Tales of Werewolves, Pinochet’s Cocaine Cook and an Inspiring Musical Collective Galvanize Sanfic’s Work in Progress Lineup (EXCLUSIVE)  

Roberto Doveris’ werewolf tale “Blood Red Nails,” two doc-features – Cristobal Valenzuela’s Black Cocaine” and Agustín Flores’ “The Curve” – and Málaga Fest hit “The Night is a Farce” look like potential standouts at a wide-ranging Sanfic WIP Iberoamericana, which underscores new production models on the rise in Latin America and beyond.    

Part of Sanfic Industria, the industry arm of Chile’s Santiago International Film Festival (Sanfic), the pix-in-post spread also provides a significant platform for movies from Latin America and Spain aiming to hit the festival circuit later this year or first half 2026.  

Probably the biggest industry package in this year’s Sanfic WIP and a step in Doveris’ consolidation as one of Latin America’s prominent genre auteurs, “Blood Red Nails” marks his third feature after 2016 debut “Plants” which won best film at the Berlinale Generation14+ while 2022’s “Phantom Project premiered in main Tiger Competition at Rotterdam.

Matured at Barcelona’s Pompeu Fabra University, Spain’s gold standard for creative doc development, “The Curve” is classic Barcelona Pompeu Fabra U. style dramatising its director Agustin Flores’ search for a narrative in his interviews of a legendary horse trainer and his grief at his father’s suicide. When he discovers the sense of story it is the makings of the film.

The shadow of Hannah Arendt – quoted in an introductory title card – falls over Cristobal Valenzuela’s “Black Cocaine,” a portrait of heinousness, embodied in Pinochet’s chemist, Enrique Berríos who was over-the-moon when he perfected hard-to-detect Nazi death gas serín for the dictator. Begun as an interrogation of evil, the bio climaxes in farce.       

Set to be released in Brazil by energetic distributor Descoloniza Filmes, as Germany’s Weltfilm boards as a co-producer, “The Night is a Farce” segues from Spain’s Malaga Fest. Both deals add further industry momentum to a title forefronting the marginalized which won best fiction at Malaga’s Works in Progress competition.

“WIP Iberoamericano titles run a broad gamut, from first features to works from established directors, both fiction and documentaries. The selected films explore intimate issues, such as mourning and loss, as well as little-visited formats such as a musical doc-feature and horror genre,” says Sanfic Industria head Gabriela Sandoval. “They’re marked by an auteurist imprint, capable of resonating with global audiences and large international festival potential,” she adds. 

Doveris and Valenzuela have made there films. Others are emerging talents. “Bagman,” for instance, is directed by Esteban Trivisonno who has worked himself up from assistant director on Maria Alché and Benjamín Nashtat’s “Puan,” with Nashtat now serving as an associate producer on “Bagman.” 

“The Monster” weighs in as a first feature from director Helena Guerra and São Paulo’s Irmãos Guerra Filmes. “The Curve”  is Agustín Flores’ second after 2018’s “The Forgotten,” another doc feature.  

In some films, violence flares with notable ease (“Los Machitos”). Lives are cheap (“Bagman”). Capturing the Zeitgeist – its violence, and sense of dislocation – the WIP selection is alos a sign of industry times. “Bagman” was made, given “the dismantling of public cultural policies and the political attacks on Argentina’s film funding system,” via “a collaborative and self-managed production model — as a way to resist, to respond creatively, and to explore alternative ways of making films,” says Del Carpio.

“Our model focuses on producing low-cost, high-impact films that stand out for their bold tone and distinctive narrative and aesthetic style—offering an alternative to what is typically produced in Mexico,” says “African Express” producer Jonathan Davis Arakelian, noting that Edge “often partners directly with creative talent—including actors, directors, and screenwriters—as stakeholders in the project.”

The same could be said of other WIP titles and and an ever growing number of titles in Latin America. 

The Titles:

“Africa Express,” (Emilio Guerrero Alexander, Mexico)

Capturing the most recent initiative of globally admired music collective Africa Express, the creative doc features 60-plus musicians, singers and DJs from around the world rehearsing, performing and writing a new album in just eight days. “A living document of music as connection, resistance, and community on a global scale,” says Guerrero Alexander. From Jonathan Davis Arakelian’s Edge Films, based in Mexico City and behind early Brazilian Netflix hit “Modo Avião,” Austin 2024 Audience Award winner The Perfect Club and upcoming pics by three of Mexico most exciting young filmmakers, Emiliano Rocha Minter and Ximena & Eduardo Lecuona.  

