The San Sebastián Film Festival’s professional platform targeted at work-in-progress films, WIP Latam, has selected titles hailing from Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica and Uruguay for its upcoming edition, which will unspool from 23-25 September as part of the event’s industry activities.

The six titles will be vying for the WIP Latam Industry Award (handed out by the companies Best Digital, Deluxe Content Services Spain, Dolby Labs, Laserfilm Cine y Vídeo, Nephilim Producciones, No Problem Sonido and Sherlock Films), which consists of the post-production of one of the movies presented, up to and including a DCP subtitled in English and the Spanish distribution of the winning film, in addition to the EGEDA Platino Industria Award (endowed with a gross amount of €30,000 for the majority producer of the winning title).

Argentina’s Iván Fund will be returning to San Sebastián with The Message, which took part in the Europe-Latin America Co-production Forum in 2023. The flick is a road movie that unfolds in and around the Argentinian countryside, in which a girl and her guardians survive thanks to the kid’s gift of being able to communicate with animals. Furthermore, Uruguayan actor-director Daniel Hendler will return to the gathering for the fifth time with A Loose End (another project that partook in the 2023 Europe-Latin America Co-production Forum), which tells the story of a police sergeant who reaches the border between Uruguay and Argentina while fleeing a concealed past.

Chile’s Nayra Ilic will be present with her second feature, Cuerpo Celeste (which took part in the 2021 Europe-Latin America Co-production Forum), a film that portrays the coming of age of a teenage girl who has to contend with the death of her father while simultaneously dealing with her crisis-riddled mother.

Three feature debuts have also been picked: Muña Muña by Argentinian short filmmaker Paula Morel Kristof, which tells of a love story between a female nurse and a younger French tourist while the former is preparing for her son's move abroad; Gemstones by Colombian director-producer Simón Vélez (whose short films have garnered international acclaim at festivals of the likes of Locarno, Valdivia and the Viennale), a movie that follows a Colombian migrant and seasonal worker in France whom a gemstone collector asks to return to his home country in order to steal a valuable emerald; and If We Don’t Burn, How Do We Light up the Night by Costa Rican helmer Kim Torres (whose shorts have also been selected at festivals such as Cannes, Locarno and Mar del Plata), about an introverted teenage girl who is forced to begin a new life in a small, remote rural village, which is haunted by a chilling legend about a woman-devouring monster.

Here is the list of the selected projects:

The Message – Iván Fund (Argentina)
Producers: Rita Cinema, Insomnia Films

A Loose End – Daniel Hendler (Uruguay/Argentina)
Producers: Cordon Films, Wanka Cine

Cuerpo Celeste – Nayra Ilic (Chile/Italy)
Producers: Planta, Dispàrte

Muña Muña – Paula Morel Kristof (Argentina)
Producer: Oreja Le Burro SRL

Gemstones – Simón Vélez (Colombia)
Producer: Triángulo Películas SAS

If We Don’t Burn, How Do We Light up the Night – Kim Torres (Costa Rica/Mexico/France)
Producers: Noche Negra Producciones, Animal Tropical Cinema, Les Films du Clan