San Sebastián will host its annual WIP Latam program this Sept. 23-25. The program will feature six of the hottest upcoming titles from across Central and South America.

A frequent stop for titles between San Sebastian’s Europe-Latin America Co-Production Forum and one of the event’s finished film sidebars, WIP Latam has hosted Yennifer Uribe Alzate’s Skin in Spring and Lola Arias’ Reas, which premiered in the Berlinale Forum earlier this year. Other past participants include Sofía Paloma Gómez and Camilo Becerra’s Maybe It’s True What They Say About Us and Most People Die on Sundays, both in this year’s Horizontes Latinos lineup at San Sebastian.  Awards available to this year’s titles include the WIP Latam Industry Award, which includes the post-production services and Spanish distribution, and the Egeda Platino Industria Award of €30,000 ($32,800). This year’s WIP Latam pitches.

The Message, Iván Fund (Argentina)

Fund returns to San Sebastian with The Message, which participated in last year’s Europe-Latin America Co-Production Forum, where the director described the film as “a Spielberg film shot by Cassavetes, a cross between an exciting sci-fi adventure film with an intimate and moving story of characters.” A road film set in the Argentine countryside, the film tracks a girl and her guardians who survive thanks to her ability to communicate with animals. Fund’s Dusk Stone screened in competition at Venice and San Sebastian in 2021. 

A Loose End, Daniel Hendler (Uruguay)

Berlin Silver Bear-winning actor Hendler’s third feature as a director, A Loose End turns on Santiago, a low-ranking policeman, who arrives in Fray Bentos, a small town just across the Uruguay border from Argentina, aiming to erase all traces of his past and even dreams of finding the possible love of his life. “It is a film about the hope of changing destiny and, at the same time, the difficulty of achieving that utopia of diluting the limits of the territory,” Hendler and producer Micaela Solé have told Variety.

Cuerpo Celeste, Nayra Ilic (Chile)

Produced by Chile’s Planta and Oro Films (To Kill the Beast) and Italy’s Dispàrte, which caught attention with Maura Delpero’s Maternal. Ilic’s second feature after Square Meter. With cinematography from Neruda DP Sergio Armstrong, it tracks the life journey of Celeste, a teenager forced to deal with the death of her father while her mother deals with a personal crisis. Ilic’s debut feature, Square Meter, screened in competition at the Palm Springs Festival in 2011.

Muña Muña, Paula Morel Kristof (Argentina)

A debut, this Argentine feature is a love story with touches of comedy that turns on a nurse and a young French tourist. As her young adult son prepares to leave for a scholarship opportunity, leaving her with an empty next, the medical worker fills the vacancy with a new romance. Produced by Oreja Le Burro.

If We Don’t Burn, How Do We Light Up the Night, Kim Torres (Costa Rica)

A 2022 Proyecta participant, this coming-of-age film tells the story of a teenager forced to start a new life in an isolated rural village that lives under the shadow of a chilling legend about a monster that devours women. An accomplished short film director, Torres’ work includes Solo la luna comprenderá and Sun catcher, which have appeared at festivals including Locarno, More lia and Mar del Plata. Noche Negra produces.

Gemstones, Simón Vélez (Colombia)

Another debut, this time from Colombian producer Simón Vélez, Gemstones turns on Machado, a Colombian migrant in France commissioned to steal a valuable emerald. Vélez has previously impressed with short films such as Big Bridge and Los mayores ríos se deslizan bajo tierra that have competed at Locarno, Valdivia and the Viennale.