Spangled by stars – Steven Bauer in “My Uncle’s Movie,” Alba Flores in “The Shepherdess,” Larraín regular Alfredo Castro in “Dog Legs,” – the projects brought to Locarno’s networking confab Match Me! underscores the wealth of riches offered by emerging non-English language filmmakers from around the world. Featuring slates from 36 producers, this year’s lineup also takes in next titles from Matīss Kaža, co-writer of Gints Zilbalodis’ Cannes hit and Annecy multiple winner “Flow,” and Chile’s Oro Films, France’s Wrong Films and the Dominican Republic’s Mentes Fritas Film Production, who backed respectively Argentine genre auteur standout “ To Kill the Beast ,” Sundance Sundance Jury Prize winner “Animalia” and SXSW Audience Award laureate “Bionico’s Bachata.” A quick take on 2024’s Match Me! also underscores how how a global arthouse sector is increasingly – and excitingly – ever more mixing it up.
That cuts multiple ways. Doc/fiction titles and genre tropes and blending abound. Most producers embrace hybrid financing strategies as well.
“We will explore hybrid release strategies, combining limited theatrical releases with online premieres to maximize reach and audience engagement,” says Umberto Maria Angrisani at Italy’s Mompracem. Cannes saw movies of both large artistic and audience ambition, given their U.S.
distributors. Introducing often titles made on a fraction of Cannes standouts’ budgets, Match Me! pr.