“La Mesías” star Carmen Machi, Almodóvar muse Rossy de Palma and Blanca Portillo, a Cannes best actress co-winner for Almodóvar’s “Volver,” are set to star in “The Prey” (“Dia de Caza”), billed as a contemporary revision of Carlos Saura’s 1965 pic “The Hunt,” quite possibly his crowing achievement.
The film is set to shoot in July in Spain’s Extremadura, with theatrical release scheduled for autumn 2025.
Brutal, kinetic at times and taking no prisoners, Saura’s original won a Berlin Silver Bear. The film follows three once-close friends reuinting for a rabbit hunt; the final bloody outcome was read as a broad metaphor of the social elite in dictator Francisco Franco’s Spain.
Directed by Pedro Aguilera “The Prey,” set in the summer of 2024, has three women reuniting for a rabbit hunt in the very same stark valley where Saura shot “The Hunt” almost 60 years before. Under a remorseless sun,...
The film is set to shoot in July in Spain’s Extremadura, with theatrical release scheduled for autumn 2025.
Brutal, kinetic at times and taking no prisoners, Saura’s original won a Berlin Silver Bear. The film follows three once-close friends reuinting for a rabbit hunt; the final bloody outcome was read as a broad metaphor of the social elite in dictator Francisco Franco’s Spain.
Directed by Pedro Aguilera “The Prey,” set in the summer of 2024, has three women reuniting for a rabbit hunt in the very same stark valley where Saura shot “The Hunt” almost 60 years before. Under a remorseless sun,...
- 5/17/2024
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
March Madness is certainly in full swing.
On Friday, the fifth-seeded Gonzaga Bulldogs take on the top-ranked Purdue Boilermakers in the Sweet 16 round of the men’s NCAA basketball tournament in Detroit. It should be an epic showdown for a dominant pair of teams, but Michigan state Rep. Matt Maddock apparently had issues more pressing than college sports in mind when he posted an alarming tweet on Wednesday night.
“Happening right now,” Maddock wrote. “Three busses [sic] just loaded up with illegal invaders at Detroit Metro. Anyone have any idea where...
On Friday, the fifth-seeded Gonzaga Bulldogs take on the top-ranked Purdue Boilermakers in the Sweet 16 round of the men’s NCAA basketball tournament in Detroit. It should be an epic showdown for a dominant pair of teams, but Michigan state Rep. Matt Maddock apparently had issues more pressing than college sports in mind when he posted an alarming tweet on Wednesday night.
“Happening right now,” Maddock wrote. “Three busses [sic] just loaded up with illegal invaders at Detroit Metro. Anyone have any idea where...
- 3/28/2024
- by Miles Klee
- Rollingstone.com
Netflix Spain and Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo – popularly known as Los Javis – are teaming to produce a modern movie makeover of way before its time Spanish classic “My Dearest Señorita,” nominated for a 1973 Academy Award.
The adaptation was the biggest news at a packed-to-the rafters Next on Netflix showcase which took place in Madre on Thursday, where the U.S. streaming giant also announced a docu-reality series, “The Thyssen Baroness,” and released a first-look pic of “Superestar,” its recently announced six-part series inspired by singer and fleeting pop culture phenom Tamara.
Written and directed by Jaime de Armiñán, who co-wrote the script with José Luis Borau, who went on to become of Spain’s greatest directors of the ‘70s and ‘80s, directing “Poachers, ” the original comedy “My Dearest Señorita” starred top Spanish comedian José Luis López Vázquez, as a frumpy old maid in her ‘40s with an inexplicable talent...
The adaptation was the biggest news at a packed-to-the rafters Next on Netflix showcase which took place in Madre on Thursday, where the U.S. streaming giant also announced a docu-reality series, “The Thyssen Baroness,” and released a first-look pic of “Superestar,” its recently announced six-part series inspired by singer and fleeting pop culture phenom Tamara.
Written and directed by Jaime de Armiñán, who co-wrote the script with José Luis Borau, who went on to become of Spain’s greatest directors of the ‘70s and ‘80s, directing “Poachers, ” the original comedy “My Dearest Señorita” starred top Spanish comedian José Luis López Vázquez, as a frumpy old maid in her ‘40s with an inexplicable talent...
- 2/1/2024
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Miami — In two signs of the growing dynamism of Catalonia’s TV scene, Barcelona-based film-tv indie studio Filmax has licensed “Dating in Barcelona” to Amazon’s Prime Video.
Produced by Filmax, Catalan public broadcaster 3Cat and Prime Video in Spain, “Dating in Barcelona” bowed last year in Spain to big ratings, both on its first-window debut on 3Cat and on Prime Video, where it bowed to become one of the streaming service’s most-watched debuts. A modern take on romance and sex in an online age, “Dating in Barcelona” also reflects a swing in TV towards a lighter, more episodic fare, whether in crime thrillers or other categories. Each episode features two dates which, as Variety has observed, play off each other.
Powered in creative terms by Pau Freixas, behind iconic series from “Red Band Society” to “I Know Who You Are” and “Todos Mienten,” all produced by Filmax, “Dating...
Produced by Filmax, Catalan public broadcaster 3Cat and Prime Video in Spain, “Dating in Barcelona” bowed last year in Spain to big ratings, both on its first-window debut on 3Cat and on Prime Video, where it bowed to become one of the streaming service’s most-watched debuts. A modern take on romance and sex in an online age, “Dating in Barcelona” also reflects a swing in TV towards a lighter, more episodic fare, whether in crime thrillers or other categories. Each episode features two dates which, as Variety has observed, play off each other.
Powered in creative terms by Pau Freixas, behind iconic series from “Red Band Society” to “I Know Who You Are” and “Todos Mienten,” all produced by Filmax, “Dating...
- 1/24/2024
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Face to Face with Eta: Conversation with a Terrorist is a Netflix documentary directed by Marius Sanchez and Jordi Evole. The Netflix documentary deals with the sensitive and significant history of violence surrounding the Basquist separatist organization Eta, which was responsible for the deaths of more than 800 people in France and Spain. Now, a former member and leader of the organization, Josu Urrutikoetxea, stepped forward to discuss some of the most disturbing violent acts his organization had committed and apologized to the victims he and his group had caused harm to. But does this apology make his actions forgivable? Well, forgiveness for such crimes is subjective and completely up to the victims and their families. Let’s see if any victims of such horrible acts could forgive Josu Urrutikoetxea.
Spoilers Ahead
What Is This Documentary About?
Face to Face with Eta: Conversation with a Terrorist consists of two interviews, one...
Spoilers Ahead
What Is This Documentary About?
Face to Face with Eta: Conversation with a Terrorist consists of two interviews, one...
- 12/17/2023
- by Poulami Nanda
- Film Fugitives
Spotlighting diversity in the international television market, eight projects took home awards at Mipcom’s Diversify TV Awards.
Presented at the Cannes Palais des Festivals’ Grand Auditorium, the winners were selected from 165 countries submitted by 27 countries for the 7th edition of the event.
BBC Studios documentary “Inside Our Autistic Minds” won in the representation of disability, non-scripted category. The series takes us inside the minds of autistic people. Co-produced in partnership with The Open University, in the production Chris Packham explores the lives of autistic people across the U.K. and brings their experience to life in short films.
In another high-profile win, the Fremantle-sold “Little Bird” from Canada won in the representation of race and ethnicity – scripted category. The story follows an Indigenous woman looking for her birth family and the truth about her past. The production companies are Rezolution Pictures, and Op Little Bird.
Spain’s “Nights...
Presented at the Cannes Palais des Festivals’ Grand Auditorium, the winners were selected from 165 countries submitted by 27 countries for the 7th edition of the event.
BBC Studios documentary “Inside Our Autistic Minds” won in the representation of disability, non-scripted category. The series takes us inside the minds of autistic people. Co-produced in partnership with The Open University, in the production Chris Packham explores the lives of autistic people across the U.K. and brings their experience to life in short films.
In another high-profile win, the Fremantle-sold “Little Bird” from Canada won in the representation of race and ethnicity – scripted category. The story follows an Indigenous woman looking for her birth family and the truth about her past. The production companies are Rezolution Pictures, and Op Little Bird.
Spain’s “Nights...
- 10/22/2023
- by Liza Foreman
- Variety Film + TV
Spanish sales, distribution, exhibition and production outfit has a line-up of 16 titles in different stages of production.
Barcelona-based Filmax, one of Spain’s leading entertainment companies, has lined up its next genre production, El Nido, the third fiction feature from Hugo Stuven following Solo and English-language Anomalous.
A psychological thriller feature, El Nido (which translates to ‘the nest’) tells the story of Marta, who is obsessed with protecting her family from the terrifying outside world and keeps her mother and her young son locked in their home. Everything seems peaceful until, one day, a man arrives, looking to destroy everything Marta has built.
