• For the third consecutive year, the Meeting of the International Documentary Film Industry, and the Santiago International Documentary Film Festival FIDOCS have teamed up to present the DOCS IN PROGRESS FIDOCS + CONECTA section. Thanks to this collaboration, seven feature films in the editing stage have been selected from five Latin American countries, including Peru, Argentina, Mexico, Venezuela, and Chile.
• The list of selected projects includes Buenos días, wiraqocha directed by Marcelo Godoy and Donde hablan las montañas directed by Álvaro Sarmiento (Perú), Cuidadoras directed by Gabriela Uassouf and Martina Matzkin and Mailin directed by María Silvia Esteve (Argentina); Un Murmullo Recorre la Tierra directed by Gabriela Domínguez Ruvalcaba (México); Kueka memoria ancestral directed by María de los Ángeles Peña Fonseca (Venezuela), and La Búsqueda del Otro directed by Cons Gallardo Vásquez (Chile).
• Native peoples, community, gender, memory, and identity are the themes present in the selected proposals, marking the focus of this year’s selection.
The seven projects selected in Docs in Progress are now available, less than a month before the 27th edition of FIDOCS and two months before the 8th edition of Conecta.
Diego Pino, Executive Director of CCDoc, stated, «I believe that over time, CONECTA has evolved into a vital space for collaborative encounters within the continent’s documentary community. This is mainly due to the spirit we have fostered in partnership with FIDOCS through Docs in Progress, which aims, among other things, to nurture a diverse range of projects that offer new perspectives and simultaneously reveal profound realities. That’s why we consider it a fundamental space, especially today when the world seems more than ever to need an encounter and where documentary filmmaking becomes indispensable.»
Marcela Santibáñez, FIDOCS Industry Director, reinforces the idea that this space is essential for filmmakers and the industry: «For FIDOCS, the participation in Docs in Progress is crucial because, on the one hand, it opens doors for us to understand the spectrum of what is being produced in Latin America and, at the same time, it allows us to find projects that need this boost to be completed and reach international exhibition platforms. It seems fundamental to us to provide personalized accompaniment to these projects, to make them part of the FIDOCS family, and we firmly believe that, since we have been collaborating with Conecta, this instance has only grown, benefiting both the projects and us as institutions».
SELECTED FOR 2023
Out of a total of 116 submissions from twelve countries (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Uruguay, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Dominican Republic, and Venezuela), a panel of experts, in collaboration with Conecta and FIDOCS teams, evaluated and chose the seven projects that made it to the final preparation stage.
From Peru, two projects have been selected: Buenos días, wiraqocha, directed by Marcelo Godoy and produced by Paula Chávez López, in which the script leaps fifty years later when a new film is made in the province of Paucartambo (Cusco), rekindling the socio-political memory of its residents, and Donde hablan las montañas, directed by Álvaro Sarmiento and produced by Diego Sarmiento and Juan Francisco González, which proposes a journey through Cusco, showcasing the ways of life of the Andean people, their worldview, religious syncretism, and festivities.
Mailin, directed and produced by María Silvia Esteve, and Cuidadoras, directed by Gabriela Uassouf and Martina Matzkin and produced by Rocio Pichirili and Marianne Mayer-Beckh, are the two Argentinean representatives selected for Docs in Progress this year. In the first, three transgender women become caregivers in a senior home. The tenderness of the bond they forge with the residents leaves all prejudice behind. Cuidadoras, on the other hand, portrays a story that unfolds the protagonist’s quest to recover the memory of a childhood interrupted by years of trauma.
In Kueka memoria ancestral directed and produced by María de los Ángeles Peña Fonseca (Venezuela), a group of Pemón indigenous elders embarks on an unprecedented struggle to reclaim their ancestral grandmother kidnapped in Germany. From Chile, La búsqueda del otro, directed by Cons Gallardo Vásquez, portrays Marcelina, an indigenous authority who faces discrimination due to her gender identity. Her personal quest leads to Cons’s own understanding of identity.
Un Murmullo Recorre la Tierra is directed by Gabriela Domínguez Ruvalcaba (Mexico) and produced by Alex Noppel Briseño; introduces us to Enedelia, who is expecting her third daughter. In her community, the fear imposed by organized violence spreads like a dull noise.
Finally, La búsqueda del otro, directed by Cons Gallardo Vásquez and produced by Esteban Sandoval, tells the story of Marcelina’s quest, an indigenous authority who faces discrimination due to her gender identity. This journey leads to Cons’s own understanding of identity.
» rel=»noopener» target=»_blank»>Feature Films Selected
DOCS IN PROGRESS
The section was created as a result of an alliance between Conecta and FIDOCS that seeks to promote the development and work of Chilean and Latin American filmmakers and producers to provide support and become a space for growth for professionals in the audiovisual sector.
This year, the seven selected films in work in progress will go through two stages: the first one will take place during FIDOCS, from November 16 to 23, and will consist of personalized consulting sessions with professionals in the areas of editing, directing, post-production, sales, distribution, and exhibition. The second stage will take place during Conecta, from December 12 to 15, in which each filmmaker will have a feedback session with national and international audiovisual industry representatives, in addition to one-on-one personalized meetings.
Once both stages are completed, the projects will be eligible to compete for the FIDOCS First Cut Award, which includes a $1,500 cash prize for the finalization of the film, and the Cineteca Nacional Award which provides for 1 minute of royalty-free archival footage, mastering, DCP formatting, and a DCP projection test in a movie theater.
In addition to the awards, there is the SONAMOS award, which includes three days of 5.1 sound mixing at the SONAMOS studio, equivalent to $3,000, to be executed in 2024. There is also the Cannes Doc award, in which a project will be granted two Marché du Film accreditations to participate in Cannes Doc 2024 and other market activities.
For more information about the festival and the selected feature films: chileconecta.cl / fidocs.cl.
@copyright Corporación Chilena del Documental CCDoc