Sanfic: Alex de la Iglesia Inspires, Netflix Steps Up at Sanfic, What Sets Latin America Apart and More

SANTIAGO DE CHILE — Held in a marvellously chilly Chile, in its deep Winter backed by snowbound Andes, Santiago de Chile’s Sanfic and Sanfic Industria, its industry forum, fairly rocked. 

Few events can boast so many firsts, 21 and 14 years respectively after their launches, and also  sense that their growth trajectory is still not done. 

That may also be a sign of the times. Despite a notable presence of Netflix, Sanfic and Sanfic Industria took place in a Chile whose smaller independent producers face ever larger problems in distribution at home and abroad. In such a context, Sanfic and Sanfic Industria are needed ever more, not less.  

A brace of takeaways from this year’s edition, which wrapped Sunday after a Saturday night prize ceremony in Chilean capital Santiago de Chile.   

Sanfic: Still Growing After All These Years

Submissions to Sanfic Lab projects platforms soared 98%. Sanfic Industria teamed with Netflix to launch a first Queer Incubator, and welcomed for the first time a Locarno Industry Academy. 2025 saw the first Sanfic Industria Awards, won by Bernardo Bergeret, co-founder and former co-executive director of Ventana Sur, Guadalajara Film Festival director Estrella Araiza, and Gerardo Michelin, founder of Latam Cinema. Also for the first time, Sanfic 2025 received financial support from Chile’s Ministry of Culture and Arts. A conversation with Erika Halvorsen, Netflix contents head, Argentina and Chile, was a first Netflix panel at Sanfic.    

Festival Calendar Opens Up

Thanks in part to first-time use of Santiago’s 16-screen Reina multiplex for Sanfic’s opening night, festival attendance was a robust 20% up, artistic director Carlos Nuñez told Variety. That also has to do with the films. Sanfic opened with “It Was Just an Accident,” the 2025 Cannes Palme d’Or winner. It closed with “Miss Carbon,” a Netflix pickup. It also screened four Mubi titles, including “The Mastermind,” by Kelly Reichardt and “Alpha,” from Julia  Ducornau and a Netflix world premiere, Chilean doc feature “Millionaire.” “Films still want to world premiere in the biggest, oldest and most important festivals. But then there’s a second phase, where companies are opening up a lot to Latin America,” says Nuñez.

Latin American Surge

Why is a good question. After Germany, Latin America weighs in as one the most valuable regions in the world for independent film sales. At €1.65 billion ($1.9 billion) in major markets  Latin America’s total gross box office in 2024 was 22% larger than France’s, Europe’s largest theatrical market, and near double Germany’s, the Marché du Film’s Focus estimates. “Also, when bowing the films they’ve produced or acquired, streaming services are looking to open at a festival before their SVOD premiere.” So, having opened in cinemas in Spain, “Miss Carbon” will play Sanfic and San Sebastián. Sales agents are also looking to amplify a film’s value by a festival run,” Sanfic director Carlos Nuñez reflects to Variety.

Netflix at Sanfic

Netflix had two titles at Sanfic – doc-feature “Millionaire” and closing night film “Miss Carbón.” Also championing Sanfic Industria’s Queer Incubator via its Creative Equity Fund, the subject of a panel interview with Erika Halvorsen, Netflix contents head, Argentina and Chile, and co-hosting a presentation with Chile’s Academy of joint initiative, Cinelab, Netflix had its biggest presence ever at Sanfic, multiplying contacts and potential collaborations in a country where it doesn’t have an office. Halvorsen also gave invaluable advice to producers. What is Netflix looking for? “Originality, mould-busting new narratives, new worlds. Look for new voices!” When should they present projects? “There’s no formula. Netflix is luckily super-flexible. You can present the script of a pilot, a teaser, a homepage, whatever the creator thinks is the most specific and easiest way they want to express all they want to say.”    

