Lost in the Stream: An Overview of Online Distribution of Latin American Films Co-funded by European Film Funds

Abstract

The main focus of this paper is to explore the impact of the ever-expanding internet SVoD and VoD services on the availability of Latin American films that receive co-funding from the Hubert Bals Fund and the World Cinema Fund. These co-funded films are typically showcased at prestigious international festivals but often struggle to reach their home countries. This lack of local distribution remains a challenge, especially as these funds openly declare the wish to suport small local film industries. After briefly investigating the streaming service landscape in Latin America, the author examines Unleashed, a platform associated with the Hubert Bals Fund. He scrutinizes the positioning of selected Latin American works to determine how the films are framed within national labels and production conditions. Following this, he explores how Netflix can serve as a distribution channel for niche cinema, using the case study of Maya Da-Rin’s film The Fever (A febre, 2019) and its distribution during the COVID-19 pandemic. His research approach involves qualitative methods, particularly semi-structured interviews, and draws from the emerging field of streaming studies.