Chile’s Santiago Film Festival (Sanfic), which runs Nov. 2 – 6 this year, is toasting the seventh edition of its genre-focused Sanfic-Morbido Lab with the launch of a WomanInFan Southern Cone partnership with the Sitges Film Festival and a new pix-in-post section, Fantastic WIP.
Hailed as a bold experiment seven years ago, the Sanfic-Morbido Lab, part of Sanfic’s industry section Sanfic Industria, has evolved into one of the region’s most consistent conduits for fantastic/genre filmmaking.
The lab will again select six genre film projects from across Latin America for intensive development, personalized mentoring from Pablo Guisa Koestinger — CEO of Grupo Mórbido and executive director of the Fantastic Pavilion at the Marché du Film, Cannes Film Festival.
At stake are a number of awards that include the Premio Mórbido, offering co-financing of up to 20% of the final budget, and the Premio Fantastic Pavilion, which guarantees participation in the Fantastic Pavilion at Cannes.
“Seven years of the Sanfic-Mórbido Lab is not just a number — it’s a proof of concept. The talent was always there. What didn’t exist was the pipeline. We built it, and now it works,” said Guisa.
“WomanInFan Latam recognizes what we already know: the women making genre cinema in our region are some of its most powerful voices. And the Fantastic WIP closes the loop — because making a great film is only half the job. Getting it finished, getting it out, getting it to the world — that’s the other half. Everything we build here has one destination: The Fantastic Pavilion, and from there, the world.”
Fantastic WIP responds to the need for these projects that have been developed and went into production but lacked the support to complete their trajectory. Filmmakers behind these films in post will present their work to international sales agents, distributors, festival programmers and industry professionals for valuable feedback and potential distribution.
WomanInFan Southern Cone — the Latin American extension of WomanInFan, the pioneering program for women in fantastic cinema created by the Sitges Fantastic Film Festival led by Mónica García Massagué — opens its first call for projects directed by women from Chile, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay.
An extension of the WomanInFan LatAm pan-regional initiative unveiled at the Costa Rica Media Market in July, WomanInFan Southern Cone brings the program to the Southern cone region with a structured set of activities that includes mentoring sessions that culminates in final pitches before industry pros during Sanfic.
Gabriela Sandoval, director of Sanfic Industria noted: “With WomanInFan Southern Cone and Fantastic WIP, we are expanding our commitment to genre cinema, which we have been advancing for seven editions through the Sanfic-Mórbido Lab. “
“We are delighted to strengthen this partnership with Sitges and Grupo Mórbido—two leading forces in genre cinema worldwide—and to establish WomanInFan Southern Cone as a platform that connects the extraordinary women’s voices emerging from our region with the partners and markets that can amplify their stories and help bring them to international audiences.”