Carlos Núñez: Last News

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent Colombia’s Doc:Co is set to co-produce “After Elena,” headed by one of Latin America’s foremost of actors, Alfredo Castro, whose turns in Tony Manero, ‘No’ and ‘The Club’ helped Pablo Larraín lift off as an international filmmaker. Moved at Berlin by Gabriela Sandoval, who produced out of her label Cine Matriz and Storyboard Media, where she teams with Carlos Nuñez, “After Elena” also marks the the awaited sophomore feature of Chilean director-producer Shawn Garry after he impressed with his debut, festival hit “Desierto Sur.” Garry’s own label Creative Content also produces along with Italian co-producer Zoe Films, which was at Venice Days in 2024 with “Vittoria,” from directing duo Alessandro Cassigoli and Casey Kauffman and co-produced by Nanni Moretti’s Sacher Film.

Anna Marie de la Fuente Chile’s Storyboard Media, run by Gabriela Sandoval and Carlos Nuñez, has boarded crime drama “Wildness” (“Salvajes”) by two of Latin America’s leading women filmmakers, Claudia Huaiquimilla from Chile and Peru’s Joanna Lombardi. Pact was sealed at Madrid-based confab Iberseries & Platino Industria where the project participates in the annual event’s co-production forum. Written by Diego Vega (“October,” “El Mudo”), “Wildness” is a crime drama inspired by actual events that traces the explosive encounter between a fading Parisian model and a young surfer who deal in drugs to fund their lavish lifestyle.

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent SANTIAGO, Chile — This is the age of turbulence and film festivals are not immune. Decimated in many cases by public-sector cuts or COVID-19, they haven’t stopped evolving after the pandemic as they hone new priorities, react to both a sometimes volatile political context and the state of cinemagoing worldwide if a round table at Chile’s Sanfic Industria last week, titled Film Festivals’ Present and Future, was anything to go by. Panel speakers took in honchos at three top Latin American events – Sanfic artistic director Carlos Nuñez, Rio de Janeiro Film Festival director Ilda Santiago and Estrella Araiza, managing director of Mexico’s Guadalajara Festival.

Anna Marie de la Fuente Sanfic Industria, the industry section of the Santiago International Film Festival running over August 18-25, is showcasing a slew of promising new fiction and non-fiction projects at its Santiago Labs. “We were overwhelmed by the number of entries this year, a 55% uptick from 2023,” said Sanfic Industria director Gabriela Sandoval, a co-founder of the festival.

Anna Marie de la Fuente Chile’s most prominent film event, the Santiago Int’l Film Festival (Sanfic) celebrates its 20th edition with 10 Chilean titles in competition, chosen from a record 40 submissions this year. “We usually receive an annual average of 25 entries of which we select eight to nine titles,” said festival director Carlos Nuñez who co-founded the festival with Gabriela Sandoval who runs the industry section. He attributes the proliferation of films this year, in part, to the urge of young, upcoming filmmakers to make their mark in the world of cinema.

Jamie Lang Prominent Chilean actor and singer Karla Melo will star in “Relatos de una Mujer Borracha,” which translates to “Stories of a Drunk Woman” in English. The new comedy feature, featured by producer Storyboard Media at this year’s Marché du Film, is based on a series of popular Chilean comedy novels by author Martina Cañas.

Holly Jones Yasuo Nakajima and Mariona Carrera’s Barcelona and Tokyo-based b-mount have boarded “Maybe It’s True What They Say About Us,’ (“Quizás Es Cierto Lo Que Dicen De Nosotras”) from Chilean filmmaking duo Camilo Becerra (“El último sacramento”) and Sofía Paloma Gómez (“Quiero morirme dentro de un tiburón”), seen at San Sebastian’s San Sebastián WIP Latam competition. b-mount join a co-production between Carlos Núñez and Gabriela Sandoval at Chile’s Storyboard Media (“The Sky Is Red”), Cecilia Salim at Argentina’s Murillo Cine (“Chaco”) and Lucía van Gelderen at Argentina’s Morocha Films (“El Cinco”) alongside Becerra’s production venture La Jauría Comunicaciones.

Callum McLennan Chile’s Storyboard Media brings its latest documentary venture to Berlin, a project centered on Jorge González, a Latin American music legend frontman of Los Prisioneros. Set to be shown at the EFM, the doc feature charts the life and legacy of a musician whose songs became anthems of resistance during Pinochet’s dictatorship in Chile, and are still played loud when protests flare.

Anna Marie de la Fuente Chile’s Storyboard Media is making its first foray into series production by joining forces with Chilean actor-producer Pablo Díaz del Rio of Rios Estudio and Argentina’s Juan Pablo Gugliota of MagmaCine to co-produce a historical fiction series, “Habitación 205” (“Box 205”). The deal with MagmaCine was closed during the Madrid forum Iberseries & Platino Industria on Oct.

Holly Jones As it plays in competition at San Sebastian’s Works In Progress Latam strand, Buenos Aires-based sales agency Meikincine has swooped on international sales rights for mother-daughter relationship drama “Maybe It’s True What They Say About Us” (“Quizás Es Cierto Lo Que Dicen De Nosotras”). Produced by Storyboard Media (“Santiago, Italia” “El pacto de Fuga”), the film is directed by Chilean filmmaking duo Camilo Becerra (“El último sacramento”) and Sofía Paloma Gómez (“Quiero morirme dentro de un tiburón”).

