● The non-fiction section of the Cannes Film Festival has revealed the official selection of projects that will take part in the inaugural Docs-in-Progress Chile & Colombia Showcase, a joint initiative that marks a milestone in regional collaboration within this major international documentary platform.
● The four selected projects—two from each country—represent a diverse, auteur-driven, and contemporary sample of Latin American non-fiction cinema in an advanced stage of development. From Chile, the selected titles are “Papito Corazón” and “El Niño Niña y la Orka Gótika”, while Colombia will be represented by “Chilapa´s Girl” and “Antipodal Dreams”.
This announcement consolidates an unprecedented alliance between Chiledoc and Proimágenes Colombia, which will debut at the Marché du Film 2026, one of the world’s leading film markets, taking place from May 12 to 20 in Cannes, France.
A partnership projecting Latin American documentary
The creation of this joint showcase responds to a long-standing historical and creative affinity between both countries. According to Pierre-Alexis Chevit, Director of Cannes Docs, Chile and Colombia “engage in a deep dialogue through their shared passion for creative documentary,” highlighting both the strength of their filmmakers and the richness of their documentary traditions.
In this regard, he emphasized that this collaboration enables artistic, aesthetic, and political connections at a regional level, promoting a “powerful and inspiring” transnational vision of Latin American cinema—especially relevant in today’s global industry context.
For Chiledoc, this initiative represents a new step in its sustained trajectory within Cannes Docs. In previous participations, the country has presented 20 documentaries, six of which have received awards and international co-production agreements.
Its director, Paula Ossandón, highlights that this space has become a “key platform for the international visibility of Chilean documentary,” allowing filmmakers to connect with festivals, sales agents, distributors, and exhibitors.
However, 2026 marks a turning point. “This is the first time that two Latin American countries have jointly organized a showcase at Cannes Docs,” says Ossandón, emphasizing that this initiative breaks away from traditional fragmented representation models and instead proposes a strategy based on regional collaboration.
Four projects, a shared vision
The four selected projects reflect a strong auteur perspective and offer a representative snapshot of contemporary Latin American documentary filmmaking.
Among the Chilean selections is “Papito Corazón”, a co-production between Chile, Germany, and Spain, directed by Tana Gilbert and produced by Paola Castillo, Dirk Manthey, Carolina Astudillo, and Wendy Espinal. This team previously participated in this same platform in 2022 with “Malqueridas”, which won the Alpha Panda Award and went on to receive three major awards at the 2023 Venice International Critics’ Week.
In her second feature film, Tana Gilbert explores an intimate story with Camila and her family, who reconstruct the image of her father—a charismatic con man—through photographs, legal records, and memories fragmented by his violence.
Following its participation in IDFAcademy in 2025 and its recent selection at the FICGuadalajara Docu Lab, Sidka Saavedra, director of the other Chilean project in the Showcase, will arrive at Cannes Docs in May. The film, “The Boy Girl and the Gothik Whale”, is a Chile-Argentina co-production produced by Constanza Schmidt, Sidka Saavedra, and Claudia León.
Reflecting on the project’s journey, Saavedra notes that his experience at IDFA was key to “better understanding how the industry works from the inside. That experience transformed the way I think about the project—it stopped being an intuitive or blind process. Now I feel I’m no longer alone, but part of a community that supports and strengthens the film’s development.”
In this documentary, the director immerses himself in Buenos Aires’ underground drag scene, following Gothik Whale, while his own journey leads him to discover his identity as a trans man. Saavedra describes his first feature as “a love letter to a community I didn’t know would end up being mine, and at the same time, a portrait of the rise of a gothic drag artist to stardom.”
Representing Colombia, the selected documentary “Chilapa´s Girl”, directed by Juana Lotero and produced by Anahí Farfán, Daniel Sánchez, and Juana Lotero, “engages with the complexity of universal experiences: teenage motherhood, gender-based violence, hostile territories, and state neglect, through a sensory and ethnographic journey where cinematic time stretches reality, immersing us in a captivating and moving work,” according to its producers.
Through observation, travel diaries, and mixed media, the film follows Yulieth over several years—a rebellious girl growing up in a border territory marked by natural beauty and deeply rooted machismo. She experiences motherhood, forming a fragile family while confronting cycles of violence passed down through generations of women.
The second Colombian selection is the non-fiction feature “Antipodal Dreams”, directed and produced by Juanita Onzaga. It is the first “docufiction feature film,” according to Onzaga, produced by her own company. For the artist, this showcase represents an opportunity to “find new partners to complete the film, open doors for its distribution, and expand the circulation of non-fiction cinema through its imaginative power and sensory reflection on recent political movements in the Global South.”
In this work, a young Colombian dancer carries in her body the death of her brother, killed during a historical uprising silenced by state violence. Through embodied memory, dreams, and collective creation with her friends, they open a sonic portal that leads them to their antipode in Thailand, finding a ritual for the youth who never returned.
Regarding the hybrid nature of her work, Onzaga explains that her cinema “has developed from the beginning through hybridity and freedom. I am interested in exploring how different perceptions of reality can be evoked through cinematic poetics. Cinema and art are a bridge between humans and the unknown—a bridge to our dead and everything we cannot see, yet exists.”
From Proimágenes Colombia, its Head of Promotion, Carlos Moreno, highlights “the strength of the auteur vision behind both projects.” According to Moreno, “both ‘Muchachita Chilapa’ and ‘Sueños Antípodas’ stand out for the coherence between their artistic vision and formal construction, with special attention to visual and sound elements.”
In his view, this collaboration shows that “both countries are committed to building collaboratively, working under the notion of a network. We share narrative forms that dialogue with one another, and this articulation strengthens those points of connection from a regional perspective.”
Towards a new form of regional presence
Beyond this edition, the initiative could signal broader transformations within Cannes Docs. According to its director, Pierre-Alexis Chevit, this new partnership is presented “as a possible prelude to a future renewal of the Cannes Docs Docs-in-Progress Showcases, as we aim to incorporate greater diversity of projects from a wider range of countries and regions around the world.”
In this sense, the Docs-in-Progress Chile & Colombia Showcase not only presents four outstanding documentaries, but also establishes a new form of Latin American presence on the international stage—one grounded in collaboration, exchange, and the collective construction of the future.
internacional@chiledoc.cl
@copyright Corporación Chilena del Documental CCDoc
