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Source: Courtesy of SIFF

San Sebastian 2025

The industry programme at the San Sebastian International Festival (SIFF) has steadily built an ecosystem linking projects from development to completion, with titles often progressing through several sections before reaching competition.

One of its core activities is the Europe-Latin America Co-Production Forum which offers valuable insights into projects with the most international potential.

The projects that generated the most buzz among attendees were three that won awards: Chilean director Francisco Rodríguez Teare’s Do Not Let Me Die Alone (best project award), Mexican director Laura Baumeister’s What Follows Is My Death (the development award) and Uruguayan director Alvaro Brechner’s La Piel Del Leon (international prize).

Rodrigo Díaz of Santiago-based Axolotl, the Chilean producer of Do Not Let Me Die Alone, said: “The impact of the best project award at an industry level is exactly what we were looking for — a seal that reflects the film’s potential, confirming the interest of partners who knew the project and calling attention from new ones.”

Sales company Latido is in talks to come on board La Piel del Leon, produced by regular collaborator, Spanish outfit Tornasol Media. Brechner is one of Uruguay’s most prestigious and versatile filmmakers, directing three of the country’s recent Oscar entries.

Vanessa Vargas, acquisitions coordinator at Latido, praised the Forum’s range, citing titles with “universal themes, thrillers with comedy overtones, black comedies, mysteries and emotional dramas”. In particular, she said she was drawn to Colombian director Andrés Ramírez Pulido’s Praise For Crime. “It is a thriller with black comedy touches and clear international appeal,” she said, and Hijas Del Agua, directed by Jacques Toulemonde, co-writer of Oscar-nominated Embrace Of The Serpent and Cannes Directors’ Fortnight’s Birds Of Passage.

Vargas is also eyeing Fernando Eimbcke’s Flies, WIP Latam industry award winner: “We need to evaluate which festival launch could most boost sales.”

Bendita Films’ managing director Luis Renart pointed to the “quality and diversity” of the projects and predicted several would reach the top festivals. But he warned: “Author-driven projects without a festival track record or a strong concept are increasingly hard to place.”

Bendita handles six to seven auteur-driven titles year. “All turn profitable,” Renart says.

Filmax said it is evaluating two projects from the Forum and exploring their international potential. “We acquired Laura Casabé’s The Virgin of the Quarry Lake here in 2021,” said Irene Airoldi, international buyer at Filmax, of the company’s track record in the industry programme. “It world-premiered at Sundance and is now about to make its European debut at Sitges.”

However throughout the industry programme, much of the conversation among sales executives was about the impact of risk-averse theatrical and streaming buyers.

Some sellers called for a greater focus on audiences.

“There are still too many ego-driven films,” suggested Gloria Bretones, co-CEO at Begin Again Films. “I don’t always find people’s lives that interesting. We’ve already lived many of those stories and they no longer surprise me. That’s why auteur or more experimental films often don’t work.”

Bretones said she is even preparing to shift her focus and is handling two larger non-Spanish titles, still in production, bigger in scale than her usual slate.

“I’ve skipped industry sections as I’m focused on bigger projects given the current market climate,” admitted another seller.

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