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Boreal by Federico Adorno (Paraguay - Mexico), Piedra Noche / Dusk Stone by Iván Fund (Argentina - Chile), La Roya / The Rust by Juan Sebastián Mesa (Colombia - France), El empleado y el patrón / The Employer and the Employee, by Manuel Nieto (Uruguay - Argentina – Brazil - France), Los restos fósiles / The Fossilized Remains by Jerónimo Quevedo (Argentina) and Jesús López by Maximiliano Schonfeld (Argentina - France), are the six Latin American titles in post-production which will be presented in WIP Latam to an audience of professionals. The six works in progress will compete for the WIP Latam Industry Award and the Egeda Platino Industry Award for best WIP Latam. The films were selected from a total of 229 productions submitted for this programme to replace the pioneering Films in Progress from this year.
WIP Latam will be held from the 22nd to the 24th of September and will combine onsite and online formats. Those professionals who are able to come in person to San Sebastian will attend the screenings in cinemas as usual, while holders of online Industry accreditations will be able to enjoy these services virtually.
Boreal is the first work by Federico Adorno, after having directed the short films Isla Alta and La estancia, which enjoyed success in their presentations at the Rotterdam and Oberhausen festivals, respectively. It narrates the difficult relationship between a group of workers in the inhospitable region of Chaca as they await the return of their Mennonite leader.
Iván Fund, whose first work, Los labios / The Lips (2010), co-directed with Santiago Loza, participated in Un Certain Regard at Cannes, constructs with his second film, Piedra Noche / Dusk Stone, a fantasy drama set around a family tragedy in a film reminiscent of the cinematic images of the 80s.
Juan Sebastián Mesa returns to San Sebastian with La Roya / The Rust, a project presented at the Europe-Latin America Co-Production Forum in 2017. The director narrates the reunion between a young country boy and his friends who have emigrated to the city, adopting a generational perspective as he did in his previous film, Los Nadie, winner of the Audience Award at the Venice Critics' Week.
Nahuel Pérez Biscayart heads the cast of El empleado y el patrón / The Employer and the Employee, the third feature film from Manuel Nieto, looking at the complex relationship between a boss who once again takes up the reins of the family farm and his young employee in a strongly changing rural setting. His directorial debut, La Perrera / The Dog Pound (2006), screened in Films in Progress in 2005, also competing at the Rotterdam Festival, where it won the Tiger award, and in Horizontes Latinos.
Los restos fósiles / The Fossilized Remains, the debut film from Jerónimo Quevedo, looks at the leap into political activism of a group of adolescents in full swing of the strikes and occupations of schools in today's Argentina. Both of the director's short films were presented in Nest, the San Sebastian Festival's international film students meeting, while his outstanding works as a producer are El auge del humano / The Human Surged (2016), which participated in the Co-Production Forum and won the Golden Leopard in the Cineasti del Presente section at Locarno and Adiós entusiasmo (2017), which premiered in the Forum section of the Berlin Festival.
Jesús López is Maximiliano Schonfeld's third feature film, a disturbing tale of mourning and adolescent identity, which was presented at Proyecta in 2018. Germania (2012), his debut film, won an award at the BAFICI, while his second feature, La helada negra (2015), premiered in the Panorama section of the Berlin Festival.
Many of the films presented in Films in Progress have gone on to enjoy a successful international career. Recent examples are Sin señas particulares / Identifying Features by Fernanda Valadez, winner of the Special Jury Award for Best Screenplay and the Audience Award in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition section at the Sundance Festival (2020); El Príncipe / The Prince by Sebastián Muñoz, winner of an award at the Venice Festival Critics' Week (2019), and Los Tiburones / The Sharks by Lucía Garibaldi, which landed the Directing Award in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition at the Sundance Festival (2019).
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Boreal
Federico Adorno (Paraguay - Mexico)
Production: Grupo Perdomo, Cine Murciélago
Benjamín is finding it hard to adapt to his job and starts behaving erratically. He anxiously awaits the return of the Mennonite leader, but the wait is long. The Mennonite leader finally appears 30 days later and tells César that they must stay on for longer to continue putting up the wire fencing. Benjamín objects. A series of arguments ends with the Mennonite leader allowing Benjamín to leave with him, asking César and Genaro to stay on for another three days to continue the work. César and Genaro’s only hope is that the days will pass quickly, but Genaro’s past resurfaces. Tired of waiting for the leader to return, the two leave the place with no fixed destination.
