11/11/2024

«Docs in Progress Fidocs + Conecta» Competition Showcases Feature Films from Seven Latin American Countries

• In a four-year partnership, Conecta, the Meeting of the International Documentary Film Industry, and FIDOCS, the Santiago International Documentary Festival, will once again present the «Docs in Progress Fidocs + Conecta» section. Thanks to this collaboration, six feature films in the editing stage have been selected, representing seven Latin American countries, including Peru, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Argentina, Costa Rica, Guatemala, and Chile.

The list of selected projects includes El arte de la guerra, directed by Grecia Barbieri and Gonzalo Benavente and produced by Carolina Denegri (Peru); La vida que vendrá, directed by Karin Cuyul and produced by Joséphine Schroeder and Jerónimo Atehortúa (Chile, Colombia); Niñas escarlata, directed by Paula Cury and produced by Samuel Didonato (Dominican Republic); Hombres perdidos, directed by Andrés Madrigal Alvarado and produced by Sofía Meza Herrera (Costa Rica, Guatemala); Vida normal, directed by Rogelio Navarro and produced by Ingrid Pokropek, Juan Segundo Álamos, Iván Moscovich, and Rogelio Navarro (Argentina); and Custodio, el tigre del este, directed by Jorge Acevedo Carrasco and produced by Mixie Araya Soler (Chile).

The themes defining this year’s selection include memory and identity, Indigenous communities, society, politics, gender, and community.

With only a few days remaining until the 28th edition of FIDOCS and less than two months until the 9th edition of Conecta, the six selected works from the Docs in Progress call have now been announced.

In this regard, Diego Pino, Executive Director of CCDoc, stated: «This year, more than ever, the Docs in Progress selection confirms that the continent offers a beautiful diversity of perspectives, languages, and approaches, especially in the exercise of memory, establishing the region’s documentary work as an active exercise in continuous reflection on what we were, what we are and what we will be. We are very pleased to work once again with FIDOCS as we continue to strengthen the creation of a Latin American community focused on a critical view of reality and active work on memory as a foundation for the future.»

The 2024 Selected Projects

From 119 submissions across 15 countries —Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Honduras, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, the Dominican Republic, Uruguay, and Venezuela— a specialized committee, together with the Conecta and FIDOCS teams, evaluated and selected the six projects that advanced to the final preparation stage.

From Peru comes El arte de la guerra, directed by Grecia Barbieri and Gonzalo Benavente and produced by Carolina Denegri. Its script presents a polyphonic narrative of Peru in the ’80s and ’90s, where the boundaries between reality and representation blur. Meanwhile, the Chile-Colombia co-production La vida que vendrá, directed by Karin Cuyul and produced by Joséphine Schroeder and Jerónimo Atehortúa, offers a reflection on the possibility of a future and political activism through the review of unique archives in Chilean history.

Next is Niñas escarlata, directed by Paula Cury and produced by Samuel Didonato from the Dominican Republic. In this project, teenage girls and women in the Dominican Republic talk about experiences of clandestine abortion and forced motherhood. Then, from Costa Rica and Guatemala, Hombres perdidos, directed by Andrés Madrigal Alvarado and produced by Sofía Meza Herrera. The director notes, «After discovering that, like me, my late grandfather was homosexual, my father and I revisit his life in a journey of family discovery.»

In Vida normal, through the repetition of his treatment, Rogelio seeks kinder narratives about what he and others expect or imagine about being ill. This project from Argentina is directed by Rogelio Navarro and produced by Ingrid Pokropek, Juan Segundo Álamos, Iván Moscovich, and Rogelio Navarro.

The list concludes with the Chilean project Custodio, el tigre del este, directed by Jorge Acevedo Carrasco and produced by Mixie Araya Soler, which proposes a musical journey from the Andes Mountains to Mexico.

DOCS IN PROGRESS

The section was created through a partnership between Conecta and FIDOCS. It aims to strengthen the development and work of Chilean and Latin American filmmakers and producers, providing them with support and creating a space for growth for professionals in the audiovisual sector.

This year, the six selected projects in the Work in Progress category will go through two stages: the first stage, held online during FIDOCS from November 14 to 21, will consist of personalized tutoring by professionals in editing, directing, post-production, sales, distribution, and exhibition. The second stage will take place during Conecta from December 10 to 13, where each filmmaker will receive feedback from national and international audiovisual industry representatives and participate in one-on-one personalized meetings.

Once both stages are completed, the projects will be eligible for the FIDOCS First Cut Award, which provides a USD 1,500 unrestricted grant to support the completion of the film, and the Cineteca Nacional Award, which includes one minute of royalty-free archival footage, DCP mastering and conforming, and a DCP projection test in a cinema.

Additional prizes include the SONAMOS Award, which offers three days of 5.1 sound mixing at SONAMOS studio, valued at USD 3,000, to be completed in 2025; the Cannes Doc Award, which grants one project two accreditations to the Marché du Film, allowing participation in Cannes Doc 2025 and other market activities; and the Mediocielo Films Award, which provides editing guidance from the production company and training hub.

For more information on the festival and the selected feature films, visit: chileconecta.cl / fidocs.cl.