Barcelona-based Filmax, one of Spain’s leading entertainment companies, has lined up its next genre production, El Nido, the third fiction feature from Hugo Stuven following Solo and English-language Anomalous.
A psychological thriller feature, El Nido (which translates to ‘the nest’) tells the story of Marta, who is obsessed with protecting her family from the terrifying outside world and keeps her mother and her young son locked in their home. Everything seems peaceful until, one day, a man arrives, looking to destroy everything Marta has built.
- 9/25/2023
- by Emilio Mayorga
- ScreenDaily
At the 2023 TIFF Tribute Awards hosted at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel in Toronto presenters Barry Jenkins and Chaz Ebert went off-script to emphasize how much it meant to hand the Ebert Director Award to Spike Lee.
The Oscar-winning “Moonlight” director went first, sharing how he was one of two Black men in his film program at a predominantly white college. While his peer would say he wanted to be the next Spike Lee, he said, “‘I want to be the first Barry Jenkins,’ and I would qualify that by saying I think that’s the way Spike would want it.” In town serving as one of the judges for the festival’s Platform programming block, Jenkins continued, “So Spike I just wanted to say you’ve carried so much weight for so many of us for so damn long that I’m on this jury and I’m tired as hell.
The Oscar-winning “Moonlight” director went first, sharing how he was one of two Black men in his film program at a predominantly white college. While his peer would say he wanted to be the next Spike Lee, he said, “‘I want to be the first Barry Jenkins,’ and I would qualify that by saying I think that’s the way Spike would want it.” In town serving as one of the judges for the festival’s Platform programming block, Jenkins continued, “So Spike I just wanted to say you’ve carried so much weight for so many of us for so damn long that I’m on this jury and I’m tired as hell.
- 9/11/2023
- by Marcus Jones
- Indiewire
Spike Lee blasted critics who suggested that “Do The Right Thing” would spark riots when it opened in 1989, while honoring one of the reviewers who came to the film’s defense. The remarks came as Lee received the Ebert Director Award, named for the late film critic Roger Ebert, at the Toronto International Film Festival Tribute Awards on Sunday.
“Your husband got behind me when those mother f–kers in the press were saying that ‘Do the Right Thing’ was going to incite Black people to riot,” Lee said, as he accepted his prize from Chaz Ebert, the late critic’s wife. “That this film should not be shown in the United States.”
Lee cited David Denby and Joe Klein as two of the most prominent critical voices against the film, which has gone to be considered one of the greatest films ever made. The pair wrote, Lee recalled, that...
“Your husband got behind me when those mother f–kers in the press were saying that ‘Do the Right Thing’ was going to incite Black people to riot,” Lee said, as he accepted his prize from Chaz Ebert, the late critic’s wife. “That this film should not be shown in the United States.”
Lee cited David Denby and Joe Klein as two of the most prominent critical voices against the film, which has gone to be considered one of the greatest films ever made. The pair wrote, Lee recalled, that...
- 9/11/2023
- by Brent Lang and Clayton Davis
- Variety Film + TV
In a pivotal moment for Spain’s political landscape, the nation might witness a historic change as a potential coalition emerges, possibly including a far-right party for the first time since the end of the Francisco Franco dictatorship in 1975. At the heart of this transformative situation lies frustration surrounding an ongoing drought and the controversial […]
The post Could Spain’s Political Landscape Shift? A Far-Right Coalition Looms Amid Environmental Concerns and Drought Crisis appeared first on Shockya.com.
The post Could Spain’s Political Landscape Shift? A Far-Right Coalition Looms Amid Environmental Concerns and Drought Crisis appeared first on Shockya.com.
- 7/24/2023
- by Grady Owen
- ShockYa
In the run-up to Locarno, Paris-based MPM Premium has swooped on world sales rights to “On the Go,” a showcase of the acting talents of “Elite’s” Omar Ayuso, Omar in Netflix mega-hit “Elite,” playing in “On the Go” a Grindr addict with vengeance in his heart.
Set to world premiere in Locarno’s Cineasti del Presente, “On the Go” also has a first trailer, shared in exclusivity with Variety.
The trailer captures much of the spirit of the freewheeling road movie through an Andalusia of music, dance, sex and sensuality –though none of the film’s nudity – of a feature, written-directed by Maria Gisèle Royo and Julia de Castro, which revisits from a female perspective an extraordinary Andalusian feature, 1982’s “Corridas de Alegría.”
From the mid-70s, when Spain secured a democratic government after 40 years of rule by the arcane ultra-conservative Francisco Franco, Spain came out of the convent,...
Set to world premiere in Locarno’s Cineasti del Presente, “On the Go” also has a first trailer, shared in exclusivity with Variety.
The trailer captures much of the spirit of the freewheeling road movie through an Andalusia of music, dance, sex and sensuality –though none of the film’s nudity – of a feature, written-directed by Maria Gisèle Royo and Julia de Castro, which revisits from a female perspective an extraordinary Andalusian feature, 1982’s “Corridas de Alegría.”
From the mid-70s, when Spain secured a democratic government after 40 years of rule by the arcane ultra-conservative Francisco Franco, Spain came out of the convent,...
- 7/19/2023
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Eight decades ago, the United States was in the second full year of World War II. And there was little escape from the horrors of the global conflict. The war even dominated cinema-seven of the top ten films of the year were war-themed. The second highest grossing film of the year was “For Whom the Bell Tolls,” which opened on July 14, 1943, earning $6.3 million-nearly $3 million more than the beloved Oscar-winner “Casablanca,” which placed No 6 that year.
Paramount spared no expense bringing Ernest Hemingway’s 1940 novel set during the Spanish Civil War about Robert Jordan, a young American volunteer with a Republican guerrilla unit tasked with blowing up an important bridge. Hemingway witnessed the Spanish Civil War firsthand as a reporter for the North American Newspaper Alliance. In 1940, Paramount shelled out a staggering $150,000 for film rights. The New York Times wrote: “According to contract, Paramount paid Hemingway $100,000 for the property, agreeing to...
Paramount spared no expense bringing Ernest Hemingway’s 1940 novel set during the Spanish Civil War about Robert Jordan, a young American volunteer with a Republican guerrilla unit tasked with blowing up an important bridge. Hemingway witnessed the Spanish Civil War firsthand as a reporter for the North American Newspaper Alliance. In 1940, Paramount shelled out a staggering $150,000 for film rights. The New York Times wrote: “According to contract, Paramount paid Hemingway $100,000 for the property, agreeing to...
- 7/15/2023
- by Susan King
- Gold Derby
Toledo, Spain — Carmen Machi, one of the foremost performers of her generation in Spain, is attached to play legendary Barcelona agent Carmen Balcells, prime architect of the Latin American Boom and a key figure in the break out of Gabriel García Márquez and Mario Vargas Llosa to worldwide renown.
Chile’s Invercine, producer of “News of a Kidnapping” which swept April’s Platino Awards, is teaming with Spain’s Abacus, Pausoka and Grupo Lavinia to develop and produce “Boom Agency” (“La Agencia del Boom”) which turns on Balcells extraordinary life, achievement and personality. The deal was confirmed to Variety at Conecta Fiction.
The series also turns on Balcells’ worst nightmare, the rupture of the deep friendship between her star writers, Mario Vargas Llosa and Gabriel García-Marquez, whose rift broke the back of the Boom.
Spain’s Oscar Pedraza, co-director of HBO España’s “Patria,” is attached to direct. Colombians Verónica Triana...
Chile’s Invercine, producer of “News of a Kidnapping” which swept April’s Platino Awards, is teaming with Spain’s Abacus, Pausoka and Grupo Lavinia to develop and produce “Boom Agency” (“La Agencia del Boom”) which turns on Balcells extraordinary life, achievement and personality. The deal was confirmed to Variety at Conecta Fiction.
The series also turns on Balcells’ worst nightmare, the rupture of the deep friendship between her star writers, Mario Vargas Llosa and Gabriel García-Marquez, whose rift broke the back of the Boom.
Spain’s Oscar Pedraza, co-director of HBO España’s “Patria,” is attached to direct. Colombians Verónica Triana...
- 7/3/2023
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Javier Bardem is the first recipient of San Sebastian’s prestigious Donostia Award for this year’s 71st edition.
He will accept the prize, San Sebastian’s highest accolade, granted for career achievement, at the festival’s opening gala on September 22. His image will also feature on the poster of this year’s edition, unveiled today in San Sebastian.
The only surprise about Bardem’s Donostia Award is that it hasn’t come earlier. A rugby player for Spain’s national team, Bardem first came to fame as a local village hulk playing opposite his now spouse Penélope Cruz in Bigas Luna’s 1992 flamboyant social critique “Jamón, Jamón.”
