In the article series Sound and Vision we take a look at music videos from notable directors. This week we look at Mylène Farmer's Fuck Them All, directed by Agustí Villaronga. At the end of January Agustí Villaronga passed away at the age of 69. The Spanish director stormed onto the scene with the very daring and controversial, yet stunning In A Glass Cage (Tras El Cristal). The film in question depicts a sadomasochistic relationship between a former Nazi and one of his victims. The victim takes on the role of the Nazi's caretaker, and decides to torture him and follow in his footsteps as a pedophiliac murderer. It's complicated, heavy material, the kind of work that is controversial from the get-go, but also demands...
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[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
- 3/6/2023
- Screen Anarchy
The film is about the fight for womens’ rights in Spain in the 1970s
Filmax has acquired international rights to the 1970s-set womens rights drama In The Company Of Women, directed by Spanish actress-turned-director Silvia Munt, and is presenting a promo to buyers in Berlin.
Inspired by real events, In The Company Of Women is about a group of women from Rentería, in the Basque Country, who fought for women rights in Spain throughout the 1970s, helping many to cross the border into France, where they were able to secure safe and dignified abortions.
Alicia Falcó, Itziar Ituño and Elena Tarrats...
Filmax has acquired international rights to the 1970s-set womens rights drama In The Company Of Women, directed by Spanish actress-turned-director Silvia Munt, and is presenting a promo to buyers in Berlin.
Inspired by real events, In The Company Of Women is about a group of women from Rentería, in the Basque Country, who fought for women rights in Spain throughout the 1970s, helping many to cross the border into France, where they were able to secure safe and dignified abortions.
Alicia Falcó, Itziar Ituño and Elena Tarrats...
- 2/17/2023
- by Emilio Mayorga
- ScreenDaily
Beloved filmmaker and cineaste directed nine features, a TV movie, four TV series, two documentaries, and four shorts.
Agustí Villaronga, one of the foremost Spanish auteurs of recent decades whose credits include Black Bread and The Sea, died in Barcelona on Sunday (January 22). He was 69 and had cancer.
Born in 1953 in Mallorca, Villaronga directed nine features, a TV movie, four TV series, two documentaries, and four shorts.
From a radical auteur approach demonstrating a keen insight into human pain and cruelty, Villaronga threaded his artistic commitment with a progressive exploration of different genres and broader audiences.
Villaronga’s horror debut...
Agustí Villaronga, one of the foremost Spanish auteurs of recent decades whose credits include Black Bread and The Sea, died in Barcelona on Sunday (January 22). He was 69 and had cancer.
Born in 1953 in Mallorca, Villaronga directed nine features, a TV movie, four TV series, two documentaries, and four shorts.
From a radical auteur approach demonstrating a keen insight into human pain and cruelty, Villaronga threaded his artistic commitment with a progressive exploration of different genres and broader audiences.
Villaronga’s horror debut...
- 1/22/2023
- by Emilio Mayorga
- ScreenDaily
Creative Media Solutions, which has its headquarters in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, and a base in Jordan, is prepping two new feature films – “Montreal” and “Sink.”
Jordanian feature film “Montreal” will be directed by Jordanian-Palestinian helmer Ameen Nayfeh, whose debut feature “200 Meters,” starring Ali Suliman, about a Palestinian family separated by the Israeli wall, won the Audience Award at the 2020 Venice Film Festival.
The pic is a coming-of-age tale about a 12-year-old boy who moves to Jordan from abroad and discovers a crusader castle, called Montreal.
Nayfeh explains to Variety: “The film is about a young boy who visits a small village in Jordan with his father and is left behind there. Like all kids he’s into video games, social media, gadgets and technology, and suddenly finds himself stuck in this quiet village where nothing happens. But the village has a crusader castle, which is a big tourism attraction,...
Jordanian feature film “Montreal” will be directed by Jordanian-Palestinian helmer Ameen Nayfeh, whose debut feature “200 Meters,” starring Ali Suliman, about a Palestinian family separated by the Israeli wall, won the Audience Award at the 2020 Venice Film Festival.
The pic is a coming-of-age tale about a 12-year-old boy who moves to Jordan from abroad and discovers a crusader castle, called Montreal.
Nayfeh explains to Variety: “The film is about a young boy who visits a small village in Jordan with his father and is left behind there. Like all kids he’s into video games, social media, gadgets and technology, and suddenly finds himself stuck in this quiet village where nothing happens. But the village has a crusader castle, which is a big tourism attraction,...
- 12/9/2022
- by Martin Dale
- Variety Film + TV
Agustí Villaronga, one of the most versatile of higher-profile Spanish auteurs, is attached to direct “Purgatory,” a project which will be presented at Locarno’s Match Me! Event by Nati Escobar at Spain’s Galápagos Media.
“Purgatory” turns on Father Tomás, a scholar of ancient history and biblical theology sent to a remote sanatorium as a penance for his sins. There, the priest discovers that the small community seems to be entranced by the teachings of a patient.
A title to track at Match Me!, a large networking event, “Purgatory” promises a study of the frontiers between faith and superstition, conviction and manipulation.
The project will be produced by director-producer Pau Calpe and Nati Escobar at Spain’s Galápagos Media and co-produced by Xavier Crespo at Dacsa Produccions. Calpe has just directed “Tros,” a Film Factory-sold drama thriller.. Galápagos has been recently involved in the co-production of Icíar Bollaín’s “Yuli.
“Purgatory” turns on Father Tomás, a scholar of ancient history and biblical theology sent to a remote sanatorium as a penance for his sins. There, the priest discovers that the small community seems to be entranced by the teachings of a patient.
A title to track at Match Me!, a large networking event, “Purgatory” promises a study of the frontiers between faith and superstition, conviction and manipulation.
