“Veneno” writer-director-creators Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo – popularly known as Los Javis – have dropped an international trailer for its sequel, “Vestida de Azul” (“Veneno 2: Dressed in Blue”) sharing it in exclusivity with Variety.
Sold to HBO Max for the U.S., where it aired to acclaim, “Veneno” was picked as one of Variety’s best international series in 2020.
This time round, Los Javis produce through Suma Content, the Madrid-based label they launched in 2021, where they also serve as its creative directors. The series is its fourth production after “Una navidad con Samantha Hudson,” a Christmas special, “Cardo,” and “Cardo 2.” An Atresplayer original series, “Vestidas de Azul” is produced for Atresmedia Television in collaboration with Suma Content. Atresmedia TV International Sales handles international distribution.
The trailer begins two years after “Veneno” with Valeria, her figure inspired by the real-life Spanish journalist Valeria Vegas who penned La Veneno’s memoirs, returning...
Sold to HBO Max for the U.S., where it aired to acclaim, “Veneno” was picked as one of Variety’s best international series in 2020.
This time round, Los Javis produce through Suma Content, the Madrid-based label they launched in 2021, where they also serve as its creative directors. The series is its fourth production after “Una navidad con Samantha Hudson,” a Christmas special, “Cardo,” and “Cardo 2.” An Atresplayer original series, “Vestidas de Azul” is produced for Atresmedia Television in collaboration with Suma Content. Atresmedia TV International Sales handles international distribution.
The trailer begins two years after “Veneno” with Valeria, her figure inspired by the real-life Spanish journalist Valeria Vegas who penned La Veneno’s memoirs, returning...
- 6/21/2023
- by John Hopewell and Pablo Sandoval
- Variety Film + TV
‘Vestidas De Azul,’ Continuing Los Javis’ ‘Veneno,’ Adds Susana Abaitua, Elena Irureta, Further Cast
Spanish SVOD service Atresplayer Premium has announced at the Berlinale Series Market a raft of new cast members joining the continuation of its award-winning trans series “Veneno,” which played on HBO Max in the U.S. to large acclaim.
Joining the cast of the seven-episode series “Vestidas De Azul” are supporting cast members Susana Abaitua (“Crazy about Her”), Elena Irureta (“Patria”), Luis Callejo (“Jefe”), drag artist Estrella Xtravaganza, Mercedes Sampietro and Anabel Alonso (“7 Vidas”), among others.
The announcement was made at a Q&a on Monday focused on the continuation of the series. It forms part of a Next from Spain event focusing on first looks at four new series.
Currently shooting, Atresmedia,Atresolayer Premium parent, says it plans to begin streaming the new series in the fourth quarter of the year.
The original series was based on the life of Cristina Ortiz Rodríguez (La Veneno), a famous trans personality and singer from Spain.
Joining the cast of the seven-episode series “Vestidas De Azul” are supporting cast members Susana Abaitua (“Crazy about Her”), Elena Irureta (“Patria”), Luis Callejo (“Jefe”), drag artist Estrella Xtravaganza, Mercedes Sampietro and Anabel Alonso (“7 Vidas”), among others.
The announcement was made at a Q&a on Monday focused on the continuation of the series. It forms part of a Next from Spain event focusing on first looks at four new series.
Currently shooting, Atresmedia,Atresolayer Premium parent, says it plans to begin streaming the new series in the fourth quarter of the year.
The original series was based on the life of Cristina Ortiz Rodríguez (La Veneno), a famous trans personality and singer from Spain.
- 2/22/2023
- by Liza Foreman
- Variety Film + TV
Reinas / Queens (2005) Director: Manuel Gómez Pereira. Screenplay: Yolanda García Serrano, Joaquín Oristrell, and Manuel Gómez Pereira. Cast: Betiana Blum, Carmen Maura, Verónica Forqué, Marisa Paredes, Mercedes Sampietro, Gustavo Salmerón, Unax Ugalde, Hugo Silva, Daniel Hendler, Paco León, Raúl Jiménez, Tito Valverde, Lluís Homar Reinas / Queens is Manuel Gómez Pereira's dramatic comedy about five mothers (Verónica Forqué, Carmen Maura, Betiana Blum, Mercedes Sampietro, and Marisa Paredes) who must cope with their gay sons' (and their own) romantic problems as they all get ready for Spain's first mass gay wedding ceremony. The film, made by Warner Bros. Spain, has the look and feel of a glossy Hollywood flick — or of a non-English-language film begging for an American remake. But cheesy commercialism and sentimentality aside, Reinas boasts a couple of first-rate performances — Forqué as a nymphomaniac, Blum as a sweet-as-overripe-apple-pie Mom — and delivers more than a few good laughs. Additionally, the climactic big-wedding finale is quite touching.
