Roger Corman, a pioneer of low-cost independent filmmaking and the godfather of B-movies who produced hundreds of genre films in a career spanning eight decades, has died. He was 98.
During a prolific career that started in the 1950s and encompassed all genre, Corman directed the 1960 original The Little Shop Of Horrors – reportedly shot in two days – as well as The Man With The X-Ray Eyes, The Trip, The Wasp Woman, The Masque Of The Red Death, House Of Usher, and The Raven – the last three counting among a number of Edgar Allan Poe adaptations.
Dubbed ’the Pope of Pop Cinema...
During a prolific career that started in the 1950s and encompassed all genre, Corman directed the 1960 original The Little Shop Of Horrors – reportedly shot in two days – as well as The Man With The X-Ray Eyes, The Trip, The Wasp Woman, The Masque Of The Red Death, House Of Usher, and The Raven – the last three counting among a number of Edgar Allan Poe adaptations.
Dubbed ’the Pope of Pop Cinema...
- 5/12/2024
- ScreenDaily
French producer Sylvie Pialat will replace Spanish director Rogrigo Sorogoyen as Cannes Critics’ Week president.
“Due to personal circumstances, and much to our regret, Rodrigo Sorogoyen has had to step down as president of the jury for the 63rd Semaine de la Critique,” Critics’ Week said on Saturday (May 11).
The 11th-hour changeover will also see French filmmaker Iris Kaltenback join the jury alongside previously announced members Rwandan actress Eliane Umuhire, Belgian director of photography Virginie Surdej, and Canadian journalist and film critic Ben Croll.
Pialat was originally on the jury, and will now act as the group’s president.
Pialat...
“Due to personal circumstances, and much to our regret, Rodrigo Sorogoyen has had to step down as president of the jury for the 63rd Semaine de la Critique,” Critics’ Week said on Saturday (May 11).
The 11th-hour changeover will also see French filmmaker Iris Kaltenback join the jury alongside previously announced members Rwandan actress Eliane Umuhire, Belgian director of photography Virginie Surdej, and Canadian journalist and film critic Ben Croll.
Pialat was originally on the jury, and will now act as the group’s president.
Pialat...
- 5/11/2024
- ScreenDaily
Cannes Critics’ Week has appointed French producer Sylvie Pialat as president of the jury for its upcoming edition after Spanish director Rodrigo Sorogoyen, who was originally announced for the role, was forced to cancel for personal reasons.
French director Iris Kaltenbäck has also been been named as a new jury member. Her first film The Rapture premiered to acclaim in Critics’ Week last year. The drama, starring Hafsia Herzi as a midwife who passes off her best friend’s newborn child as her own, won the Prix Sacd.
Previously announced members of the jury include Rwandan actress Eliane Umuhire (Augure by Baloji, My New Friends, Haven of Grace), Belgian cinematographer Virginie Surdej (The Blue Caftan, Our Mothers, Casablanca Beats), and Canadian film critic and journalist Ben Croll.
Producer Pialat spent the first part of her cinema career collaborating with her husband Maurice Pialat, co-writing the screenplays for a number of...
French director Iris Kaltenbäck has also been been named as a new jury member. Her first film The Rapture premiered to acclaim in Critics’ Week last year. The drama, starring Hafsia Herzi as a midwife who passes off her best friend’s newborn child as her own, won the Prix Sacd.
Previously announced members of the jury include Rwandan actress Eliane Umuhire (Augure by Baloji, My New Friends, Haven of Grace), Belgian cinematographer Virginie Surdej (The Blue Caftan, Our Mothers, Casablanca Beats), and Canadian film critic and journalist Ben Croll.
Producer Pialat spent the first part of her cinema career collaborating with her husband Maurice Pialat, co-writing the screenplays for a number of...
- 5/11/2024
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
The Match Factory is set to handle international sales on a new film by “Fire Will Come” director Oliver Laxe, headlined by Sergi López, star of Guillermo del Toro’s “Pan’s Labyrinth.”
Having begun production, shooting in Spain and then Morocco, the untitled Oliver Laxe project is a Movistar Plus+ original film produced with Pedro and Agustín Almodovar’s El Deseo, Laxe’s Galicia-based label Filmes da Ermida, Oriol Maymó’s Uri Films in Barcelona, and Paris’s 4 A 4 Productions.
The latest from Laxe follows Cannes wins for all his first three features. 2010’s “You Are All Captains,” Laxe’s debut feature, walked off with a Directors’ Fortnight Fipresci Award; 2016’s “Mimosas” scooped the Critics’ Week top Grand Prize, “Fire Will Come” a 2019 Un Certain Regard Jury Prize.
Co-written with “Matadero” director Santiago Fillol, also a co-scribe on “Fire Will Come,” Laxe’s next turns on a man...
Having begun production, shooting in Spain and then Morocco, the untitled Oliver Laxe project is a Movistar Plus+ original film produced with Pedro and Agustín Almodovar’s El Deseo, Laxe’s Galicia-based label Filmes da Ermida, Oriol Maymó’s Uri Films in Barcelona, and Paris’s 4 A 4 Productions.
The latest from Laxe follows Cannes wins for all his first three features. 2010’s “You Are All Captains,” Laxe’s debut feature, walked off with a Directors’ Fortnight Fipresci Award; 2016’s “Mimosas” scooped the Critics’ Week top Grand Prize, “Fire Will Come” a 2019 Un Certain Regard Jury Prize.
Co-written with “Matadero” director Santiago Fillol, also a co-scribe on “Fire Will Come,” Laxe’s next turns on a man...
- 5/6/2024
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
The Cannes Film Festival has unveiled the eight jurors who will be joining jury president Greta Gerwig for the event’s 2024 edition (May 14-25).
They are American actress Lily Gladstone, French actress Eva Green, French actor and producer Omar Sy, Lebanese director and screenwriter Nadine Labaki, Spanish director and screenwriter Juan Antonio Bayona, Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-eda, Turkish screenwriter and photographer Ebru Ceylan, and Italian actor Pierfrancisco Favino.
The jury will award the Palme d’Or to one of the 22 films in competition at the closing ceremony on May 25. Anatomy Of A Fall picked up the top prize last year.
They are American actress Lily Gladstone, French actress Eva Green, French actor and producer Omar Sy, Lebanese director and screenwriter Nadine Labaki, Spanish director and screenwriter Juan Antonio Bayona, Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-eda, Turkish screenwriter and photographer Ebru Ceylan, and Italian actor Pierfrancisco Favino.
The jury will award the Palme d’Or to one of the 22 films in competition at the closing ceremony on May 25. Anatomy Of A Fall picked up the top prize last year.
- 4/29/2024
- ScreenDaily
“Barren Land,” from Spain’s Albert Pintó, director of Netflix global blockbusters “Money Heist,” “Berlin” and “Nowhere,” have been snapped up by Spain’s Film Factory Entertainment.
From an original idea by producer Alvaro Ariza, “Barren Land” (“Tierra de Nadie”) is penned by Fernando Navarro, one of Spain’s go-to screenwriters whose credits include Netflix hits “Below Zero” and “Veronica.”
Film Factory will launch world sales on “Barren Land,” as it builds a powerful slate of upscale commercial packages. Sony Pictures Entertainment Iberia will release the film in Spain next year.
Now with principal photography underway in Cadiz, southern Spain, the suspense thriller captures the devastation of friendships, lives and the whole province by a rampant drug trade, action also expanding to the Straits of Gibraltar.
“An ode to friendship, focusing on three characters whose paths diverge due to the longstanding situation in the Southern part of Spain,” “Barren Land” turns on Mateo “El Gallego,...
From an original idea by producer Alvaro Ariza, “Barren Land” (“Tierra de Nadie”) is penned by Fernando Navarro, one of Spain’s go-to screenwriters whose credits include Netflix hits “Below Zero” and “Veronica.”
Film Factory will launch world sales on “Barren Land,” as it builds a powerful slate of upscale commercial packages. Sony Pictures Entertainment Iberia will release the film in Spain next year.
Now with principal photography underway in Cadiz, southern Spain, the suspense thriller captures the devastation of friendships, lives and the whole province by a rampant drug trade, action also expanding to the Straits of Gibraltar.
“An ode to friendship, focusing on three characters whose paths diverge due to the longstanding situation in the Southern part of Spain,” “Barren Land” turns on Mateo “El Gallego,...
- 4/24/2024
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
The Cannes Critics’ Week, the parallel film festival sidebar organized by the French film critics’ union, has unveiled its 2024 selection.
The psychological thriller Ghost Trail, the first feature from acclaimed French shorts director Jonathan Millet, will open the 2024 sidebar. Adam Bessa (star of 2022’s Un Certain Regard winner Harka) plays the lead in the manhunt drama about a man pursuing his former torturer, using only his sensory memories to guide him.
