News

Leading Spanish production house Morena Films is teaming with A Contracorriente Films, one of Spain’s top indie distributors, and “The Beasts” French co-producer Noodle Productions to produce “Fairy Queen”, a feature inspired by “Paris 70” which was shortlisted on Dec. 17 for the 97th Oscars.

A Contracorriente Films will handle theatrical distribution in Spain.

One of 15 films in the live-action short category and reckoned by Variety to be one of the category’s frontrunners, “Paris 70” is directed by Dani Feixas, a short film and doc feature helmer. It is written by Nach Solis and Feixas, turning on Jan (Alain Hernández) as he takes care of his mother, Angela (Luisa Gavasa), who suffers from advanced Alzheimer’s disease.

Every day, his mother asks about his father. Jan’s answer plunges her into deep sadness and confusion. Exhausted and distraught at his mother’s distress, one day Jan tells her a white lie:...

Netflix leadership have touted the streamer’s upcoming slate of local-language film and television including the Japanese feature Bullet Train Explosion and Troll 2, Roar Uthaug’s sequel to his most-watched non-English-language film on the platform.

Chief content officer Bela Bajaria and her team of regional executives held a press presentation at the company’s first International Showcase at Tudum Theatre in Hollywood on Monday.

“People like the authenticity of local stories,” Bajaria said, adding that, as she has said before, the “goal is to make shows and films that resonate in their home country first”. She added, “When you...

Netflix leadership have touted the streamer’s upcoming slate of local-language film and television including the Japanese feature Bullet Train Explosion and Troll 2, Roar Uthaug’s sequel to his most-watched non-English-language film on the platform.

Chief content officer Bela Bajaria and her team of regional executives held a press presentation at the company’s first International Showcase at Tudum Theatre in Hollywood on Monday.

“People like the authenticity of local stories,” Bajaria said, adding that, as she has said before, the “goal is to make shows and films that resonate in their home country first”. She added, “When you...

“Press play and stay” is how Netflix’s Lat Am content boss characterized the streamer’s programing strategy as he unveiled sneak peeks of two of the most anticipated TV series out of the region ever, 100 Years of Solitude and Senna, along with first-looks at the Vinicius Junior movie and some new shows.

Paco Ramos, VP of Content, Lat-Am was speaking at an international Netflix event in LA, hosted by Bela Bajaria, Netflix’s Chief Content Officer.

As well as preview videos of 100 Years of Solitude and Senna, the streamer announced a second season of Chilean drama Baby Bandito. The first season of the crime drama topped Netflix’s global chart for non-English-language shows for three weeks.

Also out of Chile is Limpia, a new film based on the Alia Trabucco Zerán novel of the same name. Dominga Sotomayor (Los barcos) writes and directs. Gabriela Larralde (El Presidente) is co-writer on the film,...

Firmly established as one of Europe’s biggest dedicated showcases for movies from Latin America, Spain and Portugal, Huelva Ibero-American Film Festival celebrates its 50th edition with a bang, with a high-caliber main Competition, a new showcase on Spain. Following, some highlights and trends at this year’s festival, which runs Nov. 15-23.

Paz Vega: A Director is Born

Paz Vega will accept at Huelva a Premio Luz at this year’s opening ceremony. It comes at an opportune time. Known to date as a performer – star of Adam Sandler comedy “Spanglish” and Julio Medem’s carnal physiological odyssey “Sex and Lucia” – Vega has just bowed her first feature, the heavily autobiographical “Rita,” to upbeat reviews. Major plaudits to not only the central performance of the eponymous Rita, a loveable seven year-old moppet growing up in 1984 working class Seville, but Vega’s helming. “Rita’ is shot with an exquisite taste for light,...

Grup Mediapro, the Barcelona-based global holding, including The Mediapro Studio, is launching and will manage a €1 billion ($1.1 billion) sports rights brokering fund, targeting established and emerging sports.

The new fund was announced Tuesday in Madrid at a Mediapro 30th anniversary celebration, which catches the company in expansive mode, coming less than a week from the unveil at Cannes Mipcom trade fair of The Mediapro Studio US & Canada’s first English-language slate of series and films.

In the mix are projects from John Turturro, Melissa Leo, “24” showrunner Evan Katz, Oscar winner Juan José Campanella (“The Secret in Their Eyes”) “Mafia Spies’” Tom Donahue, “The Floor” showrunner Anthony Carbone and Matt Hastings.

At the 30th anniversary, Grup Mediapro also announced that its 10,200 sq. meter Mediapro Yonkers Studios will open its doors in April 2025, its three sound stages occupying a total of 4,600 sq. meters of floor space.

Mediapro also lifted the lid on Tuesday on Mediapro Xperiences,...

Spain’s The Mediapro Studio brought out the big guns at this year’s Mipcom to promote its first-ever English-language slate, which includes projects featuring John Turturro, Melissa Leo, “24” showrunner Evan Katz and Oscar winner Juan José Campanella, among others.

