The Malaga Film Festival’s ongoing showcase begins on Wednesday, with 12 projects by Spanish and Latin American filmmakers on display.
The Malaga Work in Progress (WIP) event, organized by Festival de Málaga in collaboration with Albacete Film Festival’s talent lab Avisin Lanza, will present 16 projects, including six Spanish titles and 10 Latin American titles that reflect the “diversity of identity and language in the Ibero-American region”.
The Málaga WIP program aims to facilitate the promotion and dissemination of fiction and documentary films by introducing them to leading industry experts, supporting the financing of advanced or first cut stages, supporting the completion of films in post-production, and seeking incentives for the post-production process and international distribution.
The selected projects will be reviewed for professionals, sales agents, international distributors, festival programmers, international foundations and producers participating in the festival and the Málaga Festival Industrial Zone (MAFIZ).
Two sections, Malaga WIP Spain and Malaga WIP Iberoamerica, will be unveiled during the festival from March 11th to 13th.
Below is the complete list of this year’s Malaga WIP titles in both sections.
WIP Spain
“The Fissure” (“L’Excletxa”), by Alex Lora Cercos
Production company: Initia Films
Set in a small town in northern Catalonia, “The Fissure” follows Pol Khaled, a troubled teenager who is raised by his Catalan mother after his Moroccan father disappears. After a violent incident, Pol is drawn to faith for order and belonging, but growing tensions force him to confront faith, violence, loss, and responsibility.
“Bed of Grass” (“Lecho de Pasto”) by Carmela Roman
Production company: Mala Pécora Producciones Audiovisuales
In the form of a video essay, a voice revisits the unfinished short story “Japón,” about two women running away for love, rebuilding a relationship erased by depression and trauma. Jane and Cleo watch the movie as a memory of their past lives.
“The Convulsions” (“Las Convulsiones”), by David Gutierrez Camps
Production company: Timberfilm
Rob and Zoe fulfilled their dream of living in the wilds of the Pyrenees and became self-sufficient with a permaculture garden. The couple faces difficulties when their daughter Louise falls unconscious, but Rob clings to his dream of building a wind turbine. The family searches for a solution, generates their own energy and experiences a moment of connection, but another unexpected crisis occurs.
“Talanta” by Samuel Nakar
Production company: Sarao Film
Taranta depicts the world surrounding the Santana factory in Linares and follows the people who live there as the city undergoes an extraordinary process of reindustrialization. The film is accompanied by four young people, two from Linares and two Chinese engineers, just as the old Santana factory, a symbol of the city, is about to be reopened.
“Dragon Spring” by Adria Guxens
Production company: Pausa Dramatica Films
During the Lunar New Year celebrations, Juni, a young Chinese-Catalan man, receives a phone call from his mother. My grandmother suddenly became ill and I would like to see her. Although he remembers little about her, Juni embarks on a journey that forces him to question his roots and his increasingly blurred identity.
“El Retorno de Jupiter” by Maggie Sivantos
Production company: Basterdus Film
Carlos and Carla, a young couple in crisis, decide to spend the weekend at a spiritual retreat. There they meet Orla and Lucio, a brazen New Age couple, who provide them with a magical, cathartic, and dangerous experience.
WIP Latin America
“The Man Across the Street” (“El Chico del Frente”), by Marilina Jimenez
Producer: Martín Rodríguez Redondo (Argentina)
A lesbian filmmaker, trans poet, and non-binary artist collects traces of a missing young trans man. In their struggle for justice, they turn fantasy into a trench and friendship into a banner, asking the urgent question: “Where is Tewell?”
“The Residence” (“La Residencia”), by Mariel Garcia Spooner
Producer: Marcela Bejarano (Panama)
Three friends in their mid-60s are faced with the prospect of moving into a state-run nursing home when one of them realizes he is about to lose everything due to bank debt. Refusing to give in, they decided to start their own business – a social club for seniors.
“Black-Eyed Maria” (“Maria Ojos Negros”), by Benjamin Brunet
Producer: Alejandro Ugarte (Chile)
In southern Chile, Nicole begins to explore her origins and uncovers the hidden past of Maria, a woman characterized by intimacy, silence, and unresolved wounds where love and pain coexist.
“The Short Extinction” (“Meteorites”), by Sebastian Munera
Producer: Valeria Mejia (Colombia)
In the ruins of an illegal plantation, tensions over land and memory simmer and two rival communities collide, exposing the fragility of justice and survival in a region plagued by violence.
“Little Tragedies” (“Pequenas Tragédias”), Daniel Nolasco
Producer: Cecilia Brito (Brazil)
In 2011, Daniel Nolasco left his small hometown. Ten years later, he looks back at a group of gay friends who left the same countryside, revisiting stories of loss, migration, and belonging through an intimate and political lens.
Angel Arturo Coro’s “Puro Rap”
Producer: Elvira del Carmen Rodriguez Alonso (Panama)
Zandert, Aldahir, Seis Lunas, UFO, and Big G are immersed in the world of freestyle rap battles, trying to build careers in a country where it’s nearly impossible to make a living from the arts. Through rhythm and competition, they seek change and recognition.
“Bagman” (“Varigelo”), by Esteban Tribisonno
Producer: Agustin del Carpio (Argentina)
Pedro, a 35-year-old recovering addict who is trying to rebuild his life, takes on the dangerous task of delivering four mysterious suitcases in one week. Each delivery pushes him closer to his limit in a city where there is little mercy.
“Inheritance of Fire” (“La Mujer, el Diablo y el Fuego”), by Aurora Caballero and David Muñoz Velasco
Producer: David Muñoz Velasco (Mexico)
A city where time seems to have stopped. Three myths that embody the eternal mysticism, the quest for justice, and the violence that pervades the inhabitants of the town of Guerrero Mountains.
“Cow” (“Vaca”), by Brian Jacobs
Producer: Ximena Hospina (Peru)
In an Austrian-German colony lost in the Peruvian jungle, Hannah, 35, plans to leave her mother and partner Eva, 51, who run a local cattle slaughterhouse, and move to Germany to start a new life. Unable to leave Eva alone, Hannah decides to find a replacement for her before leaving. She meets Bettina (28), a mysterious woman who comes to town with an unwanted pregnancy. Three women enter into a love triangle where unresolved maternal wounds, desires and fantasies collide.
“Cuscu” (“Cuscu”), by Recess Younges Singh
Producer: Juan Said Isaac Zepeda (Panama)
In an evocative journey through family memory and inherited silences, the director explores identity, race, and belonging while confronting the emotional weight of intergenerational denial and untold history.