Bardem wanted, however, to be an actor, not a sex symbol. Refusing to be typecast, his full international breakthrough came in 2000 thanks to a tearaway performance as gay Cuban poet Reinaldo Arenas in Julian Schnabel’s “Before Night Falls,” and in Spain,...
He will accept the prize, San Sebastian’s highest accolade, granted for career achievement, at the festival’s opening gala on September 22. His image will also feature on the poster of this year’s edition, unveiled today in San Sebastian.
The only surprise about Bardem’s Donostia Award is that it hasn’t come earlier. A rugby player for Spain’s national team, Bardem first came to fame as a local village hulk playing opposite his now spouse Penélope Cruz in Bigas Luna’s 1992 flamboyant social critique “Jamón, Jamón.”
Bardem wanted, however, to be an actor, not a sex symbol. Refusing to be typecast, his full international breakthrough came in 2000 thanks to a tearaway performance as gay Cuban poet Reinaldo Arenas in Julian Schnabel’s “Before Night Falls,” and in Spain,...
- 5/12/2023
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
The Patients of Dr. Garcia (also titled as Los pacientes del doctor Garcia), is a Netflix spy thriller series based on Almudena Grandes’ espionage novel of the same name. The series covers the period following the Spanish Civil War, when Francisco Franco seized power and ruled Spain. Following the war, Guillermo Garcia Medina, a Republican, assumed a false identity to reside in Madrid. His former patient and close friend, Manuel Arroyo was a Republican ambassador who embarked on a risky expedition to join a clandestine organization run by Clara Stauffer. Clara Stauffer, a Falangist and Nazi supervisor, was assisting Third Reich war criminals and fugitives to flee to Argentina through this secret network; thus, Manuel took the identity of a convicted soldier to ensure his escape. Guillermo Garcia assisted his friend Manuel by joining a transportation company working for Clara, but the soldier whose identity Manuel utilized to escape returned to Madrid.
- 4/29/2023
- by Poulami Nanda
- Film Fugitives
Spanish titles at MipTV:
“The Argonauts and the Golden Coin,” (Rtve)
A live action kids adventure, targeting 8-12s, from national public broadcaster Rtve and Galician powerhouse Portocabo as Rtve drives into regional co-production. Set over a summer in Galicia and inspired by the spirit of “The Famous Five” and “The Goonies,” translated to the 21st century.
“The Caravan,” (Cabal Films)
Selected for the inaugural MipDoc International Buyer Screenings, a first-person account of an eight-month pregnant woman in a caravan of Central American immigrants heading to the U.S.
“Dating in Barcelona,” (Filmax)
The latest from Filmax, behind “The Red Band Society” and “They All Lie,” following different romantic encounters of people who have met online.
“Dover: Die for Rock & Roll,” (Begin Again Films)
Doc feature on the Seattle/Jean Jett-inspired Spanish band, behind “Devil Came to Me,” and icon of late ‘90s Spanish alternative pop rock.
“Greenpeace,” (Zona Mixta...
“The Argonauts and the Golden Coin,” (Rtve)
A live action kids adventure, targeting 8-12s, from national public broadcaster Rtve and Galician powerhouse Portocabo as Rtve drives into regional co-production. Set over a summer in Galicia and inspired by the spirit of “The Famous Five” and “The Goonies,” translated to the 21st century.
“The Caravan,” (Cabal Films)
Selected for the inaugural MipDoc International Buyer Screenings, a first-person account of an eight-month pregnant woman in a caravan of Central American immigrants heading to the U.S.
“Dating in Barcelona,” (Filmax)
The latest from Filmax, behind “The Red Band Society” and “They All Lie,” following different romantic encounters of people who have met online.
“Dover: Die for Rock & Roll,” (Begin Again Films)
Doc feature on the Seattle/Jean Jett-inspired Spanish band, behind “Devil Came to Me,” and icon of late ‘90s Spanish alternative pop rock.
“Greenpeace,” (Zona Mixta...
- 4/14/2023
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Malaga, Spain — “My Parents’ Great Bazar,” from “Ane is Missing” co-scribe Marina Parés, bio “Costus,” on the iconic Madrid Movida artists, and “Villa Futuro,” a queer old age drama from “Locked Up” star Alberto Velasco, all feature among eight winners of Tell Us the Stories That Nobody Tells, a diversity drive contest for movies and TV shows backed by Netflix and Dama, the Spanish audiovisual authors’ rights collection body.
Announced Wednesday at an awards ceremony hosted by the Malaga Film Festival, the winners of the competition, which forms part of the partners’ Cambio de Plano initiative, will receive €6,000 a piece.
Two will also get a teaser financed by Netflix and Dama. As importantly, the partners will pay for mentoring for the development of their projects from Daniela Fejerman, director of Malaga’s opening film, “Someone Who Takes Care of Me,” TV critic and screenwriter Bob Pop (“Maricón perdido”), screenwriter Valentina Viso,...
Announced Wednesday at an awards ceremony hosted by the Malaga Film Festival, the winners of the competition, which forms part of the partners’ Cambio de Plano initiative, will receive €6,000 a piece.
Two will also get a teaser financed by Netflix and Dama. As importantly, the partners will pay for mentoring for the development of their projects from Daniela Fejerman, director of Malaga’s opening film, “Someone Who Takes Care of Me,” TV critic and screenwriter Bob Pop (“Maricón perdido”), screenwriter Valentina Viso,...
- 3/16/2023
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
One of Spain’s most celebrated directors best known for his 1990 film ¡Ay Carmela!
When the Spanish film director Carlos Saura, who has died aged 91, completed his first feature, Los Golfos (The Delinquents), a ferocious story of six impoverished children from the Madrid slums, it was invited to the 1960 Cannes film festival.
However, its implicit critique of the dictatorship of General Francisco Franco meant that it was forbidden in Spain for another couple of years. Taking his films outside Spain to bypass censorship was a strategy Saura adopted several times, although – an awkward contradiction that he recognised – his films’ success abroad made the dictatorship seem more liberal.
When the Spanish film director Carlos Saura, who has died aged 91, completed his first feature, Los Golfos (The Delinquents), a ferocious story of six impoverished children from the Madrid slums, it was invited to the 1960 Cannes film festival.
However, its implicit critique of the dictatorship of General Francisco Franco meant that it was forbidden in Spain for another couple of years. Taking his films outside Spain to bypass censorship was a strategy Saura adopted several times, although – an awkward contradiction that he recognised – his films’ success abroad made the dictatorship seem more liberal.
- 2/21/2023
- by Michael Eaude
- The Guardian - Film News
Carlos Saura, one of the most towering figures in the world of Spanish cinema, has died at the age of 91. The news was first announced by the Film Academy of Spain.
Born in Huesca, Aragón, Spain in 1932, Saura’s childhood in the shadows of the Spanish Civil War played a key role in shaping his creative worldview. When he began making films in the late 1950s, he rose to prominence for his willingness to criticize Francisco Franco for the effects his regime had on Spanish life.
His important early works included the 1966 drama “The Hunt,” which won Saura the Silver Bear at the Berlin Film Festival for his portrait of Spanish Civil War veterans dealing with life after the conflict. He won another Silver bear in 1968 for “Peppermint Frappé,” a movie that was immortalized in film history when Jean-Luc Godard and Francois Truffaut interrupted its Cannes screening out of solidarity with protesting students and workers.
Born in Huesca, Aragón, Spain in 1932, Saura’s childhood in the shadows of the Spanish Civil War played a key role in shaping his creative worldview. When he began making films in the late 1950s, he rose to prominence for his willingness to criticize Francisco Franco for the effects his regime had on Spanish life.
His important early works included the 1966 drama “The Hunt,” which won Saura the Silver Bear at the Berlin Film Festival for his portrait of Spanish Civil War veterans dealing with life after the conflict. He won another Silver bear in 1968 for “Peppermint Frappé,” a movie that was immortalized in film history when Jean-Luc Godard and Francois Truffaut interrupted its Cannes screening out of solidarity with protesting students and workers.
- 2/10/2023
- by Christian Zilko
- Indiewire
Spanish auteur Carlos Saura died on Friday of natural causes, the Film Academy of Spain confirmed. He was 91.
In a statement, the org stated: “The Film Academy deeply regrets to announce the death of Carlos Saura, Goya de Honor 2023. Saura, one of the fundamental filmmakers in the history of Spanish cinema, died today at his home at the age of 91, surrounded by his loved ones.”
Born in 1932 in Huesca, Aragon – the same part of Spain as Luis Buñuel, whom he recognised as his mentor – Saura was taken by his family to Madrid during its Civil War. As a child, Saura he listened with horror to its bombings, the trauma of its violence never leaving him, inspiring his third feature, 1965’s “The Hunt,” a portrait of a Franquist ruling class which won him a Berlin Silver Bear.
This crowned him as the leading light of a New Spanish Cinema, an attempt...
