Italian multi-hyphenate Marco Perego — who was recently on the Cannes red carpet as a producer of Cristian Mungiu‘s Palme d’Or winner “Fjord” and Andrey Zvyagintsev’s “Minotaur,” which scooped the Grand Prix — is on a mission to foster “collaboration in cultural expression” at a time when, as he puts it, indie cinema is “under threat.”

Besides backing this year’s two top Cannes prizewinners, Perego — a visual artist, director, former professional soccer player and the husband of Oscar winner Zoe Saldaña — was also on the Croisette as part of the production team behind James Gray’s standout competition entry “Paper Tiger” as well as Kantemir Balagov’s Directors’ Fortnight opener “Butterfly Jam,” via his production company Leaf Entertainment in tandem with producer Michael Cerenzie.

And Perego is backing four more titles likely to soon surface on the festival circuit, including his sophomore feature “Petrichor,” co-written with Alexander Dinelaris (“Birdman”) and starring Valeria Golino, Isabella Rossellini and Tommaso Ragno. He’ll be editing the film during the next few weeks at Rome’s Cinecittà Studios, where Saldaña is shooting Netflix’s romantic caper “Positano” opposite Matthew McConaughey.

Meanwhile, Perego’s latest art installation, titled “The Being,” is on display at France’s Centre Pompidou-Metz. Taking his cue from other illustrious artists in the past, Perego has issued a “Manifesto of a Creative Community Rooted in Purpose” that he intends to apply to the international film community. “In mutual protection, we find greater freedom. The more we support each other, the more courageous we become,” reads the manifesto’s first plank.

Below, Perego speaks to Variety about his drive to help meaningful movies get made.

What drives your initiative to support auteurs and bring them together?

The idea is to back directors who have a vision, like Cristian and Andrey or [their] producers Pascal Caucheteux and Charles Gillibert, and to protect that vision. It will never be my vision. And if their vision doesn’t succeed in the marketplace, I still want to be there to protect them. I think that’s a great principle, to start talking about community and collective. What’s going to happen in the next five years to cinema with all the new input coming from AI? What’s going to happen to these auteurs? When you watch “Fjord” or “Minotaur,” you are not just watching a film, you are opening yourself to a whole conversation about the human condition.

As I understand it, you are looking to found a collective where artists actually congregate to discuss things. Am I right?

Yes. The first step is that I was very lucky to work with these incredibly visionary directors and producers. The result was surreal. But the more important thing for me is: can we now all meet together and discuss where we are right now? For me, it’s important how we can take an opportunity to talk about culture. It’s a very strange moment for independent cinema. We need to figure out how we can stick together and build this collective.

Let’s talk about you as a film director. I know about your first feature, 2024’s “The Absence of Eden,” executive-produced by Martin Scorsese and starring Saldaña as an undocumented immigrant fighting to escape a ruthless cartel. What else you have been up to since then?

I did a short the same year called “Dovecote” about inmates at the Giudecca women’s prison in the Venetian lagoon that was shortlisted at the Academy Awards and presented in the Venice visual arts Biennale as part of the Vatican Pavilion. I wrote it with Alexander Dinelaris, who did “Digger” and “Birdman” and who is my mentor. Now I’ve shot a film titled “Petrichor,” which Alex wrote, with Valeria Golino, Isabella Rossellini and Tommaso Ragno. [It was] shot by the great DP Janusz Kaminski (“Saving Private Ryan”) in 35mm. We have started editing. It was shot in the Lake Garda area where I grew up. It’s an introspective story. My mother, in 2004, lost her voice for three years, so it’s a portrait of a woman who lost her voice. It’s her journey to get her voice back. It was great to work with Valeria Golino because she’s an incredible actor.

Valeria Golino plays your mother, right?

Yes, and Isabella plays her doctor, who is also kind of a speech therapist. But I’m also backing a new film by Lucretia Martel and [French director] Philippe Parreno’s “Riverrun” and Dinelaris’s directorial debut “Still Life,” in which Zoe will also be one of the actors. What’s important for me is to tell filmmakers and producers: “I’m here and I want to help. I want to support you, and I’m taking this very seriously.”