New Latin American film-makers are to enjoy the support of a seriesof ambitious new development programmes backed by Argentinian foundations, foreignembassies, international funds and festivals.

Firstly,the Proaand TyPA foundations, in association with the Buenos Aires Film Festival, have announceda new edition of Buenos Aires Lab (BAL), which offers advice, education andideas on finding finance.

Next month, TyPA is organising a workshop for 12 emerging LatinAmerican directors in the process of pre-producing their first or secondfeature film.

Argentinian filmmakers Mariano de Rosa, Milagros Mumenthaler andDar'o Nardi, Brazilians Sergio Machado, Eder Santos and Waldir Xavier,Sebasti'n Brahm (from Chile), Gabriel Rojas (Colombia), Carlos Hagerman andMichel Franco (Mexico), Ana S'nchez (Panama) and Federico Alvarez (Uruguay)will attend the event, backed by Gsteborg Film Festival Fund, the Hubert BalsFund,The Programme for Media Artists (The Rockefeller Foundation),Cinergia Fund for Central America, and the embassies of Colombia and Brasil.

In April 2006, during the Buenos Aires Film Festival, they willmake a pitch in front of a jury that will grant three prizes of $12,000 (10.000euros) each.

"The aim of the workshop is to stimulate the exchange of ideas andthe intensive analysis and discussion of an experimental feature film projectof each of the participants conducted by international specialists," said Dutchproducer and TyPA's co-director Ilse Hughan.

In another initiative, Proa foundation announced its new programmeto support seven Latin American first-time directors. Renowned local filmmakersMartin Rejtman, Diego Lerman and Ulises Rosell, producer Diego Dubcovsky andscreenwriters Jorge Goldenberg, Rodrigo Moreno and Alan Pauls will coordinatethe initiative.

Buenos Aires Film Festival director, Fernando Mart'n Pe-a, also confirmedthe second edition of Produire au Sud (To Produce in the South), a seminar fornew producers backed by Nantes Festival and Arte Channel in collaboration withthe French Embassy.

This seminar and a Work in Progress session will be also offerednext April.