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SAN SEBASTIÁN 2022 San Sebastián Industry

REPORT: San Sebastián Industry 2022

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- We take a look at the winning projects of this year's Europe-Latin America Co-Production Forum, as well as those of the WIP Europa and WIP Latam sections

REPORT: San Sebastián Industry 2022
Hesitation Wound by Selman Nacar, the winner of the WIP Europa section

The industry section of the 70th San Sebastián International Film Festival, this year back in a physical form, has rewarded a selection of projects in the development and work-in-progress phases (see the news). We take a look at these winning projects.

XI Europe-Latin America Co-Production Forum

XI Europe-Latin America Co-Production Forum Best Project Award
+ Dale! (Development Latin America-Europe) Award
Six Months in the Pink and Blue Building (Seis meses en el edificio rosa con azul) - Bruno Santamaría Razo (Mexico)
A ten-year-old boy discovers that he wants to kiss his friend, and at the same time, his father is diagnosed with HIV and his family grinds to a halt: his dad stops working, and his mother finds ways to make money by turning their house into a gym, guesthouse and sewing shop, meaning that there are always people, and they're surrounded by dancing and laughter. Six months later, they learn that the hospital had made an administrative mistake – his father won't die after all, but the good news will cause an irreparable rift in the family. Focusing on the idea of family as a protective shield, the filmmaker’s approach to the project is detailed in our interview with him.

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Produced by Guillermo Ortiz Aparicio for Ojo De Vaca S De RL, this will be the first fiction film by Mexican director Bruno Santamaría Razo, who has already directed the documentaries Margarita and the 2020 Hot Docs- and IDFA-premiered Things We Dare Not Do. With 20% of the financing in place and support from the Medienboard-funded Berlin AiR residency and the Mexican Secretary of Culture-FONCA, Jóvenes Creadores, the film is at the development stage and is exploring the possibility of a co-production with Europe, as well as looking for partners, sales agents and distributors.

Artekino International Prize
Madre Pájaro - Sofía Quirós Ubeda (Costa Rica/Argentina)
The film follows a seven-year-old boy who lives with his older siblings in a parched coastal town. While their parents live temporarily in the capital trying to find a cure for their mother, he strikes up a close friendship with Paloma, a young woman he imagines as his new mum. When his parents return, Oliver will be thrown into close contact with his mother's disease and the rejection he feels towards her, but the relationship with Paloma and his connection with birds will help him find his own way of saying goodbye.

Produced by Mariana Murillo Quesada for Costa Rica’s Sputnik Films and Cecilia Salim for Argentina’s Murillo Cine, the film is the second feature by Quirós Ubeda, whose first feature, Land of Ashes [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
, was selected for the 2019 Cannes Critics’ Week. With 20% of the financing in place and support from the Exceptional Emergency Project Development Fund from the Costa Rican Film Production Centre, the film is at an early stage of development, and is looking for a European partner, a sales agent and distributors. It is also collecting feedback with a view to applying to national and international funds in 2022-2023.

Film Center Serbia Award
The Fire Doll (La muñeca de fuego) - Niles Atallah (Chile/France)
A nine-year-old girl travels to the countryside to stay with her father, a recovering alcoholic who lives in a house partially destroyed by a fire that took place decades previously. During her stay at this mysterious house, Aurora discovers a terrible secret from her father's past as she unties the spiritual knot that had kept him in its hold and sets him free from his childhood ghosts.

Produced by Catalina Vergara Arthur for Globo Rojo Films and Raphaël Berdugo for Cité Films, and written by Atallah and Alejandra Moffat, this is the third feature by the director, known for his 2017 film Rey [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
, winner of a Special Jury Prize in IFFR’s Tiger Competition. With 50% of the financing in place and support from the Development Fund and Co-Production Fund of the Chilean Audiovisual Fund, the project is at the development stage, looking for co-production partners and sales agents.