In a statement, the org stated: “The Film Academy deeply regrets to announce the death of Carlos Saura, Goya de Honor 2023. Saura, one of the fundamental filmmakers in the history of Spanish cinema, died today at his home at the age of 91, surrounded by his loved ones.”
Born in 1932 in Huesca, Aragon – the same part of Spain as Luis Buñuel, whom he recognised as his mentor – Saura was taken by his family to Madrid during its Civil War. As a child, Saura he listened with horror to its bombings, the trauma of its violence never leaving him, inspiring his third feature, 1965’s “The Hunt,” a portrait of a Franquist ruling class which won him a Berlin Silver Bear.
This crowned him as the leading light of a New Spanish Cinema, an attempt...
- 2/10/2023
- by Manori Ravindran and John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
In 1975, Francisco Franco, the right-wing dictator who ruled Spain for almost four decades, died after a lengthy battle with his own mortality, leaving his designated successor, Juan Carlos I, to presumably continue his fascist policies, centered on three overriding principles or values: family, church, and state. Individual rights and liberal democracy were nowhere in Franco’s conception of Spain before or immediately after his death. Instead, the new leader threw his moral weight and political capital behind democratic reforms, returning Spain to a constitutional monarchy, resulting in a gradual liberalization of culture and the arts and the retreat of state-sponsored religion, specifically Roman Catholicism, from public life. For Cruz (Kiti Mánver), a woman in the twilight years of her life in writer-director Patricia Ortega’s poignant...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
- 2/2/2023
- Screen Anarchy
Most are introduced to the tale of Pinocchio by Walt Disney. The wooden boy with a nose that grows was the star of Disney's second produced picture, arriving in 1940 on the heels of 1937's "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs." While Disney is an essential piece to Pinocchio's legend, the story does not begin or end with them.
Guillermo del Toro, one of those young boys who first met Pinocchio via the Disney film, released his own version of the story last year. Speaking to The Wrap, del Toro revealed his evolving reaction to Disney's "Pinocchio":
"I saw [Disney's] 'Pinocchio' as a very young kid, and I loved it because I found it captured how scary childhood felt to me. But I didn't quite understand why he needed to be an obedient boy to be loved. And then in my 20s, I started thinking that it would be...
Guillermo del Toro, one of those young boys who first met Pinocchio via the Disney film, released his own version of the story last year. Speaking to The Wrap, del Toro revealed his evolving reaction to Disney's "Pinocchio":
"I saw [Disney's] 'Pinocchio' as a very young kid, and I loved it because I found it captured how scary childhood felt to me. But I didn't quite understand why he needed to be an obedient boy to be loved. And then in my 20s, I started thinking that it would be...
- 1/13/2023
- by Devin Meenan
- Slash Film
This article contains spoilers for "Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio."
Even when adapting others' stories, Guillermo del Toro always puts a personal thumbprint on his movies. He remixed Mike Mignola's "Hellboy" as a superhero spin on Beauty and the Beast, reframing the relationship between the eponymous hero (Ron Perlman) and Liz Sherman (Selma Blair) as a love story. In his 2021 remake of "Nightmare Alley," he eschewed the ghostly black-and-white color scheme of the original film. Courtesy of cinematographer Dan Laustsen, del Toro's film mixed lurid, snowy blues with golden yellow hues; the blood really pops in both colors.
The filmmaker's most recent feature, the stop-motion "Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio" was released on Netflix, to critical acclaim. The tale of the wooden boy is a classic that's been retold many times, but del Toro found a fresh way to spin the story and make it feel a piece with his films...
Even when adapting others' stories, Guillermo del Toro always puts a personal thumbprint on his movies. He remixed Mike Mignola's "Hellboy" as a superhero spin on Beauty and the Beast, reframing the relationship between the eponymous hero (Ron Perlman) and Liz Sherman (Selma Blair) as a love story. In his 2021 remake of "Nightmare Alley," he eschewed the ghostly black-and-white color scheme of the original film. Courtesy of cinematographer Dan Laustsen, del Toro's film mixed lurid, snowy blues with golden yellow hues; the blood really pops in both colors.
The filmmaker's most recent feature, the stop-motion "Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio" was released on Netflix, to critical acclaim. The tale of the wooden boy is a classic that's been retold many times, but del Toro found a fresh way to spin the story and make it feel a piece with his films...
- 12/13/2022
- by Devin Meenan
- Slash Film
Few sights in the lush El Buen Retiro Park in Madrid are as stunning as that of the Palacio de Cristal. On languorous summer days, the iron and glass structure built in 1887 shimmers like an oversized diamond catching unsuspecting passersby by surprise, as if they’ve run into a hidden treasure. In the winter, the bald cypresses that spring from the artificial lake in front of the palace seem to stretch their roots and branches towards the majestic edifice, seeking a brief solace from the chill, craving to bask in the beauty housed within the transparent walls.
Sometime in 1983, six transgender women––Loren, Renée, Eva, Tamara, Nacha, and Josette––gathered within this fairytale-like enclosure to share stories of growing up, and surviving, in Francisco Franco’s dictatorship, as they dreamt of an accepting world that for some of them would never materialize (four of them died during the HIV/AIDS crisis). Fortunately,...
Sometime in 1983, six transgender women––Loren, Renée, Eva, Tamara, Nacha, and Josette––gathered within this fairytale-like enclosure to share stories of growing up, and surviving, in Francisco Franco’s dictatorship, as they dreamt of an accepting world that for some of them would never materialize (four of them died during the HIV/AIDS crisis). Fortunately,...
- 11/22/2022
- by Jose Solís
- The Film Stage
Imanol Rayo’s “Dog Days” promises to be an ambitious look at family, the challenges of adolescence, the impact of climate change and irreversible transformation.
The project, which won this year’s main prize at the Thessaloniki Film Festival’s Crossroads Co-Production Forum, is the Basque filmmaker’s first original script. His previous films, including “Two Brothers” and “Death Knell,” were based on books.
Speaking to Variety, Rayo says the story’s origin lies in a phenomena that has been transpiring in Spain for a long time, namely the popularity of campsites located at reservoirs across the country, to where middle-class families flock during the summer holidays.
The reservoirs themselves, however, built in the last century during the reign of Francisco Franco, flooded and destroyed some 500 villages, forcibly displacing their populations. In recent years many of these submerged villages have reemerged due to dropping levels of water caused by the ongoing drought.
The project, which won this year’s main prize at the Thessaloniki Film Festival’s Crossroads Co-Production Forum, is the Basque filmmaker’s first original script. His previous films, including “Two Brothers” and “Death Knell,” were based on books.
Speaking to Variety, Rayo says the story’s origin lies in a phenomena that has been transpiring in Spain for a long time, namely the popularity of campsites located at reservoirs across the country, to where middle-class families flock during the summer holidays.
The reservoirs themselves, however, built in the last century during the reign of Francisco Franco, flooded and destroyed some 500 villages, forcibly displacing their populations. In recent years many of these submerged villages have reemerged due to dropping levels of water caused by the ongoing drought.
- 11/13/2022
- by Ed Meza
- Variety Film + TV
Based on the graphic novel, the new 6-episode Spain-produced action-adventure spy series "Garcia!" is now streaming on HBO Max:
".... based on the graphic novel by Santiago García and Luis Bustos, published by Astiberri Ediciones, the action-adventure spy series 'Garcia!'...
"...follows 'Antonia' (Veki Velilla), a young reporter who quickly becomes embroiled in an elaborate political conspiracy after accidentally defrosting a cryogenically frozen secret agent from the 1960's.
"Now finding himself thrust into a fractured modern world, Garcia (Francisco Ortiz), a former pawn in Francisco Franco’s regime...
"...must rely on Antonia’s help to fit in – and decide where his loyalties lie amid a conspiracy to upend the Spanish government..."
Cast also includes Emilio Gutiérrez Caba, Francisco Reyes, Nico Romero, Helio Pedregal, Mario Pardo, Miki Molina, Marina Gatell, Pepe Ocio and Silvia Abascal.
Click the images to enlarge...
".... based on the graphic novel by Santiago García and Luis Bustos, published by Astiberri Ediciones, the action-adventure spy series 'Garcia!'...
"...follows 'Antonia' (Veki Velilla), a young reporter who quickly becomes embroiled in an elaborate political conspiracy after accidentally defrosting a cryogenically frozen secret agent from the 1960's.
"Now finding himself thrust into a fractured modern world, Garcia (Francisco Ortiz), a former pawn in Francisco Franco’s regime...
"...must rely on Antonia’s help to fit in – and decide where his loyalties lie amid a conspiracy to upend the Spanish government..."
Cast also includes Emilio Gutiérrez Caba, Francisco Reyes, Nico Romero, Helio Pedregal, Mario Pardo, Miki Molina, Marina Gatell, Pepe Ocio and Silvia Abascal.
