Juan Carlos Maneglia and Tana Schembori’s Paraguayan thriller 7 Crates (7 Cajas) and Benjamin Avila’s Argentinian-Spanish-Brazilian drama Clandestine Childhood (Infancia Clandestina) have won the much coveted Films In Progress awards at San Sebastian.

7 Crates walked away with the industry award which means the film’s post production work will be completed by leading outfits including Kodak, Dolby and Technicolor Entertainment Services until an English-subtitled 35mm copy is available.

The Paraguayan film is a taught thriller about a kid who is asked to deliver 7 boxes for $100 with no idea what’s inside them, but finds the contents are much sought after by different people.

“We are only a small country with hardly any cinematic traditions, and so it is a great honour and pleasure to be receiving this award,” Schembori said as she collected the prize.

Clandestine Childhood, about an Argentinian family living in secrecy during the dictatorship of the 1970s, won the Casa De America award, which provides $13.4m (€10,000) towards the post production work.

The section attracts some of the world’s key buyers, sellers and festival directors, including Warner Bros, Wild Bunch and The Match Factory, and has unearthed new talent and films over the years, including Sebastian Silva’s The Maid, which won more than 20 awards and was nominated for a Golden Globe. 

The remaining titles that competed for this year’s Films In Progress awards were Marcelo Gomes’ Brazilian drama Once Upon A Time Veronica (Era Uma Vez Veronica); Marialy Rivas’ Young & Wild from Chile; Gabriel Mariño’s Mexican film A Secret World and Juan Andres Arango’s The Beach from Colombia.

In separate news, Imanol Rayo’s film Two Brothers (Bi Anai) about a young boy who has to look after his mentally handicapped older sibling picked up the Serbitzu Zinemira award for films produced in the Basque Country, which comes with €20,000 prize money.  

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