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Bill Skarsgård’s new film debuted in theaters this weekend to underwhelming box office returns. Skarsgård features opposite Anthony Hopkins in Locked, the psychological thriller following a thief who breaks into a luxury SUV only to realize he’s now become a pawn in a sophisticated game. Locked debuted in roughly 971 theaters across the country this weekend and earned $924,000 at the global box office, giving it a per-theater total of under $1,000. The film failed to crack the top 10 during its first weekend in theaters, finishing at #12 behind Dog Man and Paddington in Peru but ahead of Last Breathand Mufasa: The Lion King. Locked is based on the film 4 x 4 by Mariano Cohn and Gastón Duprat, with Michael Arlen Ross writing the script and David Yarovesky directing.

Locked star Bill Skarsgård will always be known for playing Pennywise the Clown in both of Stephen King’s live-action It movies from Andy Muschietti,...

When I saw Mariano Cohn’s 4x4 in Austin at Fantastic Fest in 2019, remake potential never crossed my mind. Sure, Americanizations of international horror films have been the rage (especially since the 2000s), but 4x4—a vehicular lockbox thriller—seemed too niche. But, as I should have guessed, any foreign horror-thriller is prime for the remaking, and you know what? David Yarovesky’s Locked is a stellar representation of Cohn’s ambitious single-location potboiler that customizes enough to give it a new car smell.

Bill Skarsgård stars as criminal protagonist Eddie Barrish, a deadbeat dad who picks the wrong luxury Dolus SUV to carjack. Anthony Hopkins plays wealthy English doctor William, the Dolus’ owner who traps Eddie in his fortified four-wheeler. Eddie pries at consoles with crowbars and tries to break bulletproof glass, but it’s no use. William confirms via phone that Eddie’s escape attempts are futile and...

Argentine director Alejandro Agresti (“The Lake House”) returns to the big screen with “Lo Que Quisimos Ser” (“What We Wanted to Be”), a touching story of two people who develop a unique relationship yet continue to long for more.

Premiering out of competition at the Malaga Film Festival, the film, set in 1998, follows a man and a woman (Luis Rubio and Eleonora Wexler) who meet for the first time outside a movie theater in Buenos Aires, where they were the only people in the audience to see Howard Hawks’ 1940 classic “His Girl Friday,” starring Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell.

They decide to go for a drink and, at her request, make up new identities for themselves, becoming who they always wanted to be: she is Irene, a romantic novelist; he is Yuri, an adventurous astronaut who grew up in Africa. Hitting it off, they decide to meet every Thursday at...

Over the years, cinema has evolved tremendously, with more and more films dabbling in new genres, and horror continues to find success with audiences in theaters and on streaming. We've also seen some recent hits in the psychological horror subgenre over the past decade, rewarding those who patiently enjoy the story, resulting in remarkable films such as Hereditary, The Witch, and Midsommar.

With streaming services like Shudder actively delving into more distinctive horror concepts, there are plenty of alternatives for those who seek to enjoy a horror film on a Friday evening. Whether you want to enjoy the chilling theatrical experience or watch it on your smart TV from the comfort of your couch, we have some intriguing horror films on the way. So, without further ado, here's every horror movie that will be released in March 2025.

'Ash' Watch It in Theaters on March 21

Ash is an upcoming...

Fresh off the success of Nosferatu, Bill Skarsgård stars in Locked opposite Academy Award winner Anthony Hopkins, returning to familiar territory as a menacing villain a la Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs.

Luxury becomes deadly on the theatrical poster below.

From producer Sam Raimi, the horror-thriller opens on March 21 via The Avenue.

When Eddie breaks into a luxury SUV, he steps into a deadly trap set by William, a self-proclaimed vigilante delivering his own brand of twisted justice. With no means of escape, Eddie must fight to survive in a ride where escape is an illusion, survival is a nightmare, and justice shifts into high gear.

An American remake of the 2019 Argentinian movie 4×4, Locked is directed by David Yarovesky.

Michael Arlen Ross (Turistas) penned the screenplay, based on the the original script by Mariano Cohn and Gastón Duprat.

Ashley Cartwright, Michael Eklund, and Navid Charkhi also appear in the film.

Last year, actress Penélope Cruz set up a joint production venture, Moonlyon, with Madrid-based The Mediapro Studio at the urging of its CEO, Laura Fernández Espeso, a rising star in Spain’s fast-expanding media sector.

“It’s been an amazing connection from the first,” Cruz says, about her working relationship with Fernández Espeso, Variety’s International Media Woman of the Year.

It was no surprise to anyone that Cruz chose Fernández Espeso as her partner: Lifting up female talent in Western Europe and beyond has been a huge part of Fernández Espeso’s mission since she took the reins of the busy production studio five years ago. At her direction, the company, which has 30 production houses, has capitalized on the growing demand for TV series that can travel across the world. Fernández Espeso has steered the effort for the company to make its productions more saleable by lensing in English.

Five upcoming Spanish TV fiction projects, involving top local production and distribution companies, feature in Coming Next from Spain, a showcase of series unspooling March 19 at Series Mania.

