Underscoring the Atlàntida Mallorca Film Fest’s commitment to fostering young, upcoming talent, its five-year-old Talent Lab (AMTL) for projects in development will be complemented by a new Works in Progress (WIP) section for projects in post.
The new WIP aims to give young creators the tools and opportunity to bolster the promotion of their audiovisual projects and secure local and international distribution.
On July 27 and July 28 in Mallorca, six projects in post-production will compete for €15,000 ($15,300) at the new WIP. Atlàntida Mallorca Film Fest’s industry component is backed by Media Europa Creativa Catalunya and organized in collaboration with the Seville European Film Festival, the Gijón International Film Festival and the Albacete Film Festival (Abycine).
Both sections are designed as mentoring, training and acceleration labs for each of the areas. In addition, participants will have access to the festival’s robust industry events and experience the festival itself.
AMTL has served as a launchpad for notable films, with Nacho A. Villar and Luis Rojo’s urban drama “La Mala Familia,” its first winner five years ago, opening this fall, says Film Fest director Jaume Ripoll. “It’s a film by young filmmakers with a singular point of view, it’s what we want to prioritize at AMTL, and with experts from the Berlinale, Cannes, Venice, and Locarno serving as mentors, that’s key.”
WIP Participants:
“Samsara,” Lois Patiño
The latest from Locarno winner Patiño (“Coast of Death”), one of the leading lights of film production in Galicia, northwest Spain. The titular Samsara refers to the Buddhist cycle of birth and reincarnation. The experimental film follows a soul during this cycle, from an old lady in Laos to a goat in Zanzibar.
“Daytona,” Carmen Pedrero
The experimental fiction film is described thus: “A love is transformed into an island. The island slowly melts. A person whistles to the sea to be rescued.”
“21,” Nestor Ruiz Medina
Fiction drama centering on a young couple whose idyllic life in the countryside, where they earn a living through their OnlyFans site, begins to show some strain.
“Maria y la pelicula olvidada,” Marta Hierro and Nuria Abad
A doc-feature investigating the life and work of Maria Forteza who was recently discovered to have made the first film with sound in Spain with her short, “Mallorca.” She supplants who was recently thought to be the pioneer, Rosario Pi and her film, “El Gato Montés.”
“Remember My Name,” Elena Molina
A coming-of-age documentary in Spanish and Arabic that follows a group of unaccompanied migrant minors who join a dance troupe in the Spanish enclave of Melilla in Morocco. When they turn 18, they are forced to leave the dance troupe and start anew in a world that stigmatizes them.
“Negu Hurbilak,” Colectivo Negu (Ekain Albite, Adrià Roca, Nicolau Mallofré, Mikel Ibarguren)
An experimental documentary in Basque, Spanish and French by a collective of young film students, the Colectivo Negu, whose project speaks of the complexity of existence and the reality of life.