The Málaga Film Festival’s work-in-progress showcase kicks off on Wednesday with 12 projects by filmmakers from Spain and Latin America.
Organized by Festival de Málaga in collaboration with the Albacete Film Festival’s talent lab Abycine Lanza, the Málaga Work in Progress (WIP) event presents 16 projects, including six Spanish titles and 10 works from Latin America that reflect “the diversity of identities and languages in the Ibero-American sphere.”
The Málaga WIP programs aim to support financing for fiction and documentary films at the advanced or first-cut stage by introducing them to leading industry professionals, support the completion of films in post production and encourage their promotion and dissemination by seeking incentives for post production process and international distribution.
Selected projects are screened for professionals attending the festival and in the Málaga Festival Industry Zone (MAFIZ) as well as sales agents, international distributors, festival programmers, international funds and producers.
The two sections, Málaga WIP Spain and Málaga WIP Iberoamerica, will be presented during the festival over March 11-13.
Below is the full list of this year’s Málaga WIP titles from both sections.
WIP Spain
“The Fissure” (“L’Excletxa”), by Àlex Lora Cercós
Production company: Inicia Films
Set in a small town in northern Catalonia, “The Fissure” follows Pol Khaled, a troubled teenage boy raised by his Catalan mother after his Moroccan father disappears. Following a violent incident, Pol is drawn to faith as he seeks order and belonging, but growing tensions force him to confront belief, violence, loss, and responsibility.
“Bed of Grass” (“Lecho de Pasto”), by Carmela Román
Production company: Mala Pécora Producciones Audiovisuales
In a video essay format, a voice revisits “Japón,” an unfinished short about two women fleeing for love, to reconstruct a relationship erased by depression and trauma. Jane and Cleo watch the film as the memory of a past life.
“The Convulsions” (“Las Convulsiones”), by David Gutierrez Camps
Production company: Timber Films
Rob and Zoé have fulfilled their dream of living in nature in the Pyrenees, seeking self-sufficiency with their permaculture garden. The couple faces a challenge when their daughter Louise loses consciousness, but Rob clings to his dream of building a wind turbine. The family searches for solutions and experiences a moment of connection by generating their own energy, only for another unexpected crisis to occur.
“Taranta,” by Samuel Nacar
Production company: Sarao Films
Taranta is a portrait of the world surrounding the Santana factory in Linares, following its inhabitants as the city undergoes an unusual process of reindustrialization. The film accompanies four young people — two from Linares and two Chinese engineers — just as the old Santana factory, a symbol of the city, reopens.
“Lóngquán,” by Adrià Guxens
Production company: Pausa Dramatica Films
During the Lunar New Year celebrations, Junyi, a young Catalan of Chinese descent, gets a call from his mom: his grandmother has suddenly fallen ill and wants to see him. Though he barely remembers her, Junyi sets off on a journey that will make him question his roots and his increasingly blurred sense of identity.
“El Retorno de Júpiter,” by Maggie Civantos
Production company: Bastardas Films
Carlos and Carla, a young couple on the brink, decide to spend the weekend at a spiritual retreat. There they encounter Aura and Lucio, a brazenly New Age couple, who offer them a magical, cathartic and dangerous experience.
WIP Latin America
“The Guy Across the Street” (“El Chico del Frente”), by Marilina Giménez
Producer: Martín Rodríguez Redondo (Argentina)
A lesbian filmmaker, a trans poet and a non-binary artist gather the traces of a young trans man who disappeared. In their struggle for justice, they turn fantasy into a trench and friendship into a banner, asking the urgent question: where is Tehuel?
“The Residence” (“La Residencia”), by Mariel Garcia Spooner
Producer: Marcela Bejarano (Panama)
When three friends in their mid-60s discover that one of them is about to lose everything due to a bank debt, they face the possibility of ending up in a state-run nursing home. Refusing to surrender, they decide to start their own business: a social club for seniors.
“Black Eyed Maria” (“María Ojos Negros”), by Benjamin Brunet
Producer: Alejandro Ugarte (Chile)
In southern Chile, Nicole begins a search for her origins that leads her to uncover the hidden past of María, a woman marked by intimacy, silence and unresolved wounds where love and pain coexist.
“A Brief Extinction” (“Meteorito”), by Sebastián Múnera
Producer: Valeria Mejía (Colombia)
On the ruins of an illegal hacienda, two opposing communities collide as tensions rise over land and memory, exposing the fragility of justice and survival in a territory marked by violence.
“Little Tragedies” (“Pequenas Tragédias”), by Daniel Nolasco
Producer: Cecília Brito (Brazil)
In 2011, Daniel Nolasco left his small hometown. Ten years later, he reflects on the departure of a group of queer friends from the same rural setting, revisiting stories of loss, migration and belonging through an intimate and political lens.
“Puro R.A.P.” by Angel Arturo Corro
Producer: Elvira Del Carmen Rodriguez Alonso (Panama)
Zandert, Aldahir, Seis Lunas, UFO and Big G are immersed in the world of freestyle rap battles, striving to build careers in a country where making a living from art is nearly impossible. Through rhythm and rivalry, they seek transformation and recognition.
“Bagman” (“Valijero”), by Esteban Trivisonno
Producer: Agustin del Carpio (Argentina)
Pedro (35), a recovering addict trying to rebuild his life, takes on a risky job delivering four mysterious suitcases in one week. Each delivery pushes him closer to the edge in a city that offers little mercy.
“The Inheritance of Fire” (“La Mujer, el Diablo y el Fuego”), by Aurora Caballero and David Muñoz Velasco
Producer: David Muñoz Velasco (México)
A town that seems frozen in time; three myths that embody perpetual mysticism, the search for justice, and the violence that permeates the inhabitants of a town in the Guerrero mountains.
“Cow” (“Vaca”), by Brian Jacobs
Producer: Jimena Hospina (Peru)
In an Austro-German colony lost in the Peruvian jungle, Hannah (35) plans to move to Germany to start a new life, away from her mother and her partner Eva (51), who manages the local cattle slaughterhouse. Unable to leave Eva alone, Hannah decides to find her a replacement partner before departing. She meets Betina (28), a mysterious woman who arrives in town with an unwanted pregnancy. The three women enter a love triangle where desire and illusion collide with their unresolved maternal wounds.
“Cuscu” (“Cuscú”), by Risseth Yangüez Singh
Producer: Juan Said Isaac Zepeda (Panama)
In an evocative journey through family memory and inherited silences, the director explores identity, race and belonging while confronting generational denial and the emotional weight of unspoken histories.
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