Click the images to enlarge...
- 11/12/2022
- by Unknown
- SneakPeek
With all the different streaming services in operation these days, there’s an awful lot of TV out there, so much so that plenty of shows can easily slip your notice. If you’re hungry for a fast-paced, action series featuring cryogenically frozen secret agents, political conspiracies, and Spain’s fascist dictator Francisco Franco, then you should check out the trailer for Garcia!, a six-episode series streaming on HBO Max.
Garcia! is based on the graphic novel of the same name by Santiago García and Luis Bustos and spans six decades in Spain’s tumultuous political history, seamlessly blending satire and suspense for a genre-bending adventure of epic proportions. The series follows “Antonia (Veki Velilla), a young reporter who quickly becomes embroiled in an elaborate political conspiracy after accidentally defrosting a cryogenically frozen secret agent from the 1960s. Finding himself thrust into a fractured modern world, Garcia (Francisco Ortiz), a...
Garcia! is based on the graphic novel of the same name by Santiago García and Luis Bustos and spans six decades in Spain’s tumultuous political history, seamlessly blending satire and suspense for a genre-bending adventure of epic proportions. The series follows “Antonia (Veki Velilla), a young reporter who quickly becomes embroiled in an elaborate political conspiracy after accidentally defrosting a cryogenically frozen secret agent from the 1960s. Finding himself thrust into a fractured modern world, Garcia (Francisco Ortiz), a...
- 11/9/2022
- by Kevin Fraser
- JoBlo.com
There is no bigger swing this year from HBO Max in Spain than its original series “Garcia!” Produced by Madrid’s Zeta Studios, the company behind Netflix’s uber hit “Elite,” it also marks a push by HBO Max in Europe into series of broader appeal than the traditional HBO brand.
Dropping worldwide its first two episodes on HBO Max from Oct. 28, the six-part thriller played to applause at its world premiere at Austin’s Fantastic Fest where the series’ Spanish director, Eugenio Mira, is a firm favourite, winning best director in 2005 for his feature debut, “The Birthday,” and screening there in 2013 “Grand Piano,” starring Elijah Wood and John Cusack.
“One of our obsessions, and mine in particular, is trying to do things which have not been done before,” Miguel Salvat, VP commissioning editor Spain for HBO Max, explained to Variety at San Sebastian last year at a presentation which included “Garcia!
Dropping worldwide its first two episodes on HBO Max from Oct. 28, the six-part thriller played to applause at its world premiere at Austin’s Fantastic Fest where the series’ Spanish director, Eugenio Mira, is a firm favourite, winning best director in 2005 for his feature debut, “The Birthday,” and screening there in 2013 “Grand Piano,” starring Elijah Wood and John Cusack.
“One of our obsessions, and mine in particular, is trying to do things which have not been done before,” Miguel Salvat, VP commissioning editor Spain for HBO Max, explained to Variety at San Sebastian last year at a presentation which included “Garcia!
- 10/24/2022
- by Pablo Sandoval
- Variety Film + TV
The dream child of 10 Basque businessmen who hoped to prolong San Sebastián’s summer season into late September, the San Sebastian Film Festival was born on Sept. 21, 1953.
Presented by bullfighter Mario Cabré, who romanced Ava Gardner, and comprising just 19 films, won by “La guerra de Dios,” directed by Rafael Gil., rescued from a potential Republican firing squad by Luis Buñuel not so many years before. Fireworks, bullfights and quayside parties regaled the film week.
From that first edition remain the beauty and gastronomy of San Sebastian, a Belle Epoque resort boasting the spectacular white-sand Concha Bay, steep-backed hills, an old quarter of higgeldy-piggeldy streets and a trio of three-star Michelin restaurants. 70 years later, San Sebastián still stuns.
For its first 20 years, held under dictator Francisco Franco, San Sebastián proved, however, a window onto a freer world for a privileged elite, a window onto a freer world graced by Federico Fellini,...
Presented by bullfighter Mario Cabré, who romanced Ava Gardner, and comprising just 19 films, won by “La guerra de Dios,” directed by Rafael Gil., rescued from a potential Republican firing squad by Luis Buñuel not so many years before. Fireworks, bullfights and quayside parties regaled the film week.
From that first edition remain the beauty and gastronomy of San Sebastian, a Belle Epoque resort boasting the spectacular white-sand Concha Bay, steep-backed hills, an old quarter of higgeldy-piggeldy streets and a trio of three-star Michelin restaurants. 70 years later, San Sebastián still stuns.
For its first 20 years, held under dictator Francisco Franco, San Sebastián proved, however, a window onto a freer world for a privileged elite, a window onto a freer world graced by Federico Fellini,...
- 9/23/2022
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Shaping up as one of the most anticipated movies from Spain this year, “Prison 77” (“Modelo 77”) has an international teaser trailer, which Movistar Plus has shared in exclusivity with Variety.
“Modelo 77” marks the third Movistar Plus original film, re-teaming Telefonica’s pay TV/SVOD service with director Alberto Rodríguez, co-writer Rafael Cobos and co-producer Atípica Films, the driving forces behind “The Plague,” Movistar Plus’ big banner 2017 series.
Sold internationally by Film Factory, “Prison 77” will be released in Spanish theaters by Buena Vista International on Sept. 23, the second Friday of Spain’s San Sebastian Festival, which begs the question as to whether it will feature at the event.
In it, Manuel, a young accountant, played by Miguel Herrán, is sent to Barcelona’s legendary Modelo penitentiary pending trial for embezzlement in 1977. The teaser trailer is straight to the point in several ways.
Watch Miguel Herrán in “Prison 77,” but under long curly locks,...
“Modelo 77” marks the third Movistar Plus original film, re-teaming Telefonica’s pay TV/SVOD service with director Alberto Rodríguez, co-writer Rafael Cobos and co-producer Atípica Films, the driving forces behind “The Plague,” Movistar Plus’ big banner 2017 series.
Sold internationally by Film Factory, “Prison 77” will be released in Spanish theaters by Buena Vista International on Sept. 23, the second Friday of Spain’s San Sebastian Festival, which begs the question as to whether it will feature at the event.
In it, Manuel, a young accountant, played by Miguel Herrán, is sent to Barcelona’s legendary Modelo penitentiary pending trial for embezzlement in 1977. The teaser trailer is straight to the point in several ways.
Watch Miguel Herrán in “Prison 77,” but under long curly locks,...
- 6/3/2022
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: London’s Blackbox Media and Latin American firm Eo Media have paired up to develop a drama series based on a novel about the origins of famed Spanish video game company Dinamic Software.
The pair has optioned Jesús Martínez del Vas’ La History de Dinamic from Madrid-based agency Scenic Rights and has signed Javier Olivares, know for creating Tve and Netflix time travel comedy series El Minister del Tiempo (The Ministry of Time), as showrunner.
Del Vas wrote the novel in association with the Ruiz brothers, who as teenagers created a video game empire from their parents’ home in the early 1980s as Spanish tech companies began to boom internationally, before it crashed into bankruptcy. Del Vas spent ten years researching his book and interviewing those involved with creating Dinamic.
The 1980s became known as ‘the Golden Era of Spanish Software,’ with Dinamic’s rise occurred alongside Spain’s...
The pair has optioned Jesús Martínez del Vas’ La History de Dinamic from Madrid-based agency Scenic Rights and has signed Javier Olivares, know for creating Tve and Netflix time travel comedy series El Minister del Tiempo (The Ministry of Time), as showrunner.
Del Vas wrote the novel in association with the Ruiz brothers, who as teenagers created a video game empire from their parents’ home in the early 1980s as Spanish tech companies began to boom internationally, before it crashed into bankruptcy. Del Vas spent ten years researching his book and interviewing those involved with creating Dinamic.
The 1980s became known as ‘the Golden Era of Spanish Software,’ with Dinamic’s rise occurred alongside Spain’s...
- 5/11/2022
- by Jesse Whittock
- Deadline Film + TV
Standing in a secluded lane just off Madrid’s main motorway to North-West Spain, the chalet, with its well-trimmed garden, black slate roof and tall, spiked-fence wall, looks as if it would be more in place in a rural estate rather than in a metropolitan city. It also instantly signals a home of the very well-heeled establishment under dictator Francisco Franco.
It now serves as a key set on Paramount Plus’ “Bose,” a six-part series that follows the impressive decades-long career of barrier-breaking Spanish singer-songwriter Miguel Bosé, produced by Vis, Banijay Iberia subsidiary Shine Iberia, Pepe Baston’s Elefantec Global and Legacy Rock.
One of the first – and biggest – barriers that Bosé had to break was his own upbringing, showrunner Nacho Faerna (“La Fuga”) explained on a set-visit to this highly anticipated Spanish-language series, which wrapped production mid-April.
