MUMBAI: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios (MGM) has entered into a partnership with producer -director and Oscar nominated actor Salma Hayek and her partner Jose Tamez to develop, produce and acquire filmed entertainment that either draws on Latin themes or features Latin talent, both in front and behind the camera.

The equal partnership between Hayek and MGM follows the studio’s model of empowering proven talent with creative control over their content, while focusing on the studio’s distribution and marketing expertise, says a release. Christened Ventanazul, the new venture will be housed at MGM, and plans call for the financing of the company’s productions to come from MGM as well as from outside structured financing.

Hayek will serve as president and CEO of Ventanazul, and Tamez will hold the position of president of production. The company plans to bring two to four film projects to the marketplace per year, with MGM handling worldwide marketing and distribution. Ventanazul will tap a large talent pool, including Latin and non-Latin performers, filmmakers and writers, for a broadly defined slate of recognisable genres: dramas, comedies, thrillers, horror films, youth market movies, family movies and prestige films. In many instances, projects will be sourced from the rich and diverse Latino heritage, but realised in a modern and accessible way, for a mainstream domestic and international audience, the release adds.

Says Hayek,”We have been developing for months a plan to create an identity for the company that specialises in the Latino market without isolating the rest of the audience. I’m confident to say that with the help and support of MGM, Ventanazul has a specific vision that sets it apart from some of the stereotypical efforts made in the past.”