra Cine, led by Melissa Cordero, and La Vida Misma Films, both behind Untitled Song.

"Rabbits" ("Conejos", Sara Nanclares, Colombia, Chile, Germany, France)

A powerful, high-caliber co-production from Latin America and Europe that revisits a social experiment in birth control that has been going on for more than 30 years in Colombia. "With a sharp script and a witty, outspoken character who refuses to be defined by her circumstances, the film challenges conventional views of teenage pregnancy and reveals the underlying desires and conflicts," says Nunkleers.

Salamanca, (Juan Sebastian Torreles, Argentina, France)

The second film of Torrales starring Almamola, a coming-of-age drama rooted in the legends and folklore of the Argentinian countryside. Generation 14 Plus 2023 Berlin. In the Latin twin of Argentina's Lorena Covedo ("Venezia"), which was Torrelles' first production.