Agua caliente, by Juan Pablo González and Ana Isabel Fernández de Alba; El Mensaje / The Message, by Iván Fund; Estoy bien / I'm Fine, by Alicia Scherson; Fauna, by Federico Veiroj; La reserva / The Reserve, by Ezequiel Yanco; Little War, by Bárbara Sarasola-Day; Los días libres / The Days Off, by Lucila Mariani; Mil pedazos / A Thousand Pieces, by Sergio Castro San Martín; Ninho Tinto / Red Nest, by Alice Stamato and Val Hidalgo; Nostalgia del futuro / Nostalgia From the Future, by Florencia Colman; Okonomiyaki, by Gabe Klinger; Todo esto eran mangas / These Were All Fields, by Daniela Abad Lombana; Tres balas / Three Bullets, by Génesis Valenzuela; Tres noches negras / Three Dark Nights, by Theo Court; and Un cabo suelto / A Loose End, by Daniel Hendler are the fifteen projects will be presented at the Europe-Latin America Co-Production Forum. Coming from eight countries, the projects have been chosen from among the 222 submitted. This year's edition will run from 25-27 September and their representatives attending the event will have the opportunity to present their projects to potential international partners with a view to completing their financing and improving their access to international markets.
Seven of the fifteen projects will be the first or second films by their directors. Returning to the San Sebastian Festival with their latest projects are Juan Pablo González and Ana Isabel Fernández de Alba with Agua Caliente after showing his first work Dos estaciones (Horizontes Latinos, 2022), winner of the Best Acting Award in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition at the Sundance Festival, following its participation at the Forum in 2019 and WIP Latam in 2022; and Sergio Castro San Martín, who was previously selected for the Forum with El gol más triste / The Saddest Goal (2017) and for WIP Latam with La mujer de barro / The Mud Woman (2014). In addition, participating for the first time in San Sebastian are Florencia Colman with Nostalgia del futuro / Nostalgia From the Future; Lucila Mariani with Los días libres / The Days Off; Alice Stamato and Val Hidalgo with Ninho Tinto / Red Nest; and Génesis Valenzuela, alumnus of the Elías Querejeta Zine Eskola, with Tres balas / Three Bullets.
This will also be the first-time visit to San Sebastian by the director Daniela Abad Lombana, who will defend the project for her third feature and debut fiction, Todo esto eran mangas / These Were All Fields; and Ezequiel Yanco, who will do the same with La reserva / The Reserve. For her part, the producer and director Bárbara Sarasola-Day, will come to San Sebastian for the first time as a director with a project, Little War. In previous editions she has presented as a producer films and projects in various of the Festival sections – for example, Rojo (2018), by Benjamín Naishtat, in the Official Selection, where it won three awards; and Puán, by María Alché and Benjamín Naishtat, which will compete in this year's Official Selection.
Completing the list of moviemakers who have previously participated in San Sebastian are Alice Scherson, who now brings Estoy bien / I'm Fine and participated in the Co-Production Forum with 1989 (2017); Theo Court, with Tres noches negras / Three Dark Nights, also after presenting Blanco en Blanco / White on White (Forum, 2015); Fauna, by Federico Veiroj, (El apóstata / The Apostate, Official Selection, 2015, among others); El Mensaje, by Iván Fund, WIP Latam Industry Award in 2020 with Piedra Noche / Dusk Stone; Un cabo suelto / A Loose End, from the actor and director Daniel Hendler (La emboscada / The Ambush, Horizontes Latinos 2015); Gabe Klinger with Okonomiyaki (Porto, New Directors 2016).
AWARDS
Best Project Award, coming with 10,000 euros gross for the majority producer of the winning film.
DALE! (Development Latin America-Europe) Award: bestowed by the European Film Agency Directors Association (EFAD) and the Conference of Ibero-American Audiovisual and Cinematographic Authorities (CAACI) and coming with 20,000 euros for the majority producer of the winning project.
The ArteKino International Award, given by ARTE, coming with 6,000 euros gross for the majority producer of the winning project.
This initiative is possible thanks to the sponsorship of the Basque Government Department of Economic Development, Sustainability and Environment, the backing of Creative Europe MEDIA and the collaboration of CAACI (Conference of Ibero-American Cinematographic and Audiovisual Authorities), EFAD (European Film Agency Directors), ArteKino, Producers Network (Marché du Film-Festival de Cannes), Argentina's National Institute of Cinema and Audiovisual Arts-INCAA and LatAm.
Source: San Sebastian Film Festival