'Bala,' 'Swirl,' 'Bonsai' play Horizontes

MADRID -- Gerardo Naranjo's "Miss Bala," "Swirl," from Brazil's Clarissa Campolina and Helvecio Marins, and Chilean Christian Jimenez's "Bonsai" will compete in San Sebastian Film Festival's Horizontes Latinos sidebar. The Latin American section, whose 13 photos compete for any Euros35,000 ($50,000) cash prize, mixes major fest standouts and -- that is frequently pretty the same thing goes factor -- the most recent productions from a number of Latin America's most worldwide minded film companies: Mexico's Canana, Brazil's Dezenove Som e Imagem, Colombia's 64 Films, Argentina's Rizoma and Chile's Fabula and Jirafa. Section opens with "Miss Bala," an action-thriller social problem pic that denounces drug cartels' permeation of social existence in Mexico. Canana produces, with Fox Intl. Prods. handling worldwide sales. Pic performed in Cannes' Not Certain Regard. Midway between art film and art installation, and also the latest product of Brazil's burgeoning regional cinema -- here Minas Gerais -- "Swirl," a portrait of rural misconceptions, is created by Dezenove and Spain's Eddie Saeta. It world preems at Venice fest's Horizons. Another Not Certain Regard player, "Bonsai," a gag-packed comic drama dating to two literature students' romance, is created by Bruno Bettati's Chile-based Jirafa Films and Hernan Musaluppi's Rizoma Films in Argentina. Of further fest highlights, Milagros Mumenthaler's three siblings drama "To Stay" won Locarno Leopards for film and actress (Maria Canale). Also from Argentina, Pablo Giorgelli's romantic road movie "Las Acacias" arrived Cannes' Camera d'Or. Alejandro Landes' true-account tale "Porfirio" stories a motorized wheel chair-bound man's building wrath at condition paperwork. Many Horizontes gamers emerged through Films happening, the San Sebastian and Toulouse fests' completion finance showcase: Brazilian Julia Murat's ghost village set "Historias que so existem quando lembradas," now bound for Venice Days Iria Gomez Concheiro's slow-burning Mexican barrio drama "The Cinema Endure,Inch which performed Sundance Bernardo Arellano's 2010 FIP Industry Award champion "Between Day and night" and the other Sundance player, Carlos Moreno's social satire "All Of Your Dead Ones," created by Diego Ramirez's 64 Films. Horizontes also leaves room for lesser-known films: Sebastian Cordero's low-budget, free-wheeling road movie, "Pescador," created by Colombian Alejandro Arango's burgeoning genre giant Contento Films Oscar Godoy's Fabula-created "Ulysses," a unique immigration tale seen at April's Bay Area Festival and "Anonimo," from Chilean first-timer Renato Perez, in regards to a teen girl's friendship having a guy who hides a dark past. Fest runs Sept. 16-24. Contact Variety Staff at news@variety.com