Though the ambitious pipeline was The Mediapro Studio’s big Mipcom head-turner, the company also closed noteworthy deals for a handful of its highest-profile shows of the last several years.

Disney+ Spain has acquired The Mediapro Studio and 3Cat’s thriller series “Quiet” (“El mal invisible”), which recently screened at Catalonia’s prestigious genre-focused Sitges International Film Festival. The show will debut on Catalan public television channel TV3 and the 3Cat platform soon, although a specific date hasn’t been announced.

Set in lock-down era Barcelona, “Quite” follows a police investigation to track down a serial killer who targets the homeless. David Verdaguer (“Saben Aquell”), Ángela Cervantes (“La Maternal”), and...

Spanish studio Mediapro has unveiled its slate of English-language content in the U.S. and Canada at MIPCOM Cannes on Wednesday, including a new film written and directed by and starring John Turturro.

Head of Mediapro Studio in the U.S. and Canada J.C. Acosta spoke with 24 producer Evan Katz, head of unscripted at Mediapro Pam Healey, CEO Laura Fernandez Espeso, TV producer Ran Tellem and Oscar-winning writer-director Juan-José Campanella.

Espeso began: “Our strategic approach in the U.S. aligns perfectly with our initiatives in other key territories, emphasizing the creativity of the talent, but also relevance and reach and, of course, diversity, which is a priority in our company.” It was over to Acosta, who spoke optimistically and passionately about “writing a new chapter in the U.S. and Canada, doubling down on English language content,” after Mediapro North America was unveiled six months ago.

Their fully-fledged English-language content...

Mediapro’s fledgling North American studio unveiled a raft of new movies, series, docs and formats in a news-packed MIPCOM keynote this morning. John Turturro delivered a video address and spoke about his adaptation of Is There No Place on Earth for Me? as the Spanish media giant made a series of statement announcements.

Having unveiled Mediapro North America six months ago, CEO Laura Espeso introduced the session. Jc Acosta, Head of the Mediapro Studio U.S. & Canada, proceeded to unveil the LA, New York and Miami-based North American division of the Spanish company.

For Espeso, the move is more than just a push into another market. “It has the potential to resonate globally, influencing cultures and trends worldwide,” she told Deadline’s Stewart Clarke on stage at MIPCOM. “There is no way we will miss this opportunity. We have been working on this for the past 10 years.”

Acosta said...

Updated: John Turturro, Melissa Leo, “24” showrunner Evan Katz and Oscar winner Juan José Campanella will be joined by Tom Donahue, director of “Mafia Spies,” “The Floor” showrunner Anthony Carbone and Matt and Tina Hastings on the first English-language slate of The Mediapro Studio US & Canada.

Presented at Mipcom at a Media Mastermind session on Wednesday by The Mediapro Studio’s CEO Laura Fernández Espeso, Juan “Jc” Acosta, head of the Los Angeles-based The Mediapro Studio US & Canada, the slate represents a long-standing major gameplan announced by Fernández Espeso in 2021.

One highlight of the presentation was video message relayed on the big screen of Cannes’ Palais des Festival’s Grand Auditorium where Tuturro relayed his thoughts on his upcoming film, with The Mediapro Studio, turning on a brilliant woman who suffers schizophrenia and underscored its emotional relevance to him.

“I’ve always resisted doing one of these kind of films, because...

FilmSharks has announced a handful of deals with blue-chip distributors led by the US and UK on a remastered 4K version of Nine Queens, the Argentinian crime thriller that launched the career of Ricardo Darin.

Sony Pictures Classics has renewed its agreement for North America and has re-released the film digitally, 22 years after it initially distributed it, while Curzon has acquired rights for the UK.

In other deals, Warner Bros Discovery has acquired rights for Eastern Europe and A Contracorriente will distribute in Spain.

The late Fabián Bielinsky’s Nine Queens stars Darin and Gaston Pauls as conmen trying to...

Laura Fernández Espeso, who took over as CEO of The Mediapro Studio (Tms), in 2020, has taken the Iberian powerhouse global. The group now has 52 offices across 31 countries, and this summer launched operations across the U.S. and Canada. “We’ve opened offices in Los Angeles after operating in Miami and New York over the last few years,” she says, Tms US & Canada fulfills our goal to create, produce, and distribute content in English, intended for audiences all over the world.”

Tms’ English-language credits to date include the Paolo Sorrentino-directed limited series The Young Pope and The New Pope, for HBO/Max, and Nicolas Winding Refn’s family adventure series The Famous Five for the BBC, as well as such features as A Perfect Day, Hunting Ava Bravo, and Mike Leigh’s Hard Truths.

Indie film is where Fernández Espeso got her start in the industry, more than 20 years ago.

Argentina’s Guillermo Francella and writer-directors Mariano Cohn and Gaston Duprat, star and creators of Disney+/Star+ smash hit “El Encargado” (Hulu’s “The Boss”), are re-teaming on “Homo Argentum,” an around 10-episode movie anthology, skewering the frustrations, paranoia and bloodymindedness seething below the surface of modern-day life.

Arguably Argentina’s biggest star alongside Ricardo Darín, Francella demonstrated his acting chops in a bravado turn in Juan José Campanella’s Oscar winning “The Secret of Their Eyes” before starring in Pablo Trapero’s “The Clan,” one of Argentina’s biggest movie exports in the last decade, grossing $20.4 million worldwide.

Cohn and Duprat has consolidated as one of Argentina’s foremost filmmaking forces, with an ever larger international reach, directing Penelope Cruz and Antonio Banderas in “Official Competition” and Robert De Niro in Argentine TV series “Nada.”

“Homo Argentum” is set up at Buenos Aires-based powerhouse Pampa Films, behind “Chinese Takeaway...

Argentina’s National Academy has selected Kill The Jockey (El Jockey) as the country’s submission in the best international feature film Oscar category.

‘Kill The Jockey’: Venice Review

Luis Ortega’s comedy plays in San Sebastian’s Horizontes Latinos section dedicated to Latin American productions after premiering in Venice and received its North American premiere in Toronto.

Nahuel Perez Biscayart from Robin Campillo’s 120 Bpm stars in the tale of identity and reinvention as a gifted jockey who falls foul of a mobster.

The cast includes Ursula Corbero from Money Heist, Daniel Giménez Cacho, Mariana Di Girólamo, and Daniel Fanego,...

Warner Bros Discovery took a massive $9.1bn write-down in the second quarter as the media giant reevaluated its assets in light of the ongoing soft linear TV advertising market and its recent – albeit contested – loss of NBA domestic basketball rights.

Overall revenue dropped 5% year-on-year to $9.7bn, and there was a net loss of $10bn, the company announced in its Q2 earnings on Wednesday.

The direct to consumer segment experienced a $107m loss after posting an $86m profit in the first quarter, and posted revenue of $2.6bn after a 6% year-on-year drop.

Streaming subscriptions over the three-month period ended June 30 increased by 3.6m or 4% to reach 103.3m,...

Netflix Argentina executives have been promoting the upcoming slate featuring new work from Ricardo Darin, Santiago Mitre, and Juan José Campanella including series adaptations of two of the most iconic graphic novels and comic strips in Latin America.

Leading the new productions at the Made In Argentina showcase unveiled to industry members in Buenos Aires on Monday night was 27 Nights (27 Noches), Daniel Hendler’s adaptation of the family drama novel by Natalia Zito inspired by actual events.

Mitre, who wrote and directed the 2023 Oscar-nominated Argentina, 1985, will serve as producer on 27 Nights.

Campanella, the writer-director of The Secret In Their Eyes...

Netflix has unveiled a deep slate of originals out of Argentina including an animated adaptation of iconic comic strip Mafalda from Oscar-winning director Juan José Campanella. Another adaptation is El Eternauta, based on the graphic novel of the same name. There will also be a local version of dating series Love is Blind and a three-part doc about Argentine soccer star Ángel Di María.

The streamer’s Made In Argentina slate was presented at an event in Buenos Aires and comprised a whopping 19 projects. The standout titles included Mafalda, which has iconic status in Argentina where it ran as a comic strip in various newspapers. Created by cartoonist Quino, it follows the titular little girl and her family and friends.

Campanella, who helmed the Oscar-winning The Secret In Their Eyes (Best Foreign Language Film), will be director, screenwriter and showrunner. Mundoloco CGI, the animation studio he co-founded, is producing the series.

Dirigida por el ganador del Óscar Juan José Campanella.

Netflix ha anunciado hoy en redes sociales que se encuentra en desarrollo una serie animada basada en Mafalda, que será dirigida por Juan José Campanella, el cineasta argentino ganador del premio Óscar a la Mejor película de habla no inglesa en 2010 por El secreto de sus ojos.

Mafalda es una tira periodística cómica argentina creada por el dibujante Quino y publicada entre 1964 y 1973. Se centra en una niña de seis años de clase media, Mafalda, quien se caracteriza por su aguda preocupación por problemas globales como la paz mundial y el hambre.

Esta historieta se convirtió en un símbolo cultural en Argentina y alcanzó gran popularidad tanto en Latinoamérica como en España.

Así lo han anunciado:

Buenas noticias para los fans de 'Mafalda'. La icónica historieta tendrá su propia serie animada en Netflix, de la mano del ganador del Oscar Juan José Campanella.

Buenos Aires – Mafalda, the beloved and wily six-year-old drawn into acclaim by celebrated Argentine artist Quino, will bring her socially-conscious hijinks to the screen. News of the adaptation, which will be ushered in by Oscar-winner Juan José Campanella, was announced Monday evening as Netflix unveiled their 2024 ‘Made in Argentina’ slate to a spirited crowd of industry and media professionals.

