Netflix backs queer incubator linking Santiago and Guadalajara
Netflix has signed on as strategic partner of the expanded Santiago-Guadalajara Queer Incubator, the development programme for emerging LGBTIQ filmmakers in Latin America, as reported by Variety.
The incubator is organised by Sanfic Industria in collaboration with the Guadalajara Film Festival (FICG). It backs feature-length fiction projects — full-length films with invented stories, rather than documentaries — led by new queer filmmakers from the region.
Netflix is supporting the scheme through its Netflix Fund for Creative Equity. The backing covers in-person attendance for the six selected filmmakers at both Sanfic Industria and Guadalajara, plus a $10,000 grant to develop one of the chosen projects further.
It is a return engagement. Netflix previously supported the incubator’s first edition in August 2025.
The six filmmakers selected for this round are Fer Elías Rioseco and Yoksan Xu from Chile, Luis Diego Pérez from Costa Rica, Jimena Román from Paraguay, Samara Pérez from Puerto Rico and David Pulido from Mexico, according to Variety. The line-up allows for up to six feature projects.
They will gather first at Sanfic Industria. The projects will be presented there from Nov. 2-6 as part of its 22nd edition. Then the road continues.
The second stop is Mexico. The same projects will be featured at the 42nd edition of the Guadalajara Film Festival in March, giving the teams two festival platforms months apart.
What makes this stand out is the structure. Two festivals in two countries, with travel paid and time to work between them. For first features, that kind of continuity is rare.
Sanfic Industria is led by co-founder Gabriela Sandoval as director. Netflix’s Latin America public affairs is headed by vice president Pierre Emile Vandoorne.