The competition lineup includes Brazilian drama Baby from director Marcelo Caetano, a portrait of a young outsider growing up in São Paulo; Constance Tsang’s Blue Sun Palace, which looks at the lives of Chinese immigrants in Queens; and the Egyptian/French/Danish/Qatari/Saudi Arabian drama The Brink of Dreams about a group of girls from the disenfranchised Christian Copts who defy tradition and set up an all-female street theater troupe.
Baby
Other competition titles include Antoine Chevrollier’s Block Pass,...
The psychological thriller Ghost Trail, the first feature from acclaimed French shorts director Jonathan Millet, will open the 2024 sidebar. Adam Bessa (star of 2022’s Un Certain Regard winner Harka) plays the lead in the manhunt drama about a man pursuing his former torturer, using only his sensory memories to guide him.
The competition lineup includes Brazilian drama Baby from director Marcelo Caetano, a portrait of a young outsider growing up in São Paulo; Constance Tsang’s Blue Sun Palace, which looks at the lives of Chinese immigrants in Queens; and the Egyptian/French/Danish/Qatari/Saudi Arabian drama The Brink of Dreams about a group of girls from the disenfranchised Christian Copts who defy tradition and set up an all-female street theater troupe.
Baby
Other competition titles include Antoine Chevrollier’s Block Pass,...
- 4/15/2024
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Cannes Critics’ Week, spotlighting first and second features, has unveiled the competition and special screenings selection for its 63rd edition running May 15-23.
Scroll down for full list of titles
Artistic director Ava Cahen, now in her third year in the position, announced the selection of 11 features chosen from 1,050 films screened. Seven films will vie for four top prizes in competition, chosen by a jury led by Spanish filmmaker Rodrigo Sorogoyen. Nine are first films that will vie for the Camera d’Or and three are directed or co-directed by women.
The sidebar will open with French director Jonathan Millet...
Scroll down for full list of titles
Artistic director Ava Cahen, now in her third year in the position, announced the selection of 11 features chosen from 1,050 films screened. Seven films will vie for four top prizes in competition, chosen by a jury led by Spanish filmmaker Rodrigo Sorogoyen. Nine are first films that will vie for the Camera d’Or and three are directed or co-directed by women.
The sidebar will open with French director Jonathan Millet...
- 4/15/2024
- ScreenDaily
Cannes’ Critics Week has rounded out the jury for its 63rd edition running running May 15-23.
The previously announced Spanish writer-director-producer Rodrigo Sorogoyen will preside over the festival’s parallel selection dedicated to first and second features alongside Rwandan actress Eliane Umuhire, French producer Sylvie Pialat, Belgian director of photography Virginie Surdej, and Canadian journalist and film critic Ben Croll.
Sorogoyen is known for psychological thriller The Beasts which premiered in the Cannes Premiere strand in 2022 and won nine Goya awards, plus 2019 drama Mother, 2018 Spanish-French thriller The Realm, 2016 crime thriller May God Save Us, 2013 romantic drama Stockholm, and 2008’s 8 Dates co-directed with Peris Romano.
The previously announced Spanish writer-director-producer Rodrigo Sorogoyen will preside over the festival’s parallel selection dedicated to first and second features alongside Rwandan actress Eliane Umuhire, French producer Sylvie Pialat, Belgian director of photography Virginie Surdej, and Canadian journalist and film critic Ben Croll.
Sorogoyen is known for psychological thriller The Beasts which premiered in the Cannes Premiere strand in 2022 and won nine Goya awards, plus 2019 drama Mother, 2018 Spanish-French thriller The Realm, 2016 crime thriller May God Save Us, 2013 romantic drama Stockholm, and 2008’s 8 Dates co-directed with Peris Romano.
- 4/10/2024
- ScreenDaily
Cannes Critics’ Week has unveiled the jury members for its upcoming 63rd edition, who join previously announced jury president Rodrigo Sorogoyen.
They are Rwandan actress Eliane Umuhire (Augure by Baloji, My New Friends, Haven of Grace), French producer Sylvie Pialat (Timbuktu, Staying Vertical, The Whistlers), Belgian cinematographer Virginie Surdej (The Blue Caftan, Our Mothers, Casablanca Beats), and Canadian film critic and journalist Ben Croll.
The section, which is overseen by the French Syndicate of Cinema Critics, focuses on first and second features as well as shorts by emerging talents.
Sorogoyen and his jury will decide the winners of the Semaine de la Critique Grand Prize for best feature film, the French Touch Prize of the Jury, the Louis Roederer Foundation Rising Star Award for best actor and actress and the Leitz Ciné Discovery for best short film.
The traditionally compact selection of 11 features, seven in competition, and a competitive and non-competitive shorts line-up,...
They are Rwandan actress Eliane Umuhire (Augure by Baloji, My New Friends, Haven of Grace), French producer Sylvie Pialat (Timbuktu, Staying Vertical, The Whistlers), Belgian cinematographer Virginie Surdej (The Blue Caftan, Our Mothers, Casablanca Beats), and Canadian film critic and journalist Ben Croll.
The section, which is overseen by the French Syndicate of Cinema Critics, focuses on first and second features as well as shorts by emerging talents.
Sorogoyen and his jury will decide the winners of the Semaine de la Critique Grand Prize for best feature film, the French Touch Prize of the Jury, the Louis Roederer Foundation Rising Star Award for best actor and actress and the Leitz Ciné Discovery for best short film.
The traditionally compact selection of 11 features, seven in competition, and a competitive and non-competitive shorts line-up,...
- 4/10/2024
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Rwandan actress Eliane Umuhire (“Augure by Baloji,” “My New Friends”), French producer Sylvie Pialat (“Timbuktu,” “Staying Vertical”), Belgian cinematographer Virginie Surdej and Canadian film critic, journalist and frequent Variety contributor Ben Croll have been named on the jury for the Critics’ Week section of the Cannes Film Festival.
The four will now join Spanish filmmaker Rodrigo Sorogoyen, who last week was named Critics’ Week jury president, with the group set to choose the sidebar competition’s award winners, including the Grand Prize for best feature film, the French Touch Prize of the Jury, the Louis Roederer Foundation Rising Star award for best actor or actress and the Leitz Ciné Discovery Prize for best short film.
The 2024 Critics Week lineup is set to be unveiled on April 15, four days after the Cannes official selection is announced on April 11.
Last year, Venice Golden Lion-winning “Happening” director Audrey Diwan presided over a Critics...
The four will now join Spanish filmmaker Rodrigo Sorogoyen, who last week was named Critics’ Week jury president, with the group set to choose the sidebar competition’s award winners, including the Grand Prize for best feature film, the French Touch Prize of the Jury, the Louis Roederer Foundation Rising Star award for best actor or actress and the Leitz Ciné Discovery Prize for best short film.
The 2024 Critics Week lineup is set to be unveiled on April 15, four days after the Cannes official selection is announced on April 11.
Last year, Venice Golden Lion-winning “Happening” director Audrey Diwan presided over a Critics...
- 4/10/2024
- by Alex Ritman
- Variety Film + TV
Spanish filmmaker Rodrigo Sorogoyen, best known for his 2023 feature The Beasts, has been announced as jury president for this year’s edition of Cannes Critics’ Week.
The parallel Cannes section devoted to emerging talents and first and second features will unfold from May 15 to 23 this year.
“It is a big responsibility, which I look forward to,” Sorogoyen said in a video statement on X, formerly Twitter, announcing his presidency.
“La Semaine de la Critique supports and rewards first and second feature films as well as short films, thus providing vital support to cinema, new voices, and new ways to tell stories. Without these new voices, there would be no new cinema. They’re the ones who make it live and make it work.”
Rodrigo Sorogoyen sera le Président du Jury de la 63e Semaine de la Critique ! À cette occasion, le réalisateur de "Que Dios nos perdone", "El Reino" ou...
The parallel Cannes section devoted to emerging talents and first and second features will unfold from May 15 to 23 this year.
“It is a big responsibility, which I look forward to,” Sorogoyen said in a video statement on X, formerly Twitter, announcing his presidency.
“La Semaine de la Critique supports and rewards first and second feature films as well as short films, thus providing vital support to cinema, new voices, and new ways to tell stories. Without these new voices, there would be no new cinema. They’re the ones who make it live and make it work.”
Rodrigo Sorogoyen sera le Président du Jury de la 63e Semaine de la Critique ! À cette occasion, le réalisateur de "Que Dios nos perdone", "El Reino" ou...