Campanella will direct, produce and showrun the project, while Gastón Gorali co-pens and acts as general producer of the Netflix Original series and Sergio Fernández boards as production director. Netflix and Campanella and Gorali’s Mundoloco CGI, the studio behind “Metegol,” the largest Latin American animated production to date, produce.

“Mafalda and her friends not only made me laugh a lot, but from time to time, they sent me to the dictionary. And each new word I learned came with the reward of a new laugh,” Campanella revealed in a July statement.

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...

Laura Fernández Espeso will be the next General Manager of Spain’s Mediapro.

On January 1, 2025, the current CEO of production and sales subsidiary The Mediapro Studios will succeed Juan Ruiz de Gauna as General Manager of the overall business, as part of a major restructure of the Spanish media and broadcasting giant.

Alberto Vía will replace José Luis Rubio as Head of Mediapro Broadcast and Media Services on the same day next year.

Espeso began her career in indie film, working with directors such as Francis Ford Coppola, Danis Tanovic, Ken Loach and Juan José Campanella. She then joined Spanish production giant Globomedia as Director of Film and later added leadership of International TV Development.

In 2015, she joined Mediapro as Head of International Content. Four years later, she took on management of TV and Corporate management of The Mediapro Studio and has been overall CEO since 2020, leading the creation, production...

Content Americas, the fast-rising trade event in Miami, has unveiled the finalists for its 2024 Content Americas CoPro Pitch and Content Americas Hispanic Kids Programming Pitch.

According to event organizer C21, more than 80 submissions rolled in for the CoPro Pitch and over 50 for the Kids Pitch from seasoned producers across Latin America, Spain and Portugal.

Among the CoPro Pitch finalists are scripted series “Hot Sur,” an adaptation of the Laura Restrepo bestseller about an undocumented Mexican immigrant looking after her bipolar sister in the U.S. This hails from Chilean powerhouse shingle, Fabula, run by Pablo and Juan de Dios Larrain, in partnership with Fremantle. Spain’s The Mediapro Studio submitted “El mal,” an 8-episode thriller based on actual events. Set in Barcelona during the pandemic lockdown, a serial killer has been targeting those who literally have no refuge, the homeless.

Leading the Hispanic Kids Programming Pitch entries are animated adventure pic,...

As U.S. and European sales agents and distributors gather in Buenos Aires next week for Ventana Sur, there will be a very large elephant in the room: the stunning victory in Argentina’s presidential election Sunday of far right Javier Milei, a self-described “anarcho-capitalist.”

Milei won 55.8% of the vote promising to do away with inflation, running at over 140%, as part of “drastic changes” which have included scrapping Argentina’s central bank, dollarizing the economy and slashing public spending by 15% of Gdp.

On the campaign trail, he also promised to abolish Argentina’s Ministry of Culture and national film-tv agency Incaa.

Currently, Argentina also holds the presidency of Ibermedia, the pan-regional fund for Latin America, Spain and Portugal, whose moneys are vital for art-house co-productions.

Incaa also co-organizes Ventana Sur itself with Cannes Film Festival and Market.

A left-leaning Argentine film-tv industry, whether Peronist or not, will take time to digest Milei’s victory.

Paramount+ hasn’t set a streaming date for The Envoys (Los Enviados) season two, but they have just released the first teaser trailer for the new season. According to Paramount+, season one was so popular on the streaming service that it ranks first among Spanish-language scripted series.

The series stars Luis Gerardo Méndez (Narcos: Mexico) as Pedro Salinas and Miguel Ángel Silvestre (Narcos) as Simón Antequera. Assira Abbate, Marta Etura, Manuel Ríos, Susi Sánchez, Charo Zapardiel, Cristina Marcos, and Ricardo de Barreiro also star.

The cast also includes Isabel Naveira, Miquel Insúa, Pepo Suevos, Guillermo Carbajo, Francis Lorenzo, Carlos Olalla, and Luis Iglesia.

Emmy and Oscar winner Juan José Campanella (El Secreto de Sus Ojos) guides the series as showrunner, producer, and director. Martino Zaidelis, Camilo Antolini, and Inma Torrente also direct, with Eduardo Sacheri, Emanuel Diez, and Juan Pablo Domenech joining Campanella as writers. 100 Bares’ Muriel Cabeza and Portaocabo’s Alfonso Blanco executive produce.

Paramount+ today released the official teaser trailer for the second season of the Spanish-language thriller series The Envoys (Los Enviados).  The original series features an all-star cast, including Luis Gerardo Méndez and Miguel Ángel Silvestre.  Oscar winner Juan José Campanella (El Secreto de Sus Ojos) serves as showrunner, producer and director. All eight episodes will be available to binge exclusively on Paramount+ soon. In the second season, Priests Pedro Salinas (Méndez) and Simón Antequera (Silvestre) delve into a web of mystery and murder in a Galician convent. With ... Read more...

In news that is sure to move waves in Spain, Portugal and beyond, former Netflix exec Juan Mayne, a name inextricably linked to the build of Spain as a global film-tv power, has been appointed as SkyShowtime regional content director for Iberia, encompassing Spain and Portugal.

