‘Ane,’ ‘Amateur,’ ‘Adiós a la memoria’ Top Malaga Works In Progress Awards
By Jamie Lang
LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – MADRID – Like so many industry events meant to take place from March, this year’s Mafiz, the Malaga Film Festival’s industry section, was forced online, while the festival has elected to postpone until later in the year.
On Tuesday, winners of the 3rd Malaga Works in Progress sections were announced, with local drama “Ane” boasting a day’s best three awards – – while each of the event’s three sidebars – LatAm WIP, WIP Doc and Spanish WIP – had films scoop prizes. Spanish feature “Amateurs” and Argentine doc “Adiós a la memoria” were selected as the event’s best Spanish and Latin American projects, each receiving a cash prize of €5,000 ($5,443)
In the end, three domestic features from the Malaga Spanish WIP were rewarded.
“Ane,” from first-timer David Pérez Sañudo, is produced by Amania Films and stars one of the Spanish industry’s hottest film and TV actors in Patricia López Arnáiz, who recently stared in Alejandro Amenabar’s “While at War” as well as two of Movistar Plus’ most ambitious high-end dramas: “The Plague” and “La Linea Invisible.”
López plays Lide, a young mother whose teenage daughter Ane doesn’t come home one night. Together with her ex, Lide will investigate the whereabouts of her daughter and learn that there is plenty about Ane that she doesn’t know.
By the end of the day, “Ane” picked up the Arachne Award, Music Library Spanish WIP Award and the prestigious Latido Award which last year went to “The Platform,” later picked up by Netflix at Toronto before becoming one of the platform’s hottest trending features globally in 2020.
Winner of the Abycine Award and co-winner of the FIDBA Award, Martin Gutiérrez’s self-produced “Amateur” uses three stories: the marriage of an old man, the memory of a suicide victim’s final days and a major motion picture shoot, to provide an intimate portrait of a mountain village.
Marta Lallana similarly self-produced her feature “Muyeres.” In the middle of the Asturian mountains of Cangas de Narcea, time seems to stand still. Somewhere between reality and fantasy live the women who keep old songs, masked monsters dancing in the moonlight and fables told by firelight. Life in the village is interrupted however, when a musician visits, hoping to document villages peculiarities.
Four Latin American films took home prizes on Monday.
The section’s lone Brazilian production, Brino Carbon’s “O Acidente,” produced by Tokyo Films, notched up the LatAm Music Library and LatAm Cinema awards. It follows Joana, a cyclist hit by a car and carried a city block on its hood. Joana becomes embroiled in an increasingly complicated legal battle as a witness against the driver, a woman battling her ex-husband for custody of their child.
“La crecida,” from Argentine producers Rita Cine and director Ezequiel Erriquez, won the Yagan Award for post-production sound work. The drama unspools on a border town between Brazil and Argentina, united by a river. The construction of a dam throws the communities into upheaval and residents are forced to relocate from their soon-to-be-flooded homes.
Victor Checa’s “Teo” rounded out the LatAm WIP winners, taking the Damita Award for national distribution. Produced by Peru’s Pierrot Films, this Lima-set fable takes place while the world sleeps. 12-year-old Teo falls in with a bad crowd to support himself and his neglectful workaholic father.
Nicolás Prividera’s “Adiós a la memoria” was the only Malaga Doc WIP prizewinner. Produced by Argentina’s Trivial Media, the feature turns on a father who has lost his memory and his son’s efforts to, through video shot by the elder, learn about their long-lost wife and mother.
In total, 22 projects participated in this year’s digital WIP section, which ran from March 23 – April 10. This year’s jury for the Spanish titles included Paz Lázaro, a Berlin Festival’s curator and member of its selection; Kristina Konrad, director and producer at Weltfilm; and Ricardo Apilánez, programmer of the Gijón Festival.
The jury for Latin American titles consisted of Fernando Vílchez, co-director of Filmadrid International Film Festival; Lucero Garzón, co-ordinator of Biarritz Amerique Festival’s BAL-LAB; and Mercedes Martínez Abarca, programmer for Rotterdam.
2020 MALAGA WORKS IN PROGRESS AWARDS
Arachne Award- Post-production
“Ane” (Spain, David Pérez Sañudo)
Latido Award – International Distribution
“Ane” (Spain, David Pérez Sañudo)
Yagan Award – Sound Post Production
“La crecida,” (Argentina, Ezequiel Erriquez)
Damita Award – Domestic Distribution
“Teo,” (Peru, Víctor Checa)
Music Library Spanish WIP Award
“Ane,” (Spain, David Pérez Sañudo)
Music Library Latam WIP Award
“O acidente,” (Brazil, Bruno Carboni)
Abycine Award:
“Amateur,” (Spain, Martín Gutiérrez)
FIDBA Award
“Amateur,” (Spain, Martín Gutiérrez)
“Muyeres,” (Spain, Marta Lallana)
REC Festival Award:
“Muyeres,” (Spain, Marta Lallana)
SANFIC Award
“Adios a la memoria,” (Argentina, Nicolás Prividera)
LatAm Cinema Award
“O acidente,” (Brazil, Bruno Carboni)
