Notizie

In the late 1980s, Bilbao’s working-class suburbs were a microcosm of newly democratic Spain’s broader socio-economic transformation. Amidst this, Borja Cobeaga’s upcoming comedy, “Breaking Walls” (“Los Aitas”), heads comedically into the evolution of fatherhood during this pivotal era. “Breaking Walls” is produced by Sayaka Producciones (“Colossal”), in collaboration with Inicia Films (“Glimmers”), Bteam Prods (“Schoolgirls”), and Despadres Aie. It follows a group of young gymnasts, all girls, whose fathers are “forced” to chaperone them on a trip to Berlin – a journey that coincides with the historic fall of the Berlin Wall. This road trip becomes a catalyst for these men to discover and redefine their roles as parents.

Cobeaga, collaborating with co-writer Valentina Viso (“Salve Maria”), grounds the film in the political, cultural and economic climate of the time. The opening features industrial stills of Bilbao, interspersed with references to the Pact of Ajuria Enea and the leadership of José Antonio Ardanza.

Over the last six years, thanks in the main to the SVOD revolution, Spain, once known for select auteurs – Pedro Almodóvar, J.A. Bayona, Fernando Trueba – has stepped fully onto the world stage as a European film and TV power.

Appropriately then, Spain is the Country in Focus 2025 at Berlin Festival’s European Film Market. Its movie strand says much about Spanish cinema, while Berlin, at large, points up Spain’s larger film industry challenges, shared by much of Europe.

The Focus’ biggest takeaway is Spain’s dramatic explosion of new talent, both producers and directors. In a Spain at the Forefront showcase, 10 Spanish producers making up a Producers Program will talk up their companies and current projects. Another 10 producers form part of Visitors Program at the Berlinale Co-Production Market.

Launched in 1995, Morena Films will unveil “8,” the latest from “Sex and Lucía” helmer Julio Medem. Avalon, producer of Berlin Golden Bear winner “Alcarràs,...

Hit by last year’s Hollywood’s strikes, total box office in 2024 in Spain dipped 2% compared to 2023, breaking three consecutive years of recovery over 2021-23, Comscore Movies Spain announced Monday. At 71 million admissions, attendance edged down 5% compared to last year.

At €477 million ($496.1 million), total box office in Spain was 29% below a pre-covid 19 average over 2017-19, but still 21% up on a post-pandemic average over 2021-23 as Spain and box office at large around the world continues its halting rebound from 2020.

That said, some 2024 results in Spain were heartening.

While first half admissions were 13% down on same period last year, the second half regained momentum against the same period in 2023, auguring well for 2025, observed David Rodríguez, Comscore Movies general manager for Spain and Portugal.

“Inside Out 2” grossed a spectacular €45.5 million ($47.3 million), the second best result for any movie in Spain since “Spanish Affair” in 2014 (€56 million: $58 million), just bested by “Avatar: The Way of Water...

Buenos Aires-based FilmSharks has closed new distribution deals for “I Can’t Live Without You” (“No puedo vivir sin ti”), the latest comedy from Argentina’s most bankable star, Adrián Suar.

Warner Bros. Discovery clinched rights for Eastern Europe, while New People Film Company secured rights to Cis, which includes Russia, and the Baltic states, Tanweer for Greece and Av Jet for Taiwan. Distribution rights for France, Germany, Korea, Australia and China are under discussion.

FilmSharks subsidiary The Remake Company has also sealed remake deals for the social satire with Italy’s Federation and Mexico’s BH5 with French, German, Chinese and Korean adaptation talks underway.

“This modern and realistic high concept comedy about cell phone addiction has translated globally very well, raising its distribution and remake potential,” said FilmSharks CEO-founder Guido Rud.

The latest from the producers of Spain’s reigning #1 Comedy “Ocho Apellidos Vascos” (“Spanish Affair”), the Spanish-Argentine co-production...

European distributor Newen Connect has boarded “All in Favor,” a bigscreen adaptation of Santiago Requejo’s award-winning short film “Votamos.”

“All in Favor” is set at a downtown Madrid building where an ordinary meeting of neighbors to vote on the change of elevator escalates into a full-blown conflict after the unexpected announcement that a new tenant with mental health issues will rent an apartment.

Requejo is writing and director the feature film with an ensemble cast including Clara Lago (“Spanish Affair”), Gonzalo de Castro, Tito Valverde, Raúl Fernández de Pablo, Neus Sanz (“Volver”), Charo Reina, Christian Checa (“On the Fringe”) and Pepe Carrasco (“Way Down”).

The filmmaker said he believed in the universal themes of “All in Favor,” because it tells a story that “can reach, entertain, and move people from many countries.”

Requejo’s short came out in 2021 and went on to win more than 100 international awards, earned a nomination at the Goya Awards,...

The thrill of the chase meets an offbeat character study in Diego San Jose’s latest series “Celeste,” a six-part episodic set to bow at San Sebastian’s Velodrome on Sept. 22.

Produced by Movistar Plus+ and The Mediapro Studio’s 100 Balas, with The Mediapro Studio Distribution handling international sales, the slyly enthralling first season follows Sara, an uninspiring tax investigator inching through life. On the cusp of early retirement, she’s lured into staying on the job for one last case – running down Latin pop star Celeste, who’s rumored to be taking advantage of her status to evade paying dues.

Setting out to make a thriller he likens to “Zodiac” or “Seven” but with a twist, San José manages an act of rebellion certain to shake monotonous algorithms and pull a curious, rapt audience. While not a masochist, he admits to craving change – and as he crafted this wily,...

“It’s not TV,” HBO used to claim of itself. Watching the first 12 minutes made public of Enrique Urbizu’s crime thriller “When No One Sees Us,” Max’s first Spanish original sneak-peaked at San Sebastián Festival Monday morning, the legendary HBO slogan came to mind.

