Madrid ECAM Forum Scores With Curated Program and Attendees, Awards Peruvian Doc ‘The Art of War’

In a second year which rated even stronger in top-tier attendance and projects than its vibrant kick-off 2024 edition, Madrid’ ECAM Forum co-production market closed June 13, with accolades to a slate of highly promising Spanish and Latin American projects in development and post-production. 

These caught the eye of heavy hitting players including Cannes Film Festival’s head of the film department Christian Jeune.

Juror of the Last Push Prize, together with Toronto Film Festival programmer Diana Cadavid and Jose Luis Cienfuegos, director of the Valladolid Seminci Film Festival, Jeune awarded the Peruvian documentary “The Art of War” co-helmed by Grecia Barbieri and Gonzalo Benavente Secco, among eight hand-picked works in progress. The film is an artistic portrait of Peru in the ‘80s and ‘90s based on fresh archive material – linked to an ‘80s fanzine titled “The Art of War.”

The jury praised the filmmakers for their “remarkable ability to integrate a complex and stimulating range of cinematic resources in a fluid and cohesive manner and the film’s strength in giving “voice to a country’s collective memory, one that cannot be silenced, without falling into propaganda or emotional manipulation.”

“The Art of War” is produced by Peru’s Autocinema, credited for the 2019 “La Revolución y la tierra” which holds the record as the most watched documentary in Peruvian history.

At ECAM Forum’s other main section Films to Come, which offered an almost all-women rich slate of 15 projects in development, rising Spanish talent Maria Herrera scooped the €30,000 ($34,600) Filmin Award as well as Madrid Film Office for her Almodovarian comedy drama project “Since You’ve Been Gone” (“Desde que tú te has sido”) produced by Spanish upscale production powerhouse Avalon.

Another rising Spanish female voice: Alba Esquinas won the IFFR Rotterdam Prize for the coming-of-age project “Bai Bai.” The film produced by Mubox Studio and Solita Films was among five projects developed as part of the prestigious ECAM film school’s La Incubadora program for up-and-coming Spanish writers, directors and producer teams.

Chilean Sundance winner Francisca Alegría scooped the new Screen International Prize for her upcoming sophomore pic “Nativity” (“Nacimiento”), a magic realistic fable of a violent man’s rebirth produced by top Chilean outfit Quijote Films (“The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo”) with Madre Content.

Within the ECAM Series Market strand, the crime thriller “Black Water” penned by Javier Mariscal Crevoisier won both the Series Mania and Serielizados Prizes with a ticket to attend both series festivals; cult traumedy “New Age” (“Nueva Era”), co-written by Adrián Arjona, Elizabeth Cruz and Bárbara Robles scooped the Conecta Fiction Prize.

Finally in the Forum Shorts, three ECAM film school graduates were handed out awards: Manolo Orellana Naranjo’s “Scary Melon” walked off with the Telemadrid and the Abycine Lanza Conexiones awards, Carmela Romá’s “Bed of Grass” nabbed the Emergin Talent award and María Olmedilla the Madrid Film Office and Aluzine awards for “Today Leo Woke Up in a Half-Empty Bed.”

The awards ceremony on Friday ended ECAM Forum’s buzzy four industry days that sealed The City of Madrid and Comunidad de Madrid-backed co-production market’s status as a must-attend post-Cannes event for professionals scouting Spanish talent or searching business and creative collaborations with the vibrant Spanish audiovisual community.

Final figures on Friday revealed that more than 800 accredited professionals attended 748 meetings with the Films to Come, Last Push, Shorts and Series filmmaking teams over June 10-13.

Here are some take aways from this year’s ECAM Forum:

Second Time Hotter and Better

For ECAM Forum co-ordinator Alberto Valverde, ECAM Industry head Rafa Alberola and ECAM manager Alba Wystraëte and their team, the goal for this second edition was to up the stakes with more industry panels, selectively opening up the Spanish-Latin America focused co-pro showcase to a larger international intake both in projects and attendees, while sticking to the inaugural show’s winning formula of having “a friendly medium-sized market with high quality projects and people.”