- 6/25/2011
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Santa Barbara International Film Festival
ICAIC
SANTA BARBARA -- Referring to the not-so-logical years leading up to adolescence, Pavel Giroud's The Silly Age is a visually vivid and sharply sardonic rites-of-passage memoir set against the dawning of Fidel Castro's Cuba.
That country's official Oscar submission, the co-production with Spain and Venezuela took home the Nueva Vision Award for best Spanish-language film at the recent Santa Barbara International Film Festival.
Drawing from screenwriter Arturo Infante's amusing recollections of growing up with his naive mother and eccentric grandmother, the film packs a commercial appeal that could translate into modest pesetas with the right distributor.
The year is 1958 and 10-year-old Samuel (a perfectly cast Ivan Carreira) and his divorced mother, Alicia (Susana Tejera) have arrived at the Havana home of his grandmother (a terrific Mercedes Sampietro), a feisty portrait photographer.
Decidedly the ungrandmotherly type, she insists the boy address her as Violeta and is quick to lay down the house rules, which include keeping out of several rooms and steering clear of the cupboard containing her collection of saints.
But after a strained start, the two soon form a bond, initially over their shared disappointment in the naive Alicia.
In his first feature, Giroud has taken Infante's alternately audacious and winsome script and treated it to a strikingly shot and lit production vibrantly in keeping with the quirky nostalgic tone.
That artistry extends beyond the energetic cinematography to the color-saturated period production design and Alicia's frivolous wardrobe selection which effectively provide an oblivious contrast to the tremendous social upheaval waiting in the wings.
ICAIC
SANTA BARBARA -- Referring to the not-so-logical years leading up to adolescence, Pavel Giroud's The Silly Age is a visually vivid and sharply sardonic rites-of-passage memoir set against the dawning of Fidel Castro's Cuba.
That country's official Oscar submission, the co-production with Spain and Venezuela took home the Nueva Vision Award for best Spanish-language film at the recent Santa Barbara International Film Festival.
Drawing from screenwriter Arturo Infante's amusing recollections of growing up with his naive mother and eccentric grandmother, the film packs a commercial appeal that could translate into modest pesetas with the right distributor.
The year is 1958 and 10-year-old Samuel (a perfectly cast Ivan Carreira) and his divorced mother, Alicia (Susana Tejera) have arrived at the Havana home of his grandmother (a terrific Mercedes Sampietro), a feisty portrait photographer.
Decidedly the ungrandmotherly type, she insists the boy address her as Violeta and is quick to lay down the house rules, which include keeping out of several rooms and steering clear of the cupboard containing her collection of saints.
But after a strained start, the two soon form a bond, initially over their shared disappointment in the naive Alicia.
In his first feature, Giroud has taken Infante's alternately audacious and winsome script and treated it to a strikingly shot and lit production vibrantly in keeping with the quirky nostalgic tone.
That artistry extends beyond the energetic cinematography to the color-saturated period production design and Alicia's frivolous wardrobe selection which effectively provide an oblivious contrast to the tremendous social upheaval waiting in the wings.
- 2/11/2008
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
MADRID -- The Spanish film Obaba by award-winning director Montxo Armendariz will open the 53rd San Sebastian International Film Festival, organizers said Friday. Armendariz adapted the film, which will be in the festival's Official Competition, from Basque writer Bernardo Atxaga's 1988 novel Obabakoak. Starring Pilar Lopez de Ayala, Juan Diego Botto, Eduard Fernandez, Peter Lohmeyer and Mercedes Sampietro, Obaba was filmed in the Spanish region of Navarra. Armendariz won San Sebastian's top prize, the Golden Shell, in 1990 for Letters from Alou and the Silver Shell in 1986 for 27 Hours. The festival is scheduled to run Sept. 15-24.
- 7/22/2005
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
MADRID -- Actress Mercedes Sampietro will continue on as president of the Spanish Film Academy after producer Agustin Almodovar refused to be drafted into the position by one-fifth of the academy. Sampietro will be supported by newly elected vps David Trueba and Montxo Armendariz. The president's post has become an increasingly unpopular one over the past three years.
- 5/25/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The film stars Mercedes Sampietro and Pedro Almodovar alumnus Carmen Maura as two nuns on the verge of a moral breakdown. Apparently these two have shared a religious experience together and are very much in love. We never actually see it, but we are to assume that they have committed some very major sins.
In a moment of guilt, Sister Angele (Sampietro) comes up with the idea of faking a stigmata (the hand wounds Christ suffered from being crucified) in order to help their poverty-stricken convent and gain absolution in the process. Even Lucy and Ethel came up with better plans than this one.