Rather than TV, the scenes are pure cinema of the highest order.

In them, a man, Antonio Jiménez, 38, dressed in a white ceremonial robe, kneels, draws a sword, carefully places it to his abdomen, and commits hari-kari.

Then a float of the local virgin edges down a street of whitewashed houses on the first day of Holy Week, in the village of Morón de la Frontera, Andalusia, southern Spain. When it stops, a young man emerges from the packed rows of penitents carrying it and, now out in the street, hallucinates that fellow black-hooded penitents and then the float itself levitate high in the sky.

Clara Lago, best known for her roles in hit romcom “Spanish Affair” and Andi Baiz suspense drama “The Hidden Face,” will star opposite Chile’s indefatigable Alfredo Castro in the Iberseries Co-Production Forum-bound “Queen of the Woods” (“La reina del bosque”).

To be directed by Luján Loioco, the drama is produced by Loioco’s Buenos Aires-based Libre Cine alongside Argentine-Spanish company Non Stop, Brazil’s Cinefilm and the U.S.-based Bosco Entertainment, run by Julio Bove.

“Queen of the Woods” is described as a female-driven suspense film that tells the story of a failed relationship between a pregnant woman and her dying father. Forced to spend their last days together while isolated in a mountain cabin, she must confront the ghosts of her childhood to discover the kind of mother she truly wants to be, the synopsis goes.

“I aim to craft a story that truly connects with the audience.

Seasoned international sales agent Oscar Alonso, one of Spain’s best-known – and well-regarded – executives in overseas markets, has joined Madrid-based Lazona as head of distribution at its domestic distribution arm Lazona Pictures.

A prominent player on Spain’s film scene, as a producer Lazona was behind “Spanish Affair,” the highest-grossing national movie in Spanish history grossing €55.2 million ($59.7 million) at cinema theaters in 2014.

Lazona also produced Enrique Urbizu’s “No Rest for the Wicked,” which swept six Spanish Academy awards in 2012, including best picture, as well as auteurist hits such as Manuel Martin Cuenca’s 2017 Toronto winner “El autor” and banner Spanish TV series, led by Movistar Plus+ “Gigantes” (2017-18), also from Urbizu.

A former senior executive at Madrid-based Latido Films, one of the Spanish-speaking world’s top film sales agents, Alonso joined Latido in 2005, serving as its festivals manager – and a sales executive during colleagues’ during colleagues’ absences – before being...

“The Champion” is a Netflix movie starring Swit Eme and Dani Rovira. It is directed by Carlos Therón.

“The Champion” is a Spanish film that delves into the complex task of disciplining a troubled young lad. In this unique narrative, a 20-year-old footballer, portrayed by the young actor Swit Eme, showcases the journey of a challenging youth in the glamorous world of football. Interestingly, Dani Rovira sheds his comic roles to participate in this dramatic tale of education as the player’s professor.

Other notable characters in the film include Pablo Chiapella who plays the role of the young man’s father, and Luis Fernandez, who brilliantly embodies the footballer’s manager. The film provides a glimpse into the world of wealth, fancy cars, whimsical desires, and their influence on young lives.

Plot Synopsis

Diego, a football genius on the field, but a problematic person off it, faces a critical...

Una historia de fútbol, superación y amistad. © Netflix

Netflix ha publicado el primer tráiler de su nueva película “El Campeón”, una conmovedora historia ambientada en el mundo del fútbol sobre dos personajes condenados a entenderse.

“El Campeón” sigue a Diego (Serrano), que acaba de ser elegido mejor jugador joven europeo y, con tan solo 20 años, va camino de conseguir que su equipo, el Atlético de Madrid, sea el campeón de Laliga. Pero el club, harto de los excesos de Diego y de su carácter impetuoso y conflictivo, decide contratar a Álex (Rovira), un retraído y solitario profesor de psicología, para que modere su comportamiento. Ninguno de los dos tendrá más remedio que aprender a entender al otro.

La película está dirigida por Carlos Therón y protagonizada por Marcel Serrano (“Mar Afuera”) – también conocido como el rapero Swit Eme – y Dani Rovira. Completan el reparto Pablo Chiapella (“La que se Avecina...

FilmSharks has released the international trailer for “The Bus of Life,” the latest feature from Barcelona-based Arcadia Motion Pictures, producers of Pablo Berger’s Oscar-nominated movie “Robot Dreams” and Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s Cesar and Goya-winner “The Beasts.”

“The Bus of Life,” which will be released in Spain by A Contracorriente Films on July 3, is directed by Ibón Cormenzana, a producer of both of those films.

In the film, Andrés, a music teacher diagnosed with cancer, heads into the city to seek treatment for the illness. He makes the commute in a dilapidated school bus accompanied by other cancer patients. The bus is inspired by the real-life experiences of a Basque relative of Cormenzana’s.

Despite the consequences of their journey, the passengers strike quick friendships and turn the voyage into a celebratory one, where many learn a more joyous understanding of life. Andrés also learns to face his fears, such as stage fright,...

Ibon Cormenzana dirige esta inspiradora historia basada en hechos reales. © AContracorriente

Ya se ha publicado el primer tráiler de la película “El Bus de la Vida”. Una película que promete conmover al público con una trama cargada de emotividad y esperanza.

“El Bus de la Vida” sigue a Andrés, un profesor de música que trabaja en Madrid y que tiene que trasladarse a un pueblo vasco para cubrir una vacante en un instituto. Con 40 años recién cumplidos y sin haber superado nunca el miedo escénico, siente que su nueva vida le aleja de su sueño de ser músico. Cuando llega allí, en su primer día de clase se desmaya a causa de un fuerte zumbido en el oído: es cáncer. Para recibir tratamiento, tiene que viajar al hospital de Bilbao en el Bus de la Vida, un viejo autocar que transporta gratuitamente a todos los enfermos de la zona. Gracias a las risas,...