The move creates an effective new streaming door to knock on for Spanish producers as some other – though not all – platforms are curbing commissions or orders in the two countries.

SkyShowtime in Spain and Portugal will be led, moreover, by one of Spain’s best known, connected and personable of TV execs, supercharging its operation in Spain from the get-go.

Mayne will report to the Amsterdam-based Kai Finke, himself appointed in September as chief content officer at the Comcast-Paramount joint venture SVOD platform , which focuses on European audiences. Mayne joins the now established European programming team of Edyta Pytlewska – regional content director for Central...

With the writers’ strike over, a new studio brand and new management in part of international, Paramount Global execs are attending Madrid’s Iberseries & Platino Industria, Rome’s Mia market and Mipcom as they talk up their competitive assets and priorities to the international market.

In one move, five months after the launch of Paramount Television International Studios in May, Paramount Global’s Darío Turovelzky delivered a keynote on Thursday at Iberseries & Platino Industria.

A rising star at Paramount, with oversight of ViacomCBS’ Argentine and Chilean broadcast networks Telefe and Chilevisión from 2019, Turovelzky himself was promoted to executive VP, Broadcast & Studios, Paramount Global, Latin America in late July.

His on-stage interview came just one day after Paramount’s U.K.’s chief marketing officer Anna Priest was announced as senior VP and head of Paramount+ for U.K. market, overseeing its “strategic vision” and pursuing growth opportunities.

Nicole Clemens, president...

Spanish star Miguel Ángel Silvestre is set to topline in miniseries “Lucio’s Treasure,” a real-life inspired project co-produced by Spain’s Vértice360 and Friki Films with Red Arrow International Studios.

Silvestre will play the leading role of Lucio Urtubia, considered a modern Robin Hood who nearly bankrupted Citibank of America in the 1980s. Whether he was caught is another matter.

Structured as a six-episode, one-hour drama, the series is scheduled to lens in English by 2025.

Created by brothers Hugo and Roger Menduiña, “Lucio’s Treasure” is produced by Friki’s CEO Ana Manresa and Alberto Rull, Vertice’s EVP production and content.

The U.K.’s Anthony Alleyne (“Sunburn”) has joined the series as co-creator, writer and executive co-producer.

Defined by Rull as “an ambitious series, both creatively and in terms of budget,” “Lucio’s Treasure” is set in Paris and New York, “aimed at being a world-class co-production...

It won’t be labor union demands or producers that ultimately lead to streamers releasing viewing data, according to prolific Argentine producer Axel Kuschevatzky.

The Infinity Hill partner — whose credits include Golden Globe winner Argentina, 1985, Academy Award winner The Secret in Their Eyes and Cannes Film Festival winner Paulina — was addressing the recent WGA-amptp deal during a keynote interview at Madrid’s Iberseries & Platino Industria (Ipi) event.

Part of the WGA’s new deal provides writers with more meaningful streamer residuals. Kuschevatzky said this would be based on confidential viewing data supplied to the union, which would then tally how much a writer is owed. However, it will be advertisers who force the data out into the open, he predicted.

“Most streaming platforms don’t share figures, so we have no idea what’s going on,” he said. “Every now and then you hear things have gone well — you get...

Mubi to release in US, Latin America, UK, other regions.

Argentina’s selection committee has submitted Rodrigo Moreno’s Cannes Un Certain Regard entry The Delinquents (Los Delincuentes) as this season’s international feature film contender.

The Delinquents: Cannes review

Mubi acquired rights for North America, UK & Ireland, Latin America, Turkey, Italy, India, and Benelux from Magnolia International.

The Delinquents stars Argentinian actors Daniel Elías, Esteban Bigliardi and Margarita Molfino and follows a Buenos Aires bank employee who dreams up a plan to free himself and his co-worker from the humdrum routine of their working lives.

Laura Paredes, Mariana Chaud,...

San Sebastian — In a first big deal to be announced during this year’s San Sebastian Festival, Madrid-based The Mediapro Studio, one of Europe’s biggest independent and international creation-production-distribution powerhouses, has acquired Cimarrón, the Uruguay, Argentina and Mexico-based production house and services company.

Of “highly significant value,” Tms said Friday, the deal looks set to consolidate Tms’ presence in Latin America and beyond. In the region, in its earliest talent deal, Tms acquired Argentina’s Oficina Burman in 2018, headed by filmmaker Daniel Burman who plays a further double role at Tms as head of content U.S. and as one of Tms’s leading creators, show running Amazon’s Prime Video title “Iosi, the Regretful Spy,” a major hit at 2022’s Berlinale Series.

Cimarrón’s integration in The Mediapro Studio follows on that of Spanish comedy powerhouse El Terrat and production alliances with Penelope Cruz’s Moonlyon, Mexico’s ViX,...

