diamond (He was)
Direction. Yashira Jordan
Produced by: Kinema Empathy, Arbol Cine Organico
A powerful metaphor for the creation of diamonds, as told through the story of a Quechua teenager whose quest to find her long-lost father leads her to a new community. “After stages of darkness, pain and deep pressure, we can transform, heal and shine into something lighter and freer,” says Bolivian filmmaker Jordan, who directed the 2014 documentary. PEACH. “Living in a patriarchal society makes you feel weak and useless if you don’t fit into their violent rules. I am making this film because I feel it necessary to speak about this – not only for me, but for the silenced female voices in my country and Latin America. diamond is a co-production between two Bolivian companies, Jordan’s own, the all-female Arbol Cine Organico and Empatia Cinema. “Because we lack public funding in our country, we are funding it locally with private deals,” says Jordan.
Contact: Alvaro Olmos, producer
The Invisibles (strong)
To say. Andres Rodriguez
Prod co: La Danta Films
After the death of his father, 17-year-old Alejandro returns to his home in the highlands of Guatemala only to discover that his mother has AIDS, the same disease that took his father’s life. Alienated and without recourse in their community, Alejandro must either take his mother elsewhere or stay to protect her. “The basic intention of the film is to talk about the distances that are created in families because of silence,” says Rodriguez, whose film 2022. Rose will have its European premiere at open house shows. The Invisibles won three awards at the co-production forum of the 36th Guadalajara International Film Festival, for $20,000 worth of filming equipment from FD Rental; $50,000 worth of post-production services from Mexico’s Churubusco Studios; and development advice from media production company Cinema 226.
Contact: Mauricio Escobar, producer
Children swimming in the lake (Ven-Kili-Friday)
director. Michael Labarca
Prod co: All Rivers
“I want to capture how children deal with the idea that not everyone has the privilege of choosing,” Labarca says of his debut film. Children swimming in the lake, an intimate and sensual drama about the ravages of migration that will be shot in Venezuela and will use non-professional actors. The project has received funding from René Osi of Ticket Shoot Films (France) and Florencia Rodriguez and Dominga Ortuzar of Oro Films (Chile), and recently secured project development funding from the Venezuelan Film Institute. A graduate of the film school of the University of Venezuela in Los Andes, Labarca won the third prize at the Cinéfondation in Cannes for his 2016 short film Guilt, maybe and is looking for a second European co-producer at Open Doors.
Contact: Patricia Ramirez Arevalo, producer
Field (Pre-Chile)
Say: Miguel Aguero
Produced by Arraigo Cultural Association, Cyan Productions
In remote Paraguay, a young man tries to convince his grandmother to sell her house and immigrate to Argentina, but she is unwilling to leave her farm, her culture, and her husband’s grave. “I grew up with my grandmother in a rural town and it was very painful to leave, to be separated from my grandmother when I moved to the city,” says debut director Aguero, the award-winning shorts. Look, Rebel Surface AND Antolina all were done in Guarani, a Paraguayan dialect he had learned from his grandmother. FieldThe producer is Cynthia Garcia Calvo (Medea) and the film is a co-production between Asociacion Cultural Arraigo of Paraguay and Cyan Prods of Chile. The project has received development money from Programa Ibermedia, an Ibero-American fund, and the Paraguayan cultural fund Fondec.
Contact: Cynthia Garcia Calvo, producer
Men die faster (Costa Rica-Uru)
Direction. Federico Montero
Prod co: La Lanterna Films
Montero’s feature debut tells the story of an estranged boy who returns to his horse family home in Costa Rica to “search for tenderness and care in a place where these things don’t exist and to explore the places where he belongs said he did not belong”, says the director. “My goal is to question how we are taught to be men in Central American culture.” A graduate of the Veritas film school in Costa Rica, Montero has directed several short films and worked with Lintera Films in San José. Men die faster has received development funding from the National Film Center of Costa Rica, as well as the Ibermedia Program.
Contact: Alexandra Latishev Salazar, producer
MOA (Cuba-Bra)
Direction. Marcel Beltran
Prod co: Mediocielo Films
Set against the backdrop of a nickel mining community, MOA sees a couple’s relationship tested when they find themselves on opposite sides of an environmental issue. “MOA is a film that reacts to the ecological disaster caused by man’s idea of progress, addressing the visible effects of this climate and spiritual crisis,” says Beltran. A Cuban filmmaker now living in Brazil, Beltran’s second documentary Option Zero (La Opción Cero) had its world premiere at IDFA 2020’s Luminous selection and played more than 20 festivals including this year’s Open Doors shows. It was awarded Best Feature Award at MiradasDoc, Best American Ibero Documentary at FIDBA Buenos Aires, Best Documentary at the Trinidad & Tobago Film Festival and Best Documentary at the 16th Cinémartinique Festival in France. ABOUT MOAhis first feature film, Beltran and Brazilian producer Paula Gastaud have raised seed capital from awards won by Option Zero as well as a grant from Brazil’s audiovisual initiative Projeto Paradiso.
Contact: Paula Gastaud producer
Sopor And Bird (Ecuador-Arg-Sp)
Directed by Ana Cristina Barragan
Prod co: Boton Films
Barragan’s third film focuses on a group of teenage sex-trafficking victims in Ecuador. “Sopor y Ave [Sopor And Bird] it is the space of oblivion inhabited by a teenage victim as she returns home to her life, which has been interrupted,” says the Ecuadorian director. “We don’t see the violence, but we see the wounds, the coexistence in the shelter, the bodies of other girls, the babies, the broken relationship with the family and the delay in understanding.” Barragan and her producer Joe Houlberg have known each other since studying film at university in Quito, Ecuador, and have already managed to shoot about a third of Sopor And Bird with money raised from private investors, filming in a “guerrilla style” according to Barragan. , whose debut feature Alba (2016) premiered at the Rotterdam International Film Festival and received a special mention from the jury in San Sebastian. Beltran’s second draw Purple Sunday played in Locarno in 2011 and she is in her second film at the post Octopus skin. Sopor And Bird’s co-producers are Bomba Cine in Argentina and Zine Eskola in Spain.
Contact: Joe Houlberg, producer
When it rains (Dom Rep)
Director Yanilly Perez
Prod co: YPR Films
Perez’s narrative debut feature is a social drama about a young girl who parents her sisters while her single mother works, and is inspired by her own youth. “When Rain Falls explores what it means to have a stolen childhood, what it means to be a woman, and most of all, what it means to be a single mother in a Latin American society where there are few opportunities for a mother single,” he says. Perez, whose documentary Jeffrey won the Discovery Director’s Award at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2016. “I come from a family dominated by single, strong and independent women. I am the eldest of three females – as a child, I felt forced to play the role of mother to my sisters while my single mother worked in a mine to earn money and support us.” The project received 30% of its funding through Dominican cinema incentive legislation that allows private companies to invest in films with a tax deduction.
Contact: Yanilly Perez, writer/director/producer
