Latin American market blossoms

BUENOS AIRES -- An intense 3rd Ventana Sur proved a metaphor for Latin America's film biz at large. Wrapping Monday night, the Latin American mart saw extraordinary attendance hikes, unthinkable in more mature markets.Trading trends, meanwhile, underscored a sea-change in distribution worldwide. Opening Friday, Ventana Sur participants soared 42% vs. last year to 1,740. In full-flight growth, VS is catching fire as a regional event: Latin American attendees from outside Argentina leapt 54% to 405. Brazil, Chile and Mexico drove that spike.In kudos, Uruguayan Guillermo Rocamora's dead-pan humored mid-life crisis drama "Solo" took the Haciendo Cine post-production prize at VS's main industry draw, Primer Corte, a films-in-postproduction showcase.Set on Colombia's stunning but war-ravaged high plains, Juan Carlos Melo's coming-of-age tale, "Field of Amapolas," won its Copia 0 award.By end-of-play Monday, sales agents were circling multiple titles, most notably VS's biggest hit, Argentine Benjamin Avila's heartfelt Dirty War childhood drama, "Infancia clandestina," heartily applauded in rough-cut at a private screening. "See You, Dad," from Mexico's Lucia Carreras, Chilean Alvaro Viguera's "Perez," Andres Wood's "Violeta Went to Heaven" and Brazilian Luciano Moura's "Father's Chair" -- Sundance-bound like "Violeta" -- also drew sales agent interest.But foreign distributors, not sales agents, made the running at this year's Ventana Sur. Deals sealed or closing, up in number on 2010, show markets in rapid, sometimes turbulent, transition.FilmSharks sold "Saving Private Perez" to Maywin for Russia, and "All Inclusive" and "A Boyfriend for My Wife," to Dalmation, as Russia buys ever more mainstream titles.Seeking local content and highly competitive, Latin American pay TV operators wield ever-greater clout.Ernesto Munoz de Cote, at Atlanta-based Lap TV, said he'd end up buying around 10 titles from Ventana Sur. In one indicative deal, L.A. based FiGa shipped five titles to Silvia Cruz's Vitrine Filmes. Films will play six Brazilian cities for a week, segueing to cable, said FiGa's Sandro Fiorin.According to Udi's Eric Schnedecker, on Latin American pics, a pan-Latin American paybox deal is now worth the same as a sale to France.VS sales centered on accessible art or genre pics: "My First Wedding," a Seventh Art Releasing North America pick-up; "Juan of the Dead," closing a U.S. sale; and M-Appeal's "Hermano," Rezo's "Bonsai" and Udi's "Las Acacias," which all locked four-to-five territory sales.Many more deals will go down off Ventana Sur. But smaller or darker Latin American movies increasingly need alternative means of distribution, even in Latin America itself. A pan-Latin America specialty pic VOD service looks only a matter of time. Contact the Variety newsroom at news@variety.com