Marco Perego, a conceptual artist whose work has been displayed around the world, grew up on world cinema and tends to watch a movie every day. Yet the Italian native has operated mostly outside filmmaking circles — until now. Coming off of his feature directorial debut from 2023, The Absence of Eden — which starred his wife, Oscar winner Zoe Saldaña — Perego launched the production company Leaf Entertainment alongside Michael Cerenzie. The goal was simple: Work with the best, most decorated global auteurs and help them get their next projects made. Easier said than done, right?

Perhaps, but Perego has hit a remarkable benchmark in a very short period of time. At this year’s Cannes Film Festival, he will make history as the first producer to have three movies in the main competition — and they’re among the most pedigreed and anticipated: Minotaur, the first film in nine years from Russia’s Andrey Zvyagintsev (Leviathan, Loveless); Fjord, the Sebastian Stan-led drama from Romanian master Cristian Mungiu (4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days); and Paper Tiger, the starry latest from Croisette regular James Gray toplined by Scarlett Johansson, Adam Driver and Miles Teller. That doesn’t even cover Perego’s full Cannes slate: He’s also behind Kantemir Balagov’s Butterfly Jam, screening in Directors’ Fortnight.

As Perego tells The Hollywood Reporter, he knows he’s new to the producing game and that he does things differently. He sees each highly anticipated film on his slate as part of a larger collective project: “My ultimate goal is to build this idea of a company of artists,” he says. “I feel very lucky to give these directors a voice.”

You have a background as a visual artist. Now you’re a producer on three competition films in Cannes. How did that happen?

Growing up in a small place in Italy, my father and my mother showed me films all the time. I was very curious — it can be a great voice for all these different places around the world, where you can talk about social commentary, or just tell a story about the human condition. The first question I asked myself was: Where is the space to support that? We set up a company called Leaf Entertainment. I asked my partner Michael [Cerenzie], “What do you think about starting to really produce auteurs?” I was very lucky to be part of this very strong community of all these great filmmakers. … There is a necessity culturally to really help and protect the voice of these great auteurs, now more than ever.

It’s been almost a decade since Andrey Zvyagintsev’s last film, and he’s been open about health issues in the intervening years. How did you get involved with him on Minotaur? 

I’ve known a friend of his for a long time, and I kept telling him that anything he wants to do, I want to support it. Leviathan really changed something in my life: It was an incredible movie, I’ve watched it so many times. And I’m an artist: My job is not really like a normal producer. I don’t want to come in and invade this space. I want to just say, “Hey, I’m here. I can be an asset. Tell me how I can help you.” With this movie, MK Productions and Charles Gillibert, a great producer, were already involved. I asked, “Can I Zoom with Andrey?” Then I told him, “I’m not here to give you a note. I’m here to support you.” You will see, it is a very important film. I just supported him to make the best film he could. 

You mentioned the necessity of backing these auteurs right now. Is that a unique problem in the U.S. from your perspective? What was it like getting Paper Tiger off the ground for James Gray? 

Again, I came in last [among the producers]. You cannot understand right now how, for somebody like James, it really has been a challenge to put a movie together. 

There were some recastings as it remained in development. Did you come in after that?

I read the script before that; after that, yes, I came in. I was at lunch with James and we had a call with the producers, like Rodrigo [Teixeira], and they said, “The movie is not happening.” He had a film before that was supposed to go with Zoe, my wife, and he’s really a friend. I said “OK, let me think about this.” Within a week we put the rest together and he went to make his film. 

How did it turn around, if it looked like it wasn’t happening?

It was missing the money aspect and I helped figure out the money aspect. I supported that aspect and the movie came through.

What are some of the biggest challenges right now in getting movies like Paper Tiger made?

There are so many. It’s very difficult to generate a real business right now. Around the world, people go to the cinema to watch this type of film. There’s more [understanding] around what it means to be an auteur, so I hope America really, really will [embrace that], too. The big challenge here is pure economic business. There is a struggle right now to just put together these types of films, and that’s where I see an opportunity: to come in and try to support it. 

I know you’re focused on the distribution end, and strategizing ways to get these movies widely seen. Paper Tiger recently sold to Neon in the U.S. I imagine a lot of the filmmakers you’re working with are resistant to streaming. Are you finding that?

Everything is finding the balance. The question we need to ask is not about being for or against streaming, but how we can support filmmakers on that [topic] correctly. Thinking about it, streaming will be part of the future, but the question is can we protect and continue to make this type of film that goes to cinema, that creates an experience — and after, if they need to go to streaming, they go to streaming. It’s very important to have that experience. I believe in the spirit of the cinema because when I was very lonely, I spent so much time in the movie theater. 

I don’t think one thing takes away from the other. I just think it’s important to be sure: Can we support one another? What does the filmmaker want? That’s what we need to consider very carefully. It’s about asking the filmmaker how you see your film, where you see your film. I’m asking the question all the time: What James wants, what Andrey wants, what all these people want.

Coming off of this first round of producing, what are some of the big lessons learned for you in how to move forward?

The first big lesson is, more than ever, I believe that directors need to be speaking together. Just to understand where everything started for me here, there’s this photo of all these great artists together at Mr Chow. I asked myself: Why doesn’t a photo like this exist for today’s auteurs? I grew up with Coppola, Scorsese, Spielberg, Lucas — they were all together. So I created a manifesto of a creative community, why we need to do this again. My first step was, “Let me see if you want some help from a complete outsider.” The second part, now, is to try to put the community together and see where in the next five years film will change, and how we can support these filmmakers in that. That’s really what I want to do now: Build this community. I want to have the same picture of all these great filmmakers together, who can learn [from] each other, exchange ideas with each other, and protect each other.