The Santiago International Film Festival (Sanfic) reported 98.39% more applications this year to its fiction and documentary labs from some 32 countries. Out of 240 applications, 16 fiction projects and 15 documentaries were selected.
“Unlike previous years, we received a large number of submissions from Central America, as well as many co-productions with Chile from countries such as the U.S, Estonia, France, India, Lebanon, Norway and the U.K.,” says Sanfic Industria director Gabriela Sandoval.
The fiction projects are mostly from seasoned directors and/or producers with a strong international track record, she added, with many of the projects, particularly the Chilean productions, choosing Santiago Lab as the first stop in their development trajectory.
Drama, comedy and science fiction genres abound. Among the standouts are Colombia’s “Goodbye Father” from Jhonny Hendrix’s Antorcha Films, the production company behind such acclaimed pics as “Una madre,” and “Candelaria.” It stars Marlon Moreno (“Dog Eat Dog”) and Loren Sofia Paz, who played Amaranta Buendía in Netflix’s hit epic series, “One Hundred Years of Solitude.”
Meanwhile, Chile’s Infractor Films, known for such hits as “Perro Bomba” and “Patio de Chacales,” is backing “Dysphoria,” Stjepan Ostoic’s third feature, following his comedy “Antofagasta, New York” and thriller “Las Cenizas.”
Sundance-backed coming-of-age LGBTQ+ drama “I Thought I Was Swimming” stars Paraguay’s Ana Brun, the first Paraguayan actress to take home the Berlinale Silver Bear, for her debut performance in “The Heiresses.”
Fiction Projects at Santiago Lab:
“Calle Colombia” (“Calle Colombia,” Daniel Gil, Colombia, Spain)
From Popayán, Colombia-based La Valiente, which aims to connect regional creativity through audiovisual content, corporate design and consulting. The company also creates original IPs featuring characters across film, TV, video games and emerging formats like AR and VR. Notable works include “El Pájarocubo” (2019), a stop-motion short that screened at over 20 festivals, winning 16 awards and earning a spot on the 2021 Oscars longlist; “Bajo el sol de los venados” (2018); and the award-winning game “Oí Marimbí” (2020). “Calle Colombia” is one of the first two features developing at La Valiente, including “¡Es la luna!.” Written by helmer Daniel Gil and produced by Andrea Jaramillo, Ángela Revelo and Camila Fraija, “Calle Colombia” follows three young skaters in Medellín who escape urban chaos on a journey to the sea. As Gil says, “Our film is clearly linked to a cultural movement and not only gives visibility to skateboarding as a discipline, but also immerses itself in it.”
“Dysphoria” (“Disforia,” Stjepan Ostoic, Chile)
Ostoic’s third feature is produced and developed by his Extranjero Films, based in Antofagasta, Chile and known for bold, socially engaged cinema. It is co-produced by Alejandro Ugarte of Infractor Films, a Santiago-based company behind acclaimed films “Perro Bomba” and “Patio de Chacales.” Set in a windswept port city on Chile’s northern coast, the story follows Felipe, a privileged addict; Carla, a pregnant woman living on the streets; and Edo, a young windshield-washer dependent on base-paste cocaine. Their lives collide in a tragic event that exposes brutal social divides. Featuring Fernanda Finsterbusch, Iván Cáceres, Juan Cano and Juan Carlos Maldonado, the film is set to shoot in April 2027 and is in advanced development, having participated in the El Principio del Film showcase at Ventana Sur 2020. As Ostoic explains, “’Dysphoria’ examines how social class shapes every part of life.” He plans on using immersive storytelling to mirror emotional and societal stagnation. “A carefully layered sound design and escalating editing rhythm will build the tension toward a powerful climax,” he adds.
