Animales del desierto, by Santiago Loza; Crocodilla / She, Crocodile, by Gabriela Amaral Almeida; El espíritu de la ley / The Spirit of Law, by Natalia Meta; La escuela pesada / Hard-Boiled School, by Hernán Rosselli; La levedad de ella / Her Lightness, by Rosa María Rodríguez Pupo; La mujer extraña / The Strange Woman, by Martín Boulocq; Los dos paisajes, by Francisco Lezama; Los erizos / The Hedgehogs, by Victoria Galardi; Malestar Tropical / Tropical Malaise, by Jorge Cadena; Mar de Leva, by Mariana Saffon Ramírez; Otro Jardín / A Different Garden, by Mariana Gil Ríos; Rambler, by Fernanda Valadez and Astrid Rondero; Remanso, by Pablo Lamar; and Solo el amor existe, by Natalia López Gallardo, are the fourteen projects coming from eight countries selected from among the 269 works submitted. This year’s edition will run from 23 to 25 September and representatives of the films attending the event will have the opportunity to show their projects to potential partners in order to complete their funding and improve their access to international markets.
Seven of the projects will be first or second films: La levedad de ella / Her Lightness, by Rosa María Rodríguez Pupo, with four short films and one documentary under her belt; Los dos paisajes, by Francisco Lezama, winner of the Golden Bear for Best Short Film at this year’s Berlin Festival with Un movimento extraño / An Odd Turn; Malestar Tropical / Tropical Malaise, by Jorge Cadena, whose shorts have harvested awards at the Berlinale, the Rotterdam Festival and SXSW; Mar de Leva, by Mariana Saffon Ramírez, winner of the Orizzonti Award at the Venice Festival with her short film Entre tú y Milagros; Otro Jardín / A Different Garden, by Mariana Gil Ríos, whose short film Uli landed a special mention in the Generation KPlus section of the Berlinale 2024; and the project presented at Ventana Sur’s Proyecta 2021, Remanso, by Pablo Lamar who has premiered his short films at the Festival de Cannes and won the Special Jury Prize at the Rotterdam Festival in 2016 with La última tierra, his first feature film. Finally, Natalia López Gallardo will present the project of her second feature film, Solo el amor existe. Her debut movie, Manto de Gemas / Robe of Gems, won the Silver Bear Jury Prize at the Berlin Festival in 2022 and screened in Horizontes Latinos.
Several of the filmmakers return to San Sebastian with their new projects: this will be Santiago Loza’s eighth participation with Animales del desierto, having participated in different sections with previous titles, and particularly Breve historia del planeta verde / Brief Story of the Green Planet (Forum, 2017), winner in 2019 of the Berlin Festival’s Teddy Bear; Natalia Meta presents El espíritu de la ley / The Spirit of Law following El prófugo / The Intruder (2020) in Horizontes Latinos; Martín Boulocq returns with La mujer extraña / The Strange Woman after being selected for Horizontes Latinos in 2006 with Lo más bonito y mis mejores años / The Most Beautiful of My Very Best Years;
By Bailey Pennick
One of the most exciting things about the Sundance Film Festival is having a front-row seat for the bright future of independent filmmaking. While we can learn a lot about the filmmakers from the 2024 Sundance Film Festival through the art that these storytellers share with us, there’s always more we can learn about them as people. This year, we decided to get to the bottom of those artistic wells with our ongoing series: Give Me the Backstory!
Thea Hvistendahl’s debut feature film Handling the Undead lives in the blurred lines between grief, hope, and terror. This complexity is woven into the film’s DNA, which premiered in the World Cinematic Dramatic Competition at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival (and won a Special Jury Award for Original Music). Handing the Undead follows three families as they grapple with the unfathomable event of recently passed loved ones being reanimated — as well as the repercussions of that reality.
The film exists in this strange emotional space against the backdrop of Oslo, Norway, but through understated performances and stark visuals, Handling the Undead is more human than zombie. Hvistendahl gives John Ajvide Lindqvist’s novel of the same name credit for setting such a unique and textured tone. “The book hit me really hard,” the writer-director explains. “The fact that it was both heartbreaking and unsettling at the same time was something that really intrigued me. I also found it difficult to find other films that were playing on both those emotions, which gave me even more inspiration to try and make that work. I’m really into atmosphere, mood, and sensations that can’t be communicated other than through a cinematic experience, so trying to achieve that was my main inspiration I think.”
The desire for this interplay is fitting for Hvistendahl, who counts the works of David Lynch and Pedro Almodovar as her original gateways into filmmaking. “I loved their visuality and the cinematic experience that comes out of [that]. They opened my eyes to the world of films,” she says.
Below learn more about the biggest challenges the Norwegian faced while making Handling the Undead, her advice for fellow filmmakers, and why movies are so important to her.
Describe who you want Handling the Undead to reach?
The whole world [laughs]! Hopefully, though, [the film] speaks to people on a basic human level and is open enough for people to insert themselves and relate it to what’s important to them at that moment. I would love it if people who are in some kind of grief find it soothing.
Why does this story need to be told now?
Death is never nonrelevant, but I do feel we have a tendency to avoid talking about it and I think that we should be talking more about it. It’s one of the things that exists in every person’s life, but it’s also the one thing that we can’t conquer or know.
Your favorite part of making the film? Memories from the process?
Oooooh. Everything. There were, of course, a lot of crazy times — frustration, anxiety, and stress in every proc
By NESTA MORGAN
Eagles, les poissons cherchés dans le foret tropical avec modernite.
Une fable, pas de papier, the last guardians of the forest, Claude Barras’s Borneo.
Savages sketch with Komeok Joe, Saily Paysan and Nelly Tungang directed by Claude Bar.ras.
Nesta
The neon-hued Motel Destino, a roadside sex hotel steaming under the burning blue skies of the northeastern coast of Brazil, is run by hot-headed Elias and his restless younger wife Dayana. The unexpected arrival of 21-year-old Heraldo, on the run after a botched hit, disrupts the established order. As the tropical noir plays out, loyalties and desires intertwine to reveal that destiny has its own enigmatic design.
Directed by : Karim AÏNOUZ
Year of production: 2024
Country: Brazil, France, Germany
Duration: 115
CREDITS
KARIM AÏNOUZ
Director
WISLAN ESMERALDO
Screenplay
KARIM AÏNOUZ
Screenplay
MAURÍCIO ZACHARIAS
Screenplay
CASTING
IAGO XAVIER
NATALY ROCHA
FABIO ASSUNÇÃO
Tropical EDM
Tropical EDM
Tropical EDM