- 4/5/2024
- by Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
Spanish director Rodrigo Sorogoyen (Stockholm, The Realm, Madre, The Beasts), who was nominated for the best international film honor at Italy’s David Di Donatello Awards, has been named jury president of this year’s Cannes Critics’ Week, the festival sidebar run by the French film critics union that focuses on first and second features from up-and-coming directors.
In a social media clip shared Friday, Sorogoyen called the jury duty “a great responsibility.”
Rodrigo Sorogoyen sera le Président du Jury de la 63e Semaine de la Critique ! À cette occasion, le réalisateur de "Que Dios nos perdone", "El Reino" ou encore "As Bestas" a un message pour vous.
#sdlc2024 #rodrigosorogoyen #Cannes2024 @semainecannes pic.twitter.com/XOBeKDGmhp
— AlloCiné (@allocine) April 5, 2024
Originally set up by an association of French film critics in 1962, Critics’ Week is the oldest nonofficial Cannes sidebar. The section is credited with discovering some of the biggest names in independent and art house cinema,...
In a social media clip shared Friday, Sorogoyen called the jury duty “a great responsibility.”
Rodrigo Sorogoyen sera le Président du Jury de la 63e Semaine de la Critique ! À cette occasion, le réalisateur de "Que Dios nos perdone", "El Reino" ou encore "As Bestas" a un message pour vous.
#sdlc2024 #rodrigosorogoyen #Cannes2024 @semainecannes pic.twitter.com/XOBeKDGmhp
— AlloCiné (@allocine) April 5, 2024
Originally set up by an association of French film critics in 1962, Critics’ Week is the oldest nonofficial Cannes sidebar. The section is credited with discovering some of the biggest names in independent and art house cinema,...
- 4/5/2024
- by Scott Roxborough and Georg Szalai
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The Critics’ Week section of the Cannes film festival has set Spanish director Rodrigo Sorogoyen as the president of the jury for its 63rd edition.
Sorogoyen is known for films including “Stockholm” in 2013, “The Candidate” in 2018, and “The Beasts” from 2022. The Beasts last year earned him the best foreign film prize at France’s Cesars awards. Sorogoyen also wrote and executive produced TV series “Antidisturbios.”
“It is a big responsibility, one that I look forward to very much,” said Sorogoyen in a Spanish-language video message posted to social media. “The Critics Week supports and rewards directors’ first and second feature films as well as short films, thus providing vital support to cinema, new voices and new ways to tell stories. Without these new voices there would be no new cinema. They’re the ones who make it live and make it work.”
Rodrigo Sorogoyen sera le Président du Jury de...
Sorogoyen is known for films including “Stockholm” in 2013, “The Candidate” in 2018, and “The Beasts” from 2022. The Beasts last year earned him the best foreign film prize at France’s Cesars awards. Sorogoyen also wrote and executive produced TV series “Antidisturbios.”
“It is a big responsibility, one that I look forward to very much,” said Sorogoyen in a Spanish-language video message posted to social media. “The Critics Week supports and rewards directors’ first and second feature films as well as short films, thus providing vital support to cinema, new voices and new ways to tell stories. Without these new voices there would be no new cinema. They’re the ones who make it live and make it work.”
Rodrigo Sorogoyen sera le Président du Jury de...
- 4/5/2024
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
Spanish writer-director-producer Rodrigo Sorogoyen has been named President of the Jury of the 63rd edition of Cannes’ Critics’ Week, the festival’s parallel selection dedicated to first and second features running May 15-23.
Watch Sorogoyen announce the news below.
Sorogoyen praised Critics’ Week for providing “vital support to cinema, new voices, and new ways to tell stories” and that without such voices, “there would be no new cinema. They’re the ones that make it live and make it work.”
He said his role as jury president is “a big responsibility which I look forward to.”
The multiple Goya award-winning...
Watch Sorogoyen announce the news below.
Sorogoyen praised Critics’ Week for providing “vital support to cinema, new voices, and new ways to tell stories” and that without such voices, “there would be no new cinema. They’re the ones that make it live and make it work.”
He said his role as jury president is “a big responsibility which I look forward to.”
The multiple Goya award-winning...
- 4/5/2024
- ScreenDaily
“I’m Nevenka,” a Movistar Plus+ original film and the awaited next feature from Spain’s Iciar Bollaín, has closed its earliest pre-sales, struck by Film Factory Entertainment, including a bellwether deal in France.
The deals come as “I’m Nevenka” has wrapped production, shooting in the Basque city of Bilbao before transferring to rural Zamora, western Spain.
Daniel Chabannes’ Epicentre Films, a classic 30-year-old distributor and producer of non-English language art pics, especially from Europe and Latin America, whose recent acquisitions take in San Sebastian Gold Shell winner “The Rye Horn” and Amos Gitai’s “It’s Not Over,” has acquired French rights.
A distributor of both big Cannes winners – “Triangle of Sadness,” “Rosetta,” “The Child” – and slightly more out-there propositions, such as Pablo Berger’s silent movie “Blancanieves,” Xenix Film Distribution has clinched rights to Switzerland.
Iciar Bollaín: A Broader Audience Auteur
The early pre-sales are hardly surprising. Since her big breakout,...
The deals come as “I’m Nevenka” has wrapped production, shooting in the Basque city of Bilbao before transferring to rural Zamora, western Spain.
Daniel Chabannes’ Epicentre Films, a classic 30-year-old distributor and producer of non-English language art pics, especially from Europe and Latin America, whose recent acquisitions take in San Sebastian Gold Shell winner “The Rye Horn” and Amos Gitai’s “It’s Not Over,” has acquired French rights.
A distributor of both big Cannes winners – “Triangle of Sadness,” “Rosetta,” “The Child” – and slightly more out-there propositions, such as Pablo Berger’s silent movie “Blancanieves,” Xenix Film Distribution has clinched rights to Switzerland.
Iciar Bollaín: A Broader Audience Auteur
The early pre-sales are hardly surprising. Since her big breakout,...
- 4/3/2024
- by Pablo Sandoval and John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
French broadcaster Arte has joined Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s upcoming Movistar Plus+ series The New Years.
Arte and Spanish streamer Movistar Plus+ will co-produce the series, which is from Madrid-based Caballo Films — the production company Sorogoyen co-founded.
Production on the series began last year, and Arte has now snapped up French rights. Movistar Plus+ International will shop the title outside of Spain and France.
The series is set on New Year’s Eve every year for a decade, following a couple, played by Iria del Río (Riot Police) and Francesco Carril (Un Amor), who meet aged 30. Each episode follows updates their relationship and the trials they face to stay together, and the final shot is a single 40-minute take. “The narrative device allows you to consider change,” said Movistar Plus+ Director of Fiction and Entertainment Domingo Corral.
Alexandre Piel, Deputy Head of Drama at Arte France, said: “We’re very happy...
Arte and Spanish streamer Movistar Plus+ will co-produce the series, which is from Madrid-based Caballo Films — the production company Sorogoyen co-founded.
Production on the series began last year, and Arte has now snapped up French rights. Movistar Plus+ International will shop the title outside of Spain and France.
The series is set on New Year’s Eve every year for a decade, following a couple, played by Iria del Río (Riot Police) and Francesco Carril (Un Amor), who meet aged 30. Each episode follows updates their relationship and the trials they face to stay together, and the final shot is a single 40-minute take. “The narrative device allows you to consider change,” said Movistar Plus+ Director of Fiction and Entertainment Domingo Corral.
Alexandre Piel, Deputy Head of Drama at Arte France, said: “We’re very happy...
- 3/20/2024
- by Jesse Whittock
- Deadline Film + TV
Updated Lille, France — One of Spain’s most awaited drama series of the year, Rodrigo Sorogyen’s ‘The New Years’ will be co-produced by Spain’s Movistar Plus+, its original backer, and new partner Arte France, the upscale French public broadcaster.
Going into production last year on Oct. 2, and shooting in Madrid, Lyon (France) and Berlin (Germany), the series is produced in collaboration with Madrid-based independent production house Caballo Films, co-founded by Sorogoyen.
Movistar Plus+ International will handle distribution outside Spain and France. Arte France’s involvement guarantees the 10-part series’ distribution in all the territories where it operates.
Set on the same day every year for a decade, New Year’s Eve, “The New Years” stars Iria del Río and Francesco Carril. Ana and Óscar, meet at 30 and start a relationship which lasts 10 years.
The period from 30 to 40 is “a crucial decade for all of us,” Sorogoyen commented when the new series was announced.
Going into production last year on Oct. 2, and shooting in Madrid, Lyon (France) and Berlin (Germany), the series is produced in collaboration with Madrid-based independent production house Caballo Films, co-founded by Sorogoyen.