Even so, the plan works for a while, as the villagers and most of the other sisters believe that Angele is now an actual saint. Even the duke, the convent's benefactor, promises his eternal devotion to the order in response to this miracle.
In honor of the duke's generosity, they allow his daughter (Assumpta Serna) to become a novice there. However, this young duchess is no novice. She's a spoiled princess who intends to become prioress (i.e. head nun). Together with the former prioress (Aurora Bautista), recently ousted because of the new "saint'' in their midst, they conspire to get rid of the sinning sisters.
Fortunately for them, they happen to be living during the height of the Spanish Inquisition, where just the whisper of an accusation gets one put in prison. This certainly isn't a comedy, so you can probably guess the outcome.
Perhaps the filmmakers intended that this film be so painful to watch so that we might better identify with the suffering heroines. In any event, it is painful to watch. There are certain scenes that seem interminable, as well as meandering monologues that make one dizzy.
Although she is quite convincing in a dramatic role, it is almost sad to see the usually lighthearted Maura look so miserable throughout the entire film. Sampietro, as the doomed pseudo-saint, gives an equally powerful performance, but she is so emotionally depressing and the story is so aimless, that it feels truly a waste of talent.
The love angle between the two women, which by far is the most fascinating aspect of this film, tragically gets lost among the heavy-handed religious material. There is a darkness to this piece that is truly oppressive. The lack of necessary music in many scenes only adds to its bleakness.
The most interesting scene, where we see people whipping themselves as they carry crosses, looks like it came out of "Night of the Living Dead'' and seems totally out of place here.
For the most part, "Extramuros, '' like the Spanish Inquisition, is a torturous experience.
EXTRAMUROS
A Frameline Release
Director-writer Miguel Picazo
Cinematographer Teo Escamilla
Actor Jose Luis Matesanz
Jose Nieto
Producer Antonio Martin
Color
In Spanish with subtitles
Cast:
M¯Sor AnaCarmen Maura
Angele Mercedes Sampietro
ressAurora Bautista
essAssumpta Serna
doctor Antonio Ferrandis
Running time 118 minutes
No MPAA rating
`Extramuros' continued from page
(c) The Hollywood Reporter...
In a moment of guilt, Sister Angele (Sampietro) comes up with the idea of faking a stigmata (the hand wounds Christ suffered from being crucified) in order to help their poverty-stricken convent and gain absolution in the process. Even Lucy and Ethel came up with better plans than this one.
Even so, the plan works for a while, as the villagers and most of the other sisters believe that Angele is now an actual saint. Even the duke, the convent's benefactor, promises his eternal devotion to the order in response to this miracle.
In honor of the duke's generosity, they allow his daughter (Assumpta Serna) to become a novice there. However, this young duchess is no novice. She's a spoiled princess who intends to become prioress (i.e. head nun). Together with the former prioress (Aurora Bautista), recently ousted because of the new "saint'' in their midst, they conspire to get rid of the sinning sisters.
Fortunately for them, they happen to be living during the height of the Spanish Inquisition, where just the whisper of an accusation gets one put in prison. This certainly isn't a comedy, so you can probably guess the outcome.
Perhaps the filmmakers intended that this film be so painful to watch so that we might better identify with the suffering heroines. In any event, it is painful to watch. There are certain scenes that seem interminable, as well as meandering monologues that make one dizzy.
Although she is quite convincing in a dramatic role, it is almost sad to see the usually lighthearted Maura look so miserable throughout the entire film. Sampietro, as the doomed pseudo-saint, gives an equally powerful performance, but she is so emotionally depressing and the story is so aimless, that it feels truly a waste of talent.
The love angle between the two women, which by far is the most fascinating aspect of this film, tragically gets lost among the heavy-handed religious material. There is a darkness to this piece that is truly oppressive. The lack of necessary music in many scenes only adds to its bleakness.
The most interesting scene, where we see people whipping themselves as they carry crosses, looks like it came out of "Night of the Living Dead'' and seems totally out of place here.
For the most part, "Extramuros, '' like the Spanish Inquisition, is a torturous experience.
EXTRAMUROS
A Frameline Release
Director-writer Miguel Picazo
Cinematographer Teo Escamilla
Actor Jose Luis Matesanz
Jose Nieto
Producer Antonio Martin
Color
In Spanish with subtitles
Cast:
M¯Sor AnaCarmen Maura
Angele Mercedes Sampietro
ressAurora Bautista
essAssumpta Serna
doctor Antonio Ferrandis
Running time 118 minutes
No MPAA rating
`Extramuros' continued from page
(c) The Hollywood Reporter...
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