Signaling new growth plans afoot, leading Chilean company Quijote Films (“The Settlers”) has tapped former Fabula strategy and development exec Sergio Karmy to lead the company’s new business drive.
“Since the start, Quijote has been characterized by its production of auteur works with international reach, awarded and premiered around the world. Thanks to the success of the established model and the good financial health of the company, we have been able to invest in opening a new strategy department within the company where we are developing our own projects in-house,” said Quijote Films founder Giancarlo Nasi, who opened an office in Los Angeles office a few years ago, adding that Quijote, operating out of Chile’s capital of Santiago and Los Angeles, aims to “generate new business models.”
“The idea is to use our proven capacity to raise public funds, private equity investment, and partnerships with streaming platforms and broadcasters worldwide to expand into documentaries, series and more mainstream genres, always maintaining the excellence and quality we have strived for,” Nasi told Variety.
As Quijote’s new Strategy Director, Karmy will lead the new projects department where the company will explore more commercial genres, including romantic comedies, adventure, youth sports and a variety of non-fiction projects.
“Quijote has a long history of working in co-production. It has been the model through which all its films have been financed,” noted Karmy.
According to Nasi, Quijote has shot more than 20 feature films in such territories as Chile, Colombia, Spain, Ukraine, Germany, Argentina and Peru and has co-produced pics with more than 22 countries, including Mexico, Poland, France, Taiwan, Sweden and the U.K.
Case in point: Chile’s official entry to the Oscars, “The Settlers,” a Fipresci winner at Cannes’ Un Certain Regard, had three other international producers apart from Quijote as well as four co-producers that hailed from France, (Cine Sud Promotion), Denmark (Snowglobe), Sweden (Film I Väst) and Germany (Sutor Kolonko).
“My role will be to oversee the projects and work on the financial structure, including streamers as potential partners. In other words, always working with producers, always taking advantage of Quijote’s great capacity for securing public funding,” Karmy said. He also pointed to seeking equity partners and combining diverse financing sources to boost the international distribution of the projects.
Armed with an MBA in economics, he plans to approach content in terms of business opportunities. “Giancarlo has a very solid creative development team. I come to establish relationships with platforms, with investors, create business models, different structures and financing methods to make good films,” he told Variety.
This year, Quijote participates in Toronto (TIFF) with two films it co-produced: “Horizonte” by Colombia’s Cesar Acevedo at the festival’s Discovery section and at its official selection with “Los Tortuga” by Spain’s Belén Funes. “Zafari” by Mariana Rondón of Venezuela competes in San Sebastian’s Horizontes Latinos sidebar.