Atresmedia TV’s “Sanctuary,” Movistar+ Plus’ “Fine Arts,” Filmax’s “Dating in Barcelona” Season 2, The Good Mood-Mediawan’s “The Other Life” and Onza Distribution’s “Heartless” will be presented at the event, proving once more that Spanish fiction production is in good health.

Six years after high-end Spanish TV series lifted off on the global market, championed by hit series such as “Money Heist” and “Elite,” Spain has become one of the steadiest suppliers for worldwide platforms.

The successful trend continues as of today, with Mediaset España and Alea Media series “Wrong Side of the Tracks,” whose Seasons 1, 2 and 3 have reached the top 10 of most watched non -English TV fiction shows on Netflix for the period March 4-10, 2024, cumming 41.6 million hours viewed.

“News of a Kidnapping,” created by Andrés Wood and Rodrigo García, has picked up more recognition at the Rose d’Or Latinos. The dramatic series, which won a Platino Award last April for best dramatic series, added to its collection of prizes at the inaugural event held at Content Americas in Miami on Jan. 23.

The Latin American extension of Europe’s Rose d’Or Awards, led by jury chairman, Mas Ros Media CEO Marcos Santana, doled out prizes across television, feature films, unscripted content and podcasts.

Prime Video took home the most statuettes at the event, an encouraging sign of its growing cachet with talent across the region. In addition to winning best drama for “News of a Kidnapping,” the platform earned awards for best film, best reality or factual program (“Libre de reír”), and best documentary.

‘El encargado’ (The One in Charge”), created for Star+ by the duo Mariano Cohn and Gastón Duprat,...

Buenos Aires — In one of the first deals to close at this week’s Ventana Sur market, Spain’s Latido Films has boarded “Lo Que Quisimos Ser,” written-directed by Alejandro Agresti, produced by Fernando Sokolowicz at Aleph Media, and Gastón Duprat, who have teamed as producer and co-writer-director on “The Distinguished Citizen,” “The Man Next Door,” and “The Artist.”

“Lo Que Quisimos Ser” marks the latest film from Agresti, one of Argentina’s most international talents best known for a Hollywood sojourn which saw him directing Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves in “The Lake House” and writing Argentina-set, English-language “No somos animales,” with John Cusack.

Of his Argentine film, “Valentín” weighs in as a big-hearted coming of age tale of a cross-eyed and very lonely young kid. “Lo Que Quisimos Ser” also looks to wear its heart on its sleeve with a story of two characters who like in many...

Nada is a short and sweet comedy miniseries on Hulu with an international spice, featuring Robert De Niro in a pivotal role. The show is entirely in Spanish but has a universal tone and relatable topics, making it appealing to a wide audience. Nada combines universal humor, culinary delights, and a magical depiction of Buenos Aires, making it a must-watch for comedy lovers and foodies.

Need a good comedy? Do you love Robert De Niro? Do you consider yourself a cinematographic foodie? Well, look no further, as Hulu has cooked together three outstanding elements by adding Nada (the Spanish word for nothing) to its catalog. This international miniseries produced by Mariano Cohn and Gastón Duprat in Argentina will make you fall in love with Buenos Aires, the capital city of the country and a cosmopolitan hub for anyone who enjoys excellent and diverse cuisine. The show follows a testy food...

In perhaps one of her meatiest roles since Alfonso Cuaron’s “Roma,” Oscar-nominated thesp Yalitza Aparicio stars in Prime Video’s upcoming series “Cometierra,” created by its showrunner Daniel Burman, The Mediapro Studio’s head of content for the U.S., Mexico and Central America.

Principal photography is underway, predominantly in Mexico, with some scenes shot in Uruguay.

Inspired by the bestselling debut novel of Argentine writer-activist Dolores Reyes, “Cometierra,” meaning Eartheater in English, is a supernatural drama steeped in magical realism that follows Aylín, a young girl from the rough outskirts of Mexico City.

She unexpectedly gains the extraordinary ability to commune with the earth beneath her feet, a gift that propels her into a world of crime-solving and clashes with malevolent forces lurking in her past. With the help of her fellow misfits, Aylín finds her true identity while navigating a community plagued by violence and grappling with...

"Let's see how this tastes..." Hulu has revealed the official trailer for a new streaming series called Nada, created by the Argentinian filmmakers Mariano Cohn and Gastón Duprat, who last made the fun meta film Official Competition and the series "El Encargado". In this Argentine dramedy, Manuel is the quintessential Buenos Aires native. A food critic, aesthete, and all-around provocateur, Manuel has lived for decades with a woman who handles nearly all the tasks in his daily life. But when she passes away, everything changes – and Manuel begins to discover that he doesn't know how to do anything for himself. "A story about culture and life, and about how a change in your routine can lead you on a surprisingly tender adventure." Luis Brandoni stars as Manuel, and Robert De Niro makes an appearance as his old friend from New York, who joins him in Buenos Aires to walk around the city and chat.

Few European arthouse-crossover film sales agents have better weathered the ebb and flow of international market dynamics than Madrid’s Latido Films, which turns 20 in 2023.