WIP Europa

WIP Europa Industry Award + WIP Europa Award
Hesitation Wound [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Selman Nacar
film profile
]
- Selman Nacar (Turkey/France/Romania)
On the day of the verdict and sentencing of a murder suspect whom Canan, a criminal lawyer from a small town who spends her days in the courthouse and her nights in the hospital by her mother's side, is defending, she finds herself in a situation in which she must make a moral choice affecting the lives of her mother, the judge and the accused.

The film is being produced by the director himself for Kuyu Film (Turkey), Diloy Gülün for Karma Films (Turkey), Guillaume de Seille for Arizona Films (France), Oana Giurgiu for Libra Films (Romania) and Burak Çevik for Fol Films (Turkey). Nacar won this same prize in 2020 with his first feature, Between Two Dawns [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Selman Nacar
film profile
]
, selected last year in the New Directors section.

WIP Latam

WIP Latam Industry Award
+ Egeda Platino Industria Award for Best WIP Latam
The Castle [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Martín Benchimol
film profile
]
 - Martín Benchimol (Argentina/France)
Justina's former employer leaves her an enormous mansion deep in the Argentinian Pampas, with the only condition being never to sell it. As the house falls to pieces and the farm animals are sold off, Alexia, her daughter, gets ready to return to the city. The film follows the last few months spent together by mother and daughter in a bittersweet fairy tale offering the promise of salvation.

The film is being produced by Gema Juárez Allen for Gema Films (Argentina), Mayra Bottero (Argentina), Heidi Fleisher (France) and Julie Paratian for Sister Productions (France). This is the first feature by the director, who won the Best Mid-length Documentary Award at IDFA with The Dread, co-directed with Pablo Aparo.

Projeto Paradiso First Award
A Strange Path (Estranho Caminho) - Guto Parente (Brazil/Portugal)
David is on the way to his hometown in Brazil to present a movie at a film festival. It's mid-March 2020 and the COVID-19 pandemic is starting to spread rapidly all over the country, so everything is cancelled. All alone, David needs a place to stay and sees no alternative other than to reach out to his father, whom he has not spoken to for over ten years.

The film is being produced by Ticiana Augusto Lima for Tardo Filmes (Brazil) and Isabel Machado for C.R.I.M. (Portugal). This is the ninth feature by the director, known for titles such as O Clube dos Canibais and Inferninho.

Projeto Paradiso Second Award
A House in the Country (Casa no campo) - Davi Pretto (Brazil/France/Argentina)
After 15 years of living abroad, Amanda returns to her family's large-scale farm on the endless plains of southern Brazil with her French boyfriend, Martin. There, Amanda finds her father in a coma in the midst of increasing tension among the workers. The imminent death of the farm owner will put Amanda, Martin and the sole doctor in the village at the heart of a disturbing settlement.

The film is being produced by Paola Wink for Vulcania Cinema (Brazil), David Hurst for Dublin Films (France), Cecilia Salim for Murillo Cine (Argentina) and Barbara Francisco for Pasto (Argentina). The director has already released two features, Rifle and Castanha.

Ikusmira Berriak

Irusoin Postproduction Award
Bandeira - João Paulo Miranda Maria (Brazil/France)
In the forest, João runs away to his father Ze's house with his wife, Cecilia, and his disabled son Jonas, who is accused of having seriously injured another child. The movie is described as a story about fatherhood and the presence of violence throughout the generations of a family.

Produced by Justin Pechberty for Les Valseurs, and Rodrigo Texeira and Lourenço Sant'Anna for RT Features, and written by the director himself and Jacques Toulemonde Vidal (Anna [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jacques Toulemonde
film profile
]
), the film is at the early-development stage, and is looking for potential partners to get on board from the beginning of its life. This is the second feature by the director, who participated in the festival’s 2020 New Directors section with his first film, Memory House [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
, after receiving a 2020 Cannes label.

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