Descubre el plan de unos padres para recuperar a sus hijos. © Sony Pictures

Ya está en marcha el rodaje de la comedia familiar “Mis Hijos Valen Oro”, una ópera prima de Susan Béjar. La película, basada en la francesa “Mes Très Chers Enfants”, de Alexandra Leclère, cuenta con un guion escrito por Béjar y Ángela Armero (“Si Yo Fuera Rico”).

En un pueblo de la Sierra de Madrid, Bego (Gracia Olayo) y Agustín (Antonio Resines) viven una jubilación tranquila entre recetas de cocina, su huerto, la peluquería y partidas de cartas con los amigos. Pero desde que sus hijos, Miguel (Alberto Olmo) y Carla (Clara Lago), se independizaron para irse a vivir a la ciudad, el síndrome del nido vacío parece haberse instalado en el matrimonio, y empiezan a darse cuenta, tristemente, de que sus hijos han empezado a olvidarles. Para colmo, los muy sinvergüenzas no acuden a la comida...

Buenos Aires-based FilmSharks has acquired international sales and remake rights to the Spanish comedy I Cannot Live Without You (No Puedo Vivir Sin Ti).

The project is in post and stars Argentinian superstar Adrian Suar from 30 Nights With My Ex and A Boyfriend For My Wife and Paz Vega, whose credits include Lucia y El Sexo, Spanglish, and Rambo: Last Blood.

I Cannot Live Without You centres on a successful middle-aged executive addicted to his devices whose world falls apart when his wife demands a divorce and he signs up for an unusual therapy for cell phone addicts.

Santiago Requejo...

Buenos Aires-based FilmSharks has acquired international sales and remake rights to the Spanish comedy I Cannot Live Without You (No Puedo Vivir Sin Ti).

The project is in post and stars Spanish superstar Adrian Suar from 30 Nights With My Ex and A Boyfriend For My Wife and Paz Vega, whose credits include Lucia y El Sexo, Splanglish, and Rambo: Last Blood.

I Cannot Live Without You centres on a successful middle-aged executive addicted to his devices whose world falls apart when his wife demands a divorce and he signs up for an unusual therapy for cell phone addicts.

Santiago Requejo...

Kicking off on May 15-17 with the LA Independents, with a heavyweight Spanish-language presence, the LA Screenings then host Hollywood studio presentations. To help cut through the slates, – especially at the LA Independents but including some big studio plays – here’s Variety’s pick of 20 top titles:

“The Americas,” (NBCU, BBC Studios)

Narrated by Tom Hanks, his first unscripted narrator gig, and billed as an epic natural history series from “Planet Earth” producer BBC Studios Natural History Unit in association with Universal Television Alternative Studio. Scored by two-time Oscar winner Hans Zimmer and using groundbreaking technology to reveal the continent’s natural wonders. Previewed at MipTV, in a presentation which was one of the biggest events of the whole market.

“Amia,” (Dori Media Group)

Unfolding against the background of the terror attacks of 1992 on the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires and in 1994 against Amia, the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association, the...

La película promete ser una mirada honesta, conmovedora y esperanzadora sobre la lucha contra el cáncer. © AContracorriente

Ya se ha publicado el primer avance de la película “El Bus de la Vida”. Una película que promete conmover al público con una trama cargada de emotividad y esperanza.

“El Bus de la Vida” sigue a Andrés, un profesor de música que trabaja en Madrid y que tiene que trasladarse a un pueblo vasco para cubrir una vacante en un instituto. Con 40 años recién cumplidos y sin haber superado nunca el miedo escénico, siente que su nueva vida le aleja de su sueño de ser músico. Cuando llega allí, en su primer día de clase se desmaya a causa de un fuerte zumbido en el oído: es cáncer. Para recibir tratamiento, tiene que viajar al hospital de Bilbao en el Bus de la Vida, un viejo autocar que transporta gratuitamente a todos los enfermos de la zona.

Descubre los detalles de la serie y los lugares emblemáticos de Madrid que han sido escenario de esta apasionante serie. © Prime Video

El rodaje de la serie original de Prime Video, “Su Majestad”, ha llegado a su fin. Se trata de una comedia se sitúa en el año 2024. Pilar es una joven Princesa y futura Reina de España que, de forma repentina y precipitada, se ve obligada a quedarse al frente de la institución después de que un escándalo protagonizado por su padre, el Rey Alfonso Xiv, le aparte de la escena pública durante unos meses. Pilar debe demostrar al país que no es la mujer irresponsable, insolente, vaga e inútil que todos creen que es. Lo que ocurre es que, de todos modos, tienen razón.

“Su Majestad” está protagonizada por Anna Castillo como la Princesa Pilar y Ernesto Alterio como Guillermo, el Secretario de la Princesa. Completan el reparto...

Homegrown hits led by A Moroccan Affair and Championext, an explosion of comedies and the solid performance of several European indies have helped the Spanish box office to withstand the lack of US releases following the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes last year.

Local productions were the highest grossing independent films at the Spanish box office in the year ending February 2024, with Álvaro Fernández Armero’s A Moroccan Affair at the top of the list.

The 2023 Spanish box office total was €504 million, with 77.8 million tickets sold, representing a 26% increase on 2022.

The two biggest Spanish films are both part of existing franchises.

FilmSharks has taken world sales rights outside Spain to “The Bus of Life,” next up from Arcadia Motion Pictures, producer of Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s Cesar and Goya winner “The Beasts” and Neon U.S. pick-up “Robot Dreams,” nominated last month for a best animated feature Academy Award.

The production and sales company has also revealed first look art work on the film, currently in post and set for delivery in 2024.

Directed by Ibón Cormenzana, producer of both “The Beasts” and Robot “Dreams,” “The Bus of Life” turns on Andrés, a music teacher diagnosed with cancer who seeks treatment at a hospital in the city.