Proof of that came at April’s Platino Awards, where Latido scored six statuettes, split between an acting double for Alauda Ruiz de Azúa’s “Lullaby” and four for Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s “The Beasts,” which has already swept Spain’s Goya Awards and scored a French Cesar for foreign film.

Scoring €6.8 million ($7.5 million) in Spain, and 327,000 admissions in France, “The Beasts” also rates as one of the top-performing recent Spanish-language movies.

If Latido has survived for so long, insists director general Antonio Saura, it’s because of a core strategy of “working with talent, our search for talent.” Beyond that, other keys have been “collaboration with production companies that understand long-term relationships, and well-established relationships with clients.”

Companies with which Latido has held or holds...

Utama wins first awards for a Bolivian film.

In a one-two for Amazon’s original film and TV businesses Santiago Mitre’s courtroom drama Argentina, 1985 took five top honours at the 2023 Platino Awards on Saturday night (April 22), while News Of a Kidnapping from Andrés Wood and Rodrigo García claimed four.

Amazon Studios’ Argentina, 1985 won best Ibero-American fiction film, best actor for Ricardo Darín, best screenplay for co-writers Mitre and Mariano Llinas, best art direction, and film & education in values awards.

Satuday’s triumph here at Madrid’s Ifema Municipal Palace follows Oscar and Bafta nominations and the Goya for best Iberoamerican film.

Utama wins first awards for a Bolivian film.

Santiago Mitre’s courtroom drama Argentina, 1985 from Amazon Studios took five top honours at the 2023 Platino Awards at Madrid’s Ifema Municipal Palace on Saturday night (April 22), while stablemate Prime Video’s News Of a Kidnapping from Andrés Wood and Rodrigo García claimed four.

Oscar- and Bafta-nominated Argentina, 1985 premiered in Competition at Venice last year and added to an awards haul that also earned recognition at the Goya awards, among others.

Mitre’s latest film won best Ibero-American fiction film, best actor for Ricardo Darín, best screenplay co-written by Mitre and Mariano Llinas,...

Festival names 16 projects from Spain and Latin America.

Sónia Méndez’s As Neves (The Snows), Laura Ferrés’ The Permanent Picture and Agustín Toscano’s I Trust You are among 16 projects selected for the sixth edition of Malaga Work In Progress,

Spain’s Aquí y Allí Films, the company behind the winner of 2012 Critics’ Week with emigration drama Aquí y Allá, by Antonio Méndez Esparza, is producing the Sonia Méndez’s feature debut As Neves, a psychological drama with thriller touches set in Galicia.

Scroll down for full list of projects

After her 2017 Cannes Critics’ Week short film winner The Disinherited,...

Whether you caught sight of him in "Devotion" or "Top Gun: Maverick," Glen Powell was last seen flying high as a charming Navy pilot diving headfirst into a dangerous situation. Clearly, a big fan of fighting for his life while trapped in metal machines, Powell has already booked his next big role in a thriller called "Locked," where he stars as a criminal whose car burglary goes terribly wrong.

Per Deadline, "Locked" is "an intense, character-driven thriller about a thief who breaks into a luxury SUV, only to realize that he's stumbled into a complex and deadly trap set by a mysterious figure." And who will Powell star opposite as his thief desperately tries to escape? None other than two-time Academy Award winner Anthony Hopkins. While the details of Hopkins' character are a little more mysterious, fingers crossed he plays the sinister figure who set the deadly trap.

If this premise sounds a little familiar,...

Hollywood legend Anthony Hopkins is teaming with Top Gun: Maverick star Glen Powell for Locked, a remake of the Argentinian action thriller 4X4. David Yarovesky directs from a script by Michael Arlen Ross (Oracle), with the original written and directed by Mariano Cohn and Gastón Duprat. The project hails from Zq Entertainment and Raimi Productions.

According to the synopsis for Cohn’s 2019 thriller, 4X4 revolves around a thug who breaks into a specialized car with a unique security system that keeps him trapped inside, with no one being able to hear him crying for help. Cohn’s film starred Peter Lanzani, Ailén Mazioni, and Dady Brieva. I recommend checking out the trailer for 4X4, as it looks intense, brutal, and prone to giving audiences a feeling of claustrophobia.

In Yarovesky’s version, Powell plays the thug originally portrayed by Lanzani.

“Dave Yarovesky so elevated the material on Nightbooks, and he...

Director David Yarovesky is re-teaming with producer Sam Raimi on an action-thriller titled Locked, which was announced and detailed by Deadline today.

Glen Powell (Top Gun: Maverick) will also star in Locked, a remake of the Argentinian movie 4X4 that came from writers/directors Mariano Cohn and Gastón Duprat.

“Locked is an intense, character-driven thriller about a thief who breaks into a luxury SUV, only to realize that he’s stumbled into a complex and deadly trap set by a mysterious figure.”

Michael Arlen Ross (Oracle) wrote the script for the fresh remake.

“Dave Yarovesky so elevated the material on Nightbooks, and he was our first choice for this,” Raimi tells Deadline. “The script was so good and he’s such a good communicator that we were able to interest Anthony Hopkins, who for my generation is just about the greatest actor ever. Glen’s character has got a soul...

