Perego at Locarno: Don't Produce Indie Films for Money

LOCARNO, Switzerland - Marco Perego had a blunt message for aspiring filmmakers gathered at the Locarno Pro industry conference on Monday, delivered with his wife, Zoe Saldaña, seated beside him: don't get into independent film production if your primary motivation is financial gain.

The Italian-born artist and director, known for his 2024 feature The Dancing Girls of Lahore, spoke candidly during an on-stage conversation about the realities of indie filmmaking. With Saldaña - star of blockbuster franchises including Avatar - offering quiet support, Perego urged the audience of emerging producers and financiers to recalibrate their expectations before committing to a notoriously difficult sector.

“If you’re making an indie film to make money, you’re already lost,” Perego said, speaking in a measured tone. “The math doesn’t work. It rarely ever did, and it won’t suddenly start working now. You do this because you have to tell a story, not because you’re chasing a return.”

The remarks came during a panel focused on the shifting economics of independent cinema, a subject that has dominated conversations at this year’s festival. Perego, who has navigated both the art world and Hollywood, acknowledged that his own path was shaped as much by privilege as by passion - a reality he says filmmakers should confront honestly.

“I’m not sitting here pretending I’m a struggling artist,” he added. “I have resources that many don’t. But that’s exactly why I can tell you: the system is broken for everyone who expects a payoff. The only sustainable approach is to make films you believe in, with budgets you can survive losing.”

Saldaña, who has starred in some of the highest-grossing films in history, interjected briefly to reinforce her husband’s point, noting that the gap between studio spectacles and indie productions is wider than ever. “On a big set, you have layers of support. On Marco’s set, it’s three people and a lot of duct tape,” she said, drawing laughs from the audience. “That’s not a complaint. That’s the reality of what independent storytelling demands.”

The conversation touched on Perego’s experience shooting The Dancing Girls of Lahore, a documentary-style drama about sex workers in Pakistan, which required years of groundwork and trust-building rather than a traditional production schedule. He described the project as a case study in patience, noting that commercial logic would have killed it before cameras ever rolled.

“Every single person I approached about financing asked me about the exit strategy,” Perego recalled. “No one asked about the women we were filming, or the reasons their stories mattered. That tells you everything about how the industry thinks.”

Perego’s comments arrive as the indie sector faces a particularly turbulent moment. With theatrical audiences still slow to return post-pandemic and streaming platforms tightening their acquisition budgets, many producers at Locarno have expressed anxiety about the sustainability of their business models. Perego’s advice, however, was not to chase trends but to double down on artistic conviction - even if that means working with leaner resources.

“I’d rather make a film that fifty thousand people see and never forget than one that five million people watch on a Tuesday night and immediately erase,” he said. “The latter might pay your bills. The former might pay your soul.”

The panel, moderated by a European film executive, also touched on the role of festivals like Locarno in launching small films. Perego praised the festival circuit as one of the few remaining spaces where unconventional work can find an audience, but he warned against treating festival selections as a financial strategy.

“A festival slot doesn’t mean a sale. A sale doesn’t mean a profit. And a profit doesn’t mean you made the right film,” he said. “You have to strip all of that away and ask yourself: do I want to spend four years of my life on this? If the answer isn’t an immediate yes, walk away.”

Saldaña, who has produced several projects alongside her acting career, echoed the sentiment, noting that she and Perego often discuss the tension between artistic risk and commercial viability at home. “We live with this debate every day,” she said. “And Marco is the one who always pulls me back to why we started. I need that voice. Every filmmaker does.”

The couple’s appearance at Locarno has been a highlight of the festival’s industry track, drawing a packed room of delegates eager for insight from a pair who straddle both the Hollywood mainstream and the indie fringe. Perego, who has previously shown work in Venice and Berlin, said he remains committed to producing outside the studio system - but only on his own terms.

“I have no interest in making a film that feels like it was designed by a committee,” he concluded. “The day that happens, I’ll stop. And I’d rather stop than compromise.”

The comments left attendees with a stark takeaway: in indie film, the reward is rarely financial, and those who succeed are the ones who never expected otherwise.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter