Eleven Latin American films will compete for the Horizontes Award in San Sebastián

In the next edition, films from Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, Uruguay and Peru participate, which, in some cases, have had production support from European countries such as Spain, Germany and France. 'Abel', Diego Luna's debut film produced by Gael García Bernal, will inaugurate this section.

Eleven films from various Latin American countries will compete for the Horizontes Prize, worth 35,000 euros, at the 58th edition of the San Sebastián Festival. In the San Sebastian competition, the Horizontes Latinos section traces a journey through the most interesting and innovative Latin American cinema of the year, with some titles that are backed by the awards won at the major festivals of the year and others that begin a promising journey.

Horizontes Latinos includes feature films produced wholly or partially in Latin America, directed by filmmakers of Latin origin, or whose setting or theme is Latin communities from the rest of the world. They must also meet the requirement of being unpublished in Spain.

Films from Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, Uruguay and Peru participate in the next edition and, in some cases, have had production support from European countries such as Spain, Germany and France.

Horizontes Latinos will inaugurate the film Abel, debut feature by actor Diego Luna produced by actor Gael García Bernal. Abel premiered at Sundance, in the International Premieres section and was screened in a Special Session of the Official Selection of Cannes 2010.

Some of the titles like Norberto just late (Daniel Hendler), A stone's throw (Sebastián Hiriart), Puzzle (Natalia Smirnoff) y cold sea water (Paz Fábrega) come from the Films in Progress pool, a joint program of the San Sebastián and Toulouse Festivals. Cinema in Progress aims to facilitate the completion of rigorously selected Latin American fiction feature films, which have been able to be shot, but are facing difficulties in the post-production phase. Here they enjoyed their first opportunity and, once finished with the help obtained in San Sebastián, some of them have been selected for prestigious festivals: cold sea water was one of the films awarded the VPRO Tiger Award at the Rotterdam Festival, while Norberto just late It will be presented in the Cinéastes du Présent section of the Locarno Festival and Rompejeras has participated in the Berlinale, the Bafici and the Guadalajara Festival.

Others have participated in international competitions such as Because of you (Berlinale – Panorama Specials); The invisible look (Cannes – Directors’ Fortnight); What I want most (Bafici); October (Cannes – Un Certain Regard); Nostalgia for the light (Cannes – Official Section, Special Session) and Post mortem will compete in Venice.

Furthermore, some of the directors are old acquaintances from the San Sebastián Festival. Anahí Berneri competed in the Official Section in 2007 with her previous film, Encarnación and Patricio Guzmán presented Salvador Allende in Zabaltegi-Perlas in 2004.

Fifteen films in Zabaltegi – New Directors

Fifteen films from seventeen countries will participate in the Zabaltegi-New Directors Section of the 58th edition of the San Sebastián Festival. They will compete for the Prize along with two titles from the official section: father by José María de Orbe and Cerro Bayo by Victoria Galardi. The Kutxa-New Directors Award, endowed with 90,000 euros shared by the director and the Spanish importer, is one of the most important in the world in its category, and is awarded to filmmakers who present their first or second film, which has not previously appeared in any international competition.

Among the fifteen titles in the Zabaltegi-New Directors section there will be an important representation of emerging cinematography from Eastern Europe (Romania, Bulgaria, Poland), Western Europe (Holland, Denmark, Belgium, Germany and France), Latin America (Uruguay, Chile, Colombia, Panama, Guatemala and Mexico), as well as productions from China and the United States. There are also two Spanish films, Blog, by Elena Trapé, and Starlight (Stars to reach), by Basque director Mikel Rueda.

On the part of Latin America, the Colombian will be present in this section The colors of the mountain, by director Carlos César Arbeláez; Lucia from the Chilean Niles Atallah; the Uruguayan-Spanish useful life, by Federico Veiroj; and the co-production between Guatemala, France and Mexico The Marimbas of Hell by director Julio Hernández Cordón.