The project will be produced by director-producer Pau Calpe and Nati Escobar at Spain’s Galápagos Media and co-produced by Xavier Crespo at Dacsa Produccions. Calpe has just directed “Tros,” a Film Factory-sold drama thriller.. Galápagos has been recently involved in the co-production of Icíar Bollaín’s “Yuli.
- 8/5/2022
- by Emilio Mayorga
- Variety Film + TV
Marc Recha, director of “Pau and His Brother,” which played in Cannes competition, is initiating post-production on “Wild Road,” a thriller produced by Barcelona-based director label Parallamps.
Heaed by Montse Germán, a star in Cesc Gay’s “Fiction” and Sergi López” (“Pan’s Labyrinth”), “Wild Road” follows 50-year Ona, who is about to fulfill her dream of piloting a light aircraft. Then a chance encounter with some Serb ex-combatants will change her life and that of her loved ones, forcing her to face up to her own past.
A Locarno Fipresci prize winner for “The Cherry Tree,” in “Wild Road” Recha aims for a “cinema d’auteur for a wider audience. It’s a disturbing thriller but full of humanity,” producer Ana Stanič told Variety announcing “strong interest for the film in Spain, Central and Eastern Europe and further abroad.”
A sales agent deal is close to being closed.
The move...
Heaed by Montse Germán, a star in Cesc Gay’s “Fiction” and Sergi López” (“Pan’s Labyrinth”), “Wild Road” follows 50-year Ona, who is about to fulfill her dream of piloting a light aircraft. Then a chance encounter with some Serb ex-combatants will change her life and that of her loved ones, forcing her to face up to her own past.
A Locarno Fipresci prize winner for “The Cherry Tree,” in “Wild Road” Recha aims for a “cinema d’auteur for a wider audience. It’s a disturbing thriller but full of humanity,” producer Ana Stanič told Variety announcing “strong interest for the film in Spain, Central and Eastern Europe and further abroad.”
A sales agent deal is close to being closed.
The move...
- 5/23/2022
- by Emilio Mayorga
- Variety Film + TV
Lola Arabia and Dubai’s Charisma Group are readying Agustí Villaronga’s “Arabian Aroma” and Pau Miró’s “Lost Symphony,” the first two titles in a 12-pic production alliance unveiled during the Berlin. Festival
Both movies are in pre-production, budgeted around 6 million and feature women “who passionately set themselves on a mission,” the partners announced. The films will be in English and Arabic, and are scheduled to roll around fall 2022. They target both international audiences and, as their local market, the Gulf states.
Reteaming Lola Arabia head Andrés Vicente Gómez and the two main creatives behind “Born a King,” a big period drama which scored heavily at Saudi Arabian cinema theaters, “Arabian Aroma” is penned by British scriptwriter Henry Fitzherbert.
It turns on Virginia, a British perfumer in her 70s who has lost her sense of smell. She sets out with her assistant, Basmah, a twentysomething Saudi, on a quest...
Both movies are in pre-production, budgeted around 6 million and feature women “who passionately set themselves on a mission,” the partners announced. The films will be in English and Arabic, and are scheduled to roll around fall 2022. They target both international audiences and, as their local market, the Gulf states.
Reteaming Lola Arabia head Andrés Vicente Gómez and the two main creatives behind “Born a King,” a big period drama which scored heavily at Saudi Arabian cinema theaters, “Arabian Aroma” is penned by British scriptwriter Henry Fitzherbert.
It turns on Virginia, a British perfumer in her 70s who has lost her sense of smell. She sets out with her assistant, Basmah, a twentysomething Saudi, on a quest...
- 5/22/2022
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Film Factory Entertainment has taken international rights to “Loli Tormenta,” the next film by one of Spain’s foremost auteurs, Agustí Villaronga. Shooting is scheduled for the first week of July in Barcelona.
Enrique González Kuhn’s Caramel Films distributes “Loli Tormenta” in Spain. It is co-produced by the Basque Country’s Irusoin, which is behind Spanish Oscar entry “The Endless Trench,” and Barcelona’s Vilaüt Films, which backed Carla Simón’s Berlin Golden Bear winner “Alcarràs.”
A bittersweet dramedy, “Loli Tormenta” focuses on the close relationship between Lola, a modern, sporty grandma, with her grandsons. They’ve been living together since the kids’ mother died, while their respective fathers show no interest in them. The humble life of this unexpected family on the outskirts of Barcelona goes on without major surprises until she is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.
“We are delighted to work again with Agustí after the success of ‘Uncertain Glory.
Enrique González Kuhn’s Caramel Films distributes “Loli Tormenta” in Spain. It is co-produced by the Basque Country’s Irusoin, which is behind Spanish Oscar entry “The Endless Trench,” and Barcelona’s Vilaüt Films, which backed Carla Simón’s Berlin Golden Bear winner “Alcarràs.”
A bittersweet dramedy, “Loli Tormenta” focuses on the close relationship between Lola, a modern, sporty grandma, with her grandsons. They’ve been living together since the kids’ mother died, while their respective fathers show no interest in them. The humble life of this unexpected family on the outskirts of Barcelona goes on without major surprises until she is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.
“We are delighted to work again with Agustí after the success of ‘Uncertain Glory.
- 5/20/2022
- by Emilio Mayorga
- Variety Film + TV
Alba Sotorra has teamed with Miramemira’s Andrea Vázquez, Spanish pubcaster Tve and Catalonia’s Tvc to co-produce “Sica,” the first fiction feature of documentarist Carla Subirana , a 2012 Málaga Golden Biznaga winner for “Kanimambo” and director of “Nedar.”The film is included in Malaga’s Spanish Wip showcase.
The feature focuses on 13-year old Sica who lives on Costa da Morte, a Galician fishing shoreline known for its natural beauty and the danger of its coast. Passionate about the ocean, Sica waits for the waves to bring back the corpse of her father, a fisherman who perished at sea alongside her friend’s Leda. But that never happens – something Sica can’t accept.
