Daniel Hendler’s A Loose End, Sarah Miro Fischer’s Blue Marks, and Francisco Lezama’s The Two Landscapes have taken the main prizes in the 72nd San Sebastian International Film Festival (SSIFF) industry programme.
The awards were announced at an event on September 25.
A Loose End was presented as a project at the Europe-Latin America Co-Production Forum in 2023 and was offered this year to buyers and potential partners in its near-completion stage.
The film is a co-production between Uruguay’s Cordon Films and Argentina’s Wanka Cine. It follows a low-ranking police officer who arrives at the border between Uruguay and Argentina while running from a mysterious past. He has neither money nor a place to stay. His kindness and wit are his only assets as he tries to build a new life, with the help of the locals he encounters.
A Loose End will be Uruguayan director Hendler’s third feature as a director, following Norberto’s Deadline and The Candidate. Hendler is also a prolific actor with roles in Juan Pablo Rebella and Pablo Stoll’s 25 Watts, and Daniel Burman’s 2004 film Lost Embrace.
Scroll down for full list of winners
The Egeda Platino industry award for best work in progress from Latin America went to Chilean Nayra Ilic’s Heavenly Body (working title), a story about a 15-year-old girl whose life changes unexpectedly as she deals not only with painful grief but also a family in crisis. Produced by Chilean companies Planta, Oro Films, and Horamágica, along with Italy’s Dispàrte, the film already has sales company Intramovies on board.
Heavenly Body participated in the Europe-Latin America Co-Production Forum in 2021.
Showing that its cinematic muscle is still strong despite serious political and economic instability, Argentinian producers and films have been well represented at San Sebastian.
Francisco Lezama’s The Two Landscapes won the best project at the Latin American Co-Production Forum in a lineup in which five of the 14 Forum titles were produced out of Argentina, just one fewer than last year.
The Two Landscapes will be Lezama’s debut feature. He won the Golden Bear for best short film at the Berlinale earlier this year for An Odd Turn. The film, backed by Buenos Aires-based Pionera Cine, explores the social and religious tensions of a town through the story of an upper-middle-class woman who serves as a minister in a town where conversions to evangelical Christianity are challenging deeply rooted customs and rituals.
Sarah Miro Fischer’s debut feature Blue Marks took the WIP Europa award. The film is about a woman who moves in with her older brother in his tiny Berlin flat after a breakup and learns a difficult secret about him.
The film is being produced by Germany’s Deutsche Film- und Fernsehakademie Berlin (DFFB) and Arkanum Pictures.
San Sebastian Industry Awards 2024
WIP Latam Industry Award
A Loose End (working title) (Uruguay- Argentina- Italy)
Dir: Daniel Hendler
Prod co: Cordon Films
Egeda Platino industry award for best WIP Latam
Cuerpo Celeste (Chile-Italy)
Dir. Nayra Illic
Prod co: Planta
WIP Europa industry award
Blue Marks (working title) (Germany)
Dir: Sarah Miro Fischer
Prod co: DFFB
WIP Europa award
Blue Marks (working title) (Germany)
Dir: Sarah Miro Fischer
Prod co: DFFB
Latin America Co-Production Forum best project award
The Two Landscapes (Argentina)
Dir: Francisco Lezama
Prod co: Pionera Cine
Dale! dward (Development Latin America-Europe)
The Two Landscapes (Argentina)
Dir: Francisco Lezama
Prod co: Pionera Cine
Artekino international prize
Mar De Leva (Colombia)
Dir: Mariana Saffon
Prod co: Evidencia Films
Ikusmira Berriak Award (Sideral - Euskadi post-production award)
Dear Bastiano (Spain)
Dir: María Elorza
Prod co: Garabi Films
Casa Wabi and Escine award
Senda
Dir: Mikele Landa Eiguren
Lau Haizetara documentary co-production forum awards
Music Library Award
La Noche Ee La Infancia (China- Spain)
Dir: Xixi Sofía Ye Chen
Prod cos: LaCima Producciones, The South Project, La Fábrica Nocturna
Dogwoof Award
Barrabás (Spain-Peru)
Dir. Daniel Martínez-Quintanilla
Prod cos: Muyuna, Suica Films
EPE-Ibaia – Elkargi Award
Barrabás (Spain-Peru)
Dir. Daniel Martínez-Quintanilla
Prod cos: Muyuna, Suica Films
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