WIP Latam and WIP Europa are born, the new 'work in progress' of the San Sebastián Festival

Cinema in Progress and Glocal in Progress give way to two new programs for films in post-production from Latin America and Europe, respectively.

He San Sebastian Film Festival and the Audiovisual Producers' Rights Management Entity (EGEDA), organizer of the Platino Awards, will promote Latin American cinema through the creation of the EGEDA-Platino Industria Award, which will be endowed with 30,000 euros (about $32,700).

It is about the WIP Latam, the new 'Work In Progress' of the San Sebastián Festival, aimed at mostly Latin American productions or co-productions, which will be held from September 21 to 23 within the framework of the 68th edition of the festival. This call will replace the pioneer Cinema in Construction after 18 years of experience with the Cinélatino festival, Rencontres de Toulouse.

Among the projects presented, the festival's selection committee will choose six feature films in the post-production phase. The selected titles will be presented in the WIP Latam section, competing for both the cash prize and important technical assistance to complete their production and distribution.

On the other hand, WIP Europa It is an evolution of the program Glocal in Progress, which will go from presenting three to a maximum of six films. The film, which won the WIP Europe Industry Award, will also be distributed in Spain by Bteam Pictures. WIP Europe is now open to all European-produced films, although it will be considered whether they are the first or second works of their filmmakers or whether they are shot in non-hegemonic languages.

Redefinition of the Festival

The San Sebastián Festival is configured in three major areas: a festival that selects and programs films; a festival that promotes the development of projects and films in development (Films-to-Be); and a festival that reflects on cinema from a broad perspective: industrial, creative, educational (Thought and debate).

On the one hand, the programming of movies of San Sebastián, which consists of around 200 films selected in six competitive sections (Official Section, New Directors, Horizontes Latinos, Zabaltegi-Tabakalera, Perlak and Nest) and in seven non-competitive sections (Culinary Zinema, Made in Spain, Zinemira, Velodromo, Cine Infantil, Retrospective and Klasikoak).

On the other hand, the proposals included in Films-to-Be: films in the post-production phase that are presented to professionals in the film industry through their two works in progress and projects that can qualify for three calls promoted by the Festival. The calls are for the Ikusmira Berriak project development residency, which offers space, context and time -eight weeks- to five audiovisual proposals; the Coproduction Forum, an initiative for film projects in development in Europe and Latin America, which helps production companies find partners on both sides of the Atlantic and boost their access to the international market; and Zinemaldia Startup Challenge, a competition aimed at new European companies with technological projects applied to the audiovisual sector.

In addition, the Festival organizes Proyecta – a presentation of film projects that seek co-production between Europe and Latin America – together with Ventana Sur, the most relevant film market in Latin America, and the Producers Network-Marché du Film of the Cannes Festival, and collaborates in the Lau Haizetara Documentary Co-production Forum, promoted by IBAIA (Association of Audiovisual Producers of the Basque Country).

Finally, the Festival wants to highlight its character as a meeting place and transmission of knowledge through Thought and debate, un paraguas que agrupa actividades que promueven el diálogo sobre el cine desde la perspectiva industrial, creativa y formativa y programas que generan oportunidades de acuerdos y negocio para creadores, productores y distribuidores. En este ámbito figuran desde las clases magistrales de Nest, los Encuentros Zinemaldia y los Desayunos Horizontes, abiertas a los acreditados y también al público, hasta las actividades dirigidas específicamente a los profesionales de la industria cinematográfica y los medios de comunicación especializados como las conversaciones sobre temas relevantes para el sector, las presentaciones de Zinemaldia & Technology, los encuentros de programadores de festivales o los debates sobre el fenómeno de las series.

The area of ​​thought and debate around cinema takes place throughout the year at the Elías Querejeta Zine Eskola, promoted by the Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa, where the Festival, together with Tabakalera and the Basque Film Library, has conceptualized a center of thought, research, experimental practice and pedagogical innovation around the past, present and future of cinema. One of the fruits of the collaboration with EQZE is the research project Zinemaldia 70. All possible stories, which has the purpose of generating a living archive that encourages reflection and discussion about the past, present and future of the Festival through the documentary collections (letters, photography, criticism and reviews published in newspapers and magazines, books...) preserved since 1953.