Dysphoria
“Ecstasy” (“Éxtasis,” Nina Guzmán and Alberto Montt, Chile, Costa Rica)
A dark comedy that follows a young woman whose personal crisis drives her to invent a fictional persona. What begins as a playful act of satire soon spirals out of control, blurring the line between reality and illusion. The film delves into themes of magical realism, the booming spiritual self-help industry and the deep human need to feel seen, understood and connected. Currently in the script development phase, the producers are seeking both creative and financial partners to join the project. Created and written by Nina Guzmán (Costa Rica) and Alberto Montt (Chile/Ecuador), the project brings together two distinct voices. Montt, an acclaimed illustrator and author, is widely known for his graphic humor and philosophical social critique. With “Ecstasy,” he makes his debut in long-form narrative storytelling. Guzmán, while also embarking on her first feature film, brings experience in audiovisual and creative development. Principal photography is planned for 2026–2027. “We’re excited about what lies ahead,” says Guzmán.
“Goodbye Father” (“Adiós Mi Padre,” Juan Sebastián Hinestroza, Colombia)
Produced by Antorcha Films, the drama explores themes of human relationships, loss and survival. Founded in Cali in 2003 by Jhonny Hendrix, Antorcha has produced over 15 international films, including “Una madre” (2022), “Yo imposible” (2018) and “Candelaria” (2018), earning acclaim at major festivals. The 90-minute pic started filming in late July and stars Marlon Moreno (“El Capo”) and Loren Sofia Paz (“One Hundred Years of Solitude”). It follows Silvana, a Spanish woman who travels to South America with her partner Michel, only for him to die in a drug-related incident. Left to deal with his body, Silvana must extract the drug capsules and seek help from her estranged father, confronting trauma and family history. Inspired by the director’s late friend Valentina, the film offers a personal perspective on grief and closure. Influenced by directors like Xavier Dolan, the audiovisual treatment emphasizes emotional intimacy through close, immersive camerawork and a dynamic, textured sound design that amplifies the chaotic yet sincere tone of the narrative.
Goodbye Father
“I Thought I Was Swimming” (“Anoche creí que nadaba,” Catalina Torres Puentes, Uruguay, Paraguay, France)
A coming-of-age LGBTQ+ drama produced by Monarca Films with co-production support from Sabaté Films (Gabriela Sabaté) and House on Fire (Vincent Wang), the film follows two parallel love stories that unfold over a heat-soaked summer in Punta del Este. It stars Ana Brun, the first Paraguayan to win a best actress Silver Bear at the 68th Berlinale. Tere (73) spends her days drinking whiskey and caring for her sunburned friend Elsa, while her granddaughter Vera (16), visiting for the holidays, forms a brief but intense romance with casino worker Elena (21). As Vera navigates young queer desire, Tere is forced to confront long-silenced feelings for Elsa. Through the mirrored stories of granddaughter and grandmother, the film explores desire, aging, identity and the courage it takes to love – at any age. Project has received support from Sundance Screenwriters Lab, Sanfic, San Sebastián, Cine Qua Non Lab, Ibermedia and Cuórum Morelia. Says Torres: “I want to make a film that oscillates between tension and softness, between silence and words that weigh heavily, but above all, I believe in a film that puts aging and forgotten bodies on screen, where in this story they exist, live and desire.”
I Thought I Was Swimming
“Land” (“Tierra,” David Muñoz Guerrero, Colombia)
Muñoz’s debut fiction feature is produced by Adriana Ángel through 2.35 Digital as well as Paula Castaño and Muñoz’s Cinemamundo. Based in Bogotá, Colombia, 2.35 Digital began in post-production before evolving into a co-producing force behind such acclaimed films as “Guilty Men” and “Perfume de Gardenias.” “Land” follows Reinaldo and Orlando, two young men returning to their war-torn hometown, La Libertad, to reclaim stolen land. As they fall in love in a deeply conservative community, their bond becomes an act of resistance that forces them into exile once again. With Víctor Navarro, Johan Rivera and Álvaro Rodríguez leading the cast, the project is set to shoot in 2027 and is currently seeking international co-producers. It participated in labs such as Nuevas Miradas and Cine Qua Non Lab. To Muñoz, the film “approaches the Colombian conflict from the perspective of a group of invisible victims. It invites reflection on the perpetuation of violence, but above all, it highlights the urgent need for inclusion within the context of the conflict – because these are narratives that, if we tried to invent them, would be unimaginable.”