Exclusive: Two-time Oscar winner Anthony Hopkins will team with Top Gun: Maverick’s Glen Powell in Locked, a remake of the Argentinian action thriller 4X4, for Zq Entertainment and Raimi Productions. David Yarovesky is set to direct. He and Sam Raimi collaborated recently on Nightbooks. Michael Arlen Ross (Oracle) wrote the script. The original was written and directed by Mariano Cohn and Gastón Duprat (Official Competition).

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Locked is an intense, character-driven thriller about a thief who breaks into a luxury SUV,...

Paris-based outfit releases first look image from Jérémy Clapin’s Meanwhile On Earth.

Paris-based Charades has sold Laurent Tirard’s Oh My Goodness! (Juste Ciel!) to a slew of territories and will kick off sales on several all-new titles at Unifrance’s annual Rendez-Vous in Paris including Jérémy Clapin’s Meanwhile On Earth.

Charades will host the first market screening for buyers of Oh My Goodness! after selling the anticipated title from veteran filmmaker Tirard to Prokino in Germany, Selecta Vision in Spain, I Wonder in Italy, Cineart in Benelux, Praesens in Switzerland, Thim Films in Austria, Ads in Hungary,...

Paris-based outfit releases first look image from Jérémy Clapin’s Meanwhile On Earth.

Paris-based Charades has sold Laurent Tirard’s Oh My Goodness! (Juste Ciel!) to a slew of territories and will kick off sales on several all-new titles at Unifrance’s annual Rendez-Vous in Paris including Jérémy Clapin’s Meanwhile On Earth.

Charades will host the first market screening for buyers of Oh My Goodness! after selling the anticipated title from veteran filmmaker Tirard to Prokino in Germany, Selecta Vision in Spain, I Wonder in Italy, Cineart in Benelux, Praesens in Switzerland, Thim Films in Austria, Ads in Hungary,...

Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s ’The Beasts’ has 17 nominations.

Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s The Beasts leads the nominees for Spain’s prestigious Goya awards, with 17, followed closely by Alberto Rodríguez’s Prison 77 on 16.

The Beasts, which had its world premiere at Cannes, centres around a French couple who cause tensions in the local village to which they move. The psychological thriller is nominated in all major categories including best film where it lines up with Prison 77, Alauda Ruiz de Azúa’s Lullaby, Pilar Palomero’s La Maternal and Carla Simón’s Golden Bear winner Alcarràs.

Scroll down for the full nominations

Alcarràs is...

“There’s an old Chinese curse: ‘May you live through interesting times.’ The sector is now going through very interesting times indeed,” Fremantle’s Manuel Marti reflected to Variety as Madrid’s 2nd Iberseries & Platino Industria, a TV-film forum, wound down on Friday, running Sept. 27-30.

Three large table talk topics were the fall out from the planned merger of HBO Max and Discover+ by Warner Bros. Discovery – with the removal of more than three dozen titles on HBO Max in August alone – Netflix’s reconfiguration of its business model and galloping inflation in Europe, threatening streamer subs, They also played out, if sometimes indirectly, at the Iberseries & Platino Industria panels.

Overall, the bigger picture was of a still vibrant but now challenged TV industry in Spain, Latin America and Portugal.

Iberseries’ mood was still upbeat, however. “Creators are enjoying freedoms, Americans are reading subtitles, the only stories which work...

Supremely diabolical Star Original series “El Encargado,” directed by innovating Argentine creative duo Mariano Cohn and Gastón Duprat (“The Man Next Door”), teased a first episode as part of the Capítulo Uno strand of soon-to-bow series at the 2nd Iberseries & Platino Industria, which unspooled Sept. 27-30 in Madrid.

The series opens with protagonist Eliseo preparing dinner in a spotless kitchen, calling out to his family to set the table as he sips from a glass of wine. Every detail in his succulent pasta dish is fine-tuned. As he sits at the head of the table, the camera pans back revealing he’s alone. Thoroughly enjoying his own company, he finishes his exquisite meal, straightens up and leaves the borrowed space. Scenes of him feeding his Venus Flytrap, a carnivorous plant that mimics some of his darker inclinations, are laid into the title sequence, alluding to his reality as a sly inner predator,...

Upping the ante on its inaugural edition, the 2nd Iberseries & Platino Industria will unveil about 50 drama series, whether via first episodes, or showreels or trailers (Upcoming…).

Following a breakdown of titles, and showreel highlights in showreels, featuring some of the most anticipated titles from Spain and Latin America, as well as recent hits:

Capitulo Uno

“El Encargado,” (Star Original Productions/The Walt Disney Company Latin America)

Anybody who caught neighbors’ standoff dark comedy “The Man Next Door,” a 2010 Sundance winner from “Official Competition” directors Mariano Cohn and Gastón Duprat could imagine they will tear with relish into dramedy of a concierge who uses his access to clients intimacy to control their lives. Iberseries marks the first market screening of the half hour which headlines Argentine star Guillermo Francella as a concierge from hell battling plans to be sacked. Star+ bows “El Encargado” on Oct. 26.