Growing up in the Somosaguas neighborhood, a suburban bastion of the Francoist upper-middle class outside Madrid,...
It now serves as a key set on Paramount Plus’ “Bose,” a six-part series that follows the impressive decades-long career of barrier-breaking Spanish singer-songwriter Miguel Bosé, produced by Vis, Banijay Iberia subsidiary Shine Iberia, Pepe Baston’s Elefantec Global and Legacy Rock.
One of the first – and biggest – barriers that Bosé had to break was his own upbringing, showrunner Nacho Faerna (“La Fuga”) explained on a set-visit to this highly anticipated Spanish-language series, which wrapped production mid-April.
Growing up in the Somosaguas neighborhood, a suburban bastion of the Francoist upper-middle class outside Madrid,...
- 5/4/2022
- by Justin Morgan
- Variety Film + TV
“Bosé,” the highly anticipated Paramount Plus Original, has wrapped production. The announcement comes as Paramount Plus has also confirmed the remainder of the internationally recognised cast of the six-part series, a biopic of Spanish singer-songwriter Miguel Bosé.
Two behind-the-scenes images, shared in exclusivity with Variety, also hint at the production ambitions of the series, one of the biggest Spanish-language series to date at Paramount Plus, which turns on one of the most resonant figures in recent times in Spain. Resonant for his hits, which span a remarkably long six-decade career, and for his life story, which charts Spain’s emergence from more oppressive times to hard-won freedoms in democracy.
Produced by Vis, a division of Paramount, in collaboration with Shine Iberia, part of Banijay Iberia, Pepe Baston’s Elefantec Global and Legacy Rock, “Bosé” will premiere exclusively on the Paramount Plus International streaming service in the coming months, Paramount Plus also confirmed Tuesday.
Two behind-the-scenes images, shared in exclusivity with Variety, also hint at the production ambitions of the series, one of the biggest Spanish-language series to date at Paramount Plus, which turns on one of the most resonant figures in recent times in Spain. Resonant for his hits, which span a remarkably long six-decade career, and for his life story, which charts Spain’s emergence from more oppressive times to hard-won freedoms in democracy.
Produced by Vis, a division of Paramount, in collaboration with Shine Iberia, part of Banijay Iberia, Pepe Baston’s Elefantec Global and Legacy Rock, “Bosé” will premiere exclusively on the Paramount Plus International streaming service in the coming months, Paramount Plus also confirmed Tuesday.
- 4/19/2022
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Javier Bardem as Desi Arnaz in Aaron Sorkin’s “Being the Ricardos” was controversial from the start, with many criticizing casting the Spaniard Bardem to play a Cuban-American icon. On Tuesday, after that portrayal won Bardem his fourth Oscar nomination, he defended himself against concerns that he was taking roles away from minority actors via remarks picked up by Spain’s daily newspaper El Pais.
To translate: “Let’s talk about the Spanish minorities,” Bardem said during a February 8 press conference in Madrid to discuss the nomination. “How many Spanish characters exist in international cinema? None. There are Latin American characters. I know what I’m talking about when I talk about minorities. And we need to support minorities, but we also have to support those of us who are minorities as well, faced with representing other minorities.”
Hollywood is in a constant conversation about whitewashing and authentic casting, but...
To translate: “Let’s talk about the Spanish minorities,” Bardem said during a February 8 press conference in Madrid to discuss the nomination. “How many Spanish characters exist in international cinema? None. There are Latin American characters. I know what I’m talking about when I talk about minorities. And we need to support minorities, but we also have to support those of us who are minorities as well, faced with representing other minorities.”
Hollywood is in a constant conversation about whitewashing and authentic casting, but...
- 2/12/2022
- by Rafael Motamayor
- Indiewire
Oscar voters take their duties seriously and seem to have a few key criteria in voting: Is this work emotionally honest, does it pop off the screen, and is it something that will be admired 50 years from now?
Penelope Cruz in “Parallel Mothers” checks all those boxes. There are no guarantees with Oscars, but if there’s justice in the world, she will be nominated Feb. 8. She grabs the screen and invites comparisons to the best work of Bette Davis, Anna Magnani and Barbara Stanwyck, but is very much an original.
Cruz plays photographer Janis, who becomes a single mother. As she withholds the truth about her baby, she is trying to uncover the truth of mass killings that have been covered up since the Francisco Franco regime.
She rehearsed with writer-director Pedro Almodovar for four months. Still, filming was difficult. “I couldn’t release any emotions in the early section,...
Penelope Cruz in “Parallel Mothers” checks all those boxes. There are no guarantees with Oscars, but if there’s justice in the world, she will be nominated Feb. 8. She grabs the screen and invites comparisons to the best work of Bette Davis, Anna Magnani and Barbara Stanwyck, but is very much an original.
Cruz plays photographer Janis, who becomes a single mother. As she withholds the truth about her baby, she is trying to uncover the truth of mass killings that have been covered up since the Francisco Franco regime.
She rehearsed with writer-director Pedro Almodovar for four months. Still, filming was difficult. “I couldn’t release any emotions in the early section,...
- 1/27/2022
- by Tim Gray
- Variety Film + TV
Penélope Cruz as Janis and Milena Smit as Ana in Parallel Mothers.
Photo Credit: El Deseo D.A. S.L.U., photo by Iglesias Mas. Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics.
Pedro Almodovar is famous for Oscar-winning dramas like Talk To Her and All About My Mother but the brilliant Spanish writer/director alternates those dramas with lighter fare, soapy melodramas, sometimes with a campy mystery/thriller side. In his latest, Parallel Mothers, Almodovar re-teams with favorite collaborator Penelope Cruz for a drama that combines these two film types running on parallel tracks, in which a drama about the devastating impact Spain’s political history on families serves as a kind of framing story for another one, a soapy mystery thriller about two mothers, although the two threads come together in the end.
It begins with two expectant mothers, one older and the other younger, sharing a room in a maternity hospital.
Photo Credit: El Deseo D.A. S.L.U., photo by Iglesias Mas. Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics.
Pedro Almodovar is famous for Oscar-winning dramas like Talk To Her and All About My Mother but the brilliant Spanish writer/director alternates those dramas with lighter fare, soapy melodramas, sometimes with a campy mystery/thriller side. In his latest, Parallel Mothers, Almodovar re-teams with favorite collaborator Penelope Cruz for a drama that combines these two film types running on parallel tracks, in which a drama about the devastating impact Spain’s political history on families serves as a kind of framing story for another one, a soapy mystery thriller about two mothers, although the two threads come together in the end.
It begins with two expectant mothers, one older and the other younger, sharing a room in a maternity hospital.
- 1/21/2022
- by Cate Marquis
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Spain’s Iván Sánchez, star of Telemundo’s Intl. Emmy-nominated “You Cannot Hide,” and up-and-coming Spanish actor José Pastor will portray Latin music icon Miguel Bosé in the upcoming biopic, “Bosé.”
One of the biggest original series on Paramount Plus’ international lineup, “Bosé” has gone into production, shooting in Spain.
The premium series is produced by powerhouse ViacomCBS International Studios (Vis) in collaboration with Shine Iberia (Banijay Iberia), Pepe Bastón’s Elefantec Global and Legacy Rock.
Variety has had exclusive access to a behind-the-scenes teaser clip in which the two actors practice the grave but sensual lilting baritone voice of Bosé’s singing “Como un Lobo,” a song in which Bosé imagines himself as a Russian Steppe wolf pursuing the object of his desire.
With a career on both sides of the Atlantic, Sánchez is an established star, a well-known face who broke out playing El Gallego in Telemundo’s...
One of the biggest original series on Paramount Plus’ international lineup, “Bosé” has gone into production, shooting in Spain.
The premium series is produced by powerhouse ViacomCBS International Studios (Vis) in collaboration with Shine Iberia (Banijay Iberia), Pepe Bastón’s Elefantec Global and Legacy Rock.
Variety has had exclusive access to a behind-the-scenes teaser clip in which the two actors practice the grave but sensual lilting baritone voice of Bosé’s singing “Como un Lobo,” a song in which Bosé imagines himself as a Russian Steppe wolf pursuing the object of his desire.
With a career on both sides of the Atlantic, Sánchez is an established star, a well-known face who broke out playing El Gallego in Telemundo’s...
- 1/11/2022
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSAbove: Lina Wertmüller in Behind the White Glasses (2015).Italian filmmaker Lina Wertmüller, the first woman to be nominated for a directing Oscar (for 1975's Seven Beauties), died on December 9. After working as an assistant director for Federico Fellini on 8 1/2, Wertmüller went on to become a prolific and distinctive filmmaker in her own right, combining politics and sex and humor in films like The Seduction of Mimi and Swept Away. In an interview with Criterion, she stated: "I consider myself a director, not a female director. I think there’s no difference. The difference is between good movies and bad movies. We should not make other distinctions." The prolific critic and theorist bell hooks has died today. In addition to her many writings on the feminist movement and cultural politics, hooks was also an important media theorist.