“Latitudes” (“Latitudes,” Pablo Malek, Peru, France, Spain)
From producer Jorge Constantino of Mestizo Studios, a Peruvian film production company renowned for “Raiz,” which premiered at the Berlin Film Festival and received a Special Jury Mention in Generation Kplus. With selections in over 50 festivals, including Locarno Open Doors, Seattle, Cartagena, and Biarritz, Mestizo has become a notable industry presence. Other titles include “Astronauta,” “Delivery Girl,” “Sociedad de la suerte” and “Aida.” Current development projects include “Maneki Neko,” “Desierto Rosa” and “Latitudes,” a co-production with France and Spain. Written and produced by Malek, Constantino and Diego Sarmiento, “Latitudes” follows Lucho, a 20-year-old rapper raised in Paris who is sent back to Peru, where he reconnects with his roots through the local hip-hop scene. As Malek notes, “Latitudes” is “the first hip-hop feature film in the history of Peruvian cinema and the first French film to focus on Latin American youth in Paris. Through it, we aim to build a bridge between distant, but interconnected, realities and identities.”
“Metaphysical Atlas of a Country” (“Atlas Metafísico de un país,” Diego Acosta, Chile)
A docu-fiction hybrid film that follows the spirit of 19th-century naturalist Claude Gay, now embodied by filmmaker Ignacio Agüero, who goes on a surreal expedition across Chile. In search of a single plant he never catalogued, Gay travels through ancient lagoons, the Andes mountains and Robinson Crusoe Island—collecting stories, landscapes and spectral echoes along the way. Blending documentary and fiction, the film becomes a meditation on memory, territory and our ever-changing relationship to nature. The project is produced by Rancagua, Chile-based Nuevos Trópicos, known for experimental and documentary films shot on celluloid. Headed by Diego Acosta and Sebastián Sánchez, the company’s debut film “Al amparo del cielo” premiered at CPH:DOX. “Metaphysical Atlas” was developed with the support of the Chilean Audiovisual Fund and the Elias Querejeta Zine Eskola in Spain. It is currently seeking international co-production and financing. Says Acosta: “This film reimagines the journey of a 19th-century naturalist through the lens of contemporary cinema. It brings together science, history and art to question how we observe and interpret the world today….the project blurs the boundaries between fiction and documentary, memory and imagination, nature and cinema.”
Metaphysical Atlas of a Country
“Once a Month Sunday” (“Un Domingo al Mes,” Casandra Campos, Chile)
Co-written by Campos and Tiare Pino, the film follows Alicia, a frustrated yet gifted writer who hides a life-altering decision from her partner during a tense family lunch, while navigating a delicate pregnancy. A sudden accident forces her to confront the truth she’s been avoiding. Produced by Camila Ramírez of Desierta Spa, a Chilean company founded in 2025, which develops transdisciplinary cinema rooted in gender perspectives, memory and social transformation. Currently in development with a second draft underway, production is planned for summer 2027. Though casting is in progress and funding applications are ongoing, the team is committed to an intimate, politically grounded cinematic vision. As Campos says of her debut feature: “’Once a Month Sunday’ is an intimate and sensory portrait of Alicia, capturing the complexities of her relationship with her partner and family over the course of a single day. The film delves into the quiet tension between desire and obligation, creating a cinematic space where silence holds as much weight as the words spoken.”
