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Film production in Chile has not only quadrupled from the average annual output of five to a potential 20 releases next year. Judging from the various titles in post production, filmmakers in Chile are also experimenting in styles and genres. They range from simple erotic pieces such as In Bed (En La Cama) by Matias Bize which will have a pair of actors playing strangers whose lives change after a tryst in a motel room to horror thrillers such as El Huesped by Coke Hidalgo and teen comedies such as XS: The Worst Size and Promedio Rojo, the directorial debut of 20 year old Nicolas Lopez.

The previous box office success of Jorge Olguin's Sangre Eterna last year and Angel Negro in 2000 has spurred the making of more horror films. Angel Negro is touted as the first Chilean horror movie ever made.

A new generation of young Chilean filmmakers is churning out films on digital video or 16mm. Dogme #33 Residence claims to be the first Chilean film to have strictly followed the Dogma rules. By going digital, many have kept costs down but some have been stuck in post production limbo for lack of funds. Such is the case of Tendido Mirando Las Estrellas which has been languishing for three years. Los Chanchos, a comedy, has remained in post for the past six years but director Sergio Pineda says it is not for lack of money but because he works slowly.

Chile's most internationally renowned directors have their latest projects in post. This includes Silvio Caoizzi who follows his award-winning drama Coronacion (2000) with dramatic comedy Cachimba about a pair of lovers who stumble across hundreds of paintings of an obscure painter in a museum. Andres Wood, whose last film Loco Fever (La Fiebre Del Loco (2001) ) found support from Spanish, Mexican and Chilean co producers, has secured backing from Spain and the UK for his latest drama, Machuca. Starring popular Argentinian actor Federico Luppi, the story revolves around two 11 year old friends, one wealthy and the other from an impoverished family. The poor boy's admission to his friend's school in an upper class neighbourhood sets off a revolt.

Miguel Littin, best known for Tierra Del Fuego (2000), starring Ornella Muti and Cuban actor Jorge Perugorria, is finalising La Ultima Luna, a drama shot in Palestine about the friendship between a Jew and a Palestinian.

Leon Errazuriz, whose company co-produced current local blockbuster Sexo Con Amor is in post for Mala Leche, an action thriller centering on two juvenile delinquents who lose the money they make from their first drug deal and have two days to recover it. Errazuriz is aiming to present the film to either Berlin or Cannes. Shot with a handheld camera, the film aspires for the gritty look of an urban drama such as Amores Perros or City Of God.

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