Sunny Side: Hot Chile in France

20 junio, 2022

By Business Doc Europe
June 20, 2022.

This year, two leading Chilean production companies will be attending Sunny Side of the Doc together with national representational body Chiledoc.

La Ventana Cine, a production company founded by Carola Fuentes and Rafael Valdeavellano, will present Breaking the Brick, directed and produced by the filmmaking duo. The documentary, already completed and set to world premiere at Sheffield Doc/Fest, arrives at Sunny Side of the Doc in search of sales. Breaking the Brick is a sequel to Chicago Boys(2015), filmed and produced by the same pair, that portrays the economist group that boosted neoliberalism in Chile.

“Breaking the Brick is a film that takes place in Chile but runs through the veins of all of Latin America. We already told the story of the model’s origins in our first film. Today we have registered the end of that cycle, with two characters who initially seem to come from antagonistic worlds but later allow us to understand that they coexist in a country that is mutating, while themselves undergo a profound transformation,” says director Carola Fuentes.

Another project that describes transformation is A Journey to the Roots, directed by José Manuel Loyola and produced by Carola Fuentes and Rafael Valdeavellano. The film narrates the story of Adam, a man who returns to his territory to reconvert his community to Mapuche spirituality and cosmovision. After the death of his parents, he will accept the guidance of his Pewmas – premonitory dreams – to assume as the new Lonko and recover the ancestral lands usurped by the Chilean state.

Comments Fuentes: “For more than five years, the director Jota Loyola has been recording the path the characters have taken during this time. A family opened the doors of their world to us and allowed us to reach the depths of their bonds, fears and dreams in a country that has changed but which has also has made them change in an unexpected way,” adds Fuentes. The project is at advanced development stage and attends the market looking for co-production opportunities.

Over the past last ten years, Cábala Producciones has provided audiovisual coverage throughout the Latin American region on science, nature and environmental issues, with productions such as the series Children of Stars (NTGEO) or Saving Paradise (ARTE). “Sunny Side is an excellent place to strengthen international co-production bonds. In our case, the bond between Latin America and Europe for documentary features and documentary TV series focused on the dissemination of nature, conservation, and science,” says Gonzalo Argandoña, founder and executive producer of the production company.

Chiribiquete, the Lost Civilization of the Amazon is one of the projects on the company’s Sunny Side slate. Directed by Paul-Aurélien Combré and Gonzalo Argandoña and produced by Diego Rojas and Eric Ellena, the documentary comprises a history of the peoples along the Brazilian and Colombian Amazon and Patagonia. “The call [for] the conservation of places as exceptional as this one [is very] urgent,” underlines Argandoña.

Not One Less, directed by Paula Rodríguez and produced by Gonzalo Argandoña, Diego Rojas and Claudia Rojas, is a documentary series that explores and examines the thriving Latin American feminist movement that reacts to increasing levels of gender violence and femicide in Chile, Argentina, Colombia, and Mexico. This project is in development and is, so far, a Colombian/German co-production, but is looking “to open new doors in this important non-fiction film market.”

Head of ProChile’s Creative Economy Department, Raúl Vilches, comments: “France is a market in the spotlight for our audiovisual industry, which is why ProChile, in collaboration with the different guilds and public institutions of the sector, strongly supports the filmmakers participating in Sunny Side of the Doc, one of the most important film festivals for the sector, in their search for financing and co-production opportunities. This support is part of a broader internationalization effort not only for our documentary filmmakers but also for all the Creative and Cultural Industries, as they contribute to the diversification and add value and quality to our exportable supply.”

Paula Ossandón, Chiledoc’s director, explains that “we arrive at Sunny Side of the Doc alongside two companies with significant experience in developing series and content for television: Cábala Producciones and La Ventana Cine, both stand out due to their contingent, innovative approach, and high-impact approach on audiences.”

She adds: “The artistic and content quality of Chilean documentary series is increasingly recognized worldwide. In Sunny Side of the Doc, we are looking to promote the exchange between Chilean documentary series and international television industry agents and boost the interest of countries such as France, Germany, or the Asian region.”