Running Sept. 21-23, the Forum also frames new projects by fast emerging new talents such as Ingrid Pokropek, Giorgio Giamp\u00e0 and Azul Vanni<\/p>\n
Some of Latin America\u2019s greatest arthouse directors \u2013Celina Murga, Mariana Rond\u00f3n, Santiago Loza, Matias Mariani and Christopher Murray\u2013 feature among 15 projects set to be unveiled at San Sebasti\u00e1n\u2019s 2026 Europe-Latin America Co-Production Forum, the Spanish festival\u2019s biggest industry centerpiece.<\/p>\n
The selection also frames hot emerging director such as Ernesto Mart\u00ednez (The Devil Smokes\u201d) and first features which are sure to create interest. One case in point: Selma Cervantes\u2019 \u201cMourning Sound,\u201d set up at Teorema, founded by Michel Franco and partner Er\u00e9ndira N\u00fa\u00f1ez Larios and behind award-winning films such as \u201cMemory,\u201d \u201cNew Order,\u201d \u201cHeroic,\u201d \u201cFlies,\u201d \u201cChronic\u201d and \u201cFrom Afar.\u201d<\/p>\n
Galvanised by new and emerging talent, the 2026 lineup also serves as a tribute to what outgoing San Sebasti\u00e1n Festival director Jos\u00e9 Luis Rebordinos has achieved with the Forum: Consolidating it as Europe\u2019s most significant Latin American meet and mart when a presence at co-production platforms has become ever more essential for the survival of so many Latin American filmmakers.<\/p>\n
Selected for the Forum, \u201cThe Rehearsals\u201d marks Murga\u2019s follow-up to \u201cThe Freshly Cut Grass,\u201d presented by Martin Scorsese and a Tribeca best screenplay winner, and Murga\u2019s fourth fiction film \u2013 after \u201cAna and the Others\u201d (2003), \u201cA Week Alone\u201d (2007) and Berlin competition contender \u201cThe Third Side of the River\u201d \u2013 films often displaying a large sense of place and unspoken but keenly observed emotions.<\/p>\n
Mariani impressed highly with his Berlin Panorama title \u201cShine Your Eyes,\u201d a Netflix pick-up for the world. \u201c\u2018Nature Boy\u2019 began when I asked myself: what would it be like to be the father of an alien?\u201d Mariani told\u00a0Variety of his new Forum project.<\/p>\n
Rond\u00f3n, behind another 2026 Forum project, \u201cLooking for Sam,\u201d won San Sebasti\u00e1n\u2019s top Golden Shell in 2013 with \u201cBad Hair,\u201d and, more recently, \u201cIt Would Be Night in Caracas,\u201d a gripping thriller, Variety said, with Edgar Ram\u00edrez (\u201cAmerican Crime Story\u201d) and Natalia Reyes (\u201cTerminator: Dark Fate\u201d).<\/p>\n
San Sebasti\u00e1n-bound with \u201cGiant Stones,\u201d Murray competed in Venice 2016 main competition with \u201cThe Blind Christ\u201d and at Sundance with \u201cSorcery\u201d in 2024.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Amateurs,\u201d (\u201cLos Inexpertos,\u201d Felipe Solari Yrigoyen, Chile, Argentina)<\/p>\n
Produced by Chile\u2019s Quijote Films (\u201cThe Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo\u201d) and Argentina\u2019s Gentil Cine, and set at an eccentric convention populated by people dressed as iconic movie characters where the original Maltese Falcon statuette vanishes along with a mysterious Russian guest. \u201cThe Amateurs\u201d shows \u201chow ordinary people, in a remote corner of South America and far from Hollywood, are forced to step up when circumstances spiral beyond their control,\u201d says Solari about his potential feature debut.<\/p>\n
\u201cAsh Mother,\u201d (\u201cMam\u00e1 Ceniza,\u201d Tana Gilbert, Chile-Germany)<\/p>\n
Blending archival research with hand-drawn rotoscoping, Gilbert\u2019s follow-up to \u201cMalqueridas,\u201d Grand Prize winner at Venice Critics\u2019 Week 2023, revisits a mother who killed her daughters during Chile\u2019s nitrate crisis. Producer Paola Castillo says the technique creates \u201can ethical distance, without revictimizing.\u201d Chile\u2019s Errante produces with Germany\u2019s Dirk Manthey Film, in a project connecting that historical case with mothers facing similar judgments a century later.<\/p>\n
\u201cDiario Inconsciente,\u201d (Santiago Loza, Argentina-Uruguay)<\/p>\n
Thirty years after a young man entered psychiatric hospitalization carrying a notebook and camera, Loza reconstructs those days through documents and recreations, rooted in a deeply personal experience from his own youth. Varsovia Films produces with Uruguay\u2019s Monarca Films, while Compa\u00f1\u00eda de Cine has boarded international sales. Now finalizing its script and financing, the project is, in Loza\u2019s words, \u201ca poetic tale of survival\u201d that also explores mental health, friendship and filmmaking.<\/p>\n
\u201cDirty Face,\u201d (\u201cCara Sucia,\u201d Ignacio Acconcia, Spain-Uruguay)<\/p>\n