The Europe-Latin American Co-Production Forum and WIP Latam industry events are showcasing a selection of upcoming projects from Latin America to potential international partners at San Sebastian this month. Regional trends and financing models will also be in the spotlight.
Fifteen titles are in the Forum - from 222 submissions - and six films will showing a first cut in the WIP section. Both sections will take place from September 25-27.
There is a strong showing from Argentina in the Forum, despite the country’s long-running instability, with four projects by the country’s filmmakers and two further co-productions.
Scroll down for selected Forum titles
Seven out of the 15 Forum titles are first or second works. And plenty of filmmakers are returning to the festival with their new projects, including Juan Pablo González and Ana Isabel Fernández de Alba, Sergio Castro, Alicia Scherson, Theo Court and Federico Veiroj.
“There are a lot of projects that revisit history, that combine current timelines with past happenings,” notes the festival’s Latin America delegate Javier Martin of the themes of this year’s selection. “It suggests a desire to analyse past events under a different light.”
The six titles in the WIP Latam showcase also feature a strong showing from Argentina.
Iair Said’s black comedy Most People Die On Sunday is a co-production between Argentina (Campo Cine and Patagonik), Italy (Disparte, ) and Switzerland (My Gosh). It tells the story of a middle-class Jewish boy returning to Buenos Aires from Europe when his uncle dies.
Mi Bestia (My Beast) is a co-production between Colombia (Felina Films, Bells Medios, and Inercia Películas) and France (Films Grand Huit). It is a coming-of-age story by first-timer Camila Beltrán.
Camilo Becerra and Sofía Paloma’s Maybe It’s True What They Say About Us is a dramatic thriller produced by Chile (Storyboard Media, La Jauría) and Argentina (Morocha Films, Murillo Cine).
Documentary musical Reas profiles a diverse array of characters imprisoned in Argentina’s many jails. It is a co-production between Argentina’s Gema Films, Germany’s Sutor Kolonko and Switzerland’s Mira Film directed by Lola Arias.
Colombian filmmakers Juan Miguel Gelacio and Esteban Hoyos García are bringing Jungle, a personal drama about a man feeling completely disconnected from life in an increasingly surreal environment.
The sixth WIP title is Argentinian director Maximiliano Schonfeld’s documentary Big Shadow, about a man who is the only one who allegedly knows a previously unknown language. Schonfeld won Mar del Plata best Latin American Film for Jesús López in 2021.
Selected Forum titles
A Loose End (Uruguay)
The third film behind the camera for actor-director Daniel Hendler is a psychological drama about a low-ranking police officer in Argentina who is wanted by his own force and flees to Uruguay. He finds a new start and eventually the love of his life. It is the third feature from Hendler following Norberto Apenas Tarde (Norberto’s Deadline) and The Candidate and is being produced by Micaela Solé’s Montevideo-based Cordón Films and co-produced by Juan Pablo Miller’s Argentinian outfit Tarea Fina. Uruguayan fund ACAU is backing the project. Hendler won a Silver Bear as an actor for his role in Daniel Burman’s The Lost Embrace in 2004.
Fauna (Uruguay)
The director of Belmonte and The Apostate, Federico Veiroj is looking for co-production partners from Latin America and Europe for his sixth feature, Fauna, based on the book of the same name by cult Uruguayan writer Mario Levrero. The story centers on a disenchanted private investigator who has followed the mysterious Flora to rescue her from the clutches of a small-time seer and a corrupt politician. Along the way, he ends up questioning his own identity and lack of faith. The project has received support from the Promotion Fund of Uruguayan film body ACAU and is produced by the director’s label Cinekdoque.
I’m Fine (Chile)
Produced by Chile’s Globo Films, I’m Fine will be the fifth film of Alicia Scherson, whose credits include Il Futuro and Family Life. This new project follows a single mother and wannabe actress in her thirties as she struggles to make it work as a good mother, neighbour, partner and citizen. I’m Fine won the Hubert Bals Fund screenplay and development fund and has won backing from the Chilean Audiovisual Fund.
Nostalgia From The Future (Uruguay-Argentina)
Nostalgia From The Future is the feature debut of Uruguayan filmmaker Florencia Colman and tells a story of love in two timelines as a man attempts to rebuild his marriage and 20 years later his daughter goes in search of her desires. Uruguay’s Tarkiofilm is co-producing with Argentina’s Un Puma.
The Reserve (Argentina)
Filmmaker Ezequiel Yanco blends documentary and drama in this film that follows a director as he casts actors for a thriller set in the countryside. Produced by Argentina’s Isoi Cine as a co-production with Mexico’s No Ficción and Spain’s Lacima Producciones, the project was pitched at Visions du Reel’s VdR Pitching Forum earlier this year where it won an award. Argentina’s ICAA is backing the project.
Three Dark Nights (Spain-Chile)
This noir story begins as a Haitian farmworker is found dead in a Chilean hacienda the day after his wedding. Three Dark Nights is being produced by Spain’s El Viaje Films and Chile’s Quijote Films, with development funding from the Canary Islands government and Ibermedia. Three Dark Nights is the third film by Theo Court whose White On White was a Venice Silver Lion winner and Chilean Oscar entry in 2022.
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