23/09/2015 - SAN SEBASTIÁN 2015: The fourth Europe-Latin America Co-Production Forum is establishing itself as a wellspring of budding Latin American film talent, with projects that are seeking financiers

For the fourth year in a row, the Europe-Latin America Co-Production Forum, which takes place over three days (21, 22 and 23 September) during the 63rd San Sebastián Film Festival, has become an unmissable meeting point for film industries from both shores of the Atlantic. The number of attendees is now double what it was four years ago, and the rendezvous in San Sebastián’s San Telmo Museum is a magnet for filmmakers who, after all these meetings, deals and discussions are over, will see something that arrived here as a project turned into a film. 40% of these projects progress beyond the paper they’re written on and become a reality: titles such as Land and Shade [+see also:
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This Co-Production Forum is an initiative spearheaded by the Basque Government’s Department of Economic Development and Competitiveness, and backed by Creative Europe-MEDIA, in partnership with the Producers Network of the Cannes Festival Film Market and Ventana Sur. This year, there are 16 Latin American projects that have made the journey to San Sebastián in search of co-producers. On top of this, one of them will be handed the EGEDA Award for Best Project at the Forum, which comes with €10,000.

Standing out among the projects seeking partners at this fourth Forum are: Agontimé by Brazilian filmmaker Larissa Figueiredo, who was trained in Switzerland and directed the Rotterdam-selected title The Bull, produced by Tu i Tam Filmes, which is based in Curitiba; Bajo este sol tremendo, a co-production between Argentina and Uruguay starring Leonardo Sbaraglia, which is set to be directed by Israel Adrián Caetano, whose films Bolivia, Red Bear and Chronicle of an Escape made it to Cannes; the Chilean-Spanish project Blanco en blanco, which will be shot in Tierra del Fuego and Fuerteventura, and directed by Theo Court (El espino and Ocaso); Clara Sola, the feature debut by Swedish-born Nathalie Álvarez (who was brought up in Costa Rica), which already sees production entrusted to Hob AB (Sweden), Ciudad Lunar and Blond Indian Film (Colombia); and Contactado, to be directed by Marité Ugás and produced by her partner Mariana Rondón, who received the Golden Shell here two years ago with Bad Hair [+see also:
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film profile]. This Venezuelan project already has development support from Ibermedia in place.

Other projects include the Portuguese-Argentinian title El auge del humano [+see also:
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The Forum is rounded off by another Mexican project, Oliverio y la piscina, which will see Arcadi Palerm-Artís take his first steps into the world of feature films, supported by Catatonia Cine; Peruvian title Ronnie Monroy ama a todas by Josué Méndez, whose Oliver’s Deal had a great festival run halfway around the world; Tantas almas by Nicolás Rincón (Those Waiting in the Dark and Noche Herida won trophies at Cinéma du Réel), produced by Colombian outfit Medio de Contención Producciones; and El sueco, an adaptation of Ernesto Cardenal’s story of the same name, which Patricia Ramos will bring to the big screen with the support of producer Mar & Cielo SA (Nicaragua) and the Ibermedia programme.  

(Translated from Spanish)