Movistar Plus+ International will handle distribution outside Spain and France. Arte France’s involvement guarantees the 10-part series’ distribution in all the territories where it operates.
Set on the same day every year for a decade, New Year’s Eve, “The New Years” stars Iria del Río and Francesco Carril. Ana and Óscar, meet at 30 and start a relationship which lasts 10 years.
The period from 30 to 40 is “a crucial decade for all of us,” Sorogoyen commented when the new series was announced.
- 3/20/2024
- by John Hopewell and Marta Balaga
- Variety Film + TV
Latido Films scores sales for ‘Re-creation’ with Vicky Krieps, Gerardo Herrero’s ‘Raqqa’ (exclusive)
Madrid-based sales outlet Latido Films has unveiled sales on key titles from its European Film Market and Malaga Film Festival (March 1-10) slates.
Beginning with films in pre-production, Jim Sheridan and David Merriman’s true crime courtroom docu-drama Re-creation starring Vicky Krieps has secured pre-sales for Greece (Spentzos) and Portugal (Outsider). The film sees a fictional jury assess the real-life unsolved murder of French TV producer Sophie Toscan du Plantier, who was found dead at her Ireland holiday home in 1996.
Spy thriller Raqqa from Oscar-winning producer-director Gerardo Herrero has pre-sold to the Middle East (Empire). Herrero’s previous feature, Under Therapy,...
Beginning with films in pre-production, Jim Sheridan and David Merriman’s true crime courtroom docu-drama Re-creation starring Vicky Krieps has secured pre-sales for Greece (Spentzos) and Portugal (Outsider). The film sees a fictional jury assess the real-life unsolved murder of French TV producer Sophie Toscan du Plantier, who was found dead at her Ireland holiday home in 1996.
Spy thriller Raqqa from Oscar-winning producer-director Gerardo Herrero has pre-sold to the Middle East (Empire). Herrero’s previous feature, Under Therapy,...
- 3/19/2024
- ScreenDaily
Malaga — Isaki Lacuesta’s “Saturn Return” (“Segundo Premio”), always a frontrunner, topped this week’s Malaga Festival winning its best picture, director (with co-director Pol Rodríguez) and editing (Javi Frutos) awards.
The triple plaudit delivers further recognition for a feature which pulls off the double achievement of being formally inventive and great fun at one and the same time.
Turning on Spanish indie rock group Los Planetas storied attempts to making their third and finally iconic album, but really about people’s need to recast the past as comprehensible narrative and a biopic parody, A broad audience play, “Saturn Return” has been hailed by Spanish newspaper El Mundo as a “masterpiece.”
“Saturn Returns” will do nothing to dent Lacuesta’s status as seemingly suddenly, after years in the wilderness as a supposedly radical filmmaker too out there to take on more ambitious budgets. Lacuesta’s feel-good concluding episode to “Offworld,...
The triple plaudit delivers further recognition for a feature which pulls off the double achievement of being formally inventive and great fun at one and the same time.
Turning on Spanish indie rock group Los Planetas storied attempts to making their third and finally iconic album, but really about people’s need to recast the past as comprehensible narrative and a biopic parody, A broad audience play, “Saturn Return” has been hailed by Spanish newspaper El Mundo as a “masterpiece.”
“Saturn Returns” will do nothing to dent Lacuesta’s status as seemingly suddenly, after years in the wilderness as a supposedly radical filmmaker too out there to take on more ambitious budgets. Lacuesta’s feel-good concluding episode to “Offworld,...
- 3/9/2024
- by John Hopewell and Ed Meza
- Variety Film + TV
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.
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.
- 3/8/2024
- ScreenDaily
The incontrovertible and immediate effect of muscular tax credits, entering in force in 2023, have powered to a new level the shoot scene in Bilbao and Bizkaia – the Basque city and surrounding province in Northern Spain.
Introduced on Jan. 1, 2023, the new incentives offer an up-to-60% tax deduction for national and international co-productions of film and TV projects.
Enticing studios such as Toboggan and production houses Buendía Estudios and Tornasol to set up in Bizkaia and streaming giant Netflix to invest in original productions, the territory is fast capitalizing on its breaks.
Over 2023, 151 shoots filmed in Bilbao-Bizkaia, 76 from the Basque Country, 47 from Spain and 28 from abroad, according to the Bilbao-Bizkaia 2023 Year Book.
Total shoot spend in 2023 came in at €58.5 million ($63.7 million), 324% up on 2019’s figure of €13.8 million, six times up on €23.5 million ($25.6 million) in 2021. In all, productions shot 1,026 days in Bilbao or in the rest of Bizkaia, 74% more than 2022. The fact that...
Introduced on Jan. 1, 2023, the new incentives offer an up-to-60% tax deduction for national and international co-productions of film and TV projects.
Enticing studios such as Toboggan and production houses Buendía Estudios and Tornasol to set up in Bizkaia and streaming giant Netflix to invest in original productions, the territory is fast capitalizing on its breaks.
Over 2023, 151 shoots filmed in Bilbao-Bizkaia, 76 from the Basque Country, 47 from Spain and 28 from abroad, according to the Bilbao-Bizkaia 2023 Year Book.
Total shoot spend in 2023 came in at €58.5 million ($63.7 million), 324% up on 2019’s figure of €13.8 million, six times up on €23.5 million ($25.6 million) in 2021. In all, productions shot 1,026 days in Bilbao or in the rest of Bizkaia, 74% more than 2022. The fact that...
- 3/5/2024
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Malaga — Opening last Friday with “Dragonkeeper,” also in competition, Spain’s Malaga Festival, its biggest dedicated event for movies from Spain and Latin America, is studded by latest films by Isaki Lacuesta – “Saturn Return,” reportedly fun, broad audience and radical – David Trueba – “The Good Man,” small scale but almost certainly ingratiating – and Antonio Chavarrías’ “Holy Mother,” about an extraordinary real life female figure in Spain’s 9th century Reconquista.
Also in the running is “Rest in Peace,” from notable Argentine writer-director Sebastián Borensztein (“Chinese Takeaway”).
All are front-runners for some kind of award next Saturday. Prominent also is a bevy of first or second features, featuring from Spain three titles from women directors – gender abuse drama “The Snows,” “Nina,” reportedly a Western set in a northern Spanish town, and tragi-comedy “We Treat Women Too Well” – plus a clutch of debuts from Latin America.
This year’s Competition may, in the final analysis,...
Also in the running is “Rest in Peace,” from notable Argentine writer-director Sebastián Borensztein (“Chinese Takeaway”).
All are front-runners for some kind of award next Saturday. Prominent also is a bevy of first or second features, featuring from Spain three titles from women directors – gender abuse drama “The Snows,” “Nina,” reportedly a Western set in a northern Spanish town, and tragi-comedy “We Treat Women Too Well” – plus a clutch of debuts from Latin America.
This year’s Competition may, in the final analysis,...
- 3/4/2024
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Malaga — Antonio Chavarrías’ “Holy Mother,” Celia Rico’s “Little Loves” and Diogo Viegas’s “Alice’s Diary” play at this year’s 3rd Spanish Screenings Content, the Malaga Festival’s part of the Spanish Screenings Xxl, Spain’s biggest international industry platform in its history, featuring over March 4-7 and – when it comes to Málaga – the monumental number of 222 titles.
In production volume, Spain has never had it so good. The market screenings at Malaga’s Rosaleda Multiplex range across over 80 Spanish movie titles, taking in recent past gems such as “The Girls Are All Right, “Something Is About to Happen,” “Jokes & Cigarettes and “The Chapel,” just to mention titles on Monday’s program.
Also on offer are 11 Works in Progress, 62 Film Library titles and 65 shorts.
The Screenings come at a propitious time in many ways for Spanish cinema. Two Spanish movies – J.A. Bayona’s Andean air crash disaster...
In production volume, Spain has never had it so good. The market screenings at Malaga’s Rosaleda Multiplex range across over 80 Spanish movie titles, taking in recent past gems such as “The Girls Are All Right, “Something Is About to Happen,” “Jokes & Cigarettes and “The Chapel,” just to mention titles on Monday’s program.
Also on offer are 11 Works in Progress, 62 Film Library titles and 65 shorts.
The Screenings come at a propitious time in many ways for Spanish cinema. Two Spanish movies – J.A. Bayona’s Andean air crash disaster...
- 3/3/2024
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
In a coup for the Madrid-based sales agency, Latido Films has cliched a two picture deal with David Pérez Sañudo whose debut feature, “Ane,” repped by Latido, swept three Spanish Academy Goya Awards in 2021.
Latido will take world sales rights on both titles. The move comes as Spanish sales companies battle to retain top-flight talent, increasingly in the crosshairs of international counterparts.
