Sixteen projects from eleven countries have been selected for the Europe-Latin America Co-Production Forum, which has registered in its seventh edition 223 submissions, 34% more than last year (165). Furthermore, the film selected at Ibermedia’s Workshop to Develop Film Projects from Central America and the Caribbean will participate out of competition. The proposals selected for the Forum, to run from September 23-26, will come from Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Denmark, France, Guatemala, Italy, Mexico, Spain and Switzerland.

Anorexia, first love, identity or women guerrilla fighters inspire some of the works this edition, which will be the first or second film by their makers in the case of nine of those selected: the feature film debut by Paula Un Mi Kim and Clara Roquet, co-screenwriter of Petra (Perlak 2018) and 10.000 kilómetros / Long Distance (Made in Spain 2014); and the second films from Meritxell Colell after the award-winning Con el viento; Lara Izagirre, who premiered her directorial debut at the Festival, Un otoño sin Berlín (An Autumn Without Berlin), winner of the Goya for Best New Actress (Irene Escolar); Pepa San Martín, who landed the Grand Prix of Generation KPlus in Berlin and the Horizontes Award in San Sebastian for her first film, Rara; Moroco Colman, whose Fin de semana short film was selected for Nest.Film Students (2010) and the homonymous feature film for New Directors (2016); Emiliano Torres, whose first film, El Invierno / The Winter, was awarded at Films in Progress 29 and competed in the Official Selection, winning the Special Jury and Best Photography accolades; Clarisa Navas, following her award-winning Hoy partido a las 3; and Matthias Huser, who, after the premiere of his first work, They Chased Me Through Arizona, at Locarno, presents at the Forum a project with the backing of the producer of Der unschuldige / The Innocent (Official Selection 2018).

Also selected are projects by directors with a well-known career such as Albertina Carri, who will present in Zabaltegi-Tabakalera her film Las hijas del fuego (The Daughters of Fire); Tata Amaral (Um céu de estrelas / Un cielo de estrellas, Antônia and Hoje / Hoy); Stefano Pasetto, whose first two films premiered at Venice and Toronto; Pablo Fendrik, who presented his first productions in Cannes; Jayro Bustamante, after bagging with Ixcanul (Films in Progress 26) the Alfred Bauer Award at the Berlinale; José Luis Torres Leiva, who for the third year running will present one of his films in Zabaltegi-Tabakalera and who also presided over the Jury of Nest.Film Students last year; and Priscila Padilla, author of La eterna noche de las doce lunas.

Projects from the last editions have participated in international festivals. Marilyn, by Martín Rodríguez Redondo, and La omisión (The Omission) by Sebastián Schjaer, were selected this year for the Panorama section of the Berlinale, and El motoarrebatador (The Snatch Thief), by Agustín Toscano, premiered at the Directors’ Fortnight.

“In its seven years the Forum has become a fully consolidated industry activity, not only due to the rise in the number of submissions, but also to the profile of the participating filmmakers and producers, thanks to the fact that it unites new talents and established figures who present their projects in San Sebastian given the opportunity to contrast and compare their works with the international film industry”, underlines José Luis Rebordinos, the Festival director.

The Europe-Latin America Co-Production Forum, which has the backing of Creative Europe MEDIA and of the Basque Government Department of Economic Development and Infrastructures, is a reference platform for promoting new audiovisual projects between both film worlds and a meeting point for accredited industry guests at the Festival at which to foster professional agreements and exchange experiences. The Forum has a first day, on September 23, dedicated to presentation to the industry (pitching session) of the projects selected for the Forum and the five chosen for the Ikusmira Berriak residencies programme, and three days of one-to-one meetings with their producers and directors, coinciding with Films in Progress 34 and the second edition of Glocal in Progress.