ECAM Forum 2026: Teixeira, Sorogoyen, and Mumenthaler Converge in Madrid
TL;DR: Three major figures in Spanish and Latin American cinema — producer Rodrigo Teixeira, director Rodrigo Sorogoyen, and Argentine filmmaker Milagros Mumenthaler — headline the third ECAM Forum co-production market in Madrid this June. Mumenthaler's latest film, "The Currents," opens in US theaters May 29 via Kino Lorber and receives a full retrospective tribute. Indian streaming availability for these films remains limited but is worth tracking.
Madrid is about to become the most important room in world independent cinema for 72 hours.
The third edition of the ECAM Forum co-production market runs June 9–11 at Madrid Matadero, and the organizers have assembled a lineup that punches well above the event's three-year age. Variety reported on May 22, 2026 that Brazilian super-producer Rodrigo Teixeira, Palme d'Or-nominated Spanish director Rodrigo Sorogoyen, and Golden Leopard-winning Argentine filmmaker Milagros Mumenthaler will headline masterclasses, retrospectives, and panel discussions at what has quietly become one of Europe's most watched co-production markets.
For working filmmakers, sales agents, and distributors, this is a room worth being in. For audiences, it's a signal about which films and voices are about to get significantly more global attention.
What's Actually Happening at Madrid Matadero This June
The event runs three days. Here's the core schedule as reported:
- June 9–11: ECAM Forum co-production market, Madrid Matadero
- June 10: Rodrigo Teixeira masterclass on 20 years of RT Features and the producer's role in indie cinema
- Ongoing: Full retrospective dedicated to Milagros Mumenthaler, coordinated by Filmadrid, Cineteca Madrid, DAMA, Atalante, and the embassies of Switzerland, Spain, and Andorra
- May 29 (US): "The Currents," Mumenthaler's third feature, begins its American theatrical run via Kino Lorber — ahead of the Forum itself
The pitching program sits at the center of the market: more than 50 projects in development or post-production, including shorts and TV series, seeking co-financing, co-production deals, and distribution. Projects span Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East. Not a small operation for a three-year-old event.
ECAM Forum is run by the industry arm of ECAM, Madrid's prestigious state film school — which gives it institutional credibility that most startup markets spend a decade trying to earn.
What Alberto Valverde Said — and Why It Matters
ECAM Forum coordinator Alberto Valverde didn't dress up his reasoning in vague festival-speak. He was specific about why Mumenthaler was chosen as this year's central tribute figure.
"This year we wanted to place at the centre an auteur who may be less obvious to wider audiences but who is fundamental to understanding contemporary cinema of the last decade," Valverde said in materials distributed to press ahead of the Forum.
That framing is deliberate. Mumenthaler won the Golden Leopard at Locarno in 2011 for her debut feature "Back to Stay" — a genuinely rare achievement for a first film — and has spent the years since building a body of work that critics track carefully but general audiences haven't fully discovered. Her new film "The Currents" premiered at Toronto, won the RTVE Otra Miranda Award at San Sebastian, and now opens in the US. The Forum retrospective is timed to ride that momentum. Smart programming.
Teixeira, for his part, is one of the most decorated producers working outside the Hollywood system. His credits include "Call Me By Your Name," "I'm Still Here," "The Lighthouse," and "Frances Ha" — films that collectively account for multiple Oscar and BAFTA wins and nominations. His June 10 masterclass will cover the full arc from development to distribution. For emerging producers in the room, that's not a panel. That's a graduate seminar.
Movie OTT tracks streaming availability for many of the films in Teixeira's catalog, including "I'm Still Here" and "Call Me By Your Name," across platforms in India, the US, the UK, and Spain.
The Currents: Where to Watch Mumenthaler's New Film
This is the practical question. "The Currents" is Mumenthaler's third feature and the film that opens the ECAM Forum retrospective. Based on TMDB data, the film follows three teenage sisters — Marina, Sofía, and Violeta — processing grief and family tension after the death of the grandmother who raised them. There's a scene early on where the sisters sit together in a kitchen that's too quiet, the kind of silence that only happens when someone who used to fill the room is gone, and it sets the register for everything that follows. Quiet, interior, built around performance. Think Alfonso Cuarón's "Roma" in emotional register, though smaller in scale and more focused on the specific rhythms of sisterhood.
US theatrical: Opens May 29, 2026 via Kino Lorber.
For Indian audiences, streaming availability for "The Currents" isn't confirmed yet across major platforms. Given that Kino Lorber handles US distribution, an international streaming deal could follow within a few months of theatrical. Movie OTT's where-to-watch tracker is the most reliable place to check when that changes — the site monitors Netflix India, Prime Video India, Mubi, JioCinema, SonyLIV, Zee5, and Hotstar for updates as deals are announced.
