Juan Sebastián Mesa and Tatiana Huezo, two prominent Latin American filmmakers, have won San Sebastián Film Festival's Industry Awards in its WIP Latam (Works in Progress) section. The awards also recognised several other emerging directors, including Val Jashari, Ingrid Pokropek and Selma Cervantes. San Sebastián, under festival director José Luis Rebordinos, has established itself alongside Cannes as Europe's most significant meeting point for Latin American cinema, playing a vital role for regional industries that face reduced state funding.

The awarded projects represent a diverse range of emerging talent and established production companies. Mesa's "Lovers Go Home!" is a Canada-Colombia co-production following a webcam performer and war veteran; Huezo's "Galerna" centres on casting directors in rural Mexico working on a science fiction film; Jashari's debut "In a Manner of Speaking" explores a fugitive running a bar in Prishtina; and Yrigoyen's "The Amateurs" is set during a film convention where the Maltese Falcon statuette goes missing. Other award-winning projects include "The Illusions," a romantic drama about three strangers whose shooting-star wishes go awry, and "Mourning Sound," the debut feature from short film director Selma Cervantes.