The 70th San Sebastian International Film Festival (September 16-24) will mark a return to full form for its industry programme, with a higher industry attendance expected than ever before and the inaugural edition of the much-anticipated Creative Investors’ conference.
Some 2,009 industry delegates will attend in-person, with 1,956 on site, and just 53 participating online as the festival continues to offer an online-only industry accreditation.
Last year, 1,625 delegates from industry attended, with 140 participating online – a time when strict Covid restrictions were in-place, including mandatory mask wearing, seated networking receptions and restricted numbers for screenings and press conferences.
This is a sizeable boost from 2020, with 1,185 from industry, and 487 online, and beats the pre-Covid 2019 figure of 1,749.
Saioa Riba returns as head of industry, with the hub once again in the Kursaal centre. The Industry Club space, a meeting and working space for accredited industry guests, will be open for the full duration of the festival, and the industry awards winners will be announced on September 21.
A big draw this year is the inaugural Creative Investors’ conference, running from September 19-20 and organised in collaboration with CAA Media Finance. The conference brings together international investors, producers, agents and executives with Spanish producers, and consists of a packed schedule of keynote talks, panel discussions, technology presentations and a pitching session from the filmmaking teams behind 10 majority Spanish projects. It will unfold in the Tabakalera Room Patio and is open to all with industry accreditation.
The conference will kick off with a keynote from CAA Media Finance co-head Roeg Sutherland and Wild Bunch International’s co-founder Vincent Maraval. Further highlights include the ‘Storytelling’s new horizons’ panel, featuring Phil Hunt, the UK founder and managing director of Head Gear Films, co-managing director of Bankside Films and founder of Bohemia Media, alongside US producer and distributor Karin Chien of Louverture Films and dGenerate, and CEO and co-founder of US entertainment innovation company Kinetic Energy Entertainment Diana Williams.
UK producer, Good Chaos’ Mike Goodridge, will speak on the ‘Crossing borders’ panel, alongside Claudia Bluemhuber of Zurich-based film financier Silver Reel, and Katrin Pors of Danish production company Snowglobe.
French executive Cecile Gaget, formerly of Anton and newly appointed head of film at Wild Bunch, will discuss navigating film financing in 2022 and beyond with Trevor Groth of US investment and advisory firm 30West and founder and CEO of US private equity firm Atwater Capital, Vania Schlogel.
Also in attendance will be Netflix’s head of international original film Teresa Moneo, Focus Features’ president of production and acquisitions Kiska Higgs, Mubi’s vice president of content Bobby Allen and Elysian Film Group’s founder Danny Perkins.
Reigniting passion
Key subjects to be addressed this year as part of the ‘Thought and discussion’ programme – housed in the San Telmo Museum – include how to re-ignite audiences’ passion for risk-taking European cinema (September 19). Speakers on this panel will be Andrei Agudaru (Transilvania Film), Ben Johnson (Gruvi), Katarzyna Orysiak-Marrison (Gutek) and Anne Vierhout (Cinema Delicatessen).
The consequences of the crisis in the streaming sector for the film industry (September 19) will be explored by Álvaro Longoria (Morena Films), Gudny Hummelvoll (Hummel Film) and Marco Chimenz (Cattleya).
Embracing innovation via technology (September 21), seen through the lens of investors, distributors and exhibitors, will be addressed by Diana Williams (Kinetic Energy Entertainment); Elisa Alvares (Jacaranda Consultants); and Anna Germanidi (Modern Films). Further exploration of the topic will unfold during a talk on the metaverse taking place in the Tabakalera centre (September 22), as part of the Zinemaldia and Technology conference, featuring Maitane Valdecantos (Audens), Beatriz Pérez de Vargas (RTVE Play) and Kim Magnusson (Scandinavian Film Distribution).
Global focus
The Europe-Latin America Co-Production Forum, now on its 11th edition, returns to its former home of the San Telmo Museum after it unfolded last year in the Industry Club space. Among the 14 projects selected are Spanish filmmaker Ulises Porra’s follow-up to San Sebastian premiere Carajita, period piece Bajo El Mismo Sol, and Brazilian writer-director Beatriz Seigner’s coming-of-age roadtrip drama The Blue Flamingo.
This year’s Focus On initiative, which sees a group of industry professionals from a country, region or territory come to the festival to help expand its network, is dedicated to Serbia. Film Center Serbia will be aiming to further its co-production opportunities with Latin American partners, giving an award of €3,000 to one of the projects presented in the Europe-Latin America Co-Production Forum. Miroljub Vuckovic, from the Serbian Film Commission, will give a presentation of the incentive programme of Film Center Serbia on September 19 in the San Telmo Museum. The incentive programme enables productions shot in Serbia to receive rebates of up to 25% of their grant-eligible expenditure. When expenditure is greater than €5m, the incentives increase to 30%.
The works in progress showcase (WIP) will run from September 19 to 21 at the Principe Cinemas, again divided into European and Latin American projects. Unlike last year, no prior reservation is required to attend. The European projects taking part are: Nadejda Koseva’s The Trap (Bul-Ger); Selman Nacar’s Hesitation Wound (Turkey-Fr-Rom); Tonia Noyabrova’s Do You Love Me? (Ukr); Anatol Durbala’s Varvara (Republic of Moldova-Rom).
WIP Latam will feature: Davi Pretto’s A House In The Country (working title) (Bra-Fr-Arg); Martín Benchimol’s The Castle (Arg-Fr); Guto Parente’s A Strange Path (Bra-Port); Felipe Carmona’s Penal Cordillera (Bra-Port); Yennifer Uribe Alzate’s Sandra (Col-Chile); and Laura Plancarte’s Mexican Dream (Mex-UK).
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