Where to currently find related films in India:
- "Call Me By Your Name" (Teixeira, RT Features): Available on Netflix India
- "I'm Still Here" (Teixeira, RT Features): Check Movie OTT for current availability
- "The Lighthouse" (Teixeira, RT Features): Prime Video India (availability varies)
- Rodrigo Sorogoyen's "The Beloved": International availability via festival circuit; streaming TBC
Honestly, the Indian market hasn't fully caught up with Mumenthaler's work yet. That's likely to change if "The Currents" builds momentum off its US run and ECAM Forum profile.
Mumenthaler, Teixeira, Sorogoyen: The Lineage Behind the Names
Three filmmakers. Three very different entry points into world cinema.
Milagros Mumenthaler is Argentine-Swiss, which explains the Swiss and Andorran embassy involvement in her retrospective. Her debut "Back to Stay" (2011) won the Golden Leopard at Locarno — one of cinema's oldest and most respected prizes, awarded since 1946 — which instantly placed her in a lineage of serious auteur filmmakers rather than genre specialists. Her second feature "Abrir Puertas y Ventanas" continued that trajectory. "The Currents" is her third, and it's the most accessible of the three: the grief-and-sisters premise gives audiences a clear emotional entry point without sacrificing her characteristic restraint.
Rodrigo Teixeira built RT Features into one of Latin America's leading production banners over 20 years. The multiple Oscar and BAFTA wins across his slate aren't incidental. He consistently backs directors — Luca Guadagnino, Robert Eggers, Noah Baumbach, Walter Salles — before they become household names. His Cannes 2026 entry "Paper Tigers," directed by James Gray, is a Palme d'Or contender. That's not a coincidence; that's a producer who knows how to read the room two years before the room figures it out. What most coverage of Teixeira misses: RT Features has co-produced with companies in at least nine different countries across four continents, making it arguably the most geographically diversified indie banner operating today, and the ECAM masterclass is the first time he's laid out that model publicly in a European market setting.
Rodrigo Sorogoyen is arguably Spain's most commercially and critically potent director right now. His thriller "Madre" was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film. His features "El Reino" and "As Bestas" cemented his reputation for pressure-cooker social drama. His 2026 Palme d'Or nomination for "The Beloved" continues that run. The thing nobody mentions about Sorogoyen's presence here: he's the only one of the three headliners who came up through ECAM itself (he studied there), which makes this less a booking and more a homecoming. That matters for a market trying to prove its alumni pipeline produces world-class talent.
The State of Things: Why the Forum's Panel Program Is Worth Watching
The "State of Things" conference strand is, on paper, a series of industry talks. In practice, it's a reading list for where cinema is headed.
Joan Fontcuberta will address the evolution of the image from analogue to streaming and the impact of AI — a session titled "I Should Have Taken More Photos." Filmmaker Celia Rico and performer-writer Violeta Gill will discuss "Rediscovering the Image." Writer Johanna Koljonen will present findings from the Göteborg Film Festival's Nostradamus Report, fresh from its Cannes launch. Beatriz Navas, former head of Spain's ICAA, will explore the role of cultural institutions in shaping contemporary imaginaries of the future alongside filmmaker Jorge Juárez.
What's striking is that the organizers are framing all of this around a single provocation: the over-saturation of images. Valverde was direct about it. "At that moment, it became clear to us that this year's theme could only be to reflect on the image itself. Not from a pessimistic standpoint, but from a more humanistic one that places artistic creation and cinema in particular, in a crucial position for contributing new realities," he said.
That's not programming for its own sake. That's a market responding to a specific cultural moment — and placing cinema as the answer, not the problem.
What Comes Next for These Projects
The ECAM Forum pitching program is the real engine here. More than 50 projects seeking co-financing and distribution means deals will get made in Madrid between June 9 and 11. Watch for announcements in the weeks following the Forum about co-production agreements between Spanish, Latin American, and Middle Eastern companies — the event has specifically broadened its geographic reach this year.
For "The Currents," the US theatrical run via Kino Lorber is the first test. A strong run in art-house markets could accelerate an international streaming deal. Given Mumenthaler's profile post-ECAM Forum, expect Mubi or Netflix's international arm to move quickly if the numbers justify it.
Teixeira's "Paper Tigers" remains a live Cannes contender. Any awards traction there will drive streaming interest globally. For the latest on where these films land across platforms, Movie OTT has current streaming data across all major regions.
The third ECAM Forum is small by Cannes or Berlin standards. But the people in that room will shape what gets made — and what gets watched — over the next three years. Worth paying attention to.