“Bagman,” (Esteban Trivisonno, Argentina)

Pedro, 35, a recovering cocaine addict seeking to rebuild his life, survives by making street deliveries. He’s offered a job: delivering four suitcases in a week. Shot in B&W, a dark parable set in a engulfing, unforgiving city, cutting from Pedro’s addiction therapy group to his four deliveries as he and a boy-friend once more hit the white powder. Produced by Rosario-based Agustín del Carpio sans state subsidy. “It’s an ode to the life-drive marked by pain and anger, a journey into the heart of a bleak city that quickly turns into a voracious labyrinth,” says Trivisonno.

“Black Cocaine,” (Cristobal Valenzuela, Chile, Uruguay)

1995. The skeleton of biochemist Enrique Berríos – a dandy, charmer, bar-room singer and re-developer of the Nazi serin gas and black cocaine cook for Augusto Pinochet’s DINA secret police  – is found washed up on a beach in Uruguay. Reenacting scenes from his life, tapping real-life tapes of Berríos’ confessions performed by actors, “Black Cocaine” traces the fable of his rise and fall. It’s a story of the unconsciousness of evil, of a man who loved creating serín but at his end became too much of a cocaine-snorting loose cannon for a post-dictatorship Pinochet.  

“Blood Red Nails,” (Roberto Doveris, Chile)

Paola, the cosseted wife of former soccer player Nacho is savagely bitten by him in an argument. Her physical and internal transformation drive her to find out the real truth behind her best friend Sofi’s death 20 years before. A psychological drama played out with genre tropes – body horror, shape shifting – “through the story of Paola, a 48-year-old woman in the midst of a marital crisis, I set out to reclaim the insult “bitch” as a narrative of empowerment, placing it within a male-dominated world such as soccer and sports journalism,” says Doveris.  

“The Curve,” (Agustín Flores, Uruguay, Brazil)

Produced by Uruguay’s Trapecistas Producciones and Spain’s Zona Cielo Films and Insumisa Films, a doc interweaving the story of Jorge Firpo, a legendary horse trainer preparing for his final race after a life dedicated to creating champions, and the story of the director, grieving at his father’s suicide. A Cannes Docs Prize winner at Ventana Sur and “a reflection on emotional fragility, resilience,” and that “passion sustains us when the path shows the curve on the horizon,” Flores reflects in a telling voice-over. 

“Machitos,” (Jesús Rodríguez “Chiva,” Mexico)
A take down on knee-jerk visceral machismo set on a seen-better-days estate where Don Manuel, who’s inherited the place from his father, reunites his friends from youth to launch his run for governor of New Leon – and set up a corrupt fund-raising scheme to win election. But the pinche guey cabrón bonhomie is soon punctured by hidden resentment and the cavernicolous homophobia of Manuel and closest consorts. The latest from José “Chiva” Rodríguez, a stalwart of the Monterrey indie film scene who leapt to notice with 2015’s “Los Jefes,” set against the cartel violence nightmare and featuring hip-hop group “Cartel de Santa.”   

“The Monster (or) How to Cut the Heart,” (Helena Guerra, Brazil)

Alone, a mundane film editor realises her ex-girlfriend has stolen her idea for a film, and turned it into a worldwide success. Her envy – the cause of their breakup 20 years ago – now spirals towards derangement, as she pores over the home-vid tapes she made with her ex and sister. A Coral Prize winner at Havana and VFXs and Color Correction Prizes at June’s Guadalajara Construye. “This punk, female-driven work stars six actresses portraying three characters across two timelines, weaving a bold story about envy, sisterhood and artistic obsession,” says Guerra..   

“The Night is a Farce,” Lucas Weglinski, Brazil)

Yá, an Indigenous girl with no memories, and Jorge, a non-binary artist, are suddenly declared criminals for Jorge’s taking his painting from the flat of an ex-lover when he’s walking out on him. Pursued by a so-called “TikTok policeman,” Yá searches for her identity through dreams of a Jaguar Woman, while Jorge guides her through the labyrinths of São Paulo. Lucas Weglinski’s fiction feature debut, a film which centers “Indigenous, Black, and LGBTQIA+ voices, including a queer male rapper and a veteran LGBTQIA+ actor,”says producer Heloisa Jinzenji. Produced by Agalma with Loma Filmes in Brazil and now Germany’s Weltfilm.