With Pérez Sañudo, Latido gets one of Spain’s most exciting young directors, particularly for a skill now held at high value in and outside the U.S.: His ability to channel genre and sub-genre, often in individual scenes, injecting them with a larger sense of narrative.
Latido handled world sales rights on movies on another director with that sensitivity to sub-genre, Rodrigo Sorogoyen, from May God Save Us” (2016) to “The Realm” (2018) and “The Beasts” (2022) which trounced multiple Cannes winners to win best foreign film at France’s Cesars last year.
Latido will take world sales rights on both titles. The move comes as Spanish sales companies battle to retain top-flight talent, increasingly in the crosshairs of international counterparts.
With Pérez Sañudo, Latido gets one of Spain’s most exciting young directors, particularly for a skill now held at high value in and outside the U.S.: His ability to channel genre and sub-genre, often in individual scenes, injecting them with a larger sense of narrative.
Latido handled world sales rights on movies on another director with that sensitivity to sub-genre, Rodrigo Sorogoyen, from May God Save Us” (2016) to “The Realm” (2018) and “The Beasts” (2022) which trounced multiple Cannes winners to win best foreign film at France’s Cesars last year.
- 2/20/2024
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Jean Labadie’s Le Pacte and sales agency Film Factory have joined Spanish pay giant Movistar Plus on the next film from Alberto Rodríguez (“Marshland”), which is shaping up fast with as one of the biggest packages from Spain this year at the Berlinale’s European Film Market.
Le Pacte will co-produce the thriller out of France and handle French distribution rights. Film Factory is launching international sales at Berlin. Movistar Plus, co-producing out of Spain with Kowalski Films and Feelgood Media, will bring the deepest pocket of any production powerhouse in Spain, backing what looks like a potentially big-budgeted movie.
Currently in pre-production, Rodríguez’s latest is scheduled for release in Spanish theaters via Buena Vista Intl. in 2025.
The film is also the latest from one of the most prominent Spanish directors of his generation, co-writer-director of both “The Plague,” still one of Movistar Plus+ biggest series, and “Prison 77,...
Le Pacte will co-produce the thriller out of France and handle French distribution rights. Film Factory is launching international sales at Berlin. Movistar Plus, co-producing out of Spain with Kowalski Films and Feelgood Media, will bring the deepest pocket of any production powerhouse in Spain, backing what looks like a potentially big-budgeted movie.
Currently in pre-production, Rodríguez’s latest is scheduled for release in Spanish theaters via Buena Vista Intl. in 2025.
The film is also the latest from one of the most prominent Spanish directors of his generation, co-writer-director of both “The Plague,” still one of Movistar Plus+ biggest series, and “Prison 77,...
- 2/18/2024
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
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 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...
- 2/16/2024
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: Money Heist: Berlin actor Julien Paschal has signed with international management company Alta Global Media.
The actor appears in the Netflix series playing Francois Polignac opposite star Pedro Alonso and Samantha Siquieros, who plays his wife Camille.
Berlin, which comes from Money Heist creator Álex Pina and Esther Martínez, is based around the life of Berlin, a character from the original series played by Alonso. Vancouver Media produces the show for Netflix, which launched the series globally on December 29 last year.
Set in Paris many years before the events of the original, it sees Berlin as the leader of a criminal gang who undertakes a jewel heist that becomes complicated when he falls in love with the victim’s wife.
Paschal has also appeared in Antidisturbios, which is written and directed by Rodrigo Sorogoyen, and in “Un Año, Una Noche” directed by Isaki Lacuesta.
The actor appears in the Netflix series playing Francois Polignac opposite star Pedro Alonso and Samantha Siquieros, who plays his wife Camille.
Berlin, which comes from Money Heist creator Álex Pina and Esther Martínez, is based around the life of Berlin, a character from the original series played by Alonso. Vancouver Media produces the show for Netflix, which launched the series globally on December 29 last year.
Set in Paris many years before the events of the original, it sees Berlin as the leader of a criminal gang who undertakes a jewel heist that becomes complicated when he falls in love with the victim’s wife.
Paschal has also appeared in Antidisturbios, which is written and directed by Rodrigo Sorogoyen, and in “Un Año, Una Noche” directed by Isaki Lacuesta.
- 2/14/2024
- by Jesse Whittock
- Deadline Film + TV
Telefonica’s Movistar Plus+, Spain’s biggest pay TV-svod operator, is set to co-produce new movies from Rodrigo Sorogoyen, Iciar Bollaín, Alberto Rodríguez, Óliver Laxe and Ana Rujas. It’s a move which sees the high-end Spanish TV powerhouse become one of Spain’s most significant movie players.
Titles in the slate are backed by top Spanish producers such as Agustín Almodóvar and Esther García at El Deseo – backing Laxe’s next – and Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo at their high-flying new production house Suma Content, producing what will be Rujas’ debut feature as a director.
The acclaimed “La Mesías,” the latest series from Los Javis – as Ambrossi and Calvo are known – will have its international premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, where it will the only European series at this year’s event.
In a fillip for Spain’s box office, still 26% down on pre-pandemic levels, Movistar Plus+ will...
Titles in the slate are backed by top Spanish producers such as Agustín Almodóvar and Esther García at El Deseo – backing Laxe’s next – and Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo at their high-flying new production house Suma Content, producing what will be Rujas’ debut feature as a director.
The acclaimed “La Mesías,” the latest series from Los Javis – as Ambrossi and Calvo are known – will have its international premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, where it will the only European series at this year’s event.
In a fillip for Spain’s box office, still 26% down on pre-pandemic levels, Movistar Plus+ will...
- 1/18/2024
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Mubi has unveiled their December 2023 lineup, featuring notable new releases such as Rodrigo Moreno’s The Delinquents, Argentina’s Oscar this year; the Lily Gladstone-led drama The Unknown Country; Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s The Beasts; and the José González documentary A Tiger in Paradise. Additional highlights include films from Olivier Assayas, Takeshi Kitano, Jean-Luc Godard, Kelly Reichardt, Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, the Shaw Browers, Lars von Trier, Arnaud Desplechin, and more.
Check out the lineup below and get 30 days free here.
December 1st
The House that Jack Built, directed by Lars von Trier | Chaos Reigns: The Films of Lars von Trier
Breaking the Waves, directed by Lars von Trier | Chaos Reigns: The Films of Lars von Trier
The Element of Crime, directed by Lars von Trier | Chaos Reigns: The Films of Lars von Trier
Europa, directed by Lars von Trier | Chaos Reigns: The Films of Lars von Trier
Epidemic, directed...
Check out the lineup below and get 30 days free here.
December 1st
The House that Jack Built, directed by Lars von Trier | Chaos Reigns: The Films of Lars von Trier
Breaking the Waves, directed by Lars von Trier | Chaos Reigns: The Films of Lars von Trier
The Element of Crime, directed by Lars von Trier | Chaos Reigns: The Films of Lars von Trier
Europa, directed by Lars von Trier | Chaos Reigns: The Films of Lars von Trier
Epidemic, directed...
- 11/29/2023
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Valladolid International Film Week’s Independent Film Market saw Spanish distributors showcase acquired films to local streamers, TV networks and exhibitors.
Merci, Valladolid International Film Week’s Independent Film Market, enjoyed a 20% rise in the number of professionals attending this year.
Merci, which ran from October 25-27, provides an opportunity for Spanish independent distributors to meet with platforms, TV networks and distributors, and to show them selection of their recent acquisitions.
Among the 24 titles being screened by distributors at Merci Valladolid this year were Tran Anh Hung’s The Pot Au Feu, Ken Loach’s The Old Oak, Aki Kaurismäki...
Merci, Valladolid International Film Week’s Independent Film Market, enjoyed a 20% rise in the number of professionals attending this year.
Merci, which ran from October 25-27, provides an opportunity for Spanish independent distributors to meet with platforms, TV networks and distributors, and to show them selection of their recent acquisitions.
Among the 24 titles being screened by distributors at Merci Valladolid this year were Tran Anh Hung’s The Pot Au Feu, Ken Loach’s The Old Oak, Aki Kaurismäki...
- 10/30/2023
- by Elisabet Cabeza
- ScreenDaily
The infamous serial killer Jack the Ripper has been transplanted to America in ViX Original Series “El Dentista” (“The Dentist”) (working title) with Oscar-nominated Demián Bichir (“A Better Life”) in the titular role. Behind-the-scenes pics of the series, now shooting in Mexico, have been exclusively shared with Variety.