As “the world’s corner,” this special landscape “joins two essential ideas: the transformation of a way of life of an entire community historically linked to the sea; and a reflection – if we do not reverse the current climatic trend,...
The feature focuses on 13-year old Sica who lives on Costa da Morte, a Galician fishing shoreline known for its natural beauty and the danger of its coast. Passionate about the ocean, Sica waits for the waves to bring back the corpse of her father, a fisherman who perished at sea alongside her friend’s Leda. But that never happens – something Sica can’t accept.
As “the world’s corner,” this special landscape “joins two essential ideas: the transformation of a way of life of an entire community historically linked to the sea; and a reflection – if we do not reverse the current climatic trend,...
- 3/23/2022
- by Emilio Mayorga
- Variety Film + TV
Spain has two films in this year’s main competition at the Berlinale, and a record haul of films participating across all sections. Similarly, the country boasts an impressive list of productions looking for buyers at the festival’s EFM. Below, a list of standouts from Spain looking to make moves on the global market.
“Prison 77” (Alberto Rodríguez)
A potential jewel in Spanish cinema’s 2022 crown, “Modelo 77” is produced by Spanish pay TV-vod giant Movistar Plus and Madrid-based Atípica Films, Rodríguez’s career-long producer. S.A. Film Factory
“Alcarràs” (Carla Simón)
In Berlin’s main competition, the much anticipated follow up to Simón’s “Summer 1993,” “Alcarrás” tracks the final harvest at a multi-generational family farm. Co-produced with Italy. S.A. MK2 Films
“The Beast” (Rodrigo Sorogoyen)
A Galicia-set thriller from Oscar-nominee Sorogoyen (“Mother”) and his regular co-scribe Esther Peña.
“Beyond the Summit” (Ibon Cormenzana)
Javier Rey and Patricia Lopez...
“Prison 77” (Alberto Rodríguez)
A potential jewel in Spanish cinema’s 2022 crown, “Modelo 77” is produced by Spanish pay TV-vod giant Movistar Plus and Madrid-based Atípica Films, Rodríguez’s career-long producer. S.A. Film Factory
“Alcarràs” (Carla Simón)
In Berlin’s main competition, the much anticipated follow up to Simón’s “Summer 1993,” “Alcarrás” tracks the final harvest at a multi-generational family farm. Co-produced with Italy. S.A. MK2 Films
“The Beast” (Rodrigo Sorogoyen)
A Galicia-set thriller from Oscar-nominee Sorogoyen (“Mother”) and his regular co-scribe Esther Peña.
“Beyond the Summit” (Ibon Cormenzana)
Javier Rey and Patricia Lopez...
- 2/11/2022
- by Emilio Mayorga and Jamie Lang
- Variety Film + TV
‘The Good Boss’ leads Icíar Bollaín’s ‘Maixabel’ and Pedro Almodóvar’s ‘Parallel Mothers’.
The Good Boss, directed by Fernando León de Aranoa and starring Javier Bardem, led the Goya nominations from the Spanish Film Academy with 20 nods, an all-time record.
The satire, also Spain’s entry for the Oscars, is ahead of Icíar Bollaín’s Maixabel and Pedro Almodóvar’s Parallel Mothers, on 14 and eight nominations respectively.
The Good Boss is the fifth highest-grossing film in Spain this year with €2.6m. Written and directed by León de Aranoa, it follows the petty boss of an industrial scales factory, played...
The Good Boss, directed by Fernando León de Aranoa and starring Javier Bardem, led the Goya nominations from the Spanish Film Academy with 20 nods, an all-time record.
The satire, also Spain’s entry for the Oscars, is ahead of Icíar Bollaín’s Maixabel and Pedro Almodóvar’s Parallel Mothers, on 14 and eight nominations respectively.
The Good Boss is the fifth highest-grossing film in Spain this year with €2.6m. Written and directed by León de Aranoa, it follows the petty boss of an industrial scales factory, played...
- 11/29/2021
- by Elisabet Cabeza
- ScreenDaily
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
Films include Emerald Fennell’s ‘Promising Young Woman’ and Blerta Basholli’s ‘Hive’.
More films than ever before are eligible for this year’s European Film Awards’ feature film and documentary film selection, with 40 feature films and 15 documentary films, and further feature film titles to be revealed in September.
Titles in the feature film selection include Blerta Basholli’s Sundance hit Hive and Emerald Fennell’s Promising Young Woman. The latter is eligible despite being listed as a film of US origin. The European Film Academy (Efa) told Screen this was because the film reaches the number of points in...
More films than ever before are eligible for this year’s European Film Awards’ feature film and documentary film selection, with 40 feature films and 15 documentary films, and further feature film titles to be revealed in September.
Titles in the feature film selection include Blerta Basholli’s Sundance hit Hive and Emerald Fennell’s Promising Young Woman. The latter is eligible despite being listed as a film of US origin. The European Film Academy (Efa) told Screen this was because the film reaches the number of points in...
- 8/24/2021
- by Mona Tabbara
- ScreenDaily
Last month, Catalan auteur Agustí Villaronga swept pretty much every prize out at Spain’s Malaga Film Festival with “The Belly of the Sea.”
The plaudits prized Villaronga’s large artistic ambition in re-creating arguably the most ghastly shipwreck in history — the 1816 sinking of French frigate Meduse off the coast of modern Mauritania — in a film shot in an abandoned wine cellar. It mixes historical re-creation, contemporary photo and doc footage and sea sculptures of the barnacled bodies of the drowned.
Next up for Villaronga, however, is what he describes as a tender comedy, “3,000 Obstacles,” about a former elite athlete now suffering from Alzheimer’s disease.
