The 73rd edition of the San Sebastián International Film Festival last night hosted the presentation of its industry awards, in which the visions of both emerging and established filmmakers from Latin America and Europe were distinguished in the Europe-Latin America Co-Production Forum and the WIP Latam and WIP Europa sections, key platforms for supporting projects in development and post-production stages.

The top prize of the Forum, endowed with €10,000 for the majority producer, went to Do Not Let Me Die Alone (No me dejen morir solo) by Chilean filmmaker Francisco Rodríguez Teare, a singular tale about a delivery boy who becomes entangled in the business of trafficking mummies, already supported through the involvement of Belgian production company Michigan Films. Nicaraguan filmmaker Laura Baumeister once again stood out by receiving the DALE! Award, presented by EFAD and CAACI and also worth €10,000, thanks to her new project What Follows Is My Death (Lo que sigue es mi muerte), which follows a young migrant who escapes her captors in the Mexican desert; the filmmaker, who in 2019 won the same recognition for Daughter of Rage, also added the QCinema Award to her accolades.

Meanwhile, Uruguayan director Álvaro Brechner was honored with the Artekino International Award (€6,000) for La piel del león, set in 1964 and centered on two detectives facing a case that defies all logic. In the WIP Europa section, the industry award and the main prize, which include post-production services and €10,000, were granted to February, Seven Days, a German-Austrian co-production by Tatjana Moutchnik about the reunion of two Ukrainian brothers in Stuttgart following their mother’s death. In WIP Latam, Flies (Moscas), by Mexican filmmaker Fernando Eimbcke, received the industry award for its exploration of emotional ties between a woman who must rent out a room in her apartment and her tenant’s son, while the EGEDA Platino Industria Award, worth €30,000, went to Colombian directors Esteban Hoyos García and Juan Miguel Gelacio Ramírez for We Were No Longer Five (A la hora de poner la mesa ya no éramos cinco).

The Ikusmira Berriak residency program granted €10,000 in international distribution MGs to La koreana, un poema ferromagnético de luz y memoria by Spanish filmmaker Joana Moya Blanco, while the Lau Haizetara Documentary Co-Production Forum, organized alongside IBAIA, also held its award ceremony. The evening underscored San Sebastián’s role as a meeting point for the industry, which in recent years has propelled works that later shone at festivals such as Berlin, Venice, Tribeca, and Toronto, consolidating this festival as an essential springboard for new cinematic narratives.

All winners:

Premios WIP Latam
Premio de la Industria WIP Latam: Moscas – Fernando Eimbcke (México)
Premio EGEDA Platino Industria al Mejor WIP Latam: A la hora de poner la mesa ya no éramos cinco – Esteban Hoyos García, Juan Miguel Gelacio Ramírez (Colombia-EEUU)

Premios WIP Europa
Premio de la Industria WIP Europa: Sieben tage februar (February, Seven Days) – Tatjana Moutchnik (Alemania-Austria)
Premio WIP Europa: Sieben tage februar (February, Seven Days) – Tatjana Moutchnik (Alemania-Austria)

Premios del XIV Foro de Coproducción Europa-América Latina
Premio al Mejor Proyecto: No me dejen morir solo – Francisco Rodríguez Teare (Chile-Bélgica)
Premio DALE! (Desarrollo América Latina-Europa): Lo que sigue es mi muerte – Laura Baumeister (Nicaragua)
Artekino International Prize: La piel del león – Álvaro Brechner (Uruguay-Brasil-España)
Premio Casa Wabi – ESCINE: No me dejen morir solo – Francisco Rodríguez Teare (Chile-Bélgica)
Premio QCinema: Lo que sigue es mi muerte – Laura Baumeister (Nicaragua)

Premio Ikusmira Berriak
Premio Sideral: La Koreana, un poema ferromagnético de luz y memoria – Joana Moya Blanco (España)

Premios del XXI Foro de Coproducción de Documentales Lau Haizetara
Premio Music Library & SFX: Mariana x BHP – Renan Flumian (Brasil – Chile)
Premio Documental Euroregional: Altxaliliak – Maia Iribarne Olhagarai (España – Francia)
Premio EPE-IBAIA-ELKARGI: La increíble historia de una película que no hemos visto – Claudia Chávez Levano, Christine Mladic Janney (EEUU – Perú)