“Realism After the Revolution” (“El Realismo Después de la Revolución,” Sebastián Pereira, Chile, France)
Hybrid feature produced by Amara Micaela of Sudaka Naca Media, a Santiago-based company focused on politically engaged cinema. Blending fiction and documentary, pic follows Chilean exiles in a fictional Paris as they respond to a surreal political crisis in their homeland. Featuring a cast led by Gloria Pinto, Cosme Castro, Armando Uribe Echeverría, Lana Mancilla, José Silva and Cecilia Cortés, the film will combine professional actors with non-actors, including members of the Chilean diaspora in France. It explores exiled identity through humor, nostalgia and contradiction. Pereira also penned the script, with production slated for Q3 2026 in Chile and France. Early co-production talks are underway with potential French partners. Currently in late development and financing stages, the film was selected and awarded at Fidba Link 2024. As producer Micaela notes, “This project was born from the need to reflect on identity in exile… and the contradictions of collective memory.” She adds: “Mixing fiction and documentary, humor and historical trauma, the film invites us to reimagine a lost country through layered formats and emotional truths.”
Realism after the Revolution
“That I Die Because I Do Not Die” (Muero porque no muero,” Felipe Carmona Urrutia, Chile, Brazil)
The project turns on the story of Anglés, a 55-year-old priest and literary critic living in 1970s Chile. By day, he teaches at the university; by night, he gives secret Marxism classes to the Chilean army and attends underground artist parties. His carefully divided life unravels when he meets an enigmatic writer and her American husband—who turns out to be a CIA agent. Anglés is drawn into a spiral of horror and surrealism as he fights to save his soul. Produced by Marianne Mayer-Beckh of Valparaíso, Chile-based El Otro Film Productions, with co-production by Multiverso Produções (Brazil), the film is in advanced development and seeking partners in Argentina and Spain. Featuring Alfredo Castro and Laura Paredes, the project participated in BAL-LAB at the Biarritz Festival. Carmona says, “Revisiting the past is not just an exercise in memory, but a way to speak about the present, to question how fascism, populism, and tyrants have returned in the 21st century. ‘Were artists up to the challenge?’ asks Raúl Zurita in ‘Verás no ver,’ referring to Chilean creators during the dictatorship. This project raises that question again, but from the urgency of a present that cannot be ignored. When a new Zurita asks himself in 30 years, I hope we can answer yes.”
That I Die Because I Do Not Die
“The Foreign Man” (“El Extranjero,” Sebastian Rodriguez, Argentina, Uruguay)
From Lechiguana Films, founded in 2021 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, a boutique production company led by founding partners and executive producers Nicolás Torcanowsky and Felipe Urtizberea. Originally focused on music videos for artists like Dillom and Saramalacara, Lechiguana has since expanded into film, partnering with sister company Vista Sur on projects such as “El Faro,” “Radio Oriente,” and “Dalia and the Red Book.” Their latest feature, “The Foreign Man,” is co-produced with Vista Sur and Uruguay’s El Cielo. Written by Gustavo Cabaña and Sebastián Rodríguez – who also directs – the film follows José Canales, a Spanish journalist covering the 1978 World Cup in Buenos Aires, whose life becomes entangled with Lucía, a young activist fleeing the military regime. The project has gained traction across Latin America and Europe, participating in labs including Bolivia Lab, MAFIZ, Iberseries and the Guadalajara Co-Production Meeting. Rodríguez describes it as “an opportunity to revisit a well-represented time of Argentina in movies – the dictatorship – but from the point of view of an outsider, a Spanish journalist, in the context of the 1978 World Cup.”