His travels there on a singular, dilapidated bus accompanied by other cancer patients. It soon becomes an extraordinary experience, giving him new friends and a far more joyous understanding of life.He also learns to conquer his fears, such as the stage fright which has frustrated...

The growing pantheon of films and TV series inspired by podcasts continues apace with such noteworthy spinoffs as “Homecoming,” “The Dropout” and “WeCrashed” leading the pack.

It doesn’t seem so common in the Spanish language but Spanish podcast producer TrueStory is hoping to change that. The award-winning three-year-old company, operating from the U.S. and Spain, has inked a pact with Spanish production companies Kowalski Films (box office hit “Ocho Apellidos Vascos”) and Feelgood Media (Icíar’s Bollaín’s “Maixabel”) to co-create a podcast of actual events that can later be adapted into audiovisual formats.

To date, titles adapted from Spanish-language podcasts are few, although some have emerged in recent years, led by “El gran apagón” from Podium Podcast, which inspired the Movistar Plus+ series “Offworld” (“Apagón”); “El crimen de la guardia urbana” on Netflix, adapted from Carlos Porta’s podcast “Crims”; and “XRey,” the podcast about former Spanish...

Bringing one of Spain’s biggest potential box office hits onto the market at the AFM, Filmax has secured international sales to “A Moroccan Affair,” the third instalment in the most successful Spanish movie franchise in history.

“Moroccan Affair” is produced by Telecinco Cinema and Lazona, the duo behind the first two instalments of the saga, comedies “Spanish Affair” (2014) and “Spanish Affair 2” (2015), which still rank as the biggest, and third-biggest, respectively, Spanish-produced box office hits of all time at Spain’s box office, grossing a combined €90.9 million ($96.3 million).

Set to open in Spain Dec. 1, released by Universal Pictures Intl. Spain, “A Moroccan Affair” is directed by Alvaro Fernández Armero, who called the film “a comedy in which culture shocks are the driving comedic force.”

The film stars Julián López (“Undercover Wedding Crashers”), Michelle Jenner (“Our Lovers”), Elena Irureta (“Patria”) and María Ramos (“El Cid”).

Written by Daniel Castro (“Vote for Juan...

Barcelona-based Filmax has swooped on international sales rights to “El amor de Andrea” (“Andrea’s Love”), the new feature by leading Spanish auteur Manuel Martín Cuenca, whose “The Motive” snagged a Fipresci Grand Prize at Toronto Film Festival, and was his third film selected for the festival.

“Andrea’s Love” is backed by Lazona, producers of the highest-grossing Spanish film ever on home turf, “Spanish Affair,” and Alebrije, behind Mexico’s all-time biggest box office hit, “Instructions Not Included.”

Also producing from Spain are La Loma Blanca, Martin Cuenca’s own label, tax incentive structure El Amor de Andrea Aie and Nephilim Producciones.

Martín Cuenca and Lola Mayo (“Woman Without Piano”) co-wrote “Andrea’s Love,” described as a film about love, family and disillusionment.

The story revolves around Andrea, a 15-year-old girl, who’s trying to win back the love of her father, who left her and her younger brothers...

Chile’s preeminent scribe Julio Rojas, whose serial podcast “Case 63” was Spotify’s most popular podcast in Latin America and was adapted into English with Julianne Moore and Oscar Isaac starring, is writing his first romcom after the global success of “Case 63.”

Titled “Detras de ti”, the upcoming project is being co-produced by Spain’s EvaFilms and David Naranjo’s Pris & Batty, best known for its hit comedies “8 apellidos vascos,” “8 apellidos catalanes” and “Toc toc.”

“Ever since I listened to ‘Case 63,’ I was very keen to work with Julio and bring his work to the big screen,” said Eva Cebrián of EvaFilms, adding: “Julio is an indisputable storyteller who has most understood the audio format, given his deep experience as a screenwriter.”

While Rojas has a predilection for sci-fi projects, Cebrián pointed out that romance was very much intrinsic to his work. “Detras de ti” will be a departure for Rojas,...

“Chinas,” the third feature from Spanish writer-director Arantxa Echevarria, who won the Goya for best new director in 2018 for her Debut, “Carmen & Lola,” has been acquired for international sales by Latido Films.

Filmed in Madrid’s Chinatown, the narrative follows two disparate families with ties to China, navigating the weighty segregation of a city that for better or worse, they call home.

“These neighborhoods allow immigrants to weave networks of solidarity and community. They cling to them as part of their own identity away from home, but they also become spaces that distance them from the true reality of where they live” Echevarria told Variety.

Yun is nine, a second-generation immigrant whose family lives in the neighborhood, she calls herself Lucía and oscillates between a strict and traditional homelife and an assimilated Spanish life at school. While Claudia, her 17-year-old sister, rebels fully, coming into her own while met...

Amazon’s Prime Video has announced a 2023 Spanish production slate which takes in movies and series from directors, writers and above all producers who have set Spain’s box office and global streamer rankings on fire over the last decade.

Talent attached to the three new movies and three series unveiled Tuesday in Madrid at a Prime Video Presents Spain event include “Hildegart,” from the producers of 2022 Berlin Golden Bear winner “Alcarràs,” “Un hipster en la España vacía,” produced by Lazona Films, which made ”Spanish Affair,” the highest grossing Spanish film ever in Spain; and “Apocalipsis Z: El principio del fin,” backed by Nostromo Pictures, behind “Through My Window,” the sixth-most watched non-English movie ever on Netflix.

Another title, docuseries “El Circo de los Muchachos” is co-written by Pepe Coira, co-scribe of “Hierro” and “Rapa,” two of the most popular series to date on Telefonica’s Movistar+.

The news slate...

Spanish sales agency takes international rights to ’Tic Toc’ director’s latest.