“Limbo,” (Star Original Productions/The Walt Disney Company Latin America,...

’André Rieu’s 2022 Maastricht Summer Concert: Happy Days Are Here Again’ plays widely this weekend.

Universal’s survival thriller Beast is the widest release among the features debuting at this weekend’s UK-Ireland box office, however event cinema André Rieu’s 2022 Maastricht Summer Concert: Happy Days Are Here Again boasts the overall largest figure.

Beast is directed by Icelandic filmmaker Baltasar Kormakur. The survival thriller stars Idris Elba as a grieving widower, who must protect his daughters from a voracious lion. It is set to play at 601 sites this weekend.

Kormakur’s best known for 2015 real-life disaster thriller, Everest, which opened to £2.4m from 567 sites.

Dir: Gaston Duprat, Mariano Cohn. Starring: Penelope Cruz, Antonio Banderas, Oscar Martinez, Jose Luis Gomez, Irene Escolar, Manolo Solo. 15, 114 minutes.

Is the film industry’s obsession with poking fun at its own excesses just another form of vanity? After the hundredth comedy about conceited artists and their many gluttonies (see: Judd Apatow’s painfully unfunny The Bubble), it all starts to feel a little like the dirtbag boyfriend who loves to apologise for how “messed up” he is, but never makes the slightest attempt to fix his behaviour. Gaston Duprat and Mariano Cohn’s Official Competition may be yet another satire on filmmaking, but it’s the rare iteration that’s nuanced enough to understand that self-awareness does not equal absolution.

The Argentinian directors have, admittedly, corralled exactly the sort of headline-grabbing cast that normally populates these indulgent meta-comedies. Official Competition marks the first time Pedro Almodovar’s two most recognisable collaborators,...

Cruz’s eccentric director employs unorthodox techniques to manage lead actors – and polar opposites – Antonio Banderas and Oscar Martínez

It’s clever casting – and very entertaining – to put screen goddess Penélope Cruz in the role of a superstar film director. Cruz is most famous for her working relationship with Pedro Almodóvar; often she’s described as his muse – demeaningly, I think. Well, with this playful satire of the movie industry, Argentinian film-making duo Mariano Cohn and Gastón Duprat give her all the power in the role of a borderline tyrannical auteur with a bonkers streak (think Marina Abramović or maybe even Björk). Wearing a massive curly wig – made from saucepan scourers, it looks like – Cruz lets rip with a deliciously fun performance.

She plays eccentric director Lola Cuevas, who is starting rehearsals for her new film: an adaptation of a prize-winning novel about the rivalry between two brothers. Lola’s...

IFC Films is acquiring North American rights to Stephen Frears’ drama The Lost King, starring Sally Hawkins (The Shape of Water) and Steve Coogan (The Trip), ahead of its world premiere at the 47th Toronto Film Festival.

The film reuniting Frears with writers Coogan and Jeff Pope—who adapted the script for his 2013 dramedy Philomena—tells the remarkable true story of amateur historian Philippa Langley (Hawkins), who was behind the real life discovery of King Richard III in 2012 after the remains had been lost for 500 years. Langley spent years researching and searching for the remains, in spite of skepticism from friends, family and academics. Her story is one of a woman who refused to be ignored and who took on the country’s most eminent historians, forcing them to think again about one of the most controversial kings in England’s history. Two-time Oscar nominee Coogan stars alongside two-time Oscar...

Sometimes with comedy it’s not the strength of the jokes that makes something work but the manner of the delivery – and it doesn’t come much more dead pan than the framing employed by Mariano Cohn and Gastón Duprat. The almost architectural setting of this film with its barn-like brutalist settings and cool, steady takes adds a level of unexpected silliness to the otherwise familiar subject of inflated egos at the top of the film world.

Lola Cuevas (Penélope Cruz with a barnet that looks like Alma Har’el’s hair on steroids) is a film director in the arthouse mode who has been hired by a pharmaceutical billionaire (José Luis Gómez) to make a movie because he wants to cement his legacy. It was either this or a bridge. In what is possibly the best joke in the whole film, her back catalogue includes a film called The Inverted Rain,...

Exclusive: IFC Films has acquired North American rights to the comedy Bar Fight!, starring Melissa Fumero (Brooklyn Nine-Nine), Rachel Bloom (Crazy Ex-Girlfriend), Luka Jones (Shrill) and Julian Gant (Call Me Kat), with plans for a day-and-date release on November 11.

The synopsis for the film written and directed by Klaus scribe Jim Mahoney is as follows: There’s only one way to settle the score after a break-up and for Nina (Fumero) and Allen (Jones) it’s a turf war for their favorite local bar. Lines have been drawn and with the help of Nina’s best friend Chelsea (Bloom), it’s going to be a winner-takes-all affair. The drinks are free flowing, the competition is fierce, and games are out-of-this-world crazy. With the bar on the line, this Bar Fight! is going to become a battle for the ages.