Living legend Hayao Miyazaki’s animated fantasy epic “The Boy and the Heron,” the latest from Japan’s legendary Studio Ghibli, will open the 71st San Sebastian Festival, screening on Sept. 22.

Bowing San Sebastian, Miyazaki’s film, which he has declared to be his last, will score an extraordinary double of opening both the Toronto and San Sebastian festivals in the space of a couple of weeks.

The San Sebastian screening will mark the film’s European premiere. The Toronto-San Sebastian double is a mark of the huge regard in which Miyazaki is held and an upgrade in the importance of animation at San Sebastian.

This is the fourth time that a film by the Japanese moviemaker will screen at the San Sebastian Festival, but it is the first time he will participate in its Official Selection, the festival noted on Thursday.

Miyazaki was previously at San Sebastian’s...

Top Chilean fiction house Parox, producer of “Invisible Heroes,” has kick-started principal photography on international co-production “Los mil días de Allende”, a historical drama mini-series about the last three years in the life of Chilean President Salvador Allende.

Alfredo Castro – one of Latin America’s most respected actors and a Pablo Larraín regular, star of films such as “Karnawal” and “El Club” – leads the mini-series cast as Allende; Benjamín Vicuña plays Cuban dictator Fidel Castro.

The four-episode, 55-minute fiction drama shoot is taking place entirely in Chile, lensing from May 15 for two months, under “Besieged” and “Inés of My Soul” director Nicolás Acuña.

Leonora González and Sergio Gándara, Parox co-founders, are respectively the mini-series’ showrunner and producer.

A Chile-Spain-Argentina co-production, “Allende, the Thousand Days” teams Spain’s Mediterráneo Media Entertainment and Argentine companies Aleph, Mente Colectiva and HD Argentina.

Chilean public broadcaster Tvn, Spanish nationwide group Rtve and Argentina’s...

Buenos Aires-based Meikincine has swooped on international sales rights to “The Extortion,” the biggest Argentine box office hit to date of 2023, in a deal with Warner Bros. Discovery Latin America.

“The Extortion” is backed by a pedigreed combo of Particular Crowd, Oscar winner Juan José Campanella’s 100 Bars, “Argentina, 1985” producer Infinity Hill and producer-service company Cimarrón Cine.

Headlined by Guillermo Francella, memorable in Campanella’s Academy Award winning “The Secret in Their Eyes” and star of Pablo Trapero’s “The Clan,” “The Extortion” turns on Alejandro, a pilot with a secret. Blackmailed by sinister intelligence service agents, he is plunged into a world of intrigue and corruption from which he will battle to escape alive.

Inspired by a true life Argentine crime story, “The Extortion” marks the second feature from Martino Zaidelis (“Re Loca”). Released April 6 in theaters in Argentina by Warner Bros., “The Extortion” scored 418,535 admissions last month, a...

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...

SkyShowtime has set its first Polish original, a fictional drama series that follows the tragicomic adventures of a 40-year old playboy.

In Warszawianka, Franek Czułkowski aka Czuly, played by Borys Szyc, is a talented writer who has experienced success and failure and now finds himself trapped between his personal struggles and societal expectations. The show follows his adventures as he struggles to grasp the meaning of his own existence in the modern world.

Helmed by Jacek Borcuch and written by Jakub Żulczyk, Warszawianka is the first Polish-language series for Comcast/Paramount Jv SkyShowtime, the new streamer which is available in numerous European territories in which Comcast’s Peacock or Paramount+ aren’t available.

Piotr Uznański serves as Director of Photography on Warszawianka. Additional cast includes Krystyna Janda, Jerzy Skolimowski, Ilona Ostrowska, Piotr Polak, Jadwiga Jankowska-Cieślak, Zofia Wichłacz, Paulina Gałązka, Jan Peszek, Marta Ścisłowicz, Marianna Zydek, Jakub Wieczorek, Tomasz Włosok, Maja Pankiewicz and Milena Goździela.

26th edition wrapped on Sunday.

Estíbaliz Urresola’s 20,000 Species Of Bees and Kattia G. Zúñiga’s Sister & Sister won top awards at 2023 Málaga Film Festival, taking best Spanish film and best Latin American film, respectively, as the Andalusian event closed on Sunday.

In other key awards at the festival’s 26th edition, Gerardo Herrero’s Under Therapy earned a special jury prize director and Matías Bize claimed the best director prize for The Punishment.

20,000 Species Of Bees won the Berlin Silver Bear for best leading performance for young Sofía Otero last month and added the Golden Biznaga for...

New Duke Of Edinburgh Opens Sky Studios Sound Stage

Prince Edward, the new Duke of Edinburgh, has opened a sound stage at Sky Studios Elstree. The former Earl of Wessex, who is a Patron of the Production Guild of Great Britain, headed to the Hertfordshire film and TV studio the day before he took on his father Prince Philip’s former title. Last Thursday, he toured the site, meeting local charity partners and young talent, before unveiling a plaque on Stage 5 to commemorate the significant moment for the UK’s film and TV sector as it marks the largest brand-new studio facility to open in the UK for decades. Sky Studios Elstree will house 13 sound stages and Sky has said it will generate an additional £3B ($3.6B) of production investment in the UK creative sector during its first five years. Buckingham Palace announced Prince Edward would be given the Duke...