LatAmCinema.com. Yet genre surfaces in disparate ways: the mix of coming of age, apocalypse and fantasy in “Mi Bestia”; the true-life horror of “Maybe It’s True What They Say About Us”; the sense of surreal in Colombia’s “Jungle.” As LatAmCinema.com notes, multiple titles are co-productions, a fact martín hazards, could be for the reduction in moneys from Argentina’s INCAA film institute, with Argentine titles dominating in the selection. This year, of the total six films at WIP Latam, four come from Argentina, one from Chile and one from Colombia.

Anna Marie de la Fuente Sisterly love ruled at Chile’s 19th Santiago International Film Festival (Sanfic), which wrapped on Aug. 27 where female directors and actors clinched the top prizes. Israeli-Ukrainian drama “Valeria is Getting Married” by Michal Vinik and Kattia Zuñiga’s “Sister & Sister” snagged the preeminent Chilean festival’s best film plaudits, adding to their trove of accolades since their respective world premieres.

Anna Marie de la Fuente Chile’s Santiago International Film Festival (Sanfic) celebrates its 19th edition with a vibrant lineup packed with works from first-time Chilean filmmakers, with six debut features out of nine contenders in the fully in-person festival running August 20-27.  “It was tough. We had at least 30 submissions to the Chilean film selection, which we narrowed down to these nine,” said artistic director Carlos Nuñez, who added that three of them are world premieres.  The selection touts five documentaries – a reflection of the boom in non-fiction filmmaking in recent years. Among them is the poetic “A Brief Space in Time” (“Breve espacio de un tiempo”), which world premieres at Sanfic and turns on a Mapuche couple living off their ancestral Wallmapu land. 

Anna Marie de la Fuente In what marks a first for Chile’s Storyboard Media, Baremo Films of Mexico has boarded its psychological thriller “Quizas es cierto lo que dicen de nosotras” (“Maybe It’s True What They’re Saying About Us”), which has been shooting in Santiago since Feb. 1 and will wrap later this month.  Written and directed by Sofía Gomez (“Trastornos del sueño”) and Camilo Becerra (“Perro muerto”), the co-production also involves Chile’s La Jauria Cine as well as Argentina’s Murillo Cine and HDArgentina. “We’re delighted to have our first co-production with Mexico, which is such an important market, given its relevance in terms of promotion and visibility in our region,” said Storyboard Media’s Gabriela Sandoval and Carlos Núñez.

Anna Marie de la Fuente In a new deal secured at this week’s San Sebastian Festival, Birgit Kemner’s Manny Films has partnered with Chile’s Storyboard Media to co-produce “Un Buen Día Para Morir” (“A Good Day to Die”), the third feature by Marcelo Ferrari (“Subterra,” “Bombal”). Inspired by the real story of pianist María Paz Santibáñez whose life took a dramatic turn during a protest against General Pinochet’s dictatorship in 1987, the drama turns on 24-year-old piano student Pachi who is shot in the head during a protest against the military regime. Seriously injured and pregnant, she manages to survive and give birth to her daughter. Escaping Chile, she settles in Paris where – against all odds – she fulfills her dream to become a concert pianist.

Holly Jones Focusing on Chile’s large cinematic prowess, Sanfic’s Chilean Film Competition is set to hone in on national filmmaking and a few promising co-productions from budding and established Latin American talent.Efforts backed by industry leaders Roberto Doveris, Alicia Scherson and Mexico’s Inti Cordera illustrate that Chilean filmmakers are pulling in further support by relaying poignant, far-reaching narratives.The Chilean FilmCompetition were announced by Sanfic Industria, which will run Aug.11-19 as a hybrid event.Highly-anticipated projects include “Villa Olímpica,” produced, in part, by Cordera, who’s previously partnered with the likes of National Geographic and Discovery to bring engaging documentary series to the fore, and fantasy feature “Piedra Noche,” which reunites ingenious Argentine filmmaking duo Santiago Loza (“Extraño”) and Iván Fund (“Hoy No Me Tuve Miedo”) Young talents bowing their first feature attempts are also represented in projects like Fernando Saldivia Yañez’s “Sobre Las Huellas del Tiempo,” and Agustina San Martín’s “Matar a la Bestia.”Culturally significant documentaries that chronicle environmental and political themes mix with fantastic fiction works that carry an air of mystery and the supernatural, creating a well-curated and nuanced roundup. Films that question the concept of home and tradition are also keenly represented, doling out solidarity in a world significantly isolated by the pandemic and ever-increasing uncertainty.Speaking to the final selections, Sanfic artistic director Carlos Nuñez noted, “There are ten films, three world premieres, two Latin American and five national projects, with diverse themes that connect with different audiences.

Anna Marie de la Fuente Paris-based Les Films D’Ici (“Waltz with Bashir”) has boarded Chilean doc “El Porvenir de la Mirada,” produced by Santiago-based Storyboard Media and associate produced by Academy Award winner Sebastian Lelio (“A Fantastic Woman”).The feature-length doc chronicles the trauma of young protesters shot in the eyes by Chilean riot police during the massive demonstrations that roiled Chile in October 2019.Said producer Charlotte Uzu of Les Films D’ici: “It’s an important film that will portray people’s brave and necessary fight against the blindness of conscience.”“We’re delighted at how our project has been received at Cannes’ Marché du Film and even more so now that we can count on the vast experience of the prestigious Les Films D’Ici as our producing partner,” said Storyboard Media’s Carlos Nunez, who founded the production company with Gabriela Sandoval. “We’re certain that their participation will give the project a global dimension,” he added.