Spanish sales agency Film Factory has landed international rights to The Tenderness, the next comedy from Vicente Villanueva.

Villanueva is the director of Spanish hit Toc Toc, which took 7.2m at the Spanish box-office in 2016 and was handled internationally by Warner Bros.

The Tenderness is produced by David Naranjo at Pris & Batty, the company behind Spanish Affair and Spanish Affair 2, which rank as the two highest-grossing Spanish films of all time in Spain.

The film is backed by Rtve and Movistar Plus+. Universal Pictures will handle Spanish distribution.

Madrid-based Buenapinta Media, a producer on Maite Alberdi’s Oscar-nominated “The Mole Agent” and Alauda Ruiz de Azúa’s “Lullaby,” has unveiled a development slate that includes new features by Ruiz de Azúa, Cinéfondation alum Guillermo García López, and Borja Cobeaga and Victor García León.

The slate announcement comes one week after “Lullaby,” hailed by Pedro Almodovar as “undoubtedly the best debut in Spanish cinema for years,” triumphed at the 2023 Spanish Academy Awards, winning best first feature, actress (Laila Costa) and supporting actress (Susi Sánchez)

The 2023-24 production slate at Buenapinta Media, headed by Marisa Fernández Armenteros, also features Isabel Coixet’s just-announced “Un Amor.”

“Lullaby’s” four producers — Sandra Hermida, Buenapinta Media, Encanta Films and Sayaka Producciones — are now backing development on Ruiz de Azúa’s second feature. She is writing the screenplay.

Buenapinta is also developing “Cuidad sin sueño,” from García López, whose “Frágil Equilibrio” won a 2016 best doc feature Goya.

Carol Polakoff, a two-time Directors Guild of America award winner, is teaming with “Exodus” producer Denise O’Dell to adapt to the big screen “Speak Sunlight,” American writer Alan Jolis’ much-loved memoir.

Now in pre-production and scheduled to shoot from May 8, the high-profile title is produced by Madrid-based Babieka Films, most recently behind Netflix hit “The Paramedic,” and L.A.’s Viewfinder Pictures.

“Speak Sunlight” (“La Voz del Sol”) marks the directorial debut of journalist-screenwriter Polakoff whose curriculum includes two DGA wins and three Daytime Emmy Awards nominations for “ABC Afterschool Specials.” Most recently, Polakoff produced Daniel Rosenberg’s 2020 Cannes Official Selection title “The Death of Cinema and My Father Too,” which won a Cannes Label for making the cut in Thierry Frémaux’s First Features category.

To film in Spanish, with a smattering of French, “Speak Sunlight” is written by Polakoff with a Spanish version from Natxo López, a creator...

Karla Souza and Dani Rovira, two of the foremost Hispanic actors with comedic chops, have joined the upcoming musical comedy, “Voy a pasarmelo bien” (“I’m Going to Have a Good Time”), produced by Sony Pictures International Productions (Spip), El Estudio and Spanish pop-rock band, Hombres G.

Mexico City-born Souza has starred in three of Mexico’s top-grossing pics: “Nosotros Los Nobles,” “Instructions Not Included” and “Que Culpa Tiene el Niño.” Her TV credits include ABC comedy series “Home Economics” and “How to Get Away with Murder.”

Spanish actor-comic Rovira made his big screen debut with Spanish blockbuster comedy “Spanish Affair” and has starred in the 2018 Spip romcom “Miamor Perdido,” among others.

The film is inspired by the music of the iconic band Hombres G, which rose to prominence in the ‘80s with their Beatles and British new wave-influenced music. Based in Madrid, Hombres G have published 12 studio albums to...

“Why don’t you come around for dinner?,” Barcelona lifeguard Gerard Casals (Dani Rovira) asks his boss, Oscar Camps (Eduard Fernández), at the beginning of “Mediterráneo: The Law of the Sea.”

“I’ve got other plans,” says Camps. Cut to his sitting on his sofa, eating a warmed-up microwave dinner watching TV on his laptop.

Then Camps catches a news report featuring the horrific images of 3-year-old Syrian toddler Alan Kurdi, his lifeless body lying on a Turkish beach, washed by waves, after the dingy he was in capsized.

Two days later, Oscar and Gerard are sitting on a beach in Lesbos, Greece, looking across at the hulking headlands of Turkey, just seven miles away across a strait that separates Asia from the European Union. “People are dying in the sea; we’re lifeguards,” he says. So begins Camps and Casals’ life mission, which becomes the now celebrated Ngo Open Arms,...

Germany’s Beta Film has picked up world sales on two tales of Spanish power women: Movistar Plus’ originals “Supernormal” and “You Shall Not Lie,” the latter created and directed by “The Red Band Society” helmer Pau Freixas.

Written by Olatz Arroyo and Marta Sánchez, head writers on Atresmedia hit “Down There,” “Supernormal” is directed by Emilio Martínez Lazaro, whose credits take in “Spanish Affair,” the highest grossing Spanish film of all time in Spain. A six-part half-hour, it stars Miren Ibarguren as Patricia, a hyper over-achiever who has it all: a top job at an investment bank, a loving husband and three children, a lovely house in a leafy Madrid suburb. But she wants far more, especial when battling rival Mauro for promotion in the man-dominated high finance world.

A six-hour crime drama-thriller, “You Shall Not Lie” (“Todos Mienten”) is produced by Filmax, the Barcelona-based production-distribution-sales studio behind Freixas...

Where can Netflix Spain go after hit show “Money Heist”? On Thursday, it unveiled seven new Spanish originals, including “Feria” from “Elite” creator Carlos Montero, that sketch some kind of answer and roadmap for the U.S. streaming giant in one of its European production powerhouses.

Though Netflix in Spain has seen its biggest global hits in two iconic young adult series, “Money Heist” and “Elite,” now, more than ever before, as it transforms into a general entertainment service, the U.S. streaming giant is mixing it up.