Bar Fight! was produced by Sarah Gabriel and Marc Goldberg of Signature Films, and James Harris and Mark Lane of Tea Shop Productions. Executive producers included Tomás Yankelevich, Peter Bevan and Mariana Sanjurjo from Particular Crowd, and Simon Williams and Jamie Jessop from Ingenious Media. Signature Entertainment is handling international sales.

“I’m so thrilled IFC is distributing our crazy lil’ movie!” said Mahoney. “A huge thank you to Signature Films and Particular Crowd for their endless support, my invaluable crew for their skill and tenacity, and an absolute dream of a cast for truly bringing Bar Fight to life. I can’t wait for the world to see the madness we’ve created.”

Established in 2000 and based in New York City, IFC Films is a leading U.S. distributor of independent film. Other current and upcoming releases include Andrew Seman’s Resurrection, Jeff Baena’s Spin Me Round, Official Competition from Gastón Duprat and Mariano Cohn, Claire Denis’ Both Sides of the Blade, Andrea Arnold’s first documentary Cow, Jacques Audiard’s Paris, 13th District, and the Venice Golden Lion winner Happening, directed by Audrey Diwan.

Adam Koehler negotiated the deal for Bar Fight! on behalf of IFC Films, with Andrew Nerger of Signature Entertainment on behalf of the production.

American actress Julianne Moore has been announced as the international jury president for the main competition of the 79th Venice International Film Festival, running from August 31 to September 10.

She will be joined by Argentine director Mariano Cohn, Italian director Leonardo Di Costanzo, French director and 2021 Golden Lion winner Audrey Diwan, Iranian actress Leila Hatami, Japanese-uk writer Kazuo Ishiguro and Spanish director Rodrigo Sorogoyen.

The jury awards the Golden Lion for Best Film, Silver Lion – Grand Jury Prize, Silver Lion for Best Director, Volpi Cups for Best Actress and Best Actor, Special Jury Prize, Award for Best Screenplay and“Marcello Mastroianni Award for Best New Young Actor or Actress.

Moore has long ties with Venice having won its Volpi Cup Best Actress Award for her performance in Far From Heaven in 2002 and the Franca Sozzani Award for Suburbicon in 2017.

Cohn was at Venice last year with Official Competition, starring Penélope Cruz,...

Antonio Banderas as “Félix Rivero” and Penelope Cruz as “Lola Cuevas” in Mariano Cohn and Gastón Duprat’s Official Competition. Courtesy of Manolo Pavon. An IFC Films release.

In the satiric comedy Official Competition, Penelope Cruz and Antonio Banderas star as an auteur director and international action star, both with egos the size of Montana, who are hired by an aging wealthy businessman intent on financing a big, award-winning hit movie as a vanity project. The humor is pointed and wits are sharp, as wealth, egos, art and particularly movie-making come under the comic guns of Argentinian co-directors Gaston Duprat and Mariano Cohen in this hilarious Spanish-language satire.

As he turns 80, millionaire businessman Humberto Suarez (Jose Luis Gomez) decides he needs a monumentally big project to leave a lasting legacy. But what should be choose? A bridge designed by a famous architect bearing his name? A charitable foundation? No, a...

By the end of June last year, 13 movies that would go on to receive Academy Award nominations had already premiered, including Best Picture nominee “Drive My Car” and the Oscar night’s big winner, “Coda.”

The first six months of 2022 don’t seem to be a particularly fruitful time for awards films, but it’s conceivable that a similar number of future nominees have already premiered. Between wide releases like “Top Gun: Maverick,” “Elvis” and “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” Cannes titles including “Triangle of Sadness” and “Three Thousand Years of Longing” and just enough international films, documentaries and animated features, a year that so far looks middling could end up supplying a handful or more of nominees, though at this point most of them are longshots.

Certainly, the vast majority of this year’s nominees will come from the second half of the year, and particularly from the stretch...

Official Competition Tribeca Festival Spotlight Narrative Section Reviewed for Shockya.com by Abe Friedtanzer Director: Mariano Cohn, Gastón Duprat Writer: Mariano Cohn, Gastón Duprat Cast: Penélope Cruz, Antonio Banderas, Oscar Martínez Screened at: Critics’ link, NYC, 4/3/22 Opens: June 14th, 2022 It’s usually true that having more than one big personality in any sort of partnership […]

The post Tribeca 2022: Official Competition Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.

‘Utama’ won the World Cinema grand jury prize at Sundance earlier this year.

Bolivian director Alejandro Loayza Grisi’s Utama won both the best film prize and the audience award at the 21st edition of the Transilvania International Film Festival which closed yesterday, Sunday June 26.

Distributed internationally by Alpha Violet, the Bolivian-Uruguayan-French co-production about an elderly Indigenous man trying to survive in the Bolivian highlands, premiered earlier this year in Sundance where it received the Grand Jury Prize in the World Cinema: Dramatic Competition. It is Grisi’s debut feature.

Iceland’s Gudmundur Arnar Gudmundsson won the best director prize...

‘Utama’ won the World Cinema grand jury prize at Sundance earlier this year.

Bolivian director Alejandro Loayza Grisi’s Utama won both the best film prize and the audience award at the 21st edition of the Transilvania International Film Festival which closed yesterday, Sunday June 26.

