The Dale ! Award (previously called EFAD-CAACI co-development grant) was awarded on 25 September 2020 in San Sebastian to "Who Killed Narciso? " (“¿Quién mato a narciso ?”), by Director Marcelo Martinessi. It will be the second feature film of the Paraguayan director and a coproduction between Paraguay (La Babosa Cine) and two European partners, Germany (Pandora Film) and France (La Fabrica Norturna).

The jury was composed of:

• Ms Paz Lazaro, Selection Committee Berlinale Senior Advisor, Delegate for Latin America (San Sebastian Festival representative).
• Mr Mathieu Fournet, Director International Affairs at CNC (EFAD representative)
• Mr Alfredo Caldera Vice-President of the Autonomous National Center of Filmmaking of Venezuela (CAACI representative)

The jury was impressed by the quality of the 18 projects presented this year. After intense discussions and fantastic meetings with the different projects representatives, the jury unanimously agreed to give the award to the second feature film of Marcelo Martinessi. It promises to strengthen the emerging cinematography of Paraguay with a story from another time, and that makes us reflect on our present lives. A project that is visually very creative and affirms its paraguay identity. More over, this project is expected to have a lot of international potential and ability to bring together various partners, co-producers, distributors, festivals. A unique project that we will hopefully see on many screens around the world.

Background

This joint co-development grant is one of the concrete actions developed in the framework of the structured partnership launched by EFAD and CAACI (Conferencia de Autoridades Audiovisuales y Cinematográficas de Iberoamérica) in 2016. It is distributed in the framework of the San Sebastian International Film Festival. Previously, it was awarded:

• in 2016 to Los Días Según Ellos, a project from Argentina directed by Juan Pablo Félix and produced by Utópica Cine, in coproduction with Spain and France);
• in 2017 to El Agente Topo (The Mole Agent), a project from Chile produced by Marcela Santibañez from Micromundo Producciones in coproduction with France and the USA).
• in 2018 to La Llorona, a project from Guatemala, directed by Jayro Bustamante
• in 2019 to La hija de todas las rabias, a project from Nicaragua, directed by Laura Baumeister.