SanSebastian

Animales del desierto, by Santiago Loza; Crocodilla / She, Crocodile, by Gabriela Amaral Almeida; El espíritu de la ley / The Spirit of Law, by Natalia Meta; La escuela pesada / Hard-Boiled School, by Hernán Rosselli; La levedad de ella / Her Lightness, by Rosa María Rodríguez Pupo; La mujer extraña / The Strange Woman, by Martín Boulocq; Los dos paisajes, by Francisco Lezama; Los erizos / The Hedgehogs, by Victoria Galardi; Malestar Tropical / Tropical Malaise, by Jorge Cadena; Mar de Leva, by Mariana Saffon Ramírez; Otro Jardín / A Different Garden, by Mariana Gil Ríos; Rambler, by Fernanda Valadez and Astrid Rondero; Remanso, by Pablo Lamar; and Solo el amor existe, by Natalia López Gallardo, are the fourteen projects coming from eight countries selected from among the 269 works submitted. This year’s edition will run from 23 to 25 September and representatives of the films attending the event will have the opportunity to show their projects to potential partners in order to complete their funding and improve their access to international markets.

Seven of the projects will be first or second films: La levedad de ella / Her Lightness, by Rosa María Rodríguez Pupo, with four short films and one documentary under her belt; Los dos paisajes, by Francisco Lezama, winner of the Golden Bear for Best Short Film at this year’s Berlin Festival with Un movimento extraño / An Odd Turn; Malestar Tropical / Tropical Malaise, by Jorge Cadena, whose shorts have harvested awards at the Berlinale, the Rotterdam Festival and SXSW; Mar de Leva, by Mariana Saffon Ramírez, winner of the Orizzonti Award at the Venice Festival with her short film Entre tú y Milagros; Otro Jardín / A Different Garden, by Mariana Gil Ríos, whose short film Uli landed a special mention in the Generation KPlus section of the Berlinale 2024; and the project presented at Ventana Sur’s Proyecta 2021, Remanso, by Pablo Lamar who has premiered his short films at the Festival de Cannes and won the Special Jury Prize at the Rotterdam Festival in 2016 with La última tierra, his first feature film. Finally, Natalia López Gallardo will present the project of her second feature film, Solo el amor existe. Her debut movie, Manto de Gemas / Robe of Gems, won the Silver Bear Jury Prize at the Berlin Festival in 2022 and screened in Horizontes Latinos.

Several of the filmmakers return to San Sebastian with their new projects: this will be Santiago Loza’s eighth participation with Animales del desierto, having participated in different sections with previous titles, and particularly Breve historia del planeta verde / Brief Story of the Green Planet (Forum, 2017), winner in 2019 of the Berlin Festival’s Teddy Bear; Natalia Meta presents El espíritu de la ley / The Spirit of Law following El prófugo / The Intruder (2020) in Horizontes Latinos; Martín Boulocq returns with La mujer extraña / The Strange Woman after being selected for Horizontes Latinos in 2006 with Lo más bonito y mis mejores años / The Most Beautiful of My Very Best Years; Victoria Galardi does the same with Los erizos / The Hedgehogs, her fifth participation following Amorosa Soledad / Lovely Loneliness (New Directors, 2008), co-directed with Martín Carranza; Cerro Bayo / Mount Bayo (Official Selection 2010, TVE–Otra mirada Award) and Pensé que iba a haber fiesta / I Thought It Was a Party (Co-Production Forum 2012 and Horizontes Latinos 2013); while Fernanda Valadez and Astrid Rondero will come to the Forum with Rambler. On her own, Valadez presented Sin señas particulares / Identifying Features, Films in Progress Award in 2019, Audience Award and Jury Prize for Best Screenplay in the World Dramatic Competition at Sundance in 2020 and Horizontes and Cooperación Española Awards that same year; while Sujo (Horizontes Latinos, 2024) also carried off the Grand Jury Prize in the same section of Sundance this year.

Completing the selection are the horror story Crocodila / She, Crocodile, third feature from Gabriela Amaral Almeida, and La escuela pesada / Hard-Boiled School, the fourth film by Hernán Rosselli.

As a new feature this year, directors participating in this edition of the Europe-Latin America Co-Production Forum or in Ikusmira Berriak can compete for the Casa Wabi-Escine Prize, bestowed by the Casa Wabi Foundation and Escine. The prize consists of a 5 week stay in one of the Casa Wabi bungalows in Puerto Escondido (Mexico) for the director of a project selected for either the Europe-Latin America Co-Production Forum or Ikusmira Berriak. This prize joins the Best Project Award, the DALE! Award and the ArteKino International Award.

Many of the projects recently presented at the Europe-Latin America Co-Production Forum have gone on to enjoy a successful international career: in 2024 Memorias de un cuerpo que arde / Memories of a Burning Body, by Antonella Sudasassi Furniss carried off the Audience Award in the Berlinale’s Panorama section while El aroma del pasto recién cortado / The Freshly Cut Grass, by Celina Murga, won Best Screenplay at Tribeca Festival. This title, together with Mariana Rondón’s Zafari, will participate in Horizontes Latinos.  Further information on the success stories of participants in this initiative can be found here.