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In keeping with its historical support of Latin American cinema throughout the years, the San Sebastian International Film Festival will this year make an extra push for Argentina’s cinema industry, which has been in a state of crisis since March after its newly-elected far-right leader Javier Milei moved ahead with plans to withdraw all state funding from its film body, the National Institute of Cinema and Audiovisual Arts (Incaa).

The state body backs most Argentinian films, festivals and events – including major Latin American festival Ventana Sur – and the impact the lack of funding will have on the country’s sector will be, according to many industry insiders, devastating.

As a result, San Sebastian is hosting a day of action on September 24 and has teamed up with the Argentine Academy of Cinematography Arts and Sciences and producer Gabriel Hochbaum...

For more than 70 years the San Sebastian International Film Festival has been considered the premiere hub for connecting Europe’s film industry to Latin American cinema and filmmaking talent. The festival has long supported the early works of famed Latin American filmmakers ranging from Brazilian filmmaker Walter Salles to Argentina’s Daniel Burman whose respective early works Foreign Land and A Chrysanthemum Bursts in Cincoesquinas both screened at the festival.

In more recent years, Spain’s most prominent festival has made strides in strengthening the special relationship between Europe and Latin America through the creation of sections such as Works in Progress Latam (established in 2002) and its Europe-Latin America Co-Production Forum (established in 2012). It was in the former that esteemed Chilean director Sebastián Lelio was given the Wip Latam Award in 2012 for his project Gloria.

“We have a very special relationship with the Latin American market,” says San Sebastian festival director José Luis Rebordinos.

The aim is to match European partners to Latam projects.

San Sebastian’s Europe-Latin America Co-Production Forum, (September 19-21) has become a key part of the festival’s industry programme.

Together with the Horizontes Latinos sidebar, the Wip Latam platform and the extensive Latin American presence in the festival’s other sections, the Forum has helped to cement San Sebastian’s reputation as an important bridge to Europe for Latin American industry filmmakers and executives.

This year, there are 14 projects taking part, among them features by Ulises Porra, Beatriz Seigner and Rodrigo Ruiz Patterson.

The aim is for European producers...

The thirteenth edition of Santiago International Film Festival, Sanfic (August 20–27, 2017), the largest film festival in Chile, will present more than 100 international and Chilean films, including productions shown and awarded in festivals such as Cannes, Berlin and Venice. Among the feature films will be 7 world and 14 Latin American premieres.

Sanfic (Santiago International Film Festival) is opening the festival to international press this year with Variety Dailies and important international guests for their Sanfic Industry section. Guest attending include Kim Yutani (Sundance programmer), Javier Martin (Berlinale delegate), Molly O ́Keefe (Tribeca Film Institute — fiction features) and Estrella Araiza (Industry director of Guadalajara Iff), to name a few. Matt Dillon is its special guest along with the renowned director of photography Rainer Klausmann.

The Summit starring Ricardo Darín, Dolores Fonzi and Erica Rivas, with an appearance of Christian Slater and renowned Chilean actors Paulina Garcia and Alfredo Castro

The opening film of the...

No sooner do I get my blog written on the subject of film in Andalusia and Seville than Javier Martín-Domínguez quits as artistic director of The Seville European Film Festival! Martin Dominguez, who was the correspondent in New York and Tokyo for Spanish pubcaster Rtve and later served as its secretary general, used his contacts and persuasiveness to bring many industry figures to Seville. "I'm not interested in directing a low-profile, limited event," he said after the Seville Town Hall slashed Seff's budget from €1.7 million ($2.2 million) in 2010 to $1.4 million last year. Further 30% plus cuts are anticipated for 2012. All the...

Oscar winner Sir Ben Kingsley has been feted for his long-running career at the 2009 European Film Festival in Seville, Spain.

The British actor, 65, was presented with the prestigious Giraldillo de Oro, a golden replica of the city's Seville tower, on Monday.

Paying tribute to Kingsley, Javier Martín, the director of the European Film Festival, said he was ecstatic to welcome "one of the best actors in the world".

The veteran star won the Best Actor Academy Award for his portrayal of Indian spiritual leader Mahatma Gandhi in the 1982 biography Gandhi.