Chile’s Sanfic Industria Heralds Change in Latin American Cinema

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Running August 18 -25, the Santiago International Film Festival (Sanfic) celebrates its 20th edition in tandem with its slightly younger industry section, Sanfic Industria, now on its 13th year, at a time of reassuring growth trends in Chile and Latin America’s audiovisual industries.

As a platform aiming to provide support and guidance to Ibero-American filmmakers, Sanfic Industria, run by festival co-founder Gabriela Sandoval, has grown apace with the latest advances in the entertainment world.

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Now in its third year, Sanfic XR, a sidebar dedicated to virtual, augmented and mixed reality experiences, allows attendees to explore cutting-edge extended reality projects from Chile, international premieres and works from national and Iberoamerican XR labs. This edition expands its content and venues, now including tech center CRTIC alongside cultural center Matucana 100.

Among the projects is “Cerati XR,” an augmented reality journey through surreal landscapes where songs like “Lisa,” “Corazón Delator” and “Raíz” come alive in hypnotic visuals, blending music and animation in a singular universe.

Co-produced by Chile’s Galgo Storytelling and NowHere Media from Germany, “Ancestral Secret VR,” premiering at Sanfic XR, is an immersive experience that transports the viewer into both the physical and sacred worlds of Peru’s Indigenous Q’eros community, “blending Indigenous knowledge and avant-garde technologies,” said Galgo Storytelling producer María José Diaz.

The other staples in Sanfic Industria are the Ibero-American Work in Progress, Santiago LAB fiction and documentary, Series LAB fiction and documentary, Producers Lab, Sanfic-Morbido Lab, Sanfic Series: series premieres, Sanfic ODS LAB and Sanfic NET: Business Roundtables.

Highlights of the Sanfic Series sidebar, launched in 2019, will be the premieres of two documentary series: “Versus” by Mexican director Raúl Cuesta Jiménez, which centers on the intense effort, sacrifice, and dedication required for a tennis player like Nicolás Jarry to achieve a top world ranking, and “The 43 from Ayotzinapa: A State Crime” from streaming platform Max, which explores the decade-long fight of the 43 disappeared students’ parents for justice and accountability from the Mexican State.

In a conversation with Variety, Sandoval drilled down on the state of the Latin American and Chilean industries through the prism of Sanfic Industria:

What are your thoughts on the current state of Latin American cinema?

Latin American cinema stands out for its audiovisual power and unique storytelling perspectives. Despite challenges like unstable conditions and limited state support, producers and creators craft diverse narratives that address regional social and political issues, including historical memory, human rights, migration, and diversity. Recent trends emphasize storytelling with dignity and respect while exploring a wider range of genres for global audiences. Co-productions are increasingly vital, particularly for countries with limited funding, and new generations of filmmakers are enriching the industry with fresh narratives and perspectives.

What have you observed about Chilean Cinema?

Chilean cinema is experiencing significant growth, with established professionals and emerging talents offering fresh perspectives and production models. This progress is evident in the increasing presence of Chilean content in international festivals and industry spaces. However, a major challenge remains: low local audience engagement, despite international recognition. To address this, Chile needs public policies that not only promote national content but also ensure its presence in theaters, along with a strong public channel to support content distribution. Additionally, more incentives for audiovisual production are necessary to sustain Chilean cinema’s growth and evolution.

Indeed, we have observed that in the last 10 years or so, Chile has surpassed Argentina in the number of Oscar nominations, although Argentina retains the historical record. What are your thoughts about this?

Chilean cinema is thriving globally, with over 300 international awards in 2023, as reported by CinemaChile. Chilean productions are gaining widespread distribution and often involve international collaboration.

Chilean productions are increasingly international in scope, involving multiple countries in financing and featuring diverse artistic and technical talents. Major platforms like Netflix back these projects, boosting their global reach. Notable examples include “El Conde,” which earned an Oscar nomination for best cinematography, and “La Memoria Infinita,” nominated for best documentary. These achievements not only elevate Chilean cinema but also spotlight Spanish-language films on the world stage.

We have noticed that interest and sales agreements for genre films have grown significantly, as we saw in Locarno. Do you agree? I imagine this is one of the reasons behind Sanfic-Morbido.

Indeed, the horror/fantasy genre of cinema has experienced a surge in productions over the past decade, which we’ve seen at various transversal festivals and platforms, where it has been labeled as the new “Art House Horror.” This resurgence is largely thanks to the emergence of creators and producers with fresh approaches to narrative and aesthetics, moving away from the 1980s style, gore, and psychological sadism. All of this contributes to better circulation and internationalization of horror and fantasy genre films, and Ibero-American cinema is a great example of this. From this context, Sanfic-Morbido was born with the goal of strengthening the genre cinema industry: horror/fantasy in the region.

What is being launched in this 20th edition, a milestone for Sanfic.

As part of the festival’s anniversary, we’ll be presenting the Industria Award to three international guests who have been key to the development and contribution to the Ibero-American audiovisual sector. The honorees are John Hopewell, International Features Editor of Variety, who will visit the country for the first time to receive the award; Elena Vilardell, who has been the Technical and Executive Secretary of the Ibermedia I Program, a multilateral financial fund promoting film activities created by the VII Ibero-American Summit of Heads of State and Government, since 1998 and continues in that role; and Bina Daigeler, a German costume designer nominated for an Oscar in the Best Costume Design category for the live-action version of Disney’s “Mulan,” who has also worked with Almodóvar, Jim Jarmusch, Cate Blanchett, and many others.

Next year, LatAm Cinema editor Gerardo Michelin would be a perfect recipient.

For the first time this year, we’ll be joined by the CAACI, the Conference of Ibero-American Audiovisual and Cinematographic Authorities, an international organization within the Ibero-American region that specializes in audiovisual and cinematographic matters. They will hold their advisory councils during Sanfic Industria, and we’ll have three public events, including discussions on “Tax Incentives for Audiovisual Production,” “The Role of the Producer in Current Times” and “Gender, Cultural Diversity, and Sexual Identity: How These Are Important for a Project.”

We’ll have 14 public events in total.

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