The seven new originals, set for release from 2021, run a gamut from Netflix’s first short format series to its most ambitious doc series ever, “800 Meters,” to two features, a standup special and just one drama series.

“Our vocation is to go on exciting the world with the charisma, diversity and creativity of stories made in Spain, and contribute to maintaining Spanish...

Beta Entertainment Spain is joining forces with Nicely Entertainment, the L.A.-based outfit run by former Gaumont executive Vanessa Shapiro, to produce the TV thriller series project “The Tamer.”

The project, about a serial killer who tames and trains other killers to take down more of their kind, has attached Spain’s Paco Torres (“El vuelo del tren”) as writer, director and showrunner, alongside Mexican director of photography Guillermo Navarro, who won an Academy Award for Guillermo del Toro’s “Pan’s Labyrinth.”

This deal marks an early incursion into the international TV drama production sector by Beta Entertainment Spain, the Madrid-based joint venture launched late last year by European film-tv giant Beta Film and Spanish producer Javier Pérez de Silva.

Bes is conceived as a bridge into the U.S. and Latin American TV markets.

“Partnering with U.S. and Latin American companies was a top priority for us.

Navarre has never had such a prominent presence at the San Sebastian Festival as in this year’s lineup.

Five linked-to-Navarre productions – three films, a TV series and a documentary – will screen at the Festival, highlighting its status as a standout hub for the Spanish audiovisual industry.

Navarre’s higher-profile at San Sebastian, the biggest movie event in the Spanish-speaking world, is no coincidence.

Since 2015, the northern Spain region has attracted Spanish productions and co-production shoots thanks in part to a 35% corporate tax deduction for Navarre-based companies investing in productions that spend at least 40% of their budgets in the territory.

Productions such as HBO’s “Game of Thrones,” Terry Gillian’s “The Man Who Killed Don Quixote,” Asian B.O. hit “Line Walker 2: Invisible Spy,” Netflix hit prison drama “La noche de 12 años,” and local blockbuster “Ocho apellidos vascos” (“Spanish Affair”) filmed there in recent years.

The region is taking advantage of accessible,...

Madrid — Mediapro, one of Europe’s biggest independent film-tv groups, has tapped Spanish writer-showrunner Diego San José, co-scribe of the smash-hit “Spanish Affair” movie franchise, to develop exclusive new TV fiction contents.

San José has previously been involved in two Mediapro projects, as co-writer and co-creator of political comedy “Vota Juan,” a co-production with Turner España aired on TNT, and co-writer of Borja Cobeaga’s “Fe de Etarras,” Netflix’s second original Spanish film, released in 2017.

He joins an already large list of content creatives tapped by Mediapro in recent years with the aim of strengthening its growing role as a key TV fiction powerhouse in Spain and the international market. That team takes in Emmy-winning Ran Tellem (“Homeland”), Iván Escobar (“Vis a vis”), Javier Olivares (“The Department of Time”), Marc Vigil (“Red Eagle”), Fernando González Molina (“The Boat”) and Daniel Burman (“Edha”), among dozens of other screenwriters and directors.

Cannes — John Malkovich and Russell Smith’s L.A.-based Mr. Mudd has boarded “Brando,” the next film from Spain’s Manuel Martín Cuenca, a director who has grown into one of Spain’s preeminent auteurs.

Gonzalo Sálazar-Simpson’s Madrid-based production house Lazona Films and Martín Cuenca’s own label La Loma Blanca produce the project from Spain. Julio and Carlos Fernández’s Spanish mini-major Filmax will distribute in Spain a project which marks maybe Martín Cuenca’s most international yet: an English-language road movie described as being “in the best traditions of U.S. independent cinema,” Filmax said in a statement Wednesday.

Also handling international sales on “Brando,” Filmax has been introducing the title to buyers at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.

“This is my most personal and ambitious project,” said Martín Cuenca. He added that the film “will allow me to explore a different kind of love...

When culture-clashing works, it’s “gold,” an executive tells me. And that’s no joke. But while Europe has seen a string of local-language successes in the genre, none has recently gotten a U.S. remake, despite Hollywood’s fondness for mining other countries’ hits. The Spanish Affairs movies, although wildly successful at home, are likely to be no different. Following last year’s record-breaking comedy Ocho Apellidos Vascos (Spanish Affairs), the sequel this weekend set…...

Exclusive: Former TWC exec to join as co-md, Upip, alongside Peter Kujawski.

Robert Walak, recently departed from TWC, is to join Universal Pictures International Productions as co-managing director alongside La-based MD Peter Kujawski.

Following a record-breaking year at the international box office, the appointment by Universal is a statement of intent and further bolsters the international division, which lost UK-based president David Kosse to Film4 last year.

London-based Walak will begin in the role in December and report to Universal chairman Donna Langley.

Like Kujawski, Walak will be tasked with expanding the studio’s global presence through internationally oriented acquisitions, productions and local-language product.

Walak stepped down from his post at TWC earlier this month after two years at the company, most recently as managing director Europe/president production, acquisitions and television.

He joins Universal as the studio is riding a phenomenal wave, both domestically and on the international stage.

Universal Pictures International...

Back in March I had the great pleasure of attending the Miami Dade College’s Miami International Film Festival, a world-class event with an incredible program, enriching industry events, and outstanding parties as they could only happen in Miami. But the festival doesn't only shine in the spring, its permanent fall event is yet another film lovers haven and was created to whet Festivalgoers' appetites for next year’s 33rd edition running March 4-13, 2016.The lineup for this event, appropriately titled Gems 2015, was announced this morning

Taking place over four days (October 22 – 25, 2015), Gems will premiere highly acclaimed films from Cannes, Berlin & Sundance; Oscar hopefuls; and international box office sensations from the U.S., Spain, Chile, Italy, France, Colombia, and many others. Mdc's Tower Theater Miami will serve as the exclusive venue for all screenings and seminars. Note that this is the only major film festival worldwide produced by a college or university.

