The Ikusmira Berriak film project development and residency programme closed the registration period of its third edition last week, having received 157 proposals from 19 countries. This figure represents a 320% increase over submissions in 2016 (37) and 2015 (32). These numbers strengthen the hope for new access to the programme, that has renewed its four categories this year: participants in the International Film Student Meeting, the Festival's last edition, film makers from the Basque Country, film makers from the rest of Spain, and film makers from abroad.

One of the goals of this change was to strengthen the programme's international dimension and, specifically, the foreign producer category has consolidated 62% of candidates (97 in total). The majority come from Latin American countries, led by Argentina (29), Colombia (13), and Chile (12), although projects from Germany, France, and the United States were also submitted. In addition, five proposals were received from the Film Students International Meeting, 18 from Basque Autonomous Community directors, and 37 from the rest of Spain.

The four projects selected for Ikusmira Berriak will be announced in May.

Locarno Film Festival director Carlo Chatrian, who joined the project, along with film maker Sergio Oksman and producer Ada Solomon, for whom this will be their second time, will draw up a shortlist. The authors of the proposals selected will enjoy six weeks residency at the Tabakalera International Centre for Contemporary Culture. During the first four weeks, the producers will develop their projects in Tabakalera’s Artist’s Space and take master classes with professionals from the film industry while receiving guidance from members of the experts committee. In the fifth week of the residency, the participants will prepare the pitching session, which involves a project presentation to the industry during the sixth and final week of the residency. The session is part of the Europe-Latin America Co-Production Forum of the San Sebastian Film Festival. The residents will have the opportunity to arrange meetings with attending professionals who are interested in collaborating in their projects, and will receive an access pass to screenings and the Festival's other industry activities.

Ikusmira Berriak will also provide financial support amounting to 20,000 euros, which will be distributed amongst the projects selected. In addition, REC Grabaketa Estudioa is offering as a prize its post-production services for a short film valued at 10,500 euros, and for a feature film valued at 35,000 euros.

Ikusmira Berriak is a programme that seeks to involve new talent as well as producers and people from the audiovisual industry who support innovation and new languages. It is organised by Tabakalera and the San Sebastian Festival, in collaboration with REC Grabaketa Estudioa and the Basque Film Library, and is part of the San Sebastian 2016 European Capital of Culture legacy.

EXPERTS COMMITTEE BIOGRAPHIES

Carlo Chatrian

Carlo Chatrian started working with Locarno Festival in 2002. He  curated Locarno retrospectives on Nanni Moretti, Japanese animation  (Manga Impact), Ernst Lubitsch, Vincente Minnelli, Otto Preminger.

He was appointed as artistic director of Locarno Festival in 2013, before that he was consultant to the Swiss Cinematheque and programmer for Visions du reel in Nyon and Festival dei Popoli in Florence.

Sergio Oksman

Having lived in Spain for the last twenty years, Sergio Oksman is a Brazilian who studied journalism in Sao Paulo and film in New York. He lives in Madrid, where he works as a producer and professor. Since 2000, he has directed the production house Dok Films. His career is closely tied to documentaries, and Elías Querejeta has produced six of his works.

Included among the titles he has directed are A Esteticista (2004), Goodbye, America (2006), Notes on the other (2009), A story of the Modlins (2012), and O Futebol (2015).

Ada Solomon

Born in Bucharest (1968), as an adolescent she dreamed of being an actress. She holds a degree in Environmental Engineering, although she never practised. The fall of the Berlin wall changed her perspective on life. She worked in advertising, building herself new opportunities with the savage capitalism of Romania in the '90s. In '93, she switched to the world of production, as production manager and executive producer at Domino Films, working on international and Romanian productions together with big names like Charlotte Rampling, Quincy Jones, Jeremy Irons, Fanny Ardant, Franco Zeffirelli, The Stomp, etc.

In 2004, she founded the film production company Hi Film together with Avi Karpick. Since then, she has produced and co-produced more than 40 films, earning more than 150 awards at international festivals like Sundance, Berlin, Cannes, Locarno, and Sarajevo. She has completed co-productions in more than 15 European countries, and sold her films to more than 50 territories around the world.

Latest achievements are related to her position as executive producer for Maren Ade’s Oscar nominated and EFA Best Film Toni Erdmann, producer of the Golden Bear for Pozitia copilului / Child’s Pose by Cãlin Peter Netzer, Silver Bear for best director for Aferim! by Radu Jude, and the Eurimages Award for her contribution to developing European co-productions in the European Film Awards in 2013.

She has worked with the most important figures of Romania's new cinema: Cristian Nemescu, Radu Jude, Razvan Radulescu, Adrian Sitaru, Alexandru Solomon, and produced the directing débuts of Paul Negoescu, Cristi Idtime, Ivana Mladenovic and Daniel Sandu.

Among other things, she is the forerunner of the NextT Int’l Film Festival in Bucharest, Coordinator of the EAVE National, advising counsel member of the Romanian Contemporary Dance Centre, counsel member of the National Cultural Fund, and counsel member of the European Film Academy.