Six films from Argentina, Chile and Brazil will participate in the 19th edition of Films in Progress at the Rencontres Cinémas d’Amérique Latine in Toulouse, jointly organised with San Sebastian Festival. The second part of this twice yearly rendezvous will take the shape of Films in Progress 20 at San Sebastian this coming September.

The films selected for Films in Progress 19 are:

• Bonsái , by Cristián Jiménez (Chile/France/Portugal/Argentina)
• El notificador, by Blas Eloy Martínez (Argentina)
• Histórias que só existem quando lembradas, by Julia Murat(Brazil/France/Argentina)
• Salsipuedes, by Mariano Luque (Argentina)
• Sentados frente al fuego, by Alejandro Fernández Almendras (Chile/Germany)
• Zoológico, by Rodrigo Marín (Chile/ Uruguay)

A total of 92 films were received for Films in Progress 19.

THE AWARDS

Films in Progress 19 in Toulouse will carry the following awards from collaborating entities:

• Cinéma en Construction Toulouse Award.
  • CNC (Centre national du cinéma et de l’image animée): contribution to the completion of a project with a grant of €10,000 towards the cost of post-production in France.
  • MAC’TARI: sound editing worth €15,000.
  • TITRA FILM: subtitling for a first copy of the winning film.
  • EUROPA DISTRIBUTION undertakes to guarantee coordination between Films in Progress and the member distributors of Europa Distribution and to circulate information on the film to these distributors.
  • CICAE (Confédération internationale des cinémas d’art et essai): will systematically inform its 2000 member cinemas, thus bringing the film to the attention of distribution companies and fostering its circulation.
    Furthermore, the CAISSE CENTRALE D’ACTIVITÉS SOCIALES DU PERSONNEL DES INDUSTRIES ELECTRIQUES ET GAZIERES (CCAS) will provide 4 weeks’ accommodation to the director of the winning film in order that he or she may assure post-production or promotion of the film in France.
• "CINÉ CINÉMA en Construction" Award .
  Award granted by the CINÉ CINÉMA TV Network, guaranteeing €15,000 towards purchase of the winning film by the network and its TV broadcast following its release in France.

THE PROGRAMME

Screenings will take place at the ESAV (École supérieure de l’audiovisuel), 56 Rue du Taur, Toulouse, on 24 and 25 March.

THURSDAY 24

• 10:00am Sentados frente al fuego, by Alejandro Fernández Almendras (Chile/Germany) 120’
• 2:30pm El notificador, by Blas Eloy Martínez (Argentina)76’
• 4:45pm Histórias que só existem quando lembradas, by Julia Murat (Brazil/France/Argentina) 78’

FRIDAY 25

• 10:30am Bonsái, by Cristián Jiménez (Chile/France/Portugal/ Argentina) 90’
• 2:30pm Zoológico, by Rodrigo Marín (Chile/ Uruguay) 72’
• 4:45pm Salsipuedes, by Mariano Luque (Argentina) 70’

THE SELECTED FILMS

	BONSÁI Chile-France-Portugal-Argentina. Director: Cristián Jiménez. Cast : Diego Noguera, Natalia Galgani, Trinidad González, Gabriela Arancibia, Hugo Medina. Julio is studying literature in Valdivia and he falls in love with Emilia. Years later, he meets a writer who needs someone to transcribe a novel. A secretary who charge less than him get the job, but Julio doesn’t give it up and decides to produce a manuscript that seems identical to the one he saw during his job interview. Without a plot, he turns to the novel that had linked him to Emilia when he was a student.
	EL NOTIFICADOR Argentina. Director: Blas Eloy Martínez. Cast: Ignacio Toselli, Guadalupe Docampo, Ignacio Rogers, Edda Díaz. Eloy is a process server. Every day, he delivers about a hundred notifications and gets in touch with 100 stories, with 100 lives. He is an alienated and insensible civil servant stocked in an eternal present, mere observer of his own life. Until a series of events leads him towards the bottom of the city, towards some extravagant and timeless characters, towards the deepest of his life. Every notification will be a piece of the domino that will fall down as strongly as his own convictions.
	HISTÓRIAS QUE SÓ EXISTEM QUANDO LEMBRADAS Brazil-France-Argentina. Director: Julia Murat. Cast: Sonia Guedes, Lisa Fávero, Luis Serra, Ricardo Merkin. Jotuomba is a fictive village, located in the “Vale do Paraíba”, Brazil. In the 1930s, the big coffee estate are going bankrupt and, when the trains stop to circulate, the cities, once rich, become ghost cities. Madalena, the village’s baker lives there, with the memory of her dead husband, who is buried in the city cemetery, now closed. Rita, a young photographer, arrives in Jotuomba looking for trains and she finds a fantastic universe.
	SALSIPUEDES Argentina. Director: Mariano Luque. Cast: Mara Santucho, Marcelo Arbach, Mariana Briski, Camila Murias. They have been lucky, the camp site is located in a forest with an imposing landscape. The birds are singing gently and, luckily, there aren’t many tourists. Nevertheless, Carmen and her husband Rafa aren’t able to enjoy their holydays. The visit of Carmen’s mother and sister causes a sham sustained by trivial conversations and supposed family affection. So much natural beauty results menacing, Carmen will try to defend herself and to escape as she can.
	SENTADOS FRENTE AL FUEGO Chile- Germany. Director: Alejandro Fernández Almendras Cast: Daniel Muñoz, Alejandra Yañez. During the year, once per season, a man offers a present to his ill wife. They spent much of their life together and he observes silently the illness that is spreading, without anybody able to stop it. The four presents are simple, but they represent the most he can give: a recent-born kitten, a tête-à-tête night of love, a black and white television, a trip to get to know the snow. A meditation on love and death.
	ZOOLÓGICO Chile-Uruguay Director: Rodrigo Marín. Cast: Alicia Luz Rodríguez, Santiago de Aguirre, Luis Balmaceda, Hector Morales Zoológico tells about three adolescents immersed in a totally americanized reality. Suburbs, malls, internet, pornography, violence and a bored youth in the most well-off sector of Chile. Camilo tries to adapt himself to his new family, Belén persists in recording a video to send to a television casting and Aníbal begins to distress, which carries him to adopt a violent conduct.

This initiative would be unable to exist without the essential backing of the following companies: Agencia española de cooperación para el desarrollo(AECID), Ateliers du cinéma européen (ACE), Best Digital, Casa de América, Dolby, Caisse centrale d’action sociale (CCAS), Centre national du cinéma et de l’ image animée (CNC), CINÉ CINÉMA, Cinéma sans frontières (CSF), Cinéfondation, Confédération internationale des cinémas d’art et essai (CICAE), Conseil général de la Haute Garonne, Conseil régional Midi-Pyrénées, CROUS de Toulouse., Cultures France, École supérieure d’audiovisuel (ESAV), Europa Distribution, FNAC, Instituto Cervantes, Kodak (división de cine profesional), Mactari, Mairie de Toulouse, Marché du film, MEDIA Mundus, Molinare Madrid, Nephilim, No Problem Sonido, Programa Ibermedia, Signis, Technicolor Entertainment Services Spain, y TitraTVS.