The 12th edition of Ikusmira Berriak, a residency program organized by the San Sebastián International Film Festival, the Tabakalera International Centre for Contemporary Culture, and the Elías Querejeta Zine Eskola (EQZE), selected six audiovisual projects from many submissions. The program, designed to support emerging filmmakers and new creative perspectives, lasted eight weeks, divided into two separate stays. The selected participants arrived at Tabakalera on 9 March, where they worked in the Film and Audiovisual Laboratory until 19 April. During this time, they received specialized guidance from professionals selected based on the needs of each project. In June, each resident received funding to continue their work between the two stays. In September, they returned to the Basque city to finish the residency and presented their work to industry professionals looking for potential collaborators. The European projects selected for the program include The Spirit Healer Is Away for the Weekend by Inês Nunes (Portugal), Akira by Ekain Albite (Spain/Georgia), Los animales magnéticos by Gala Hernández López (France/Spain/Germany), Daemon by Valeria Hofmann (Spain/Chile), and Chas Khouch Kmeng Ropus (Bad Man Good Boy) by Kavich Neang (Cambodia/France). Also selected was the Dominican-Brazilian co-production La canícula, set to be directed by US filmmaker Rod Llaverías. The Spirit Healer Is Away for the Weekend follows the residents of a coastal town witnessing a familiar ritual involving luxury cars and a shopping centre as a refuge from the heat and overcrowding. It is the debut feature by Portuguese director Inês Nunes, produced by Catarina de Sousa for Foi Bonita A Festa. Akira follows Vakhtang, a Georgian scrap dealer living among abandoned warehouses on the Basque coast, who receives an unexpected visit from his cousin Giorgi. After venturing together into the decommissioned Lemóniz nuclear power plant, a strange force compels them to leave everything behind and press on through an endless night. The film is produced by Ana Julia Silvino and Ritxi Lizartza for Spanish outfit Maluta Films, in co-production with Tekla Machavariani for Nushi Film. Los animales magnéticos is set in Berlin in the near future, where Hedda arrives to study a strange phenomenon in bat behaviour. She soon faces nightmares and the symptoms of an impossible pregnancy. More than two centuries earlier, in the 18th century, Berthe, a French aristocrat, has the same birthmark on her neck. The debut feature by Gala Hernández López, who is known for her acclaimed short films, is produced by Eve Robin for New Sight, with co-production by María Zamora for Elastica Films. Daemon follows Liz, a solitary content moderator in a city devastated by wildfires, who discovers that her virtual lover is a being trapped inside her computer. As the boundaries between the real and the digital blur, Liz becomes obsessed with giving it a physical body via a blood-fed bioprinter, putting her humanity at risk in the process. The Chilean director Valeria Hofmann’s debut feature is produced by Paz Lázaro, Edson Sidonie, and Juan Pablo Félix for Spanish company Amore, together with Augusto Matte, Fernando Bascuñan, and Úrsula Budnick for Chilean outfit Máquina. Chas Khouch Kmeng Ropus (Bad Man Good Boy) follows Sinoun, who rushes her half-paralysed husband to hospital after he suffers a stroke, and has to face fear, medical bills, and the return of her estranged eldest son, Tola. Her younger son, Arun, soon joins them, which further exacerbates the strained family dynamics. The new feature by Kavich Neang, whose previous title White Building was part of Venice’s Orizzonti section, is produced by Davy Chou for Cambodian company Anti-Archive and by Marine Arrighi de Casanova for French outfit Apsara Films.