Locarno Pro First Look Unveils Spanish Work-in-Progress Projects

First Look, the work-in-progress section of the Locarno Film Festival’s Locarno Pro industry strand, unveiled the six projects on the verge of completion that will take center stage during its 13^th edition this year.

The promising feature film projects are from this year’s focus country, Spain. The event will take place Aug. 9-11 during Locarno Pro in partnership with ICAA, the Spanish Institute of Cinematography and Audiovisual Arts, and ICEX Spain Trade & Investment.

“The selected projects, none of which currently have sales representation, were chosen out of over 40 submissions with a first pre-selection made by a committee composed of Xavier Garcia Puerto (Tallinn Back Nights Festival/REC – International Festival of Cinema in Tarragona), Susana Santos Rodriguez (IndieLisboa/IFFR), and Cecilia Barrionuevo (ECAM – Escuela de Cinematografía y Audiovisual de Madrid),” organizers said. The projects will be presented to accredited industry professionals by the producer or producers.

The international jury that will award several prizes is comprised of Beatrice Fiorentino, artistic director of Venice’s International Film Critics’ Week, Istanbul Film Festival director Kerem Ayan, and Mercedes Martínez-Abarca, programmer for the International Film Festival Rotterdam.

They include the Antaviana Films First Look Award covering post-production services up to €50,000 ($54,076); an award by post-production company Laserfilm cine y vídeo worth €5,000 ($5,407), which can be spent on the likes of subtitles, audio descriptions, and transcriptions; the Music Library &SFX/Acorde Award worth €45,000 ($48,669) in music supervision services; an award by industry magazine Le Film Français Award worth €5,600 ($6,056) in advertising space; and the Jannuzzi Smith Award, consisting of the design of an international poster worth €10,000 ($10,815). 

The winners will be unveiled during the Locarno Pro Award Ceremony on Sunday, Aug. 11.

Below is a look at this year’s six First Look projects.

L’Aguait

Fiction

Directed by: Marc Ortiz

Produced by: Paloma Mora (TV ON Producciones, ADMIRABLE FILMS), Marc Muñoz (lamalanga Produccions Audiovisuals)

Description: Teresa Pla, an intersex child assigned female at birth, struggles to be recognized as a man within the archaic Spanish society of the beginning and middle of the 20th century while he is persecuted by guerrillas, bandits and the Guardia Civil (Civil Guard).

Bodegón con fantasmas

Fiction

Directed by: Enrique Buleo

Produced by: Alejandra Mora (Quatre Films Audiovisuales SL), Alicia Yubero (Cuidado con el perro), Snezana van Houwelingen (This and that), Roberto Butragueño (Sideral)

Description: Distressed by the troubles and difficulties of life and death, ghosts and humans of the small town of La Mancha will do the impossible to put an end to their problems and will not hesitate to carry out extreme and desperate plans to achieve it.

Dream of Another Summer

Experimental

Directed by: Irene Bartolomé

Produced by: Pere Marzo (Colibrí Studio), Irene Bartolomé (I.B. Films) and Elie Kamal (The Attic Productions)

Description: Dream of Another Summer tells the story of the encounter between a woman collapsing and a city in ruins in order to explore how the spaces we inhabit relate to us, and to reflect on the mortality and survival of a city.

Mares (Mums)

Documentary

Directed by: Ariadna Seuba​

Produced by: Carles Brugeras, Marieke van der Bersselaar (Polar Star Films), María Nova López (Intactes Films)

Description: Mares takes the audience on an intimate and emotionally charged journey with director Ari (32), and her partner Anna (41), who want to have a child together. Anna is the first to begin assisted reproduction, whilst Ariadna captures every step with her camera.

Prefiro condenarme

Documentary

Directed by: Margarita Ledo-Andión

Produced by: Olaia Ledo, Carmen Ciller (Nós Produtora Cinematográfica Galega.)

Description: 1972: The Ecclesiastical Court of Santiago de Compostela convicted Sagrario Fra, a shellfish harvester in Ferrol, for committing adultery. At the time, many women were being imprisoned or locked up in a mental hospital for what is considered a female-specific criminal act. But Sagrario Fra experiences love as insubordination. Like the birds, flying between heaven and earth, Antigone is latent in Sagrario.

Río abajo, un tigre

Fiction

Directed by: Víctor Diago

Produced by: Montse Pujol Solà (Boogaloo Films)

Description: Júlia fled to Glasgow to start anew, but years later, she’s stuck. By day, she pursues photography; by night, she washes dishes. One afternoon, while photographing pedestrians, her eyes begin to fail. As illness spreads, Júlia delves into her past and that of the city, recalling a mysterious group that retrieved objects from the river, and Shubham, an Indian boy who, like her, came here for a new beginning.