Gems will open with director John Crowley’s "Brooklyn," which premiered at Sundance back in January and stars Oscar-nominates actress Saoirse Ronan. The festival will close with Warner Bros' anticipated "The 33" starring Antonio Banderas, Juliette Binoche, Rodrigo Santoro, Cate Del Castillo, Mario Casas and Lou Diamond Phillips.

The Festival’s Executive Director & Director of Programming Jaie Laplante states, “Film festivals are dazzling times, when the shiniest lights of the current cinema are collected in one place for a concentrated moment. So it is with this year's Gems selection, and I invite film lovers of all types to experience las joyas de la corona of the season."

The Gems film slate includes:

1. "Brooklyn" (USA / Ireland), directed by John Crowley *Opening Night Film

Adapted by Nick Hornby ("An Education") from the Colm Toibin bestselling novel, this 1950s story follows the life of a young Irish woman caught between tradition and passion, between two countries and two futures. Starring Oscar nominee for Atonement, Saoirse Ronan, the cast also includes Jim Broadbent, Julie Walters, Emory Cohen, and Domhnall Gleason.

2. "The 33" (USA / Chile), directed by Patricia Riggen *Closing Night Film

An international rescue effort to save 33 Chilean miners trapped 2,300 foot underground for 69 days in the Copiapó mine riveted over a billion people in 2010, and now a superb international film adaptation recreates the details of that unprecedented event. The epic list of cast names includes Antonio Banderas, Juliette Binoche and Rodrigo Santoro.

3. "The Assassin" (Taiwan), directed by Hou Hsiao-Hsien *Winner of the Best Director Award at Cannes 2015

In 9th century China, 10-year-old Nie Yinniang is abducted by a nun who transforms her into an impressive warrior. One day, she is sent back to the land of her birth, with orders to kill the man whom she was promised, and Nie Yinniang must choose: assassinate the man she loves or break forever from the scared honor of her training.

4. "The Club" (El club) (Chile), directed by Pablo Larraín

Director Pablo Larraín's follow-up to his global success and Oscar-nominated "No," (starring Gael Garcia Bernal), is a tough, scathing and psychologically sobering indictment on the Catholic Church's handling of moral failings within the institution.

5. "Embrace of the Serpent" (El abrazo de la serpiente) (Colombia), directed by Ciro Guerra *Winner of the Top Directors' Fortnight Award at Cannes 2015

Guerra’s previous film, "The Wind Journeys" (2009), was an international hit and one of the 2010 Festival's most popular films in Miami. For his new film, Guerra travels deep into the wilds of the Amazon jungle, and into the dangerous territory of the historical past. This is an epic and thrilling journey, capped with velvety, rich black & white cinematography, confirming Guerra's status as one of Latin America's most confident talents.

6. "Havana Motor Club" (USA / Cuba), directed by Bent-Jorgen Perlmutt

One of the most fascinating events of Miami International Film Festival in 2014 was filmmaker Bent-Jorgen Perlmutt's special presentation on his creative process in constructing his portrait of Cuba's top underground drag racers of classic American cars. A year later, the film is now complete, and Gems is delighted to bring Perlmutt back to Miami to share the finished work.

7. "It’s Now or Never" (Ahora o nunca) (Spain), directed by Maria Ripoll

This summer's biggest homegrown box office hit in Spain, It's Now or Never pairs Spain's newest film star, Dani Rovira, whose charms help propel "Spanish Affair" (Ocho apellidos vascos) to become Spain's all-time box office champion, with the luminous Goya winner María Valverde, who gets a rare opportunity to demonstrate her comedic gifts. The result is a frothy, frisky comedy of first-class creative power, expertly timed and filled with joyous performances, from the leads to the delightful character actors found in even the smallest roles. Clara Largo and Alicia Rubio co-star in this comedy that once again proves no one does inspired silliness quite like the Spanish.

8. "Krisha" (USA), directed by Trey Edward Shults

Winner of both the Grand Jury Price and the Audience Award at SXSW earlier this year, Trey Edward Shults’ highly personal and compelling hypnotic drama was also selected at this year’s Critics Week in Cannes. Shults has already drawn comparisons to the work of legendary American independent director John Cassavetes for their use of family members in the cast and also their maverick avant-garde style of shooting favoring characters and scenes that envelop the viewer in both observation and emotion.

9. "Mia Madre" (Italy), directed by Nanni Moretti

Nanni Moretti’s "Mia Madre" is possibly his most personal film, and a master class on autobiographical cinema. It displays without question why Moretti is considered one of the most skilled living filmmakers to create powerful universal drama out of our smallest little big tragedies. John Turturro co-stars.

10. "My Golden Days" (France), directed by Arnaud Desplechin *Winner of Directors Fortnight Award at Cannes 2015

After years working abroad, anthropologist Paul Dedalus (Mathieu Amalric) returns to France to find an explosive emotional time bomb awaits him. This epic coming of age tale portrays first love as a candid, sensual and unique experience that his alter-ego discovers could leave a mark that will last as long as life itself.

11. "A Perfect Day" (Spain), directed by Fernando León de Aranoa.

Spanish director Fernando León de Aranoa makes his first English language film with this Cannes-debuting tale of 24 hours in the lives of two veteran humanitarian aid workers in the waning days of the 1995 Balkan War. Veteran Hollywood stars Benicio del Toro and Tim Robbins are in fine form as the leads, who hold on to their boyish charms even as they age with graceful wisdom.

12. "Trash" (U.K. / Brazil), directed by Stephen Daldry. *Special Gems Preview Night on October 5, 2015.