Alex de la Iglesia Rules

Sanfic 2025’s biggest highlight? A masterclass on Aug 19 from an on-form – anecdotal, ironic, self deprecating, laugh-out-loud, having fun – Alex de la Iglesia, packed one of Sanfic’s main 800-seat auditoriums to the rafters, De la Iglesia being received with whoops of delights. That may be due in part to his commanding resilience. His 1995 horror-comedy “The Day of the Beast,” marked a before and after for Spanish cinema, the first full-on major mashup of Hollywood beats and hilariously bathetic local Spanish realities, led by a deadbeat death metal fan, played by Santiago Segura in his breakout performance. 30 years later, De la Iglesia could still deliver one of the most singular, biggest and most popular series from Spain: HBO Europe’s “30 Coins.”

Alex’s Dictums

So the Santiago audience hung on De la Iglesia’s every word. What did he say? Some brief extracts. “I make films to satisfy my fascination for ridiculousness and enormous wish to entertain, my uncontrollable passion to make other people’s lives agreeable. Directing is like throwing a party. It has to be unforgettable, surprising.” “Making films which simply reflect life, I’m not interested, and I’ve made magnificent films like that. It’s not generous for audiences, like a party where there are only sad ballads, you sit on a sofa and get hot water and talk about what happened that week in Congress.” “I met Claude Chabrol who said that in his last films he just located, making sure they shot near restaurants he liked. I like people, working together. So the most entertaining thing about filmmaking is locating, going with a group of people to places and beginning to imagine a film together.”

While Genre is King 

“Genre is King,” Variety proclaimed as a Sarajevo Festival takeaway. The same could be said of Chile’s Sanfic, from De la Iglesia to a broader picture. Few project platforms packed such market weight as genre-focused Sanfic Morbido, prizes going to projects from significant creators such as Mexico’s Jorge Leyva (“Sunward Hell”), Colombia’s Mauricio Leiva-Cock (“Los Eastman”) and Mexico’s Julio Hernández Cordon (“Cloudspotting”), all major Latino genre auteurs.  Also at Sanfic, genre forum Blood Window announced its first major Mexican initiative, Blood Window Vertical to support emerging horror, fantasy, sci-fi and dark thriller filmmakers in a burgeoning new format, the Vertical.  

Buzz Films

Inspired by 2018 feminist protests in Chile, Sebastián Lelio’s “The Wave,” jelled with Santiago audiences. Main International Competition standouts, judged by audience reaction, took in Simon Mesa’s “A Poet,” “a  hilarious fable,” Variety has said, and Nayra Ilic’s “Cuerpo Celeste,” which garnered special mentions at Tribeca and Guadalajara.  “A Poet” went on to scoop best picture at Sanfic, sharing top honors with Carlos Marqués Marcet’s Toronto Platform 2024 winner “Dust They Will Be.”

In other awards, the major discovery looks like “South of Winter, Lies the Snow,” best picture in the Chilean Cinema Competition. Wild zoo-set class gulf allegory “Zafari,” from “Bad Hair” helmer Mariana Rondón, won twice in the same section, scoring a special mention and best performance (Daniela Ramirez). 

Juan de Dios Larraín Lays It On the Line

No company in Chile – and very few in the Spanish-speaking world – have grown so spectacularly as Fabula, founded in 2004 and now with offices in Chile, the U.S. and Mexico, and productions in Spain. Even so, for Fabula producer Juan de Dios Larraín, talking at a Sanfic Industria masterclass, “there’s a very deep crisis.” “In 2019, 2020, there were eight streamers. Now [for Chile] there’s 1.6,” he said  And producing without streamers is “very difficult.” So tips for much smaller independents? Invest in the best possible screenplays and then in testing them. And have clear a financing roadmap.” For Chile,  that means not just film subsidies, and classic financing – TVs, for example, but Chile’s tax credits received under its Cultural Donation Law. “Think how you can be interesting for donors, don’t think you’re asking for a favor. But ask for money from people who won’t suffer if it’s not returned. Don’t ask for money from your family or friends.” 

What Sets Latin America Apart?

So what sets Latin American cinema apart? “Latin America’s ADN is co-production, which owes much to the launch of the Ibermedia program. Now they’re growing strong, especially co-productions with other parts of Latin America,” Michelin said in on-stage conversation. Other trends also look set to build, such as an Indigenous or Afro-Latin American cinema, he added.

