Mexican director Rigoberto Perezcano has won all three awards in the Films In Progress section of the San Sebastian film festival for his debut feature Norteado.

The Industry award will allow Perezcano to complete post production on the film, in particular to establish a English subtitled 35mm copy. It is supported by several leading Spanish outfits, including Kodak, Technicolor Entertainment Services Spain and Titra Film.

The Casa De America award provides a $15,000 (Eu10,000) cash prize towards development of the film, while the TVE award secures Spanish television rights.

Norteado is a co-production between Mexico's Tiburon Films, McCormick and Foprocine, and Germany's Niko Films. The film tells the story of a young boy who makes several desperate attempts to cross the border illegally from Mexico into the U.S.

'I am very happy to receive these awards from such a prestigious festival as San Sebastian, especially as it is not yet complete,' Perezcano told ScreenDaily. 'I now want to get on with establishing a 35mm copy of the film.'

Perezcano has already put in motion his next project. 'I have already written the script and will start looking for financing.' he said.

The five other projects competing for the Films In Progres awards were Carlos Serrano Azcona's El Arbol (Mexico), Santiago Loza's Artico (Argentina), Cristian Jimenez' Ilusionas Opticas (Chile-Portugal-France), Sebastian Silva's La Nana (Chile) and Florencia Jaugey's La Yuma (Nicaragua-Mexico).

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