On Friday afternoon, as the bulk of the 70-plus international guests had left, Valverde was trying to keep up with the non-stop flow of congratulations and thank you messages from high-profile players such as Cannes’s Christian Jeune or Arte/Cofinova’s Rémi Burah. “Rémi who stayed the full week loved our format, the people, the projects, the dynamic we build between professionals and projects, so getting these feedbacks is amazing,” Valverde said, adding: “I feel that this year, we’ve reached an ideal formula for ECAM Forum. The challenge will be to stay at the same level for the years to come, but we have a strong team, and ultimately, being friendly helps a lot!”

Looking ahead, Valverde said he hopes to test collaborations with film schools from other territories offering similar industry networking and talent launchpad events.

Alberola for his part said he will be looking into attracting more financial partners for ECAM Forum’s third edition. “It seems that we’re on the right track,” he said.

French Connection

With around 40 on-site professionals, France had the largest delegation at ECAM Forum, with many first attendees such as Jeune, Burah and Le Pacte International’s festival and marketing exec Eleonore Riedin. The latter admitted she was literally taken aback by the very high quality of projects in development and keen to follow up on two-three projects for world sales and French distribution in 2026-2027.

The strong French presence was also the result of a special collaboration between the French Institute in Spain, ECAM, and the TV market Conecta Fiction & Entertainment to bring  select number of French producers to Madrid and follow up Conecta market next week in the nearby Spanish city of Cuenca.

French-born ECAM manager Wystraëte underlined the hiked number of film co-productions between France and Spain in recent years, rolling off the long-term natural cultural and financial partnerships between two of Europe’s leading markets, and a new wave of Spanish talents attracting French investors, and strong public support in both nations. “We are well aware of the need for indie producers to rely on public/private coin, but public support in Spain and France are cornerstone models in Europe,” she insisted.

Added Laurent Coulon, the cultural and audiovisual attaché at the French Embassy and Institut Français in Spain: “In today’s challenging times, we need to show solidarity in Europe. We institutions are here for that very purpose: to create the best conditions so that Europe can stand together including in the audiovisual sector.” 

Citing the uniquely strong French and Spanish ties, Coulon underlined the recent and first trip abroad of newly appointed head of French film body CNC Gaëtan Bruel in Madrid to promote the virtuous European financing model at last week’s 4th Francia está en Pantalla’ (‘France is On Screen’) event in the Spanish capital, co-organised by the French Institute with Unifrance. 

“Between ‘Francia esta en Pantalla, [June 4-7], ECAM Forum [June 10-13] and Conecta Fiction [June 16-19, where France is acountry guest with Canada], we have three audiovisual showcases back-to-back, which is why we’ve coordinated our efforts with ECAM and Conecta. We’re creating bridges for audiovisual professionals, and backing co-productions is our No. 1 priority,” Coulon said.

Madrid, a Hub for Netflix and All

Between Madrid and audiovisual players, the love story keeps growing. Case in point: Netflix’s announcement made at its at its European Production Hub north of the Spanish capital on Tuesday of a $1.2 billion investment in Spain over 2025-28, and the U.S. giant’s punchy 10^th year anniversary in Spain which was celebrated with a massive free concert of top local artists including Amaia, Rigoberta Bandini, Pablo Alborán taking in a partial traffic closure in one major central Madrid street for several hours.

Meanwhile at ECAM Forum’s Matadero headquarters, senior city officials took turns to boast Madrid’s unique commitment to the local and international audiovisual industry, as a strategic sector for employment, culture and promotion of its heritage.

Gonzalo Cabrera, head of the cultural department of the Comunidad de Madrid-ECAM Forum’s principal backer cited ECAM school as an excellent training ground for Spanish talents of the future, competitive local fiscal incentives [of up to 30%], the biggest audiovisual cluster in Spain, [accounting for 44.6% of the national audiovisual workforce representing 2,800 companies and a 25,000 work force, according to official figures], making the region a key economic ecosystem. 