Based on the novel by prominent Chilean scribe Julio Rojas, creator of podcast sensation “Caso 63” and a co-writer on Pablo Fendrik’s “El Refugio,” the period thriller series is produced by Oscar-winning brothers Pablo and Juan de Dios Larrain and their powerhouse shingle, Fabula, along with the top Spanish pay TV/SVOD service Movistar Plus+, which will also handle international sales.
This is possibly the second time that Fabula handling a mythical figure after Pablo Larrain’s horror satire “The Count,” which world premiered at the Venice Film Festival and is now streaming on Netflix. However, in “The Count,” Larrain reimagines...
Based on the novel by prominent Chilean scribe Julio Rojas, creator of podcast sensation “Caso 63” and a co-writer on Pablo Fendrik’s “El Refugio,” the period thriller series is produced by Oscar-winning brothers Pablo and Juan de Dios Larrain and their powerhouse shingle, Fabula, along with the top Spanish pay TV/SVOD service Movistar Plus+, which will also handle international sales.
This is possibly the second time that Fabula handling a mythical figure after Pablo Larrain’s horror satire “The Count,” which world premiered at the Venice Film Festival and is now streaming on Netflix. However, in “The Count,” Larrain reimagines...
- 10/26/2023
- by Anna Marie de la Fuente
- Variety Film + TV
Rodrigo Sorogoyen, director of ‘The Beasts,’ the Best Foreign Film winner at France’s 2023 Cesar Awards, has gone into production on a new series, “The New Year’s Eves.”
Following on Sorogoyen’s acclaimed “Riot Police,” and his episode in “Offworld,” chosen by Variety as one the best international series of 2022, “The Beasts” is produced by Movistar Plus+, the biggest Spanish pay TV/Ott operator, in collaboration with Madrid-based independent production house Caballo Films, co-founded by Sorogoyen.
Movistar Plus+ International will handle distribution outside Spain. Going into production on Oct. 2, the series will shoot in over the next few weeks in Madrid, Lyon (France) and Berlin (Germany).
“The New Year’s Eves” is created by Sara Cano (“Debts”), Paula Fabra, a writer on hit Prime Video series “A Private Affair,” the most-watched non-English-language series on Prime Video between July 2022 and June 2023 and Sorogoyen himself. Sorogoyen will executive produce, and direct four of the series’ 10 episodes.
Following on Sorogoyen’s acclaimed “Riot Police,” and his episode in “Offworld,” chosen by Variety as one the best international series of 2022, “The Beasts” is produced by Movistar Plus+, the biggest Spanish pay TV/Ott operator, in collaboration with Madrid-based independent production house Caballo Films, co-founded by Sorogoyen.
Movistar Plus+ International will handle distribution outside Spain. Going into production on Oct. 2, the series will shoot in over the next few weeks in Madrid, Lyon (France) and Berlin (Germany).
“The New Year’s Eves” is created by Sara Cano (“Debts”), Paula Fabra, a writer on hit Prime Video series “A Private Affair,” the most-watched non-English-language series on Prime Video between July 2022 and June 2023 and Sorogoyen himself. Sorogoyen will executive produce, and direct four of the series’ 10 episodes.
- 10/25/2023
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Indie films have scored some impressive figures at Spanish box office this year.
As the Spanish film industry comes together at Valladolid International Film Week (known locally as the Seminici), one of the big talking points will be how to make independent films stand out at the local box office.
Although Spain’s box office in the year to mid-October has grossed €400m, 35% higher than the same period in 2022, it is still 17% lower than the 2015-2019 pre-Covid average.
US studio blockbusters led the charge, headed by Barbie ($35.2m), Super Mario Bros. Movie ($29m), Avatar: The Way Of Water, ($26.9m) Oppenheimer...
As the Spanish film industry comes together at Valladolid International Film Week (known locally as the Seminici), one of the big talking points will be how to make independent films stand out at the local box office.
Although Spain’s box office in the year to mid-October has grossed €400m, 35% higher than the same period in 2022, it is still 17% lower than the 2015-2019 pre-Covid average.
US studio blockbusters led the charge, headed by Barbie ($35.2m), Super Mario Bros. Movie ($29m), Avatar: The Way Of Water, ($26.9m) Oppenheimer...
- 10/23/2023
- by Emilio Mayorga
- ScreenDaily
In times of dramatic change for the film-tv industry, Spanish auteur cinema is booming, goosed by multiple significant and high-quality titles, reaping prizes, critical praise and profile at international festivals.
Beyond the preeminent interest in established auteurs such as Pedro Almodóvar, Alejandro Amenábar, J.A. Bayona, Isabel Coixet and Rodrigo Sorogoyen, Spanish sales agents and distributors celebrate the increasingly strong presence of young local film auteurs on the international scene. The big question is, however, how this profile can translate into box office impact and substantial sales.
“We are living a very sweet moment in terms of the recognition of our cinema at international festivals, with ever more filmmakers who are creating dazzling works,” says Luis Renart, founder of Santa Cruz de Tenerife-based sales company Bendita Films.
“There’s a generation of creators and producers who look to international auteur cinema when they build their projects, made with a European sensibility and a very marked identity,...
Beyond the preeminent interest in established auteurs such as Pedro Almodóvar, Alejandro Amenábar, J.A. Bayona, Isabel Coixet and Rodrigo Sorogoyen, Spanish sales agents and distributors celebrate the increasingly strong presence of young local film auteurs on the international scene. The big question is, however, how this profile can translate into box office impact and substantial sales.
“We are living a very sweet moment in terms of the recognition of our cinema at international festivals, with ever more filmmakers who are creating dazzling works,” says Luis Renart, founder of Santa Cruz de Tenerife-based sales company Bendita Films.
“There’s a generation of creators and producers who look to international auteur cinema when they build their projects, made with a European sensibility and a very marked identity,...
- 10/20/2023
- by Emiliano De Pablos
- Variety Film + TV
The Spanish world premiere that made the most waves at this year’s San Sebastian Festival was not a film but a series, “La Mesías,” written, directed and produced by Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo.
“A masterpiece,” proclaimed Spanish website Cineconñ; national newspaper El Mundo greeted it as the first work of maturity from hugely unconventional auteurs.
Now bound for Mipcom, where the series receives a market screening, “La Mesías” says much about the ambitions of its creators and its backer, Movistar Plus.
In 2017, Telefónica-owned Movistar Plus, Spain’s biggest SVOD-pay TV player, rocked the San Sebastian Festival with “The Plague,” then the biggest series ever made in Spain.
“La Mesías” follows Ambrossi and Calvo’s overseas breakout “Veneno,” which was picked up by HBO Max for the U.S. market, and made Ambrossi and Calvo among the most-courted young showrunners in Europe.
“We’ve had to say ‘no’ to a lot of things,...
“A masterpiece,” proclaimed Spanish website Cineconñ; national newspaper El Mundo greeted it as the first work of maturity from hugely unconventional auteurs.
Now bound for Mipcom, where the series receives a market screening, “La Mesías” says much about the ambitions of its creators and its backer, Movistar Plus.
In 2017, Telefónica-owned Movistar Plus, Spain’s biggest SVOD-pay TV player, rocked the San Sebastian Festival with “The Plague,” then the biggest series ever made in Spain.
“La Mesías” follows Ambrossi and Calvo’s overseas breakout “Veneno,” which was picked up by HBO Max for the U.S. market, and made Ambrossi and Calvo among the most-courted young showrunners in Europe.
“We’ve had to say ‘no’ to a lot of things,...
- 10/15/2023
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.
Age Out (A.J. Edwards)
The only thing worse than never getting your happy ending is having it within grasp and realizing you cannot accept it. To see salvation and turn around knowing it would be a lie is the type of heartbreaking choice we often have to make in order to keep on going. It’s the decision that separates man from monster: an admission of remorse, guilt, and regret. Our actions cause ripples that affect countless others we haven’t met yet or never will and while that truth allows some to sleep at night, the rest wonder what nightmares the collateral damage of their deeds endure as a result. You could say that the only thing separating those two groups is love.
Age Out (A.J. Edwards)
The only thing worse than never getting your happy ending is having it within grasp and realizing you cannot accept it. To see salvation and turn around knowing it would be a lie is the type of heartbreaking choice we often have to make in order to keep on going. It’s the decision that separates man from monster: an admission of remorse, guilt, and regret. Our actions cause ripples that affect countless others we haven’t met yet or never will and while that truth allows some to sleep at night, the rest wonder what nightmares the collateral damage of their deeds endure as a result. You could say that the only thing separating those two groups is love.
- 9/29/2023
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
In 2017, Movistar Plus, Spain’s biggest SVOD-pay TV player, rocked the San Sebastian Festival, the highest-profile movie event in Spain and Latin America region, with “The Plague,” the biggest series ever made in Spain.
