Six films have been selected for Films in Progress 32 at 2017 San Sebastian International Film Festival: Agosto by Armando Capó (Costa Rica – Cuba – France); Ferrugem / Hust by Aly Muritiba (Brazil), Kairos, by Nicolás Buenaventura (France – Colombia), Familia sumergida (Immersed Family) by María Alche (Argentina – Brazil – Germany), Niña errante (Wandering Girl) by Rubén Mendoza (Colombia – France) and Rodantes (Wanderers) by Leandro Lara (Brazil – USA).
Some of the directors presenting their works in Films in Progress have already participated in San Sebastian, such as Armando Capó, whose project Agosto (August) was selected for the III Europe-Latin America Co-Production Forum where it won the EGEDA Award for Best Project, and Aly Muritiba, selected for the I Co-Production Forum with his project Para minha amada morta / To my Beloved (formerly O homen que matou a minha amada morta / To my Beloved Dead), which went on to participate in Films in Progress 26 and later in Horizontes Latinos 2015. Muritiba also revisited the Forum in 2016 with his project Barba ensopada de sangue / Blood-Drenched Beard.
Films in Progress is the program of subsidies to Latin American cinema which, held twice yearly, is organized jointly by the San Sebastian Festival and Cinélatino, Rencontres de Toulouse. Created in 2002, the event has become a platform for the international launch of new talents and a mandatory meeting place for the Latin American audiovisual industry.
In total, eight of the films presented at past editions in San Sebastian and Toulouse will be screened in New Directors and Horizontes Latinos. Two of the films which participated in Films in Progress 31 in Toulouse, La novia del desierto (The Desert Bride), by first-time directors Cecilia Atán and Valeria Pivato, and Los Perros, second feature from Marcela Said, were selected respectively for Un Certain Regard and the Critics’ Week at the last Festival de Cannes. Furthermore, La familia, first work by Gustavo Rondón, screened at Films in Progress 30, also participated in this last section.
As well as those already mentioned, Medea by Alexandra Latishev, Las olas (The Waves) by Adrián Biniez and La Educación del Rey (Rey’s Education) by Santiago Esteves, winner of the Industry Award, participated in the last edition of Films in Progress at San Sebastian; and Temporada de caza (Hunting Season) by Natalia Garagiola – Films in Progress Toulouse 2017 – will participate in Horizontes Latinos. Princesita (Princess) by Marialy Rivas, selected for Films in Progress in 2015, will compete in the New Directors section.
2017 San Sebastian International Film Festival Films in Progress 32
AGOSTO (AUGUST)
ARMANDO CAPÓ RAMOS (COSTA RICA – CUBA – FRANCE)
August, 1994, Cuba. Carlos (aged 14) was expecting a normal summer, but the country is thrown into chaos: the government policies change and thousands of Cubans take to the sea, hoping to escape. Friends leave, families separate, emotions are experienced for the first time. Nothing will be as it was before.
FAMILIA SUMERGIDA (IMMERSED FAMILY)
MARÍA ALCHÉ (ARGENTINA – BRAZIL – GERMANY)
Marcela’s world becomes strange and fragile when her sister Rina dies. She feels lost in her own home and the connections with her close family circle are disjointed. One day her daughter’s young friend Nacho arrives at the house when his business trip is cancelled, and together they share conversations and strolls. Marcela is summoned to a meeting by a distant relation, while in her home she has discussions with members of her family who are in another dimension.
FERRUGEM / HUST
ALY MURITIBA (BRAZIL)
Tati and Renet were already trading pics, videos and music by their cell phones, and on the last school trip they started making eye contact. However, what could have been the beginning of a love story becomes the end.
KAIROS
NICOLÁS BUENAVENTURA (FRANCE – COLOMBIA)
Cali, Colombia. Amaranto, 60, was made redundant from his job as a cashier in a bank several years ago, yet he continues to come to his former workplace to perform menial tasks. The day an armoured van has to urgently deliver an important amount of cash, Amaranto is presented with the opportunity to commit a robbery as simple as it is extraordinary.
NIÑA ERRANTE (WANDERING GIRL)
RUBÉN MENDOZA (COLOMBIA – FRANCE)
Angela is 12 and has 3 step-sisters approaching their thirties; the four meet for the first time when summoned for the death of a charismatic waster: their daddy. Angela has never lived with anyone other than her daddy and has no recollection of her mummy. Her sisters will leave her on the other side of the country with an aunt to prevent the social services from taking her in. On this voyage of mourning, particularly while sharing a room in a rundown roadside hotel, Angela, whose body is starting to wake up, recognises in each of her sisters their feminity, their sensuality, the mysteries of pleasure and pain, the body, misfortune and the challenge of being a woman on these roads.
RODANTES (WANDERERS)
LEANDRO LARA (BRAZIL – USA)
Rodantes chronicles the lives of three characters: Tatiane, a young woman who leaves São Paulo in an attempt to rebuild her life after an unresolved past; Odair, a young man in the midst of sexual discoveries who takes risks when he leaves his parental home; and Henry, a Haitian immigrant who, after the death of his wife, struggles to survive with his two young children amid the progress and poverty of Brazil. They occasionally meet in the state of Rondônia, in the middle of chaos, with no other involvement than their condition of wanderers.