The panel “Follow the Money: Navigating Global Film Financing and Packaging”, held on 8 October at Rome’s MIA Market, explored the complexities and strategies required to take a film from development all the way to international distribution. The event was moderated by Tim Dams, Europe editor at Screen International.

Rodrigo Texeira, founder of and producer at RT Features, reflected on the global reach of his projects: “Most of my films are not in the Portuguese language – at least 70% of them. But even a recent project shot in Portuguese, like Walter Salles’ I’m Still Here [+lee también:
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Texeira also highlighted how curatorial perspectives can remain somewhat “colonial”, with countries depicted in ways that reflect programmers’ expectations. He stressed the importance of having a sales agent attached before a festival premiere, noting, “Sales agents often drive festival selections – it’s almost impossible to make it into official selections without them. Maybe one or two titles could succeed [without having one], but that’s rare.”

He further underlined the importance of considering a film’s success beyond production: “A24’s financial figures don’t reflect its true valuation of $4 billion. Sometimes, producers focus only on making money during production, not after release, and this mindset is killing the industry.”

Texeira also recommended working with major directors only after a failure, because following a big hit, “they’re not going to listen to you. You’ll probably be broke after the movie,” he added firmly.

Alex Brunner, sales agent at UTA, agreed with Texeira on the “200 key titles” concept and underscored the vital role of festivals for international cinema: “Every festival has its own way of selecting films, and they remain essential platforms for the industry.”

For a long time, and for many international buyers, the US box office had been a key performance indicator, but post-COVID and with the rise of streaming, pre-sales have become harder and harder. “It’s more of a wait-and-see situation now. At the upcoming AFM, we’ll be very careful about our deals,” Brunner said.

Dominique Malet, managing director of Cofiloisirs, highlighted the importance of local partners for European productions: “When you produce in Europe, you need local partners because projects are considered local content.” She added: “We provide cashflow. When people come to see us, they already have budgets, rights and teams. We finance 50% of French films and extend operations outside France, with 30% of our investments abroad, mostly in continental Europe. We’re also very active in English-language films. Local partners, like distributors or TV channels, remain essential, although most financing comes from grants, tax credits and so on.”

Céline Dornier, content executive at IPR.VC, emphasised strategic partnerships for financing equity: “The fund is ten years old, and we’ve worked on more than 60 projects. Europe is the best place to make movies, and now, even US producers have realised this.” She also sounded very cautious when taking stock of the market: “You speak about 200 commercially viable projects, but it’s even trickier than that. For example, last year at Sundance, only five projects inked important deals, and that says a lot.” Currently, IPR.VC secures financing through strategic partners such as sales agents. A24, mk2 and Redwood Studios are among the fund’s partners, representing roughly €200 million in investments. IPR.VC is based in Finland, with staff also operating in France and the UK.

Alexandra Lebret, partner at Axio Capital and Together Fund, and former general director of the European Producers Club, stressed the importance of the business plan in financing: “A business plan is not just an addition to the financing plan; it is essential, and producers should fully recognise its importance.” She noted that genre films, while cheaper to produce, face an overcrowded market. Together Fund, launched in April with €50 million, invests in production companies, rather than in individual projects, taking minority shares while respecting the producers’ work.

Other topics included the potential impact of Donald Trump’s proposed 100% tariffs on foreign films – still unclear in terms of their implementation – rising production costs and the critical importance of producers retaining rights.

The panel concluded with a Q&A session.