• This year’s most successful documentary, awarded at Berlinale and other international competitions, brought together more than a thousand people in its outdoor exhibition at Yungay Square.
• Organized by the Chilean Documentary Corporation CCDoc, the international documentary industry meeting, “Conecta,” brought together specialists from the film industry in 17 countries and filmmakers from all over America, who made more than 900 meetings.
• Political contingency, audience segmentation, new audiences and the incorporation of sustainability into production work are some of the topics that the expert panels addressed this year.
• Connect4Climate awarded the special prize of “Film4Climate Postproduction” in association with Laser Film, to the Argentine project Esquirlas, participant of the Work in Progress (WIP) section. There were also eight other awarded projects.
The fourth edition of Conecta 2019, the most important international documentary industry meeting in the country, organized by the Chilean Corporation of the CCDoc Documentary, left favorable contributions for the Latin American industry.
During the four days in which the world documentary market gathered in Chile around the creation and exchange of ideas, more than 900 “one to one” meetings took place, between international and national guests – experts on production issues, commercialization, distribution and production of non-fiction audiovisual productions, from Chilean filmmakers and from countries such as Brazil, Colombia, Peru and Argentina.
In addition, the public exhibition of the documentary Lemebel, which was held on Wednesday, December 11, at 9:00 p.m. in Yungay Square, exceeded one thousand spectators, and broke a new record in his successful career: never before has an exhibition in the framework of Conecta brought so many people together. Internationally awarded (Berlin, Lima, Stockholm), winner at Sanfic this year as Best Film in Chilean Cinema, the film directed by Joanna Reposi and produced by Paula Saenz-Laguna and Paz Urrutia, is the most watched documentary this year, with more than 21 thousand spectators nationwide.
Flor Rubina, executive director of CCDoc, highlights the accolades received during the recent edition, “regarding the purchase of series, possible co-productions and distribution agreements, which reaffirms the importance of conducting this type of market meetings. We are extremely happy with this edition, although we had to overcome a number of unforeseen events, we have had very good feedback on both the selected projects and from the national and international guests ”.
Winning projects of Conecta 2019
This year, there were a total of ten awards, divided into different categories. The winning projects were:
• Docs MX: Custodio, el tigre del Este (Chile), directed by Jorge Acevedo and produced by Paulina Passi. Direct accreditation to participate in the industry section of the 2020 edition of the festival.
• Kiné: Objetos rebeldes (Costa Rica, Colombia), directed by Carolina Arias and produced by Alexandra Latishev and María Neyla Santamaría. Preparation of a DCP.
• Laser Film: Esquirlas (Argentina), directed by Natalia Garayaldes and produced by Eva Cáceres. Complete post-production program at the Laser Film facilities in Rome, Italy, for three months.
• R2Media: Nazca (Chile), directed by Allan Bortnic and produced by Magdalena Hurtado. The audiovisual archive agency will offer complete consulting service.
• IDFA Academy: Imágenes a la deriva (Chile), directed by Nicolás Tabilo and produced by Felipe Garrido. Direct selection for IDFA Academy 2020.
• Doc Montevideo: Caminos (Chile), directed by Ainara Aparici and produced by Daniela Camino; a direct invitation to series pitch at the 2020 edition of the festival.
• Sonamos: El lugar más seguro del mundo (Brasil), directed by Aline Lata and produced by Helena Wolfenson, Evelyn Mab and Priscilla Pomerantzeff. Design and Sound post production, consulting and three days of sound mixing.
• Málaga Wip: Objetos rebeldes (Costa Rica), directed by Carolina Arias and produced by Alexandra Latishev and María Neyla Santamaría. An invitation to direct selection for the WIP of the festival.
• Sofá Digital: Los libres, directed by Pedro Rossi and produced by Isabel Joffily. Digital distribution through América Latina.
• Filmarket Hub: all of the participating projects in progress at Conecta 2019 will be part of their catalogue for a year.
International Voices of Conecta 2019
Shane Smith, director of programming for the Canadian International Documentary Festival Hot Docs, says it was an incredible experience to be part of Conecta. “I had the opportunity to meet many filmmakers, all very passionate; I have no doubt that their projects will remain alive and will be completed. I am very happy to have been here at a very important moment in the history of Chile, very crucial, in which many documentary filmmakers have gone out to record, and it is necessary that what they get they share with the world. ”
“In spaces like Conecta you have the possibility of getting to know Latin American projects and also contextualizing those stories, which is very useful for making market decisions later on. It is an excellent program, designed to position documentaries in the world, in all possible ways, it is certainly an instance to recommend for those who ask me in the different markets and festivals I attend, ”says Smith.
Natsu Kawakami, programmer at NHK, Japanese public television, was happy and satisfied with these days of work. «We make many documentaries for Europe, the United States and Asia, but we have not had the opportunity to see good productions from Latin America,» she reflects, and assures that the reason why the Japanese market does not access these productions is because they have not yet seen them, and not due to disinterest. “After days of intense work I return with new professional ties, I was able to talk with many Latin American producers. Before, I had only heard of titles such as The Grown Ups (Los Niños, directed by Maite Alberdi) and Los Reyes (directed by Bettina Perut and Iván Osnovikoff). I leave Conecta with the sensation of having connected with highly intellectual content,” emphasizes Kawakami.
Conecta is organized by the Chilean Documentary Corporation CCDoc, and is funded by the Audiovisual Development Fund of the Ministry of Cultures, Arts and Heritage, ProChile and the British Council; In addition to the sponsorship of the Santiago Library, Latino Campus, Doc Montevideo, DocsMX, Ecocinema, Filmmarket Hub, IDFA, Kiné Images, Laser Films and Sonamos.
@copyright Corporación Chilena del Documental CCDoc