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El empleado y el patrón / The employer and the employee
Manuel Nieto (Uruguay - Argentina - Brazil - France)
Production: Roken Films, Pasto, Tokyo Filmes, Paraiso Production Diffusion
The boss is a young man from a middle-class family; he leads a modern life and doesn’t fit in with the traditional stereotype of rural producer. But he has one pressing concern: his baby’s health. The employee is even younger than him and is in urgent need of his own job so that he can support his new family. Tragedy occurs: the employee’s baby dies in an accident in the tractor. A film about the relationship between two young men and about the convoluted relationship of both with happiness, freedom and work.
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Jesús López
Maximiliano Schonfeld (Argentina - France)
Production: Murillo Cine, Luz verde
Jesús is a young amateur car racing driver. One morning he dies in a motorbike accident and the town where he lives is deeply shaken. His cousin Abel, a few years younger, works on the farm with his family. He is at the end of his adolescent years and doesn’t know who he is or what will become of his life. Jesús’ parents invite Abel to stay with them for a few days, and the boy accepts, partly out of respect and partly because he wants out of his own home. Abel gradually distances himself from the farm and starts to become a substitute for Jesús for his family and friends. However, the transformation darkens and the person reincarnated is Jesús, who comes back to reclaim his place. Presented in Proyecta in 2018.
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La Roya / The Rust
Juan Sebastián Mesa (Colombia - France)
Production: Monociclo Cine, Dublin Films
Jorge lives on a coffee plantation in middle of a forest-covered valley. He is the only member of his generation who has decided to stay in the countryside. For some months now nobody has wanted to pick the beans and his harvest has been hit by a severe plague. The local festivities are approaching and with them the reunion with his first love and his childhood friends, who come home from the city. After a weekend of celebration and having confronted the ghosts of his past, Jorge will realise that only fire can make ash out of a plague that not only inhabits the coffee plantations but also the streets of the town and the mind of its visitors.
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Los restos fósiles / The Fossilized Remains
Jerónimo Quevedo (Argentina)
Production: Un Puma
In the face of the imminent educational reforms promoted by the Buenos Aires Government, a group of young militants debates on whether to organise a mass occupation of the city schools or to publicly condemn one of its members for gender-based violence. In Portugal, the first minister commits suicide. In Brazil, the president is poisoned. In Mar del Plata, the attempted murder of the mayor leads to a romance between those involved and that same day a cultural fund for film development becomes available. Back in Buenos Aires, another group of militants debates on whether to support the occupation or to defend their militant comrade against the accusations.
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Piedra Noche / Dusk Stone
Iván Fund (Argentina - Chile)
Production: Rita Cine, Insomnia Films, Globo Rojo Films
Sina travels to the coast to accompany her friend Greta in the sale of her summer house. Less than a year ago Greta lost her only son in that sea and she needs her help. While they are packing everything up and getting ready to hand over the key, Greta’s husband Bruno claims to have seen something that confirms the locals’ rumours of the appearance of a strange creature. Piedra Noche is a film about devoutness, through the figure of the witness, the one that perceives us and narrates us. About living with the other’s belief systems and about the tenderness of that pact for overcoming the pain.
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AWARDS
The WIP Latam Industry Award. Given by the companies Ad Hoc, Deluxe, Dolby, Laserfilm Cine y Vídeo, Nephilim Producciones, No Problem Sonido and Sherlock Films (A Contracorriente Films company) in the shape of post-production grants until obtaining a DCP subtitled in English and its distribution in Spain.
The new EGEDA Platino Industry Award for best WIP Latam. Coming with 30,000 euros gross for the majority producer of the winning film, thanks to the sponsorship of EGEDA, the Audiovisual Producers' Rights Management Association.
The Industry Department has the support of:
 
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Barreda de Biurrun Inés 
