The 7^th Dale! Award (EFAD-CAACI co-development grant) was awarded on 21 September 2022 in San Sebastian to the Mexican project “Six Months in the Pink and Blue Building” (Seis meses en el edificio rosa con azul) directed by Bruno Santamaría Razo. A Mexican project, still in the search for a European coproducer.

The jury was composed of:

• Mr Neil Peplow, Director of Industry and International Affairs (EFAD representative);
• Ms Marianna Vargas Gurilieva, director general of DGCINE in Dominican Republic  (CAACI representative);
• Ms Ainhoa González Sanchiz, Creative Europe MEDIA Desk Euskadi (San Sebastian Festival representative).

The jury was impressed by the quality of the 14 projects presented in the coproduction forum. The jury unanimously agreed to give the award to this project for "being a fantastic initiation film that has a mix of tragedy, joy and authenticity that connects with us", said Neil Peplow.

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;
• in 2020 to Who Killed Narciso?, a project from Paraguay, directed by Marcelo Martinessi.
• In 2021 to "Where the River Begins? " (“Donde Comienza el Río”), a project from Colombia, directed by Juan Andrés Arango.