25/09/2025 - The festival’s Co-Production Forum and WIP sections have shone the spotlight on upcoming titles by Laura Baumeister, Alvaro Brechner and Fernando Eimbcke, among others

The winners of San Sebastián’s industry strands (© SSIFF)

The 73rd San Sebastián International Film Festival handed out its industry awards last night. Projects from Chile, Mexico, Uruguay, Colombia, Spain and Germany convinced the juries in the festival’s industry strands, which include the Europe-Latin America Co-Production Forum and the two WIP sections, WIP Latam and WIP Europe.

The top prize (endowed with a gross sum of €10,000, awarded to the majority producer) at the 14th Europe-Latin America Co-Production Forum went to Do Not Let Me Die Alone (No me dejen morir solo) by Chilean filmmaker and artist Francisco Rodríguez Teare, about a delivery boy who finds himself caught up in the business of trafficking mummies. It is already a European co-production, through the participation of Belgium’s Michigan Films.

The DALE! (Latin America-Europe Development) Award, handed out by the European Film Agency Directors Association (EFAD) and by the Conference of Ibero-American Audiovisual and Cinematographic Authorities (CAACI), and endowed with €10,000 for the majority producer, went for the second time to a project by Nicaraguan filmmaker Laura Baumeister, who received it in 2019 for Daughter of Rage [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Laura Baumeister
film profile]. Her new project What Follows Is My Death (Lo que sigue es mi muerte) follows a young Nicaraguan migrant who escapes her captors and flees into the Mexican desert. It is also a European co-production, with participation from Spain’s Somos Maravillosas. The project also received the QCinema Award.

For its part, the Artekino International Award (endowed with a gross sum of €6,000 for the majority producer) was given to La piel del león by Uruguayan filmmaker Alvaro Brechner (known for his Venice Orizzonti-selected, Goya-winning A Twelve-Year Night [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Álvaro Brechner
film profile]), a film following two Uruguayan detectives faced with a case that defies all police logic back in 1964.

As for the work-in-progress sections, the WIP Europa Industry Award and, subsequently, the WIP Europa Award (respectively offering post-production on the film and €10,000 for its producer) in the WIP Europa section went to the German-Austrian production February, Seven Days by Tatjana Moutchnik, about the reunion of two Ukrainian brothers in Stuttgart for their mother's funeral.

Meanwhile, in WIP Latam, the WIP Latam Industry Award (which offers post-production on the film) went to Flies (Moscas), the new movie by Mexico’s Fernando Eimbcke (known for Duck Season and Lake Tahoe), about the emotional ties between a woman who needs to rent out a room in her flat and her tenant's son. The EGEDA Platino Industria Award for Best WIP Latam (which comes with a gross sum of €30,000 for its producer) went to We Were No Longer Five (A la hora de poner la mesa ya no éramos cinco) by Colombian directors Esteban Hoyos García and Juan Miguel Gelacio Ramírez.

Lastly, awards were also handed out for the Ikusmira Berriak residence programme, organised alongside Tabakalera and Elías Querejeta Zine Eskola (EQZE), with €10,000 in MGs for international distribution from Sideral going to La koreana, un poema ferromagnético de luz y memoria by Spanish filmmaker Joana Moya Blanco, as well as for the Lau Haizetara Documentary Co-Production Forum, organised by IBAIA (Association of Basque Independent Audiovisual Producers), in conjunction with the festival.

This year, the festival circuit saw the premieres of films that participated in last year’s WIP sections: Iván Fund’s The Message [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Iván Fund
film profile] (Silver Bear Jury Prize at the Berlinale), Daniel Hendler’s A Loose End [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (Venezia Spotlight), Nayra Ilic’s Cuerpo Celeste [+see also:
film review
film profile] (Special Jury Mention in Tribeca’s competition), Sarah Miro Fischer’s The Good Sister [+see also:
film review
interview: Sarah Miro Fischer & Marie …
film profile] (Berlinale Panorama) and Seyhmus Altun’s As We Breathe [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Şeyhmus Altun
film profile] (Toronto’s Discovery and San Sebastián’s New Directors).

Here is the full list of award winners:

Europe-Latin America Co-Production Forum

Best Project Award
Do Not Let Me Die Alone (No me dejen morir solo) - Francisco Rodríguez Teare (Chile/Belgium)
Production: Axolotl SPA, Michigan Films, Mimbre Producciones

DALE! (Latin America-Europe Development) Award
What Follows Is My Death (Lo que sigue es mi muerte) - Laura Baumeister (Mexico/Spain)
Production: Tarco Estudio, Catatonia, Somos Maravillosas

Artekino International Prize
La piel del león - Alvaro Brechner (Spain/Uruguay/Brazil)
Production: Tornasol Media, Ufilms, Vitrine Filmes

QCinema Award
What Follows Is My Death (Lo que sigue es mi muerte) - Laura Baumeister

Ventana Sur invitation
Houses Are Silent - Roxana Stroe (Romania)
Production: Atelier de Film
The Boa and the Bamboo - Maitane Carballo Alonso (Spain/Switzerland)
Production: Gariza Films

Casa Wabi-Escine Award
Do Not Let Me Die Alone (No me dejen morir solo) - Francisco Rodríguez Teare

WIP Europa

WIP Europa Industry Award + WIP Europa Award
February, Seven Days - Tatjana Moutchnik (Germany/Austria)
Production: Wood Water Films, Wega Film

WIP Latam

WIP Latam Industry Award
Flies (Moscas) - Fernando Eimbcke (Mexico)
Production: Kinotitlán, Teorema

EGEDA Platino Industria Award for Best WIP Latam
We Were No Longer Five (A la hora de poner la mesa ya no éramos cinco) - Esteban Hoyos García, Juan Miguel Gelacio Ramírez (Colombia/USA)
Production: Selva Producciones

Ikusmira Berriak

Sideral Award
La koreana, un poema ferromagnético de luz y memoria - Joana Moya Blanco (Spain)
Production: Sirimiri Films

Lau Haizetara Documentary Co-Production Forum

Music Library Award
Mariana x BHP - Renan Flumian (Brazil/Chile)
Production: Droma Productions, Quijote Films

Euroregional Documentary Award
Altxaliliak - Maia Iribarne Olhagarai (Spain/France)
Production: Doxa Producciones, Gastibeltza Filmak

EPE - Ibaia – Elkargi Award
La increíble historia de una película que no hemos visto - Claudia Chavez Levano, Christine Mladic Janney (Peru/USA)
Production: Amazona Producciones, Eleven Hands