Director of resonant features that are elliptical (“Pau and His Brother”) or pointedly meandering (“August Days”), Marc Recha is now developing a quirky comedy thriller about a blind man helping a friend to find some religious relics hidden by two Slovenian monks.
Ibon Cormenzana...
The plaudits prized Villaronga’s large artistic ambition in re-creating arguably the most ghastly shipwreck in history — the 1816 sinking of French frigate Meduse off the coast of modern Mauritania — in a film shot in an abandoned wine cellar. It mixes historical re-creation, contemporary photo and doc footage and sea sculptures of the barnacled bodies of the drowned.
Next up for Villaronga, however, is what he describes as a tender comedy, “3,000 Obstacles,” about a former elite athlete now suffering from Alzheimer’s disease.
Director of resonant features that are elliptical (“Pau and His Brother”) or pointedly meandering (“August Days”), Marc Recha is now developing a quirky comedy thriller about a blind man helping a friend to find some religious relics hidden by two Slovenian monks.
Ibon Cormenzana...
- 7/7/2021
- by Emilio Mayorga and John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
“My Emptiness and I,”“The Barbaric,” and “Saudade Became Home Inside” has all won big at a key industry section at Spain’s Malaga Festival, its Work in Progress, which first shone a light on such titles as “The Platform,” Netflix’s most-watched movie in the U.S. for some days last year.
This year, at the 4th Malaga Work in Progress Awards, which ran May 20 – June 11, all three titles scooped a trio of prizes.
The third feature of Adrián Silvestre, whose “The Objects of Love” took a Fipresci award at 2016’s Seville Festival, “My Emptiness and I” won Arachne, Abycine Lanza, and Rec prizes. The story of Raphi, an androgynous diagnosed with gender dysphoria who begins a gender transition, the film is produced by Javier Pérez Santana, one of the producers behind Agustí Villaronga’s “The Belly of the Sea,” the Malaga Fest main competition winner this year.
Seen...
This year, at the 4th Malaga Work in Progress Awards, which ran May 20 – June 11, all three titles scooped a trio of prizes.
The third feature of Adrián Silvestre, whose “The Objects of Love” took a Fipresci award at 2016’s Seville Festival, “My Emptiness and I” won Arachne, Abycine Lanza, and Rec prizes. The story of Raphi, an androgynous diagnosed with gender dysphoria who begins a gender transition, the film is produced by Javier Pérez Santana, one of the producers behind Agustí Villaronga’s “The Belly of the Sea,” the Malaga Fest main competition winner this year.
Seen...
- 6/24/2021
- by Emilio Mayorga
- Variety Film + TV
Feature comedies “El Cover,” the directorial debut of actor Secun de la Rosa, and Ana Murugarren’s “García y García,” will respectively open and close Spain’s 24th Malaga Film Festival, the country’s biggest event dedicated exclusively to films and TV in Spain and Latin America.
Running June 3-13, the festival focus will fall on its usefulness for the region’s film and TV industries, prioritizing cinema exhibition over social events.
The main competition, a faithful reflection of the most recent cinema produced both in Spain and Latin America, combines highly experienced filmmakers with up-and-coming talents. In total, it will highlight 23 features, 15 Spanish and eight Latin American.
Sold by Latido Films, Benidorm-set musical comedy “El Cover” is produced by Kiko Martínez at Madrid’s Nadie Es Perfecto (“Perfectos desconocidos”) in collaboration with Amazon Prime Video and Gts Entertainment.
Toplining Spanish comedians Pepe Viyuela and José Mota (“Padre no hay...
Running June 3-13, the festival focus will fall on its usefulness for the region’s film and TV industries, prioritizing cinema exhibition over social events.
The main competition, a faithful reflection of the most recent cinema produced both in Spain and Latin America, combines highly experienced filmmakers with up-and-coming talents. In total, it will highlight 23 features, 15 Spanish and eight Latin American.
Sold by Latido Films, Benidorm-set musical comedy “El Cover” is produced by Kiko Martínez at Madrid’s Nadie Es Perfecto (“Perfectos desconocidos”) in collaboration with Amazon Prime Video and Gts Entertainment.
Toplining Spanish comedians Pepe Viyuela and José Mota (“Padre no hay...
- 6/2/2021
- by Emiliano De Pablos
- Variety Film + TV
The closing part of this year’s International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) kicks off Wednesday with a vast program of films and events that includes an all-new section and a showcase of works from up-and-coming filmmakers.
The first part of IFFR’s 50th edition, which ran Feb. 1-7, focused on the main Tiger, Big Screen and Ammodo Tiger Short competitions as well as the Limelight sidebar, a preview of upcoming arthouse releases. From February to June, the fest continued to stream films from its rich history as part of the IFFR Unleashed: 50/50 program.
A total 139 features, short and mid-length films are screening in the Harbour, Bright Future, Cinema Regained, Classics and Short and Mid-Length Film sections. Harbour is the festival’s newest and largest program.
“The port is the backbone of the city of Rotterdam and in the same way Harbour is the backbone of the festival itself,” says festival director Vanja Kaludjercic.
The first part of IFFR’s 50th edition, which ran Feb. 1-7, focused on the main Tiger, Big Screen and Ammodo Tiger Short competitions as well as the Limelight sidebar, a preview of upcoming arthouse releases. From February to June, the fest continued to stream films from its rich history as part of the IFFR Unleashed: 50/50 program.
A total 139 features, short and mid-length films are screening in the Harbour, Bright Future, Cinema Regained, Classics and Short and Mid-Length Film sections. Harbour is the festival’s newest and largest program.
“The port is the backbone of the city of Rotterdam and in the same way Harbour is the backbone of the festival itself,” says festival director Vanja Kaludjercic.