“The Lost Children” (“Los Niños Perdidos,” Enrique Medrano, Honduras, Peru)
The debut fiction feature of Honduran filmmaker Enrique Medrano, it is produced by Luis Flores Alvarenga of Thau Honduras and co-produced by Romina Ortega and Claudia Chávez of Peru’s Amazona Producciones. Set in Tegucigalpa, the story follows Massay, Agustín, and Cipriano—three displaced indigenous children from the Garífuna, Lenca, and Tolupán communities—who meet in an orphanage after the violent loss of their families. As they resist the institution’s abuse and reconnect with their ancestral roots, they lead a rebellion and escape into the mythical forests of Honduras to build a world free from adult violence. With non-professional actors from Indigenous communities and a visual style grounded in children’s perspective, the project blends social realism with magical elements. It’s backed by the Ihcine National Production Fund (Honduras, 2025) and the Ibermedia Development Fund and has participated in Locarno Open Doors and Nuevas Miradas. It is also joining San Sebastián’s upcoming production residency. As Medrano says: “This film was born from my encounter with Indigenous communities in Honduras. It is a poetic and human story about how children resist a system that marginalizes them, reclaiming their voices, languages and dreams. It’s not only a film – it’s an act of justice and memory.”
“The Mystery of the Guatapurí” (“El Misterio Guatapurí,” Yull Núñez, Colombia)
The second feature by Núñez, produced by Cinequipos Producciones (Colombia) with co-production from Maria Neyla Santamaría (Panama). The film follows a reclusive healer with the gift of restoring voices lost to a mythical river siren. Guarding a sacred river from agro-industrial exploitation, his solitude is broken when his granddaughter Senet arrives, forcing him to face buried wounds. Together, they rediscover love, forgiveness and family. Cinequipos Producciones, founded in 2021 by Daylín Vega and Yull Núñez, focuses on Afro and Indigenous stories from the Colombian Caribbean. Their debut feature, “El Silencio de los Palafitos,” was officially selected at the 2024 Festival del Nuevo Cine Latinoamericano in Havana. Project is in advanced development and winner of the 2024 FDC Fund for Ethnic Feature Film. Says Núñez: “This story is about redemption and healing through intergenerational love and the urgent protection of ancestral lands.”
“The Task Ahead” (“La Tarea por Delante,” Lucho Smok, Chile)
The political drama is produced by Silvina Dell’Occhio through her Chilean company Grita Medios, behind “Medea,” “Swing” and “Imaginarius.” Set in 1990, just hours before Chile’s return to democracy, the film follows President-elect Patricio Aylwin as he prepares a historic speech balancing justice with the threat of military backlash under Pinochet’s lingering power. With the nation divided and time running out, the story unfolds as an intense political countdown rooted in real events. Backed by the Aylwin family and Foundation, the film has had access to confidential records and is currently in development, with shooting set for late 2027. It is backed by Chile’s National Film Development Fund. As Smok states, “In today’s political climate, shaped by the rise of authoritarianism and institutional fragility, the film reclaims the value of democracy as a hard-earned and vulnerable achievement. Through political suspense and an intimate storyline, the project invites reflection on leadership in uncertain times.”
“What We Lose Underwater” (“Lo que perdemos bajo el agua,” Emmanuelle Kesch, Peru)
The debut fiction feature of Peruvian filmmaker Kesch, produced by Claudia Chávez Lévano of Amazona Producciones. Set in Malabrigo, a coastal town in northern Peru, the film follows two sisters and their estranged mother as they reunite to exhume their father’s grave – now submerged by a swamp overtaking the cemetery. Tensions rise as their personal conflicts unfold, while the town grows increasingly hostile toward them and the idea of opening multiple graves at once. Founded in 2023, Amazona Producciones focuses on socially engaged, auteur-driven films. Their current projects include “The Incredible Story of a Film We Never Saw” (supported by Sundance Humanities Sustainability Fellowship, the Wenner-Gren and the Peruvian Ministry of Culture) and “Sagradas Reescrituras,” selected for Ventana Sur and CIMA Impulsa. Says Kesch: “This story explores how fear and hate grow quietly in overlooked spaces – until they erupt. Through a family drama wrapped in dark humor, I want to explore identity, rejection, motherhood and resistance in a deeply local yet globally resonant way.”