Distributed internationally by Alpha Violet, the Bolivian-Uruguayan-French co-production about an elderly Indigenous man trying to survive in the Bolivian highlands, premiered earlier this year in Sundance where it received the Grand Jury Prize in the World Cinema: Dramatic Competition. It is Grisi’s debut feature.

Iceland’s Gudmundur Arnar Gudmundsson won the best director prize...

Disney’s Latin American streamer talks up original dramas.

The Walt Disney Company’s Latin American streamer Star+ underlined its original production push by premiering the first episode of its Eva Perón miniseries Santa Evita at Spain’s Conecta Fiction & Entertainment this week, and showcasing four more dramas at the TV networking and co-pro event held in Toledo.

Launched last year, entertainment and sports platform Star+ is available in Latin America as a standalone service or, as part of Combo+, a bundled offering with access to Disney+.

Santa Evita, produced by Star Original Productions and directed by Rodrigo Garcia, tells...

Underscoring a push into more ambitious productions in Latin America, Star Plus, The Walt Disney Company’s year-old general entertainment and sports streaming service in the region, presented an early banner production, “Santa Evita,” at Conecta Fiction & Entertainment in a gala screening on June 22.

Attendees of the Toledo, Spain-based forum got an exclusive preview of the pilot episode to the seven-part limited series, which is set to bow July 26 on Star Plus Latin America, Hulu in the U.S. and Disney’s Star label in the rest of the world.

“Santa Evita” anticipates more “true life fiction” shows that Star Plus is developing, based on larger-than-life figures in Latin America’s culture and history.

“We’re serving several markets, and in order to connect with our audiences, we’re developing stories about people they know, whose stories they know,” said Leonardo Aranguibel, VP, head of production operations & strategy, The Walt Disney Company Latin America,...

IFC Films opened Official Competition starring Penélope Cruz, Antonio Banderas and Oscar Martínez at four theaters in NYC and LA for an estimated three-day gross of 34,000 and per-theater-averages of 8,500 for the comedy directed by Mariano Cohn and Gastón Duprat following it U.S. premiere at the Tribeca Festival last week.

The film, world premiered in competition at Venice. It expands to Boston, Miami, Philadelphia, Phoenix and Washington, D.C. next week before breaking nationwide on July 1. “We’re so thrilled this comedic gem connected with U.S. audiences and we look forward to its continued successful rollout,” said IFC Films president Arianna Bocco.

Focus Features released its 2022 Sundance Film Festival pickup Brian And Charles in a wide for specialty opening of 279 theaters for a three-day estimated gross of 198,000, or 711 PTA. It is no. 10 this weekend at the North American box office, which is increasingly crowded with tentpoles.

Jim Archer’s...

Mubi Go, which has helped buoy NYC’s arthouse market by offering members a free movie ticket a week at participating theaters, expands to LA today where the biz could really use a boost. The films are curated and the first is Apple’s Cha Cha Real Smooth.

Mubi, a global streaming service, production company and film distributor, launched Mubi Go in New York last fall and will continue expanding to major markets through 2022 with Chicago next. “We’re being very careful and methodical about the rollout,” said distribution chief Chris Wells.

Mubi members get Mubi Go as a perk. The company doesn’t release subscriber numbers but Wells said its NYC base jumped by 30 after it added Mubi Go.

Movie picks include its own releases, like Lingui, The Sacred Bonds, but mostly from other distributors from Drive My Car, The Power of the Dog and Passing to We’re...

This review of “Official Competition was published on Sept. 4, 2021 after the film’s premiere at the Venice Film Festival.

To trot out the old adage, “scratch a cynic, find an idealist” in reference to “Official Competition,” a modest showbiz sendup that premiered, fittingly enough, in official competition at 2021’s Venice film festival might be putting it a bit too harshly. Frankly, it wouldn’t take more than the morning breeze or the soft touch of an infant to wipe away the thin layer of satire that (barely) covers a deeper, almost evangelical belief in the power of movie stars.

In some ways you could call it a throwback in the sense that it runs totally counter to the high-concept, IP-driven model of recent Hollywood output. “Official Competition” co-directors Gastón Duprat and Mariano Cohn would rather offer viewers a no-concept, light and breezy big-screen hangout, betting that audiences will turn out...

Suggesting an appreciable recovery in the dynamism of international film markets, Madrid-based Latido Films has unveiled a raft of deals on its Cannes line-up, led by standout sales for Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s Cannes Premiere player “The Beasts.”

The Spain-set rural thriller was acquired by Movies Inspired in Italy and Imagine in Benelux.

Co-produced by Spain’s Arcadia Motion Pictures and Sorogoyen’s Caballo Films with France’s Le Pacte, “The Beasts” has also been taken by Kino Mediteran in former Yugoslavia territories and Transilvania Film in Romania.

Meanwhile, fruit of Latido’s strengthening of its remake rights sales strategies, the company has optioned Mexican movie adaptation rights on Nicolás Postiglione’s drama “Immersion” to Paloma Negra Films and Whisky, as a French redo of Gastón Duprat’s Spanish-Argentine drama “Masterpiece” is moving into production.