Cabrera also reminded industry attendees of the City of Madrid’s annual €3 million ($3.4 million) investment in the audiovisual sector to turn the Spanish capital into a leading European film and TV hub, in common accord with Pedro Sánchez government’s $1.9 billion AV Hub plan.

For his part Raúl Torquemada, head of Madrid Film Office, said filming in the region has more than doubled in the last decade and in 2024, the capital was the setting for 41 films, 53 series and more than 430 commercials. Among the films, around 50% were co-productions from countries ranging from Spain, Latin America to the U.K. and the U.S. “Madrid is a truly chameleon city which can easily pass for Buenos Aires, Paris or Mexico. The filming opportunities here are vast and this is what we sell,” he pointed out.

FINDE’s Smashing Debut

Yet another ground-breaking initiative from ECAM organisers to help Spanish film producers improve their skills and position on the global market, the new FINDE Meetings for the financing of independent films, jointly organised with Madrid Audiovisual Cluster, saw heavyweight Spanish and international producers and financing specialists “demystify” private financing jargon, terms and conditions to an audience of 200-plus professionals at the Matadero Cinemateca.

Sitting on an international panel on Thursday were Alexandra Lebret, head of The Together Fund, backed by Axio Capital in France, to which the European Investment Fund (EIF) has committed €25 million ($28.8 million) to help capitalise European indie productions. Next to Lebret, was French serial entrepreneur Frédéric Fiore of Logical Pictures, which has bankrolled 20 features in four years via gap/equity financing including Oscar-winning “Emilia Perez.” From Greece, Heretic co-founder Giorgos Karnavas talked raising equity funding for bigger English-language pics, while Arte/Cofinova’s Rémi Burah lauded the public-sector and Euro co-pro-financing models.

Business-minded producer Sophie Ebs (Gaïjin) who helped design FINDE with ECAM Forum, said Spanish producers tend to rely mostly on public coin, co-production and broadcasters’ investment, but FINDE will help them shake off their habits. “There are other ways to raise the quality and commercial appeal of films with private coin. FINDE will boost them to try new things,” said the Madrid-based French producer in charge of running FINDE’s training session at ECAM Forum for the Films to Come producers.

“FINDE has been a great success. We are very pleased with this first collaboration [with ECAM Forum] and the interest it has generated,” said Madrid Audiovisual Cluster’ head Teresa Azcona who underlined “the quality of both Spanish and international speakers, as well as the event design, which allowed for in-depth discussions with clarity and a practical focus, while also creating excellent networking opportunities.”

“The feedback I got from attendees is that it was mind-blowing,” added Alberola who intends to stick to the same winning format for 2026: a training session for selected indie producers, round tables/panels and “a private meeting for everyone to be in the same room.”

Talent to Watch

Besides the winning titles, buzzy projects in development frequently cited by on-site programmers, producers or sales agents included Chile’s “ A Decorous Woman” by Natalia Luque and Iran-born Maryam Tafakory’s hybrid documentary “Hospital of Irremediable Desires,” tackling women’s involvement in Iran’s clandestine revolutionary groups of the 1970s. Within the Last Push titles, hot offers were Ion de Sosa’s drama-fantasy “Balearic,” Claudia Estrada Tarascó’s juvenile detention centre set “Wolf Grrrls” (“Salen las lobas”) and Mihai Mincan’s “Milk Teeth.”

“So much is happening in Spain and we want to tap into the new wave of Spanish talent,” said Sweden-based producers Olivier Guerpillon and Marta Reguera Guitiez of Fox in the Snow who boarded the Equatorian-Spanish project “Los Hermanos Espejo” at last year’s ECAM Forum and are discussing some projects from this year’s ECAM Forum slate.