- 6/1/2021
- by Ed Meza
- Variety Film + TV
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSAbove: Charles Grodin in Beethoven's 2nd (1993)Beloved actor Charles Grodin, known for his roles in The Heartbreak Kid, Midnight Run, as well as the Beethoven films and The Great Muppet Caper, has died. Paul Schrader's The Card Counter has been slated for a release by Focus Features on September 10, after an extended delay during the early months of the pandemic. Written and directed by Schrader, the film follows a gambler who assists a young man in his revenge against a military colonel. Robert Eggers has also managed to complete his Viking epic The Northman after a long pause in 2020 due to the pandemic. Starring Alexander Skarsgård, Nicole Kidman, Anya Taylor-Joy, Willem Dafoe, Ethan Hawke, and Björk, the film will be released on April 8, 2022. Meanwhile, Wes Anderson, whose film The French Dispatch will be premiering at Cannes this July,...
- 5/19/2021
- MUBI
The background to “The Belly of the Sea,” the new film from “Black Bread” director Agustí Villaronga, is arguably the most ghastly shipwreck in the history of seafaring.
On July 2, 1816 French frigate Méduse ran aground on the Bank of Arguin, off the coast of present-day Mauritania, with 400 passengers on board.
147 men were forced onto a makeshift raft, only 66 feet by 23 feet, cut adrift on the open sea. A storm swept many overboard; others, rebellious, were shot by officers; as rations dwindled, some resorted to cannibalism. The weak and wounded were thrown into the sea. Only 15 men survived.
The disaster was immortalized by Théodore Géricault’s painting “The Shipwreck of the Medusa.” It also inspired the “second book” of “Ocean Sea,” a 1993 novel by Italy’s Alessandro Baricco, which frames two monologues, one from the Méduse’s surgeon, Henri Savigny, another from a common sailor, both survivors. That proved the point...
On July 2, 1816 French frigate Méduse ran aground on the Bank of Arguin, off the coast of present-day Mauritania, with 400 passengers on board.
147 men were forced onto a makeshift raft, only 66 feet by 23 feet, cut adrift on the open sea. A storm swept many overboard; others, rebellious, were shot by officers; as rations dwindled, some resorted to cannibalism. The weak and wounded were thrown into the sea. Only 15 men survived.
The disaster was immortalized by Théodore Géricault’s painting “The Shipwreck of the Medusa.” It also inspired the “second book” of “Ocean Sea,” a 1993 novel by Italy’s Alessandro Baricco, which frames two monologues, one from the Méduse’s surgeon, Henri Savigny, another from a common sailor, both survivors. That proved the point...
- 4/22/2021
- by Emilio Mayorga and John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Event will include the launch of the festival’s newest and largest programme, Harbour.
International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) has unveiled the first titles for its summer event, which has shifted to a hybrid format due as the pandemic continues.
The celebration of the festival’s 50th anniversary was due to run as a physical series of screenings and events from June 2-6, complementing the online-only edition of IFFR that took place in February.
It will now be presented as a hybrid event, with a film programme that will be available online in the Netherlands and physically in Rotterdam, as...
International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) has unveiled the first titles for its summer event, which has shifted to a hybrid format due as the pandemic continues.
The celebration of the festival’s 50th anniversary was due to run as a physical series of screenings and events from June 2-6, complementing the online-only edition of IFFR that took place in February.
It will now be presented as a hybrid event, with a film programme that will be available online in the Netherlands and physically in Rotterdam, as...
- 4/15/2021
- by Michael Rosser
- ScreenDaily
Event will include the launch of the festival’s newest and largest programme, Harbour.
International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) has unveiled the first titles for its summer event, which has shifted to a hybrid format due as the pandemic continues.
The celebration of the festival’s 50th anniversary was due to run as a physical series of screenings and events from June 2-6, complementing the online-only edition of IFFR that took place in February.
It will now be presented as a hybrid event, with a film programme that will be available online in the Netherlands and physically in Rotterdam, as...
International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) has unveiled the first titles for its summer event, which has shifted to a hybrid format due as the pandemic continues.
The celebration of the festival’s 50th anniversary was due to run as a physical series of screenings and events from June 2-6, complementing the online-only edition of IFFR that took place in February.
It will now be presented as a hybrid event, with a film programme that will be available online in the Netherlands and physically in Rotterdam, as...
- 4/15/2021
- by Michael Rosser
- ScreenDaily
Key members of the team that shepherded hit biopic “Born a King,” about Prince Faisal of Saudi Arabia, talked about the experience of “witnessing the birth of a film industry” in Saudi, as Spanish director Agustí Villaronga put it, during a Cannes Virtual Market panel. They also announced that they will be making a sequel.
“Born a King” is a Spain-u.K. co-production between Andrés Vicente Gómez’ Latido Films and London-based Celtic Films run by producer Stuart Sutherland (“Killing Eve”) who described the experience of shooting the roughly $21 million feature – which went into production prior to December 2017 when Saudi Arabia lifted its 35-year ban on cinemas – as “really the beginning of an evolution.”
“We are getting in there on the ground level, and we are helping formulate how films are done,” Sutherland said “And learning a lot from them as well,” he added.
Since then, Sutherland recently went back to...
“Born a King” is a Spain-u.K. co-production between Andrés Vicente Gómez’ Latido Films and London-based Celtic Films run by producer Stuart Sutherland (“Killing Eve”) who described the experience of shooting the roughly $21 million feature – which went into production prior to December 2017 when Saudi Arabia lifted its 35-year ban on cinemas – as “really the beginning of an evolution.”
“We are getting in there on the ground level, and we are helping formulate how films are done,” Sutherland said “And learning a lot from them as well,” he added.
Since then, Sutherland recently went back to...
- 6/25/2020
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Participating in this year’s Marché du Film Speed Meetings for Spanish projects, La Claqueta’s highly-anticipated project “Tobacco Barns” has picked up a new co-producer in Belén Sánchez, one of Variety’s Catalan producers on the rise for 2020 as announced earlier this week, and a top independent sales agency in Spain’s Latido Films.
