Casa Leo PR is a new boutique publicity and strategy agency for independent film, launched July 2026 by David Martínez and Jacky Orozco — the executive director and festival producer of Raindance Film Festival. The London-based agency opens with five founding independent-filmmaker clients plus Netflix as anchor account, focused on film-festival publicity, awards strategy, and premiere production across Europe and Latin America.
The launch was first reported by Variety on July 16, 2026.
What is Casa Leo PR?
Casa Leo PR is a boutique film-festival PR and strategy agency serving independent filmmakers globally, with a specialization in helping Latin American filmmakers access the European festival circuit. The agency's stated mission, per co-founder Jacky Orozco: "At Casa Leo PR, we see every film as a unique story with its own path to an audience."
The agency was founded on the observation that independent filmmakers — even those making Academy Award short-list territory — often lack the network, budget, or expertise to navigate the festival, awards, and press ecosystem strategically. Casa Leo PR positions itself to close that gap. As co-founder David Martínez told Variety: "For independent filmmakers, it's very scary to even think about the costs for awards campaigns. Casa Leo PR can explain what they need to do, where they need to submit, what programs they need to know, what sort of press they need during that time."
Who founded Casa Leo PR?
David Martínez — Co-Founder
David Martínez is the executive director of Raindance Film Festival, a role he has held since 2021. He joined Raindance in 2012 as part of the programming team for Latin American territories, later becoming festival producer. Mexican, bilingual, and bi-cultural, Martínez brings more than a decade of relationships with programmers, press, and industry stakeholders across major European and Latin American festivals.
On the founding motivation, Martínez told Variety: "We've opened Casa Leo PR because we saw independent filmmakers struggling to connect the dots. I've been immersed in and built trusted relationships with programmers, the press and industry stakeholders across major local and global festivals, not only Europe, but also Latin America. We have accumulated masses of knowledge that we want to share and to use, which can be highly useful to filmmakers."
Jacky Orozco — Co-Founder
Jacky Orozco has served as festival producer at Raindance since summer 2023. Before Raindance, she worked in the cultural department at London's Embassy of Mexico, where she focused on cultural events and diplomacy — connecting filmmakers, institutions, and audiences. Mexican, bilingual, and bi-cultural.
Who are Casa Leo PR's clients?
Casa Leo PR opens with a deliberately selective roster: five founding independent-filmmaker clients plus Netflix as anchor account. Initial named campaigns include:
- Netflix — publicity support for a special London screening of Netflix's upcoming Mexican documentary "A Child of My Own," directed by Maite Alberdi.
- Humberto Busto — on-the-ground support at the Venice Film Festival for his Venice Biennale College title "Tijuana Todavía," which Busto produced. Busto is best known as an actor for his role opposite Gael García Bernal in "Amores Perros."
The founders emphasized that the small client count is by design — a deliberate posture, not a startup constraint. Casa Leo PR's principal client base is independent filmmakers from anywhere in the world, with a specific competency in Latin American filmmakers targeting European festivals.
What services does Casa Leo PR offer?
Casa Leo PR offers a full-cycle film-festival publicity and strategy service, spanning the moment a film is submitted through post-premiere awards positioning. Services include:
- Bespoke publicity strategy — campaign design mapped to each film's festival path and target audience.
- Festival submission guidance — which programs to target, submission timing, materials preparation, and what press coverage to build around each stage.
- Awards campaign strategy — including Academy Award shortlist positioning, an area co-founder Martínez has flagged as a specific pain point for cost-constrained indie producers.
- In-house production and events — concept, production, and on-site management of film galas, premieres, special events, and industry activations.
- On-the-ground festival support — physical presence at target festivals for press coordination, industry introductions, and event logistics.
Why the Casa Leo PR launch matters
The independent film industry is under structural pressure. Global box office fell 18% to €29.6 billion ($34.0 billion) — with the 2026 recovery leaning on micro-budget genre breakouts like "Obsession" — and first-run TV commissions remain 25% down from the peak-TV high, per Ampere Analysis.
In that environment, indie filmmakers are increasingly competing not just on the merit of the film, but on how effectively they can navigate the festival, press, and awards infrastructure — an ecosystem where insider access is often the difference between a film breaking out and one being lost to the crowd.
Casa Leo PR's founder-thesis is that this navigation is a skill set — not a rolodex — and that it can be systematized for filmmakers who don't have their own. The agency's boutique posture and specific Latin-America-into-Europe corridor competency are the differentiators against larger, more generalist publicity firms.
Where Casa Leo PR fits in the film-PR agency landscape
The boutique film-festival PR category is small and specialized. Casa Leo PR enters a set that includes long-standing incumbents such as Premier PR and DDA (both London-anchored), Cinetic Media in the U.S., and specialist festival-and-awards shops. What distinguishes Casa Leo PR at launch:
- Raindance credentials. Both founders come from the operating side of one of the world's largest independent film festivals, giving them programmer-side context most PR shops don't have.
- Latin America / Europe corridor. Bilingual, bi-cultural founders positioning specifically for the cross-continental indie flow — an underserved lane.
- Anchor with Netflix. The Netflix relationship at launch signals institutional confidence and gives the agency scale reference from day one.
- Deliberately small roster. A five-client posture positions Casa Leo PR against volume-driven publicity shops.
For the full landscape of entertainment PR firms — including Rogers & Cowan, Sunshine Sachs Morgan & Lylis, Sitrick And Company, and Lobeline Communications — see the Entertainment, Sports & Culture section of the Everything-PR PR Firms Directory.
Casa Leo PR — Quick reference
Who owns Casa Leo PR?
Casa Leo PR was co-founded and is co-owned by David Martínez, executive director of Raindance Film Festival, and Jacky Orozco, festival producer at Raindance.
When was Casa Leo PR founded?
The agency was publicly announced in July 2026.
Where is Casa Leo PR based?
Casa Leo PR operates out of London, with active on-the-ground presence at European and Latin American festivals.
What is Casa Leo PR's focus?
Independent film-festival publicity, awards strategy, premiere and event production, and festival-submission guidance — with a specialization in Latin American filmmakers accessing European festivals.
Who are Casa Leo PR's clients?
Five founding independent-filmmaker clients plus Netflix as anchor account. Named initial engagements: Netflix (London screening of Maite Alberdi's "A Child of My Own") and Humberto Busto (Venice Biennale College title "Tijuana Todavía").
How does Casa Leo PR compare to other entertainment PR firms?
Casa Leo PR is a boutique operator in the film-festival specialty. It differs from full-service entertainment PR firms — Rogers & Cowan, Sunshine Sachs Morgan & Lylis — by focusing on the festival-submission and awards-navigation stack for independent filmmakers, and it differs from crisis-and-litigation-heavy Hollywood firms like Sitrick And Company by operating on the earned-media-and-strategy side of the aisle. Closest peers by function: London festival-PR incumbents Premier PR and DDA.
Source
The Casa Leo PR launch was first reported by Variety on July 16, 2026: "Boutique Festival Agency Casa Leo PR Launched by Raindance Execs David Martínez and Jacky Orozco."