“The region has incredible stories, large creative talent, and a sense of rebelliousness different to Europe’s,” Michelin observed. The  quintessential Latin American medium, however, he argued. “We’re really good at making documentaries. We’re peoples with very different wounds, but we all have them, and we’re very good at telling them, hoping to cure them in the process,” Michelin noted.  Often the best doc features explore action/non-fiction borderlands,” he added. Sanfic 2025 bore him out. “South of Winter, Lies the Snow” is a doc feature. WIP standouts “Black Cocaine,” “The Curve” likewise, “Cocaine” enrolling true crime tropes – talking head eye witnesses, reenactment – to portray an icon of evil: Augusto Pinochet’s mad, bad and sad chemist henchman Eugenio Berríos.

Powering Up Female Filmmakers

The Chilean Film Academy and Netflix presented at Sanfic on Aug 21 a joint initiative, the first edition of CineLab: Chile in Feminine, directed by Marcela Santibáñez, producer of Oscar-nominated “The Eternal Memory.” A training facility and development lab for debut or second-feature directors, CineLab will offer mentorship of six-to-eight projects, climaxing in a one-week residency in December, Santibánez explained. “We need more feminine narratives,” said Academy president María Elena Wood. Netflix’s Creative Equity Fund, as its name suggests, it to reduce gaps and mean that there is ever more diversity,” added Netflix’s Erika Halvorsen.  

Storm Clouds Gather  

“The future looks promising. We’re growing every year,” said Gabriela Sandoval, Sanfic co-founder and Sanfic Industria director. She points to this year’s distribution focused Locarno Industry Academy as one way forward. “Latin America’s biggest problem is its connection with audiences.” But there are storm clouds brewing on the horizon. Chile will hold general elections on Nov. 16. The right-wing José Antonio Kast, a Jair Bolsonaro supporter, is the frontrunner to win them. Sanfic co-financing from Chile’s Ministry of Culture and Arts is a multi-year agreement, which shouldn’t be affected by a change of government. “Should,” however, is a sad word. “It’s so important that we consolidate and strengthen initiatives like this,” Carolina Arredondo, a popular Minister of Culture, Arts and Patrimony in Chile, said at the Cine Lab presentation. “At least in the last year, budgets have grown [for culture]. “But it’s very easy to lose everything overnight. We must make it our common mission to send what we have.”     

The Deals

*Chilean stars Alfredo Castro, Paulina García and Benjamín Vicuña are set to topline horror series “The Unwelcome,” a project at Sanfic Series Lab.

*Berlin winner Roberto Doveris (“Plants”) brought to market at Sanfic WIPs shapeshifting fantasy “Blood Red Nails,” taking soccer wife stories to a new level.

*German producer Weltfilm and Brazilian distributor Descoloniza Filmes have boarded Lucas Weglinski’s fiction feature debut “The Night is a Farce” (“A Noite É Uma Farsa”), also selected selected for the pix-in-post WIP Iberoamericana showcase at this year’s Sanfic Industria.

*Ana Brun, the first Paraguayan actress to win a Berlinale Silver Bear (for “The Heiresses”) is attached to star in Catalina Torres Puentes’ “I Thought I Was Swimming.”

*”El Capo” lead Marlon Moreno, “One Hundred Years of Solitude” star Loren Sofía Paz are set to topline Santiago Lab title “Goodbye Father.”

*Chile’s Paulina García, a Berlin best actress winner for Sebastián Lelio’s “Gloria,” is set to play the lead in Tarea Fina’s ‘La ilusión de un paraíso,’ directed by Argentina’s Valeria Pivato.

*García will also head Panama-set Drama “Victoria in the Clouds” from Ana Endara, also bound for San Sebastián Festival’s Europe-Latin America Co-Production Forum, running Sept.22-24. 

*Created in response to a major shift in the audiovisual landscape, Mexico will host over Sept. 26-27 Blood Window Vertical, a two-day intensive program designed to support emerging genre filmmakers in a burgeoning new format, the Vertical. The new initiative is organized by the Morbido Group and Cannes Film Market.