Also, Latido is in advanced negotiations on further remake rights deals in France, Italy and Mexico,...

Should someone ever construct a Film Hair Hall of Fame, or a museum dedicated to the greatest cinematic coifs to ever grace screens, we’d like to submit for inclusion Penélope Cruz’s ‘do from Official Competition. An untamable mane of red curls cascading out from her head and spilling over her shoulders, it is almost its own character; the closest way to describe it would be to imagine Medusa as played by Lucille Ball. It’s an alpha-follicular power move, a feral flex of frizz, and one that immediately...

Frédéric Boyer on Gastón Duprat and Mariano Cohn’s Official Competition, starring Penelope Cruz, Antonio Banderas, and Oscar Martínez: “Extraordinary! It’s like a Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn type of slapstick” Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

In the second installment with Tribeca Film Festival Artistic Director Frédéric Boyer we discuss Joachim Back’s Corner Office, John Michael McDonagh’s The Forgiven, David Frankel’s Jerry and Marge Go Large, Paul Dektor’s American Dreamer, Andrew Bujalski’s There, There, Annette K Olesen’s A Matter Of Trust, Kyra Sedgwick’s Space Oddity, Katie Holmes’s Alone Together, Peter Hengl’s Family Dinner, Clara Stern’s Breaking The Ice, and Gastón Duprat and Mariano Cohn’s Official Competition (Penelope Cruz, Antonio Banderas, Oscar...

Poking fun at an industry they know quite well, Almodóvar favorites and renowned international legends in their own right, Penélope Cruz and Antonio Banderas’ latest collaboration finds them skewering the film industry. The trailer for Official Competition, fittingly debuting around the time the Cannes Film Festival revealed theirs, has now arrived ahead of a June release from IFC Films.

Directed by Mariano Cohn and Gastón Duprat, here’s the synopsis for the film that premiered at Venice last fall: “When a billionaire entrepreneur impulsively decides to create an iconic movie, he demands the best. Renowned filmmaker Lola Cuevas (Penélope Cruz) is recruited to mastermind this ambitious endeavour. Completing the all-star team are two actors with enormous talent but even bigger egos: Hollywood heartthrob Félix Rivero (Antonio Banderas) and radical theatre actor Iván Torres (Oscar Martínez). Both are legends, but not exactly best friends. Through a series of increasingly eccentric trials set by Lola,...

Penélope Cruz and Spanish outfit The Mediapro Studio are teaming up to launch production label Moonlyon.

The company will produce premium non-fiction and dramatic content, the two parties said in a release, and will allow Cruz to increase her output behind the camera.

One of the most recognisable names in Spanish cinema, while also being a star in Hollywood, Cruz has teamed with Mediapro on multiple occasions before, including more recently starring in Gastón Duprat and Mariano Cohn’s Official Competition opposite Antonio Banderas. Further recent credits including Pedro Almodovar’s Parallel Mothers, which scored her an Oscar nomination.

The wider Mediapro group has 24 offices producing a wide variety of content for cinema and television.

“I have always been enthusiastic about telling new stories and contributing to the filmmaking process, so I decided to form Moonlyon with The Mediapro Studio,” said Penélope Cruz. “With more demand than ever for stories...

Spanish distributors, who have enjoyed a strong track record selling remake rights to local pics, have received a major boost this year with the Malaga Festival Industry Zone’s (Mafiz) inaugural Remake Day event on Thursday.

Leading film sales companies, among them Cinema Republic, Latido Films, Filmax and Feel Content, presented showcases of films considered particularly adaptable to foreign markets. Not surprisingly, comedies and genre pics made up most of the selections.

David Castellanos’ Cinema Republic offered one strong example with Borja Cobeaga’s hit 2009 romantic comedy “Pagafantas,” which has over the years sold to Germany, Italy and Mexico.

Cinema Republic also touted Icíar Bollaín’s “Rosa’s Wedding” (“La Boda de Rosa”), about a woman in her mid-40s who decides to finally take charge of her life and fulfill her dream of starting a business.

In Robert Bellsolà’s 2014 laffer “Dos a la Carta” (“Menu for Two”), another Cinema Republic title,...

Exclusive: Mariano Cohn and Gastón Duprat, the Argentinian filmmakers behind Official Competition, My Masterpiece and other acclaimed festival titles, have signed with CAA.

Cohn and Duprat wrote and directed their third feature, Official Competition, which premiered in competition at this year’s Venice Film Festival. The comedy starring Penélope Cruz and Antonio Banderas watches as a wealthy businessman hires a famous filmmaker to help him make a hit film. IFC acquired U.S. distribution rights in October and plans to release the film in 2022. CAA Media Finance brokered the deal.

The duo’s credits also include My Masterpiece (Mi Obra Maestra), which Duprat directed with Cohn producing, and The Distinguished Citizen, which they helmed together. The latter title was selected to compete at the 2016 Venice Film Festival, where its star, Oscar Martínez, won the Best Actor award. It was also selected as Argentina’s Academy Awards entry that year and...