Movistar Plus, owned by Telefónica, looks set to make waves again at this week’s San Sebastian by world premiering another big, bold series: “La Mesías.”
It’s written, directed and produced by Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo – known in Spain as Los Javis – marking their follow-up to overseas breakout “Veneno,” a raunchy but highly grounded bio of Spanish trans icon Cristina Ortiz. “Veneno” was picked up by HBO Max for the U.S. market and made Ambrossi and Calvo among the most courted young showrunners in Europe.
“We’ve had to say ‘no’ to a lot of things, to big offers, a lot of money from and outside Spain, to keep faithful to ourselves, and...
Movistar Plus, owned by Telefónica, looks set to make waves again at this week’s San Sebastian by world premiering another big, bold series: “La Mesías.”
It’s written, directed and produced by Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo – known in Spain as Los Javis – marking their follow-up to overseas breakout “Veneno,” a raunchy but highly grounded bio of Spanish trans icon Cristina Ortiz. “Veneno” was picked up by HBO Max for the U.S. market and made Ambrossi and Calvo among the most courted young showrunners in Europe.
“We’ve had to say ‘no’ to a lot of things, to big offers, a lot of money from and outside Spain, to keep faithful to ourselves, and...
- 9/28/2023
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Madrid-based Latido Films has unveiled a slew of sales during the summer, led by standout deals reached on Daniel Calparsoro’s thriller “All the Names of God” and Gerardo Herrero’s comedy “Under Therapy.”
The announcement comes as the 20 year-old company Latido disclosed early sales deals to Javier Fesser’s “Championext,” the sequel to his comedy blockbuster “Champions”- which has become Spain’s biggest box office hit of 2023, scoring €7.52 million ($8.08 million) and 1.2 million tickets sold through Sept. 3, three weekends after its Aug. 18 release.
Latido deal details add some much needed granularity to the state of the non-English language sales scene as major festivals take place at Venice and now Toronto.
A Bullish Summer
“It has been a good summer for Latido. And we hope for an even better fall,” explained Latido CEO Antonio Saura.
“The way the post-covid market works is not only linked to the market events themselves.
The announcement comes as the 20 year-old company Latido disclosed early sales deals to Javier Fesser’s “Championext,” the sequel to his comedy blockbuster “Champions”- which has become Spain’s biggest box office hit of 2023, scoring €7.52 million ($8.08 million) and 1.2 million tickets sold through Sept. 3, three weekends after its Aug. 18 release.
Latido deal details add some much needed granularity to the state of the non-English language sales scene as major festivals take place at Venice and now Toronto.
A Bullish Summer
“It has been a good summer for Latido. And we hope for an even better fall,” explained Latido CEO Antonio Saura.
“The way the post-covid market works is not only linked to the market events themselves.
- 9/7/2023
- by Emiliano De Pablos
- Variety Film + TV
Move over “Barbenheimer”: Spain has a new box office phenom: Javier Fesser’s “Championext” (“Campeonex”), his sequel to “Champions,” Spain’s biggest hometurf box office hit of the last seven years which sparked a Woody Harrelson U.S. remake directed by Bobby Farrelly.
Produced by Luis Mansó for Películas Pendleton and Alvaro Longoria for Morena Films, “Championext” is released in Spain by Universal Pictures Intl (Upi), and sold internationally by Latido Films.
It opened Aug. 18 for a first weekend €1.72 million ($1.89 million) which bested both “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” as well as “Meg 2: The Trench,” Spain’s No. 1 for the last two weeks.
“Championext’s” first weekend frame is the biggest among Spanish films since Santiago Segura’s “Father There is Only One 3” in July 2022.
Scoring a muscular €823,399 on Wednesday, spectators’ day in Spain when ticket prices drop at cinema theaters, “Championext” grossed a robust €3.94 million ($4.31 million) through and including Friday,...
Produced by Luis Mansó for Películas Pendleton and Alvaro Longoria for Morena Films, “Championext” is released in Spain by Universal Pictures Intl (Upi), and sold internationally by Latido Films.
It opened Aug. 18 for a first weekend €1.72 million ($1.89 million) which bested both “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” as well as “Meg 2: The Trench,” Spain’s No. 1 for the last two weeks.
“Championext’s” first weekend frame is the biggest among Spanish films since Santiago Segura’s “Father There is Only One 3” in July 2022.
Scoring a muscular €823,399 on Wednesday, spectators’ day in Spain when ticket prices drop at cinema theaters, “Championext” grossed a robust €3.94 million ($4.31 million) through and including Friday,...
- 8/26/2023
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
A24’s supernatural horror Talk To Me by first time filmmakers Danny and Michael Philippou blew past box office projections grossing over $10 million on 2,340 screens opening weekend. The breakout by the first-time filmmaker brothers and popular YouTubers from Australia was no. six at the domestic box office.
The film was well reviewed as a fresh spin on the possession tale and had great exits with a B+ Cinemascore — pretty much tops for horror, especially indie horror — and A24’s best wide-release Cinemascore ever across all genres.
It’s the distributor’s biggest opening weekend ever since 2018’s Hereditary from Ari Aster, who gave a big shoutout to Talk To Me at Sundance, where it premiered and was snapped up by A24 in a bidding war. Hereditary opened at $13.6 million on 2,900 screens. It’s arguably rather rare for indie films to cross $10 million in a weekend, (especially post-pandemic), marking another breakout...
The film was well reviewed as a fresh spin on the possession tale and had great exits with a B+ Cinemascore — pretty much tops for horror, especially indie horror — and A24’s best wide-release Cinemascore ever across all genres.
It’s the distributor’s biggest opening weekend ever since 2018’s Hereditary from Ari Aster, who gave a big shoutout to Talk To Me at Sundance, where it premiered and was snapped up by A24 in a bidding war. Hereditary opened at $13.6 million on 2,900 screens. It’s arguably rather rare for indie films to cross $10 million in a weekend, (especially post-pandemic), marking another breakout...
- 7/30/2023
- by Jill Goldsmith
- Deadline Film + TV
by Cláudio Alves
Rodrigo Sorogoyen's The Beasts opened at last year's Cannes Film Festival to thunderous acclaim, beginning a global trip through film festivals and the odd commercial market. Its greatest success came in Spain and France, the two nations that coproduced the film, whose troubled relation toils the land and souls of a narrative inspired by real-life tragedy. If you're an awards obsessive, you might remember The Beasts from news about the Goyas and César, for the film was a sweeper in the former and won Best Foreign Film against mighty competition in the latter – including the Oscar-nominated Triangle of Sadness, Eo, and Close.
Regarding this bounty, it's easy to feel some skepticism creeping in, though, after you've seen The Beasts, the voters' fervor feels somewhat fair. As the film finally enjoys a limited release in American theaters, let's explore its tale of xenophobia and violence in modern Galicia,...
Rodrigo Sorogoyen's The Beasts opened at last year's Cannes Film Festival to thunderous acclaim, beginning a global trip through film festivals and the odd commercial market. Its greatest success came in Spain and France, the two nations that coproduced the film, whose troubled relation toils the land and souls of a narrative inspired by real-life tragedy. If you're an awards obsessive, you might remember The Beasts from news about the Goyas and César, for the film was a sweeper in the former and won Best Foreign Film against mighty competition in the latter – including the Oscar-nominated Triangle of Sadness, Eo, and Close.
Regarding this bounty, it's easy to feel some skepticism creeping in, though, after you've seen The Beasts, the voters' fervor feels somewhat fair. As the film finally enjoys a limited release in American theaters, let's explore its tale of xenophobia and violence in modern Galicia,...
- 7/29/2023
- by Cláudio Alves
- FilmExperience
A4’s supernatural horror Talk To Me opens the debut film by Australian brothers and popular YouTubers Danny and Michael Philippou on 2,300 screens. Strong reviews (see Deadline’s here), A24 large built-in fan base and its elevated horror cred saw a Thursday gross of $1.25 million, looking to top a $4-5M weekend.
The Sundance-premiering pic follows a group of friends who discover how to conjure spirits using an embalmed hand and become hooked on the new thrill, until one of them goes too far and unleashes terrifying supernatural forces. Michael Philippou gleefully freaked out a Comic-Con event last week with a stunt that saw him possessed by an embalmed hand before meeting what appeared to be a bloody end. Stars Sophie Wilde, Joe Bird, Alexandra Jensen, Otis Dhanji and Joe Bird. Written by Bill Hinzman and Danny Philippou.
Limited openings: Music Box Pictures presents The Unknown Country by Morissa Maltz...