Sánchez comes to the production from Un Capricho Producciones, a company which has proven itself among the best at backing female filmmakers, including Lucia Alemany’s 2019 breakout San Sebastian hit “La Inocencia.”
Several films from Latido’s Spanish industry-leading catalog are hosting market screenings at this year’s Marché du Film, including Morena Films’ “Tales of the Lockdown,” featured in a Cinema from Spain pitching platform held at the Marché du Film on Wednesday, Agustí Villaronga’s “Born a King,” starring Ed Skrein and Hermione Corfield, “La Noche Mágica,” “The Sea Beyond,” “My Heart Goes Boom,...
Sánchez comes to the production from Un Capricho Producciones, a company which has proven itself among the best at backing female filmmakers, including Lucia Alemany’s 2019 breakout San Sebastian hit “La Inocencia.”
Several films from Latido’s Spanish industry-leading catalog are hosting market screenings at this year’s Marché du Film, including Morena Films’ “Tales of the Lockdown,” featured in a Cinema from Spain pitching platform held at the Marché du Film on Wednesday, Agustí Villaronga’s “Born a King,” starring Ed Skrein and Hermione Corfield, “La Noche Mágica,” “The Sea Beyond,” “My Heart Goes Boom,...
- 6/25/2020
- by Jamie Lang
- Variety Film + TV
The latest film by Majorcan helmer Agustí Villaronga, the first to be shot in Saudi Arabia in the last few decades, is a historical tale co-produced with the UK and Spain. At the Marché du Film of the 2020 Cannes Film Festival, which is being held online this week, the Spanish-uk-Saudi Arabian co-production Born a King seems to be piquing a great deal of interest. This historical reconstruction was shot by Agustí Villaronga in Saudi Arabia, a country that had previously been closed off to cinema for 50 years. The movie tells the story of how 13-year-old Faisal travels to London on a diplomatic mission, after World War I, coming face to face with key figures from that time. Its international sales are being handled by Madrid-based sales agent Latido Films, headed up by Antonio Saura, one of the biggest companies when it comes to circulating Spanish and Spanish-language cinema...
Saudi company Al Maha Al Arab on board as financier.
Andrés Vicente Gómez, the veteran Spanish Oscar-winning producer of Belle Epoque whose historical epic Born A King is screening in the Marche du Film online, is busy working on upcoming projects.
Lolafilms head Gómez is looking to finish production on Champions, a Saudi remake of the 2018 Spanish hit Campeones, after it was shut down in Jeddah on March 17 due to the pandemic with several days of shooting left to go.
Saudi company Al Maha Al Arab, which is run by Prince Turki Al Faisal Al Saud, son to the late King Faisal,...
Andrés Vicente Gómez, the veteran Spanish Oscar-winning producer of Belle Epoque whose historical epic Born A King is screening in the Marche du Film online, is busy working on upcoming projects.
Lolafilms head Gómez is looking to finish production on Champions, a Saudi remake of the 2018 Spanish hit Campeones, after it was shut down in Jeddah on March 17 due to the pandemic with several days of shooting left to go.
Saudi company Al Maha Al Arab, which is run by Prince Turki Al Faisal Al Saud, son to the late King Faisal,...
- 6/24/2020
- by 36¦Jeremy Kay¦54¦
- ScreenDaily
Produced by Al Maha Al Arabi and Lolafilms, the Saudi Arabian remake of Javier Fesser’s “Campeones” (“Champions”), a Spanish blockbuster and Spain’s International Oscar submission, has been acquired by theatrical distributor Vox, VOD service Shahid VIP and international sales company Latido Films.
Following the success of “Born a King,” the Saudi “Champions” will be released theatrically across the Middle East in December by Vox, then stream six months later on Shahid VIP, the leading Arabic SVOD platform in the Mena region, part of the Mbc Group, which has acquired both “Champions” and “Born a King” and invested substantially in both pictures.
If it were to click for the production partners, Champions could signal the kernel of ever more ambitious projects. The remake’s $4.5 million budget was produced by Al Maha Al Arabi, the production company of Prince Turki Al Faisal Al Saud, son of the late King Faisal...
Following the success of “Born a King,” the Saudi “Champions” will be released theatrically across the Middle East in December by Vox, then stream six months later on Shahid VIP, the leading Arabic SVOD platform in the Mena region, part of the Mbc Group, which has acquired both “Champions” and “Born a King” and invested substantially in both pictures.
If it were to click for the production partners, Champions could signal the kernel of ever more ambitious projects. The remake’s $4.5 million budget was produced by Al Maha Al Arabi, the production company of Prince Turki Al Faisal Al Saud, son of the late King Faisal...
- 6/22/2020
- by Anna Marie de la Fuente
- Variety Film + TV
Framing world premieres of “Maragall i la Lluna” and “Wishlist,” plus new movies from Justin Kurzel, Marjane Satrapi, Matteo Garrone and Caroline Link, Barcelona’s Bcn Film Fest aims to become one of the first festivals in Europe to stage a live on-site edition, running June 25 to July 2.
The dates and ambition were re-confirmed Tuesday when Bcn Film Fest, one of the biggest film events in the Catalan capital, announced its lineup.
“One of the most beautiful things about watching films is to do so in a theater as a shared social and cultural experience. To be able to discuss films immediately with people after seeing them. Bcn Film Fest aims to maintain that this year,” said festival artistic director Conxita Casanovas.
While pushing the pleasures of a live event, from the quality of projection and sound to cinema viewing as a social and cultural community event and driver of local economic economy,...
The dates and ambition were re-confirmed Tuesday when Bcn Film Fest, one of the biggest film events in the Catalan capital, announced its lineup.
