Paraguay will be the guest of honour in Latinamerican Focus

A complete representation of Paraguayan audiovisual productions will attend MAFIZ, the industry area of Festival de Málaga

On the 6th of March, Paraguay will receive the Biznaga de Plata Award by the Mayor of Malaga, Francisco de la Torre

Paraguay will be the country of honour of the 27th Festival de Málaga as part of Latinamerican Focus, a section of MAFIZ aiming to raise awareness of the audiovisual industry and expand the network of professional contacts from the honoured Latin American country. As the icing on the cake, on the 6th of March, the Mayor of Malaga, Francisco de la Torre, will give the Biznaga de Plata Award to the Paraguayan delegation.

The Executive Secretary Minister of Culture, Adriana Ortiz, and the Executive Director of the Paraguayan National Audiovisual Institute (INAP), Christian Gayoso, will lead the Paraguayan presence in Malaga. Likewise, on the 6th of March representatives of audiovisual and tourism entities from the country, such as DINAPI, INAP, SNC, MIC-MAQUILA, COFILMA and SENATUR, will give an interesting conference at the Cajamar auditorium: Hola Málaga, soy Paraguay. This will be the showcase in which the countries’ possibilities and most relevant characteristics of the industry that are strongly opening to international markets will be made known.

MAFIZ will also be the space where Paraguayan filmmakers will be able to present their projects to the international industry. Blanca, by Sady Barrios and Dora María Gómez Paiva; and Aurelia, by Diego Manuel Mauro Morínigo will be part of MAFF. Likewise, Bajo las banderas, el sol, by Juanjo Pereira and Ivana Gisela Urizar; and Yren, by Tania Cattebeke Laconich and Mariana Pineda, will be in Málaga Work in Progress. Héctor Duarte's La Última Obra and Joaquín Pedretti's Una Sola Primavera will also be shown as part of MAFIZ Specials.

During their stay in Malaga, Paraguayan producers will share their experience and knowledge of the industry with their Andalusian colleagues in a renovated Warmi Lab. The Paraguayan participants in this space will be Fátima Fernández Mercado, Cris Arana, Victoria Ramírez and Luján Riquelme. They will be able to enhance, thanks to training given by experts, their creative processes and acquire the necessary tools to move their projects forward with future partners who are committed to their development.

As usual, Málaga Talent will have the participation of a young filmmaker from the guest country. This edition, Mathias Maciel will attend with his project Terror 1926.

Lastly, Festival de Málaga is programming Paraguay’s cycle at Cine Albéniz from the 6th to the 8th of March. This three films in the cycle are El Apartamento (2023) by Michael Kovich J.R., El Tiempo Nublado by Arami Ullón (2014), which participated in the Karlovy Vary Festival, and 7 cajas (2012) by Juan Carlos Maneglia and Tana Schémbori, winner of the Youth Award at San Sebastian Festival and Goya nominee for Best Ibero-American film.