The Sundance-premiering pic follows a group of friends who discover how to conjure spirits using an embalmed hand and become hooked on the new thrill, until one of them goes too far and unleashes terrifying supernatural forces. Michael Philippou gleefully freaked out a Comic-Con event last week with a stunt that saw him possessed by an embalmed hand before meeting what appeared to be a bloody end. Stars Sophie Wilde, Joe Bird, Alexandra Jensen, Otis Dhanji and Joe Bird. Written by Bill Hinzman and Danny Philippou.
Limited openings: Music Box Pictures presents The Unknown Country by Morissa Maltz...
- 7/28/2023
- by Jill Goldsmith
- Deadline Film + TV
Fighting with your neighbors is awful because, well, they can literally hit you where you live. Antoine and Olga, a middle-class French couple trying to get by on their remote Galician farm, learn that the hard way in The Beasts, the fifth feature from Rodrigo Sorogoyen. At a yawning 137 minutes this is no thriller, but it is an engaging, timeless examination of human tribalism, the nature of nature, and cinema itself.
The film opens on a slow, powerful sequence in which two young men wrestle a horse to the ground, then snaps to a game of dominoes at the local watering hole. Xan (Luis Zahera) is holding court over the games table, brashly shit-talking a fellow villager and browbeating his companions into agreement. One man, who Xan calls “Frenchy,” leaves to return to his farm. The Beasts then follows this man, who is actually named Antoine (Denis Ménochet), as he and his wife,...
The film opens on a slow, powerful sequence in which two young men wrestle a horse to the ground, then snaps to a game of dominoes at the local watering hole. Xan (Luis Zahera) is holding court over the games table, brashly shit-talking a fellow villager and browbeating his companions into agreement. One man, who Xan calls “Frenchy,” leaves to return to his farm. The Beasts then follows this man, who is actually named Antoine (Denis Ménochet), as he and his wife,...
- 7/28/2023
- by Lena Wilson
- The Film Stage
Fifty-something French couple Antoine and his wife, Olga, move to Galicia looking for a fresh start. Instead, they find only hostility and hardship in Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s “The Beasts,” a deeply uncomfortable portrait of everyday evil that’s all the more terrifying for being true — not the two main characters, who are fictional, but the conflict that comes to define their new life in that wild corner of northwest Spain.
Antoine buys a modest plot on a primeval slope, fixing up the crumbling stone cottage into something cozy enough to call home. He and Olga, are fully prepared to face the challenges of raising crops on such unforgiving soil.
What they’re not prepared for is the open resentment of their xenophobic neighbors, 52-year-old Xan (Luis Zahera) and his brother, Loren (Diego Anido), who was kicked in the head by a horse at some point and has the jagged scar...
Antoine buys a modest plot on a primeval slope, fixing up the crumbling stone cottage into something cozy enough to call home. He and Olga, are fully prepared to face the challenges of raising crops on such unforgiving soil.
What they’re not prepared for is the open resentment of their xenophobic neighbors, 52-year-old Xan (Luis Zahera) and his brother, Loren (Diego Anido), who was kicked in the head by a horse at some point and has the jagged scar...
- 7/28/2023
- by Peter Debruge
- Variety Film + TV
It’s hard to think of a less suspenseful set-up than the one writer-director Rodrigo Sorogoyen took on for his nail-biting new feature, The Beasts (As Bestas), which swept last year’s Goya awards in Spain.
In a tiny village lost in the hills of Galicia, a French couple has decided to restart their lives as organic farmers, selling produce at the town market while fixing up abandoned old houses in their downtime. The wife, Olga (Marina Foïs), and husband, Antoine (Denis Ménochet), are a gentle and thoughtful middle-aged pair, concerned by environmental issues and adept enough in Spanish to do business with the locals.
And yet, from its very first minute, this searing drama of rural strife, xenophobia and cultural hostility is filled with almost unbearable tension — a tension that boils over as Olga and Antoine clash with a pair of native-born brothers, Xan (Luis Zahera) and Lorenzo (Diego Anido...
In a tiny village lost in the hills of Galicia, a French couple has decided to restart their lives as organic farmers, selling produce at the town market while fixing up abandoned old houses in their downtime. The wife, Olga (Marina Foïs), and husband, Antoine (Denis Ménochet), are a gentle and thoughtful middle-aged pair, concerned by environmental issues and adept enough in Spanish to do business with the locals.
And yet, from its very first minute, this searing drama of rural strife, xenophobia and cultural hostility is filled with almost unbearable tension — a tension that boils over as Olga and Antoine clash with a pair of native-born brothers, Xan (Luis Zahera) and Lorenzo (Diego Anido...
- 7/24/2023
- by Jordan Mintzer
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
After a mesmerizing slow-motion sequence of men struggling to pin down a wild horse, Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s The Beasts dives into the bad blood between its characters, already on the verge of boiling over. The first scene with characters and dialogue takes place in a bar serving as the social heart of the unnamed Galician mountain village where the story is set. Men drink and play dominos around a table, but the mood is anything but relaxed, due in part to the film’s natural lighting, so thin it looks almost fragile. One of the men, Xan Anta (Luis Zahera), propped up at every turn by his younger brother, Lorenzo (Diago Anido), dominates the conversation with venomous gossip. We sense that this is a daily ritual.
From the outset, it’s clear that The Beasts is no cozy small-town drama, but something more akin to a rural noir, peopled with petty,...
From the outset, it’s clear that The Beasts is no cozy small-town drama, but something more akin to a rural noir, peopled with petty,...
- 7/23/2023
- by William Repass
- Slant Magazine
High-flying Madrid-based Caballo Films, behind Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s “The Beasts” and “Riot Police” and Borja Soler’s “The Route,” has put into development a fiction series adaptation of Mabel Lozano’s prized same-titled non-fiction work.
Shaping up as a deep drill-down into the growth of prostitution in Spain into large-scale organized crime, “El Proxeneta” packs a powerful talent package of creator-writers Isabel Peña, co-writer of Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s “As Bestas” and “Riot Police,” and Eduardo Villanueva, a co-scribe on “Riot Police” and producer on “Stockholm.”
Pilar Palomero, a Spanish Academy Goya best picture winner for “Schoolgirls,” will direct the series, her first TV work beyond one episode of “Venga Juan.”
“Pilar was always on our minds for this project, given her talent, and we wanted a female gaze behind all the key points of creative responsibility,” said Villanueva.
“El Proxeneta” is co-produced by Lozano’s label Mafalda Entertainment.
“My commitment...
Shaping up as a deep drill-down into the growth of prostitution in Spain into large-scale organized crime, “El Proxeneta” packs a powerful talent package of creator-writers Isabel Peña, co-writer of Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s “As Bestas” and “Riot Police,” and Eduardo Villanueva, a co-scribe on “Riot Police” and producer on “Stockholm.”
Pilar Palomero, a Spanish Academy Goya best picture winner for “Schoolgirls,” will direct the series, her first TV work beyond one episode of “Venga Juan.”
“Pilar was always on our minds for this project, given her talent, and we wanted a female gaze behind all the key points of creative responsibility,” said Villanueva.
“El Proxeneta” is co-produced by Lozano’s label Mafalda Entertainment.
“My commitment...
- 6/26/2023
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Bolstered by robust public-sector funds, a savvy new generation of filmmakers — many of them women — and world-class film schools, Catalonia has become one of Europe’s most vibrant regional audiovisual forces.
The proof can be found at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. More than 50 Catalan companies — some 100 executives and creatives — are expected to attend. Five films, four by new directors, have made the official cut at Cannes; six projects play in Marché du Film showcases.
The three biggest Catalan movies at the festival, Elena Martin’s “Creature,” Pham Thiên An’s “Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell,” both in Directors’ Fortnight, and Pablo Berger’s “Robot Dreams,” playing out of competition, also underscore strong trends coursing through current Catalan cinema, including international co-production and an exploding animation scene.
“Co-producing is at the core of the European cinema industry and has always had more pros than cons,” says Vilaüt Films’ Ariadna Dot,...
The proof can be found at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. More than 50 Catalan companies — some 100 executives and creatives — are expected to attend. Five films, four by new directors, have made the official cut at Cannes; six projects play in Marché du Film showcases.
The three biggest Catalan movies at the festival, Elena Martin’s “Creature,” Pham Thiên An’s “Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell,” both in Directors’ Fortnight, and Pablo Berger’s “Robot Dreams,” playing out of competition, also underscore strong trends coursing through current Catalan cinema, including international co-production and an exploding animation scene.
“Co-producing is at the core of the European cinema industry and has always had more pros than cons,” says Vilaüt Films’ Ariadna Dot,...
- 5/17/2023
- by Anna Marie de la Fuente and John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
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...
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...
- 5/16/2023
- by John Hopewell and Emiliano De Pablos
- Variety Film + TV
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