“One of the most beautiful things about watching films is to do so in a theater as a shared social and cultural experience. To be able to discuss films immediately with people after seeing them. Bcn Film Fest aims to maintain that this year,” said festival artistic director Conxita Casanovas.
While pushing the pleasures of a live event, from the quality of projection and sound to cinema viewing as a social and cultural community event and driver of local economic economy,...
- 5/27/2020
- by John Hopewell, Elsa Keslassy and Emilio Mayorga
- Variety Film + TV
Say “the Romanian New Wave” to folks who tend to order their cinema off-menu, and they’ll happily regale you with tales of long takes, deliberate paces, dour perspectives and a serious distrust of authority. They’ll also tell you that the country has produced some of the most complex, captivating movies of the past 15 years, and they’d be correct. Like sushi or Brian Eno’s solo albums, the bounty that’s come from the Eastern European nation’s post-Ceaușescu generation of filmmakers is an acquired taste; once that taste has been acquired,...
- 2/28/2020
- by David Fear
- Rollingstone.com
Sales for the Argentinian box-office hit spice up a busy Efm for the Madrid-based sales outfit .
Madrid-based sales outfit Latido Films has scored several key territory deals on Argentinian box office hit The Heist Of The Century (El robo del siglo) after market screenings at this year’s Efm.
The based on a true story comedy about a botched bank robbery has gone to France (Eurozoom), Spain (Syldavia), Greece (Rosebud), Switzerland (Trigon) and Australia (Palace). There are also offers on the table from Russia, Italy and China.
Released in Argentina this January, The Heist Of The Century is directed by...
Madrid-based sales outfit Latido Films has scored several key territory deals on Argentinian box office hit The Heist Of The Century (El robo del siglo) after market screenings at this year’s Efm.
The based on a true story comedy about a botched bank robbery has gone to France (Eurozoom), Spain (Syldavia), Greece (Rosebud), Switzerland (Trigon) and Australia (Palace). There are also offers on the table from Russia, Italy and China.
Released in Argentina this January, The Heist Of The Century is directed by...
- 2/25/2020
- by 1101324¦Elisabet Cabeza¦0¦
- ScreenDaily
"A sly and intricate crime drama." Magnolia has unveiled the official Us trailer for Romanian filmmaker Corneliu Porumboiu's acclaimed film The Whistlers, which first premiered at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year. The film didn't win any awards, but it did win over critics, especially A.O. Scott (here's his review) who is quoted all over the marketing. This fun neo-noir stars Vlad Ivanov in the lead role, Cristi, a Romanian police officer who is secretly working inside the mafia. He heads to La Gomera Island to learn an ancestral whistling language. In Romania he is under police surveillance and by using this coded language he will continue to communicate with the mobsters to try and get Zsolt out of prison. Also starring Catrinel Marlon, Rodica Lazar, Agustí Villaronga, Sabin Tambrea, István Teglas, Cristóbal Pinto, and George Pistereanu. I caught this in Cannes and I had a great time - here's my glowing review,...
- 12/4/2019
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Buenos Aires — Bringing onto the market what looks like by far the biggest new movie at Ventana Sur, Latido Films has acquired international sales rights to Agustí Villaronga’s “Born a King,” starring Ed Skrein, fresh off his star-turn in “Midway.”
Latido Films’ director Antonio Saura and Juan Torres, intl. sales head, will introduce “Born a King” – also starring Hermione Cornfield (“Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation”) and marking a return to production after an eight-year hiatus of Andrés Vicente Gómez – to select buyers at Ventana Sur, the Cannes-Incaa Latin American market which kicks off Monday in Buenos Aires.
A U.K.-Spanish co-production between London’s Celtic Films, and Spain’s Arena Audiovisual that yokes the craft of both countries’ top tech pool, “Born a King” is budgeted at a declared €19 million ($21 million).
That shows in the heavy VFX work recreating a bustling yet gray 1919 London and a spectacular battle scene at the film’s get-go,...
Latido Films’ director Antonio Saura and Juan Torres, intl. sales head, will introduce “Born a King” – also starring Hermione Cornfield (“Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation”) and marking a return to production after an eight-year hiatus of Andrés Vicente Gómez – to select buyers at Ventana Sur, the Cannes-Incaa Latin American market which kicks off Monday in Buenos Aires.
A U.K.-Spanish co-production between London’s Celtic Films, and Spain’s Arena Audiovisual that yokes the craft of both countries’ top tech pool, “Born a King” is budgeted at a declared €19 million ($21 million).
That shows in the heavy VFX work recreating a bustling yet gray 1919 London and a spectacular battle scene at the film’s get-go,...
- 12/2/2019
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Madrid — Four years in the making, Agustí Villaronga’s “Born a King,” starring Ed Skrein (“Deadpool”) and Hermione Cornfield (“Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation”) and produced by Andrés Vicente Gómez, has caught box office fire in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.
Released wide on Sept. 26, the true events-based historical drama – framing the coming of age of Prince Faisal of Saudi Arabia, against the background of a diplomatic mission he led to London in 1919 at the tender age of 13 – has earned an exceptional first-four-day $972, 962 in UAE, Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, according to figures from its distributor, Dubai’s-based Vox Film Distribution.
The lion’s share of that was made in UAE, where it grossed $547,725.
However execrating for an independent film, the results are not totally surprising. “Born a King” is a Spain-u.K. production, whose producers, director and crew pack huge experience: Gómez, producer of Fernando Trueba’s...
Released wide on Sept. 26, the true events-based historical drama – framing the coming of age of Prince Faisal of Saudi Arabia, against the background of a diplomatic mission he led to London in 1919 at the tender age of 13 – has earned an exceptional first-four-day $972, 962 in UAE, Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, according to figures from its distributor, Dubai’s-based Vox Film Distribution.
