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SAN SEBASTIÁN 2020 San Sebastián Industry

San Sebastián to host two new Work in Progress programmes

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- The gathering will seek to bolster European productions through WIP Europa and Latin American co-productions through WIP Latam, where the €30,000 EGEDA-Platino Award will be handed out

San Sebastián to host two new Work in Progress programmes

Films that have already been shot, which are in the post-production phase and are in need of a final helping hand to finish them off and to enable them to be accepted for markets, screen at festivals and finally end up on cinema screens. These are the movies being targeted by the new industry sections of the San Sebastián Film Festival, the 68th edition of which will unspool in the pleasant surroundings of the Basque city between 18 and 26 September. The names of these new strands are WIP Latam, intended for Latin American co-productions, and WIP Europa, for European features, with particular attention being paid to directors’ first and second works and those shot in non-hegemonic languages.

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The latter programme is replacing Glocal in Progress, which was started up in 2016 (see the news). Unlike that section, European productions in any language can now gain access to WIP Europa, and there can be a maximum of six participating films, rather than three, as used to be the case in the erstwhile sidebar. The film crowned with the WIP Europa Industry Award will have guaranteed Spanish distribution, courtesy of BTeam Pictures.

Meanwhile, WIP Latam (which is replacing Films in Progress after it was held for 18 years in partnership with Cinélatino - Rencontres de Toulouse and will unspool in San Sebastián from 21-23 September) will also host up to six films at the post-production stage, which will have the opportunity to bag a prize worth €30,000, handed out by EGEDA (the Society for Audiovisual Producers’ Rights Management) and Platino, the Ibero-American film awards. The participants will also have the chance to receive post-production support offered by partner companies such as Ad Hoc Studios, Deluxe, Dolby, Laserfilm Cine y Vídeo, Nephilim Producciones and No Problem Sonido.

The call for applications for both WIP programmes will open on 1 June and will close one month later, on 1 July. The San Sebastián Film Festival selection committee will pick six Latin American films and up to six European ones to be presented in September in front of distributors, sales agents and producers, with the ultimate aim of facilitating their international circulation.

In taking these new measures, the Basque festival is redefining its concept as a global gathering with an editorial policy that includes cinematic exhibition (with its six competitive sections and an additional seven dedicated to just screening films), reflection and debate centring on audiovisual creation (the standout event being the European Film Forum), and an industry section with a plentiful pool of new talents. The latter section hosts movies in post-production that are presented to film-industry professionals through the aforementioned two new programmes for works in progress, as well as projects that can respond to three calls launched by the festival.

These calls are the Ikusmira Berriak project-development residency, which provides “space, context and time” – eight weeks, to be precise – for the creative development of five audiovisual propositions; the Co-production Forum, an initiative intended for film projects in development hailing from Europe and Latin America, which helps the production companies find partners on either side of the Atlantic and facilitates their access to the international market; and Zinemaldia Startup Challenge, a competition aimed at European startups that have technological projects relevant to the audiovisual sector (see the news).

In addition, the festival is organising Proyecta – a presentation of projects seeking a co-production structure between Europe and Latin America – in conjunction with Ventana Sur (the most important film market in Latin America) and the Cannes Film Festival’s Producers Network-Marché du Film. It is also a partner on the Lau Haizetara Documentary Co-production Forum, backed by the IBAIA (Association of Basque Audiovisual Producers).

For further information, more details, and the full terms and conditions for all of these calls, please visit the 2020 San Sebastián Film Festival’s website.

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(Translated from Spanish)

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