Three-time Best Director Oscar nominee Stephen Daldry ("Billy Elliott," "The Hours," "The Reader") delivers the soaring triumphs of his earlier successes, while shining a spotlight on the sobering challenges facing one of the world's most closely-watched cities, Rio de Janeiro. The high-powered cast includes Brazilian superstars Wagner Moura ("Elite Squad") and Selton Mello ("Jean Charles," "The Clown"), as well as Martin Sheen and Rooney Mara.

13. "Yona" (Israel), directed by Nir Bergman

Like a "living thunderbolt", the bold and nonconformist Yona Wallach stormed through Tel-Aviv's male-dominated political and poetry circles in the 1960s. Yona’s work eventually became recognized in the most prominent literary books and magazines of her time, and she was honored with the Israeli Prime Minister’s Literary Award in 1978. Director Nir Bergman’s biopic vividly captures Yona’s highs, lows and her brave rebellion against a chauvinistic society with her unique voice.

14. "Youth" (Italy), directed by Paolo Sorrentino

The space (and communion) between the generations is the subject of Paolo Sorrentino's newest Fellini-tinged masterpiece. Coming off his 2014 Oscar win for Best Foreign Language Film for "The Great Beauty," the Italian auteur is on a roll, orchestrating grand themes around life's wisdom with a phenomenal cast of actors including Michael Caine, Harvey Keitel, Rachel Weisz, and Jane Fonda.

In addition to Gems slate of premieres, the festival will be hosting a heartfelt special Master Class Tribute to the late James Horner. Known as Hollywood’s ultimate movie composer, he passed away in an aircraft accident this past June, not long after completing what would turn out to be one of his final great scores – the music for Patricia Riggen’s "The 33." On the eve of the premiere of the film Miami-based feature film composer Carlos Rafael Rivera ( "A Walk Among The Tombstones," 2014) will take an in-depth look at Horner’s work and career, using cues to demonstrate the powerful, yet often subtle, creative influence Horner brought to specific scenes and entire films.

Tickets will go on sale to Miami Film Society members exclusively on Friday, September 25, 2015 and to the general public on Thursday, October 1, 2015. Tickets: 1-844-565-6433(Miff) or www.miamifilmfestival.com/Gems.

Exclusive: Top brass at Miami Dade College’s Miami International Film Festival have renamed last year’s inaugural MIFFecito four-day mid-season event.

The rebranded Gems will become a permanent part of the festival programme and take place in October.

This year’s mid-season mini-festival is set to run from October 22-25 and will showcase the cream of new cinema alongside masterclasses and social events.

Last year’s inaugural event hosted among the earliest screenings in the Us of Cuba’s Oscar submission Behavior (Conducta), Spain’s box office hit Spanish Affair (Ocho Apellidos Vascos) and Mexico’s Paradise (Paraiso).

“It’s clear that the festival’s programming and style continues to resonate with both veteran and new audiences in the Magic City,” said MiamiFF executive director Jaie Laplante (pictured).

“Gems will give us another opportunity to introduce a specially curated programme of new movies that truly sparkle, as we countdown to the festival’s 33rd edition next March...

Competitive strand will feature 14 films, including Jauja starring Viggo Mortensen.

A total of 14 titles have been selected to compete in Horizontes Latinos at the 62nd San Sebastian Festival (Sept 19-27).

The strand comprises productions from Argentina, Mexico, Chile, Brazil, Uruguay and Colombia that have competed or screneed at international festivals but have yet to be seen in Spain.

The selected films compete for the Horizontes Award, decided by a jury and including a prize of €35,000 ($46,000), of which €10,000 ($13,000) goes to the director of the winning film, and the remaining €25,000 ($33,000) to its distributor in Spain.

Casa Grande

Fellipe Barbosa (Brazil - USA)

Set within Rio’s social elite, a teenage boy struggles to escape his overprotective parents as his family spirals into bankruptcy. This second movie by Brazil’s Fellipe Barbosa was presented in the Official Selection at the Rotterdam Festival.

Ciencias naturales (Natural Sciences)

Matías Lucchesi (Argentina - France)

Presented in the Generation section of the Berlin Festival...

Los Angeles (AP) — Disney and Marvel could be one of the finest teams around. Continuing the success of their superhero franchise, "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" has set a record as the biggest domestic April release ever. The Disney sequel debuted with $96.2 million topping the previous record holder, 2011's "Fast Five," which opened with $86.2 million. Last weekend "The Winter Soldier," which stars Chris Evans as the shield-wielding superhero, and Scarlett Johansson (whose sci-fi "Under the Skin" also debuted this weekend with $140,000) as Black Widow, commanded 32 international markets, gaining $75.2 million in its overseas bow. Expanding to Russia, Australia and China in its second week, the Marvel comic adaptation, boasting a budget of over $170 million, has earned $207.1 million internationally, bringing its overall worldwide haul to over $303 million. Also a touchstone for Imax, "The Winter Soldier" attained $9.6 million on 346 screens showing the film in the enhanced resolution format. Internationally the film showed on...

Los Angeles (AP) — After weathering a sea of controversy, "Noah" arrived in first place at the weekend box office. Paramount's biblical epic starring Russell Crowe in the titular role opened with $44 million, according to studio estimates Sunday. The imaginative take on the tale of Noah's Ark from "Black Swan" director Darren Aronofsky led some religious groups to claim the story had been inaccurately depicted and prompted Paramount to add a disclaimer to marketing materials noting that "artistic license has been taken" in telling the story. The polarizing attention apparently paid off for "Noah," which features such additions to the well-known Bible story as angelic rock creatures and chic wardrobes for Noah and his family. "Noah," which also stars Jennifer Connelly and Emma Watson, also sailed smoothly in 22 international markets, such as Russia and Australia, earning $33.6 million abroad. "It certainly feels like the film has really connected with both mainstream moviegoers...