- 12/15/2021
- MUBI
What do Pedro Almodóvar, Paul Thomas Anderson, Wes Anderson, Kenneth Branagh and Jane Campion have in common? They’ve helmed acclaimed films for decades, earned Academy Award nominations and done some of their best work this year … yet they’ve never won a director Oscar.
In exclusive new interviews with Campion, Branagh, Almodóvar and Wes Anderson — plus some unpublished thoughts from Paul Thomas Anderson — this reporter discovered how they built on their distinctive histories and tackled new challenges in films that embody their mastery of the form.
Since her first feature, 1989’s “Sweetie,” Campion has almost solely explored the inner lives of female protagonists. But her adaptation of Thomas Savage’s 1967 novel “The Power of the Dog” shifts her focus to a sadistic rancher (Benedict Cumberbatch) and his impact on a near-exclusively male cast of characters.
“This project had a great balance of a whole lot of fear with a whole lot of inspiration,...
In exclusive new interviews with Campion, Branagh, Almodóvar and Wes Anderson — plus some unpublished thoughts from Paul Thomas Anderson — this reporter discovered how they built on their distinctive histories and tackled new challenges in films that embody their mastery of the form.
Since her first feature, 1989’s “Sweetie,” Campion has almost solely explored the inner lives of female protagonists. But her adaptation of Thomas Savage’s 1967 novel “The Power of the Dog” shifts her focus to a sadistic rancher (Benedict Cumberbatch) and his impact on a near-exclusively male cast of characters.
“This project had a great balance of a whole lot of fear with a whole lot of inspiration,...
- 12/12/2021
- by Gregg Goldstein
- Variety Film + TV
Already selected as this year’s Spanish Best International Feature Film submission for the Oscars, Fernando León de Aranoa’s dark workplace comedy “The Good Boss,” starring Javier Bardem, has set a new record for most Spanish Academy Goya Award nominations with 20, ahead of Icíar Bollaín’s standout Basque drama “Maixabel” with 14 and Pedro Almodóvar’s “Parallel Mothers,” which secured eight.
The 20 nominations include: Best picture, director, original screenplay, original music, lead actor, three nominations for supporting actor, supporting actress, two nominations for best new male actor and one for best new female actor, production design, cinematography, editing, art direction, costume design, makeup, sound design and special effects. It’s a total which breaks an almost 30-year-old record held by Imanol Uribe’s “Numbered Days,” which received 19 nominations in 1994.
León’s latest, produced by The Mediapro Studio and Reposado PC, is a return to a fruitful partnership between the director and his leading man.
The 20 nominations include: Best picture, director, original screenplay, original music, lead actor, three nominations for supporting actor, supporting actress, two nominations for best new male actor and one for best new female actor, production design, cinematography, editing, art direction, costume design, makeup, sound design and special effects. It’s a total which breaks an almost 30-year-old record held by Imanol Uribe’s “Numbered Days,” which received 19 nominations in 1994.
León’s latest, produced by The Mediapro Studio and Reposado PC, is a return to a fruitful partnership between the director and his leading man.
- 11/29/2021
- by Jamie Lang
- Variety Film + TV
In Madrid for the launch of HBO Max in Spain, Andorra and four Nordic countries, Warner Media’s commissioning editor and VP of original programming Miguel Salvat announced the commission of “Poor Devil,” (“Pobre Diablo”) a new series produced for the streamer by Buendia Estudios with animation done at Granada’s Rokyn Animation Studios.
Joining Salvat on stage in the Spanish capitol were Christina Sulebakk, general manager, HBO Max, Emea, and Joana Silva, VP programming & acquisitions HBO Max Iberia.
Sulebakk used her time in the spotlight to highlight several key details already known about the arrival of HBO Max, while drilling down on the differences between HBO España as it currently exists, and HBO Max as it will exist starting tomorrow.
She outlined four key differences: HBO Max will have a much broader catalog intended to appeal to the whole family more than HBO España has in the past; starting Jan.
Joining Salvat on stage in the Spanish capitol were Christina Sulebakk, general manager, HBO Max, Emea, and Joana Silva, VP programming & acquisitions HBO Max Iberia.
Sulebakk used her time in the spotlight to highlight several key details already known about the arrival of HBO Max, while drilling down on the differences between HBO España as it currently exists, and HBO Max as it will exist starting tomorrow.
She outlined four key differences: HBO Max will have a much broader catalog intended to appeal to the whole family more than HBO España has in the past; starting Jan.
- 10/25/2021
- by Jamie Lang
- Variety Film + TV
In one of its biggest premium plays to date in an already strong line in Spanish-language series, ViacomCBS International Studios (Vis) has greenlit “Bosé,” a new Paramount Plus original recounting the life story of international actor, Latin Grammy and Billboard winning recording artist Miguel Bosé.
Produced in collaboration with Shine Iberia, part of Banijay Iberia, Elefantec Global and Legacy Rock, the series will go into production in early 2022 in Spain.
Developed in co-operation with Bosé, the six-episode series will portray the extraordinary life of Bosé, son of two icons of cosmopolitan Spain under dictator Francisco Franco: Luis Miguel Dominguín, one of Spain’s most famous bullfighters, and Lucía Bosé, star of Michelangelo Antonioni’s “Story of a Love Affair” and Juan Antonio Bardem’s “Death of a Cyclist.”
Bosé grew up among family friendships which shaped European culture in the 195os and beyond. His first battle, however, was to...
Produced in collaboration with Shine Iberia, part of Banijay Iberia, Elefantec Global and Legacy Rock, the series will go into production in early 2022 in Spain.
Developed in co-operation with Bosé, the six-episode series will portray the extraordinary life of Bosé, son of two icons of cosmopolitan Spain under dictator Francisco Franco: Luis Miguel Dominguín, one of Spain’s most famous bullfighters, and Lucía Bosé, star of Michelangelo Antonioni’s “Story of a Love Affair” and Juan Antonio Bardem’s “Death of a Cyclist.”
Bosé grew up among family friendships which shaped European culture in the 195os and beyond. His first battle, however, was to...
- 10/14/2021
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
When Spanish dictator Francisco Franco died in 1975, the horror of his regime was strewn across the country, in countless unmarked graves filled with citizens who opposed his rule. A young filmmaker named Pedro Almodóvar, giddy with the new freedoms of democracy, chose to ignore that dark side of history.
“I have to confess, I sort of forgot about my political leanings and dedicated myself to finally enjoying the things denied me,” the 72-year-old director said in an interview with IndieWire from New York, where his latest movie “Parallel Mothers” would soon close the New York Film Festival. He recalled the rambunctious hedonism of his early features, 1978’s “Fuck…Fuck…Fuck Me, Tim!” and 1980’s punk rock “Pepi, Luci, Bom,” which echoed the unruly underground sensibilities of John Waters and Andy Warhol.
“It was as though Franco never existed,” Almodóvar said. “We just sort of moved forward as if it hadn’t happened.
“I have to confess, I sort of forgot about my political leanings and dedicated myself to finally enjoying the things denied me,” the 72-year-old director said in an interview with IndieWire from New York, where his latest movie “Parallel Mothers” would soon close the New York Film Festival. He recalled the rambunctious hedonism of his early features, 1978’s “Fuck…Fuck…Fuck Me, Tim!” and 1980’s punk rock “Pepi, Luci, Bom,” which echoed the unruly underground sensibilities of John Waters and Andy Warhol.
“It was as though Franco never existed,” Almodóvar said. “We just sort of moved forward as if it hadn’t happened.
- 10/11/2021
- by Eric Kohn
- Indiewire
Spain’s Mediacrest, one of its fastest-rising independent TV production-distribution houses, has attached Spanish novelist Elvira Lindo to adapt Spanish novel “Nada,” one of the greatest modern classics written after Spain’s Civil War.
Lindo is joining Daniel Domenjó, Mediacrest managing director, and Alberto Macías, the company’s head of fiction, to present the drama series makeover at a Conecta Fiction panel this Wednesday, entitled Nada, the Challenge of Adapting a Literary Icon.
The title of the round table pretty well sums up the adaptation’s largest challenge. “Nada” won Spain’s Nadal Prize, one of its biggest literary awards, in 1944 when Laforet was just 23. The novel turns on Andrea, a Laforet alter-ego, who arrives at her grandmother’s house in 1939 in Barcelona to study at the university, soon after the end of the Spanish Civil War which the city lost to dictator Francisco Franco.
Though her family supported the Civil War’s victors,...
Lindo is joining Daniel Domenjó, Mediacrest managing director, and Alberto Macías, the company’s head of fiction, to present the drama series makeover at a Conecta Fiction panel this Wednesday, entitled Nada, the Challenge of Adapting a Literary Icon.
