Mubi has entered a multi-year co-financing partnership with Helsinki-based investment fund manager IPR.VC to support a slate of European auteur-driven films. The collaboration comes at a time when independent cinema faces growing financial and distribution challenges. The first movies to be produced under the alliance are Paweł Pawlikowski’s Fatherland and Felix van Groeningen’s Let Love In, the former of which has been selected for the main Cannes competition (see the news).

Under the pact, IPR.VC becomes a strategic investor not only in these films, but also in future theatrical projects developed and produced by Mubi. The alliance will ensure that the films receive theatrical releases and global distribution via Mubi’s curated streaming platform.

“From day one, Mubi has been about making space for great cinema and the people who create it,” said Efe Cakarel, Mubi’s founder and CEO. “This alliance with IPR.VC, a team that truly understands the value of ambitious, filmmaker-driven work, gives us greater capacity to support directors, protect the integrity of their vision, and bring bold, distinctive films to audiences around the world. Beginning with Fatherland and Let Love In, it reflects exactly the kind of cinema we want to keep championing.”

Andrea Scarso, managing partner at IPR.VC, added: “We invest in premium storytelling with long-term cultural impact and commercial value, with a strong commitment to supporting European auteurs and globally relevant voices. In an era of accelerating media consolidation, Mubi stands out as a leading independent global platform for curated cinema. Our partnership enables both companies to support a diverse ecosystem of filmmakers and stories with cultural and commercial value.”

Fatherland, previously known as 1949, and co-written by Pawlikowski and Hendrik Handloegten, stars August Diehl, Sandra Hüller, Anna Madeley, Devid Striesow, Theo Trebs and Hanns Zischler. Set during the height of the Cold War, the film centres on the relationship between writer Thomas Mann (Zischler) and his daughter Erika (Hüller), an actress, journalist and rally driver, as they embark on a road trip across a Germany in ruins (see the news).

Let Love In, written by van Groeningen, Charlotte Vandermeersch and Anne Paulicevich, stars Vandermeersch and Luca Marinelli. The film follows a couple’s emotional journey as they question everything they once took for granted when a long-concealed affair is confessed. But what looks like a relationship in crisis reveals itself as a story of healing and reconnection, and a quest for honesty, true intimacy and deep understanding, redefining what it means to be lovers (see the news).

IPR.VC, which has previously partnered with A24, XYZ Films and mk2, has financed more than 65 productions across three funds. Its latest vehicle, Fund III, last year received a €25 million commitment from the European Investment Fund (see the news).

The alliance represents a continued push by Mubi into high-end auteur cinema, following recent successes including Joachim Trier’s Oscar-winning Sentimental Value, Akinola Davies Jr’s My Father’s Shadow, Kleber de Mendonça Filho’s The Secret Agent, Jim Jarmusch’s Golden Lion winner Father Mother Sister Brother and Jafar Panahi’s Palme d’Or-winning It Was Just an Accident.