Since 1961, Argentina has been sending films to vie in the international film race and Ricardo Darin, the country’s most celebrated actor, stars in at least seven of them, including this year’s nominee, “Argentina 1985.” That’s no mean feat but given his lifetime commitment to his craft, perhaps not surprising.

Four of them: “Son of the Bride” (2001), “The Secret in their Eyes” (2009), “Wild Tales” (2014) and now the Amazon Studios-backed “Argentina 1985,” have either been shortlisted or in the case of Juan José Campanella’s “The Secret in Their Eyes,” taken home the golden statuette. Given its wins at the Venice Film Festival, the National Board of Review and the Golden Globes as well as the growing buzz, “Argentina 1985” may again clinch the honor.

Before his international career-launching turn in 2000 heist drama “Nine Queens,” which spawned a Hollywood remake, Darin, 66, had already worked in 35 films, aside from numerous roles in television,...

One of the most surprising upsets of the Golden Globes on Tuesday night was Argentina, 1985 winning the best non-English language feature honor, beating out the bookies’ favorites, including Netflix’s German war drama All Quiet on the Western Front, Indian box office smash RRR and Cannes festival winners Close and Decision to Leave.

The win of a Golden Globe puts increased awards focus on Santiago Mitre’s historic legal drama, which follows the story of the real-life prosecutors who put Argentine’s military on trial for the crimes of state terrorism committed during the country’s bloody dictatorship.

Argentina, 1985 now looks like a shoo-in for an Oscar nomination in the best international feature category, though its Globes rivals — and critical favorites, including Ireland’s The Quiet Girl, Jerzy Skolimowski’s Polish drama Eo and Ali Abbasi’s newly-relevant Iranian feature Holy Spider — will provide stiff competition. But, following the Globes win,...

Europe is less dominant this year, with Asia, Latin America and Africa represented.

The Academy’s 2023 international feature film shortlist manages to be both predictable and refreshing at the same time.

It’s predictable in that the 15-strong shortlist contains most of the front runners expected to make it to this stage, including France’s Saint Omer, Austria’s Corsage, Denmark’s Holy Spider, Argentina’s Argentina, 1985, Belgium’s Close, South Korea’s Decision To Leave and Mexico’s Bardo. Among the few surprising omissions are Maryna Er Gorbach’s Ukrainian war drama Klondike and Carla Simon’s Berlinale winner Alcarràs.

Strange as it may seem, the Oscar for Best International Feature tends to go to movies that are universal rather than geographically specific. Last year’s winner Drive My Car spoke more about mankind’s default setting to loneliness than it did about the specifics of relationship dynamics in modern Japan, just as the Danish drunks in 2021’s Another Round got hammered in a way that was relatable to boozers in every country from Albania to Zambia. Maybe the Academy feels that real life is better left to docs, but a 2015 win for the harrowing Second World War drama Son of Saul suggests that the door is always open. And after a year that saw the whole world reeling from Vladmir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, this might be one of those years that addresses the fact.

Clearly, the abrupt nature of Putin’s surprise maneuver on February 24 caught many unawares,...

Buenos Aires — Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s “The Beasts,” Manuela Martelli’s “The Meltdown” and Demián Rugna’s Shudder co-pro “When Evil Lurks” were three highlights at 2022’s Ventana Sur. Wrapping Dec. 2, it offered a dazzling myriad of projects, bold initiatives in genre and from Spain and confirmation that the sector has still to emerge from the pandemic when it comes to independent distributors’ appetite for new titles.

Following a brace of takeaways with more to follow:

Ventana Sur Growth

From an art film base, few markets have so cannily addressed potential international film market growth, whether genre/fantasy fare; animation, drama series, video games or established IP exploitation. Each now has its own distinct Vs forum, often supported by some of the world’s most powerful players: France’s Cine+Club for arthouse Primer Corte/Corte Final and its Annecy Festival for Animation!, for instance. Various sections grew this year, genre...

Closing Japan with Medallion and French-speaking Canada with Axiom and fielding offers for the U.S., China and the U.K, “The Beasts” is on track to shortly sell well over half the major territories in the world for sales agent Latido Films. as

The sales come as Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s rural thriller heads to this week’s Ventana Sur as one of its biggest market highlights.

In further new deals, the Spain-set modern-day Western has also now been swooped on by HBO Eastern Europe and has licensed Poland (Aurora), Hungary (Cinefil), Portugal (Outsiders) and the Baltics (Capella).

These pacts add to prior acquisitions by Movies Inspired in Italy and Imagine in Benelux, Kino Mediteran in ex-Yugoslavia territories and Transilvania Film for Romania.

