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Chile’s most bankable stars, Paulina Garcia (“Gloria”), Alfredo Castro (“El Conde”) and Luis Gnecco (“No”), are leading the voice cast in the upcoming animated feature “Winnipeg, Seeds of Hope.” Producer Sebastián Freund (“Dad to the Rescue”), who launched Rizco Content Sales with partner Ángel Zambrano last October at Iberseries, has pounced on the international streaming rights to the toon and boarded as an executive producer.

“Securing the international streaming rights for this vital and emblematic project, which portrays a significant chapter in the shared history of Chile, Spain, and Argentina, marks a major milestone for our agency and the global market for diverse audiences,” said Freund, who is attending Ventana Sur where the project participates in the annual event’s Animation! Wip section.

Co-produced by Spain’s La Ballesta and Dibulitoon Studio, Chile’s El Otro Film, and Argentina’s Malabar Prods, “Winnipeg” unfolds through the reflections of 86-year-old Julia,...

Chile’s Sebastián Freund of Rizoma Films and Argentine thesps Ernesto Alterio (“The Passenger”) and Soledad Villamil (“The Secret in Their Eyes”) have boarded the upcoming feature by Argentine filmmaker Alberto Lecchi, “A Distant Place” (“Un lugar lejano”).

Rizoma Films joins lead producer Twins Latin Films of Argentina and co-producers Filmakers Monkeys (Spain) in the drama that participates in the Iberseries & Platino Industria Co-Production Forum in Madrid.

Penned by Gerardo Pranteda, the story revolves around a pianist and a history teacher as they struggle for a second chance at love before a shattering illness impacts the musician’s grip on reality.

“We are excited to make a film that shows how love, memory, and bonds can offer comfort and hope even in the most difficult moments. It also addresses frontotemporal dementia, a condition rarely explored in cinema, providing an empathetic and sensitive perspective,” said Lorena Quevedo, CEO & producer at Twins Latin Films.

Pamplona, Spain — In an early and memorable dramatic beat in “Invisible Heroes,” a Original Series of Finnish broadcaster Yle, in partnership with Chilean network Chilevision, the former head of international trade under Chile’s Salvador Allende clambers over the garden wall of the chalet of a Finnish diplomat to seek asylum after Augusto Pinochet’s bloody 1973 military coup.

Suitcase in hand, he looses his footing,, and falls straight into Tapani Brotherus’ swimming pool.

Much admired at MipTV by those who caught it, “Invisible Heroes” opened to warm applause on Monday night at Conecta Fiction, the world’s foremost Europe-Latin America TV co-production forum, which runs June.17-20 in Pamplona, Northern Spain.

Chile is one of Conecta Fiction’s two 2019 countries in focus. If the quality on paper of some of its projects is born out by their pitches, in public events or one-to-one meetings, it will also be one of its stars.

Buenos Aires — Oscar-winning Chilean producer Juan de Dios Larraín (“A Fantastic Woman”), Sebastián Freund, co-creator of Chile’s biggest ever B.O. hit, “Stefan vs. Kramer,” and Gabriela Sandoval, co-director of Sanfic, Chile’s biggest film event, Sanfic festival, are joining forces to haul Chile’s much vaunted cinema into the 21st century.

They will be joined by Sergio Gándara, Chile’s top TV producer, Macarena Cardone, from Invercine&Wood, and Gastón Chedufa, from Las Minas.

A hint of their roadmap looks likely to be heard Wednesday evening at Ventana Sur, when Freund and Sandoval deliver a short speech before a CinemaChile cocktail, traditionally a mid-market social milestone at Latin America’s biggest movie-tv market. If it ain’t broke….? Since a new generation of filmmakers, making up the so-called Newest Chilean Cinema – Sebastián Lelio, Alicia Scherson, Matías Bize – burst onto the scene at the 2005 Valdivia Festival, Chilean filmmakers have won...