The third Iberoamerican Co-production Meetings organized by the 22th Guadalajara International Film Festival wrapped here Tuesday.

The Mexican project The 4th Regiment (La 4a compania) produced by Tita Lombardo's Spanda Films to be directed by newcomer Amir Galvan Cervera was awarded the main prize offered by the Spanish public TV(RTVE). RTVE will determine the amount of the prize, ranging from $200,286-$333,842 (Euros 150,000-250,000) after seeing the finished film. RTVE will hold the TV and DVD rights for Spain for the project.

Losely based on real facts, the script of The 4th Regiment - penned by Mitzi Vaessa Arreola - deals with an American football team organised by the inmates of a penitenciary and the links of the players-inmates with the corrupt penitenciary authorities and the police during the late seventies under the controversial government of president Jose Lopez Portillo.

The script was supervised by the legendary veteran director Felipe Cazals.

With 60% of the $5.1m (Euros 3.8m) budget already in place shooting is set to start later this year.

According to Meetings coordinator Andrea Stavenhagen, 22 projects selected among the 70 submitted were presented to 53 international producers and distributors coming from Europe, the US and Latin America, during a three day intensive pitching sessions.

The three-member jury was formed by former RTVE and Canal + Spain executive Manuel Perez Estremera, the Spanish film director Pedro Olea and Mexican Film Institute's (Imcine) head of production Carlos Taibo.

The Iberoamerican Co-production Meetings form part of the wider Market and co-production activities orchestrated since last year by festival director Jorge Sanchez. The programme was further boosted this year with the inclusion of new sidebars in collaboration with other international film festivals, among them, the Cine en Construccion (San Sebastian and Toulouse Film Festivals), Producers Network (Cannes Film Festival and Market), as well as the presence in Guadalajara of an impressive roster of Film Funds, among them Rotterdam's Hubert Bals Fund and Cinemart, the Berlin Film Festival World Film Fund, the Goteborg Film Festival Fund and the Amiens Film Festival script development fund.

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