A Cannes Premiere world bow co-produced by Spain’s Arcadia Motion Pictures and Sorogoyen’s Caballo Films with France’s Le Pacte, “The Beasts” ran up 327,125 ticket sales...

Showrun and directed by Academy Award winner Juan Jose Campanella (“The Secret in Their Eyes”), burgeoning hit Paramount+ franchise “The Envoys” has gone into production on Season 2 in Galicia, North-West Spain.

Miguel Angel Silvestre (“En el corredor de la muerte”) and Luis Gerardo Méndez (“Club de Cuervos”) are reprising their roles as Vatican dispatched miracle corroborators, playing alongside Assira Abbate (“Empire of Lies”), who also starred in Season 1.

Described as a gripping thriller, Season 2 is again produced by Vis, Paramount’s international studio, in collaboration with 100 Bares, Campanella’s Buenos Aires production label and, this time round, Galicia’s A Coruña-based Portocabo. A producer on Movistar Plus+ hits “Hierro” and “Rapa,” Portocabo has also been behind pioneering premium TV co-productions with Portugal (“Dry Water”).

Released on Paramount+ on Dec. 12, Season 1 saw priests Pedro Salinas, a doctor with a scientific bent, and Simon Antequera, a looser cannon, dispatched to the...

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Argentina has selected Santiago Mitre’s crowd-pleasing courtroom drama Argentina, 1985 as its national contender for the 2023 Academy Awards in the best international feature category.

There are echoes of the Jan. 6 hearings in the film’s true story of the group of heroic lawyers, led by Julio Strassera and Luis Moreno Ocampo, who engaged in a David vs. Goliath battle to try and prosecute the leaders of Argentina’s military for crimes committed during the country’s bloody dictatorship. More than just a legal battle, the outcome of the case will determine how strong Argentina’s nascent democracy can be.

Argentina, 1985 premiered in competition at the Venice Film Festival this year. Starring Ricardo Darín (The Secret In Their Eyes) and Peter Lanzani, Argentina, 1985 is the first Argentina original from Amazon Prime, which will be releasing the film stateside on Oct. 21.

Argentinian films have been...

The film picked up the critics prize at Venice and the audience award at San Sebastian.

Argentina has submitted Santiago Mitre’s Argentina, 1985 as its entry for the best international feature category for the 2023 Academy Awards (March 12).

‘Argentina, 1985’: Venice Review

The Amazon Original title is based on the real events of Argentina’s 1980s ‘Dirty War’ and follows a group of lawyers who risk everything to take on the heads of the country’s military dictatorship. Ricardo Darín and Peter Lanzani lead the cast.

Argentina, 1985 was selected out 60 other titles by a committee of 250 members.

The film is a...

The thriller is being pitched at San Sebastian’s Creative Investors’ Conference.

Spain’s Latido Films has boarded Raqqa, the next project of Oscar-winning producer-director Gerardo Herrero, as international sales agent.

Herrero will direct the film. As a producer he won the best international feature Oscar for Juan Jose Campanella’s The Secret In Their Eyes in 2010.

Herrero is alos producing Raqqa, with Mariela Besuievsky of Tornasol Films as a co-production with Storylines Projects and Entre Chien et Loup.

Raqqa is about two spies, one working for the Russian secret services, the other for Western intelligence, who realise they have...

Manolo Cardona, one of Colombia’s top actors who has starred in such Netflix hits as “Narcos” and “Who Killed Sara?,” is now filming his directorial debut, “One Must Die,” for Paramount+.

Cardona also stars in the suspense thriller and is joined by Spain’s Maribel Verdu, who starred in “Pan’s Labyrinth,” “Belle Epoque” and “Y Tu Mamá Tambien,” and is soon featured in the upcoming DC film “The Flash.” The rest of the cast includes Carla Adell, Juan Carlos Remolina, Dagoberto Gama, Fernando Becerril and Adriana Paz.

In the story written by Julieta Steimberg and Gavo Amiel, seven people are kidnapped and find themselves unwilling participants in a deadly game. In order to survive, the captives must choose one of them to die, but this person will have to agree to be sacrificed. Meanwhile, the clock ticks and their allotted time is running out.

“I’ve always been interested in exploring the human condition,...

Further expanding its already robust talent roster in Spain, Latin America and the U.S. Latino market, Vis, Paramount’s international studio, has signed an exclusive first-look deal with Madrid and Los Angeles-based Morena Films to develop and produce films and series for the company’s portfolio.

The titles will have a strong focus on Latin America, Spain, and U.S. Hispanic markets, Vis and Morena announced Thursday. The deal is one of the biggest to be unveiled during this week’s Conecta Fiction & Entertainment, where reference will be made to the agreement during two on-stage conversations on Thursday, one between Laura Abril, senior VP and head of Vis Emea and Asia and Federico Cuervo, senior VP, and head of Vis Americas, and the other featuring Abril and Morena Films producer-partner Pedro Uriol.

The agreement plays off the two partners’ production of “Las Invisibles,” about five hotel maids working at...