The title of the round table pretty well sums up the adaptation’s largest challenge. “Nada” won Spain’s Nadal Prize, one of its biggest literary awards, in 1944 when Laforet was just 23. The novel turns on Andrea, a Laforet alter-ego, who arrives at her grandmother’s house in 1939 in Barcelona to study at the university, soon after the end of the Spanish Civil War which the city lost to dictator Francisco Franco.
Though her family supported the Civil War’s victors,...
- 9/15/2021
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
France’s Les Films d’Ici has has issued a letter of interest to board as a co-producer on “Luis Mariano, All the Colors of the Rainbow,” a new feature-length biographical documentary from Spain to be highlighted at this week’s Conecta Fiction in the Pitch Euroregion Naen series section.
Vet Spanish producer Jose María Lara at Basque label Lumiere Produkzioak is participating in this year’s pitchings, dedicated to projects from the emerging Euroregion Naen, taking in Nouvelle Aquitaine in France and the Basque Country and Navarre in Spain.
A Lumiere Produkzioak-Films d’Ici co-production is exactly the kind of result that Pitch Euroregion Series was established to facilitate: Geographically and culturally similar, border-crossing regional partnerships.
A Naen partnership matches the film’s subject as well. Luis Mariano was born on the border between the three Euro-Regions of Naen and is likely the most famous person from there in the 20th century,...
Vet Spanish producer Jose María Lara at Basque label Lumiere Produkzioak is participating in this year’s pitchings, dedicated to projects from the emerging Euroregion Naen, taking in Nouvelle Aquitaine in France and the Basque Country and Navarre in Spain.
A Lumiere Produkzioak-Films d’Ici co-production is exactly the kind of result that Pitch Euroregion Series was established to facilitate: Geographically and culturally similar, border-crossing regional partnerships.
A Naen partnership matches the film’s subject as well. Luis Mariano was born on the border between the three Euro-Regions of Naen and is likely the most famous person from there in the 20th century,...
- 9/14/2021
- by Jamie Lang
- Variety Film + TV
Film festivals often present such a hodgepodge of stories that the perception of a common thread is usually a short-lived illusion, but several premieres in Venice and Telluride reflect a world faced to confront its mortality. Movies made over the last 18 months demonstrate acute personal qualities that bear the undeniable stamp of the pandemic.
In Paolo Sorrentino’s compassionate coming-of-age drama “The Hand of God,” the director delivers a tender ode to his traumatic teen years, when the sudden death of his parents forced him to sort out his place in a cruel universe. The movie reads as a biographical justification for the movies he’s made throughout his career and provides an excuse to revisit them in a new light.
Sorrentino’s sudden orphanhood influenced his decision to become a filmmaker, yet even the swooning collection of colorful Italian creatives in his Oscar-winning “The Great Beauty” seemed to dance...
In Paolo Sorrentino’s compassionate coming-of-age drama “The Hand of God,” the director delivers a tender ode to his traumatic teen years, when the sudden death of his parents forced him to sort out his place in a cruel universe. The movie reads as a biographical justification for the movies he’s made throughout his career and provides an excuse to revisit them in a new light.
Sorrentino’s sudden orphanhood influenced his decision to become a filmmaker, yet even the swooning collection of colorful Italian creatives in his Oscar-winning “The Great Beauty” seemed to dance...
- 9/6/2021
- by Eric Kohn
- Indiewire
Among the multiple pop sources and forms that Pedro Almodóvar has always poured, like some slightly mad chef, into his movies, one that looms particularly large is the soap opera. I have often described his aesthetic, especially back in his bad-boy days, as Telemundo on peyote. Almodóvar’s “Parallel Mothers,” which opens the 78th Venice Film Festival tonight, tells the story of two women, both single mothers, who give birth to baby daughters at virtually the same moment (they’re roommates on a maternity ward in Madrid), and it’s a film of cascading twists and turns, of thickening complication, of high family drama. Hearing that, you might imagine that it’s a movie of high comedy as well — a giddy and ironic Almodóvarian stew of maternal diva melodrama. But “Parallel Mothers,” while it keeps us hooked on what’s happening with a showman’s finesse, is not a comedy.
- 9/1/2021
- by Owen Gleiberman
- Variety Film + TV
Producer of HBO Max hit “Veneno,” Spain’s Buendía Estudios, a joint venture of Atresmedia and Movistar Plus, is now developing a series on Federico García Lorca, Spain’s greatest and best known modern poet, executed by dictator Francisco Franco supporters in 1936 for his left-wing views and homosexuality.
Currently in development, “Lorca in New York,” a six hour miniseries, is based on an original idea by Granada writer-producer Eduardo Galdo. It is created and developed by Buendía Estudios’ and Galdo Media.
“We now have extensive story lines which will allow us to move the project on the market,” said Sonia Martínez, Buendía Estudios’ editorial director. Buendía has developed a creative dossier.“It’s quite special given the important visual and music components of the series.”
“Lorca in New York” catches the poet over 1929-30 during the greatest spiritual crisis of his life, victim of an unrequited passion for Salvador Dalí,...
Currently in development, “Lorca in New York,” a six hour miniseries, is based on an original idea by Granada writer-producer Eduardo Galdo. It is created and developed by Buendía Estudios’ and Galdo Media.
“We now have extensive story lines which will allow us to move the project on the market,” said Sonia Martínez, Buendía Estudios’ editorial director. Buendía has developed a creative dossier.“It’s quite special given the important visual and music components of the series.”
“Lorca in New York” catches the poet over 1929-30 during the greatest spiritual crisis of his life, victim of an unrequited passion for Salvador Dalí,...
- 6/8/2021
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Morena Films, one of Spain’s biggest movie production forces, has closed Spanish distribution on “On the Fringe,” starring Penelope Cruz and Luis Tosar (“The Minions of Midas”).
The feature debut of actor-turned-director Juan Diego Botto, “On the Fringe” (“En las margenes”) will be released in Spain by Vértice Cine.
Scheduled to shoot in Madrid from October and sold by the U.K.’s Bankside Films, “On the Fringe” is produced by Morena’s Alvaro Longoria and Cruz and co-produced by André Logie at Belgium’s Panache Productions and by Spanish public broadcaster Rtve. Amazon Prime Video handles Spanish SVOD rights.
“On the Fringe” interweaves three stories, which unspool over 24 hours: of Rafael (Tosar), an activist lawyer; of Azucena (Cruz), a woman battling to save her son from a new wave of economic crisis, which has destroyed her life; and of Teodora, a grandmother wishing to say goodbye to her son.
The feature debut of actor-turned-director Juan Diego Botto, “On the Fringe” (“En las margenes”) will be released in Spain by Vértice Cine.
Scheduled to shoot in Madrid from October and sold by the U.K.’s Bankside Films, “On the Fringe” is produced by Morena’s Alvaro Longoria and Cruz and co-produced by André Logie at Belgium’s Panache Productions and by Spanish public broadcaster Rtve. Amazon Prime Video handles Spanish SVOD rights.
“On the Fringe” interweaves three stories, which unspool over 24 hours: of Rafael (Tosar), an activist lawyer; of Azucena (Cruz), a woman battling to save her son from a new wave of economic crisis, which has destroyed her life; and of Teodora, a grandmother wishing to say goodbye to her son.
- 5/10/2021
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Director-producer David Beriáin, one of the key figures on Spain’s new documentary scene, was killed on Monday while making an anti-poaching documentary in Burkina Faso.
Beriáin, accompanied by cameraman Roberto Fraile, was traveling in a convoy near the Arli National Park when it was attacked by armed men who arrived in two trucks and a dozen motorbikes, according to El País.
The Spanish newspaper added that Beriáin and Fraile had got out of one of the convoy’s trucks to launch a drone in order to take aerial photos when the attack began. Both lost their lives, as did Ireland’s Rory Young, director of the Fundación Chungeta Wildlife, an Ngo.
Beriáin and Fraile had both been working on a documentary about the Burkina Faso government’s attempt to crack down on poaching in its national parks.
The murder is attributed, however, to jihadists by The Guardian, which points...
Beriáin, accompanied by cameraman Roberto Fraile, was traveling in a convoy near the Arli National Park when it was attacked by armed men who arrived in two trucks and a dozen motorbikes, according to El País.
The Spanish newspaper added that Beriáin and Fraile had got out of one of the convoy’s trucks to launch a drone in order to take aerial photos when the attack began. Both lost their lives, as did Ireland’s Rory Young, director of the Fundación Chungeta Wildlife, an Ngo.
Beriáin and Fraile had both been working on a documentary about the Burkina Faso government’s attempt to crack down on poaching in its national parks.
The murder is attributed, however, to jihadists by The Guardian, which points...
- 4/27/2021
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
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