The lion’s share of that was made in UAE, where it grossed $547,725.
However execrating for an independent film, the results are not totally surprising. “Born a King” is a Spain-u.K. production, whose producers, director and crew pack huge experience: Gómez, producer of Fernando Trueba’s...
- 10/4/2019
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Antonio Méndez Esparza’s “Que nadie duerma,” Fernando Franco’s “La consagración de la primavera” and Agustí Villaronga’s “3.000 obstáculos” figure among the seven projects to be pitched at Paris’ Small Is Biutiful forum.
The closing event for the alternative Spanish film festival Dífferent 12!, Small Is Biutiful takes place June 26, bringing together French distributors and sales executives around a selection of Spanish feature projects seeking partners.
Backed by the Cannes Film Market, Different! is organised by Espagnolas en Paris and the Ile-de-France Film Commission.
Past projects presented at Small Is Biutiful take in Oliver Laxe’s “Mimosas,” which won Cannes 2016 Critics’ Week; Carlos Vermut’s “Magical Girl,” San Sebastián’s top Golden Shell Award in 2014, and Arantxa Echevarría’s “Carmen & Lola,” winner of breakout director and supporting actress nods at February’s Goya Awards, as well as a Cannes Directors’ Fortnight contender.
“Que nadie duerma” is produced by Pedro Hernández...
The closing event for the alternative Spanish film festival Dífferent 12!, Small Is Biutiful takes place June 26, bringing together French distributors and sales executives around a selection of Spanish feature projects seeking partners.
Backed by the Cannes Film Market, Different! is organised by Espagnolas en Paris and the Ile-de-France Film Commission.
Past projects presented at Small Is Biutiful take in Oliver Laxe’s “Mimosas,” which won Cannes 2016 Critics’ Week; Carlos Vermut’s “Magical Girl,” San Sebastián’s top Golden Shell Award in 2014, and Arantxa Echevarría’s “Carmen & Lola,” winner of breakout director and supporting actress nods at February’s Goya Awards, as well as a Cannes Directors’ Fortnight contender.
“Que nadie duerma” is produced by Pedro Hernández...
- 6/25/2019
- by Emiliano De Pablos
- Variety Film + TV
Magnolia Pictures has acquired the North American distribution rights to “The Whistlers,” a crime movie from Romanian director Corneliu Porumboiu that premiered in competition at Cannes, an individual with knowledge of the deal told TheWrap.
Magnolia intends to release “The Whistlers” later this year.
Porumboiu is one of the members of the Romanian New Wave of cinema and is the director of 2006’s “12:08 East of Bucharest” and 2009’s “Police, Adjective,” which won the Un Certain Regard at Cannes that same year. Porumboiu’s latest follows a crooked police officer who wants to free a businessman from an island in the Canaries but has to learn a bizarre local language involving whistling, hissing and spitting in order to do so. Here’s the official synopsis:
Also Read: 'The Whistlers' Film Review: Romanian Wild Ride Runs on Black Humor
In “The Whistlers,” not everything is as it seems for Cristi,...
Magnolia intends to release “The Whistlers” later this year.
Porumboiu is one of the members of the Romanian New Wave of cinema and is the director of 2006’s “12:08 East of Bucharest” and 2009’s “Police, Adjective,” which won the Un Certain Regard at Cannes that same year. Porumboiu’s latest follows a crooked police officer who wants to free a businessman from an island in the Canaries but has to learn a bizarre local language involving whistling, hissing and spitting in order to do so. Here’s the official synopsis:
Also Read: 'The Whistlers' Film Review: Romanian Wild Ride Runs on Black Humor
In “The Whistlers,” not everything is as it seems for Cristi,...
- 5/24/2019
- by Brian Welk
- The Wrap
Exclusive: With an eye toward a theatrical release this year, Magnolia Pictures has acquired the North American rights to The Whistlers, the inventive crime thriller from Romanian director Corneliu Porumboiu that just premiered in Competition in Cannes to glowing reviews.
Porumboiu won the Camera d’Or at Cannes in 2006 with his first feature, 12:08 East of Bucharest. With follow-up films such as the shrewdly written Police, Adjective (an arresting 2009 tale about words, crime, and the letter of the law) and Infinite Football (last year’s soccer-obsessed documentary) Porumboiu has shown a gift for material that digs deep into eccentric pursuit.
In The Whistlers, the quirky element is the melodic skill set mentioned in the title. Here’s the official synopsis: “In The Whistlers, not everything is as it seems for Cristi, a police inspector in Bucharest who plays both sides of the law. Embarking with the beautiful Gilda on a high-stakes heist,...
Porumboiu won the Camera d’Or at Cannes in 2006 with his first feature, 12:08 East of Bucharest. With follow-up films such as the shrewdly written Police, Adjective (an arresting 2009 tale about words, crime, and the letter of the law) and Infinite Football (last year’s soccer-obsessed documentary) Porumboiu has shown a gift for material that digs deep into eccentric pursuit.
In The Whistlers, the quirky element is the melodic skill set mentioned in the title. Here’s the official synopsis: “In The Whistlers, not everything is as it seems for Cristi, a police inspector in Bucharest who plays both sides of the law. Embarking with the beautiful Gilda on a high-stakes heist,...
- 5/24/2019
- by Geoff Boucher
- Deadline Film + TV
Barcelona – Agustina Macri’s feature debut “Soledad” (Solitude) won Best Feature award at the 3rd Barcelona Film Festival, which ran April 22-30.
Produced by Italy’s 39Films and Argentina’s Cinema 7 Films, and inspired by true events, the film follows titular Soledad Rosas who moved to Italy in 1997 to a squatters community. There she met a militant anarchist with whom she had a brief and intense love affair. A year later the couple was arrested and accused of terroristic acts meant to halt the construction of a railway.
The screenplay was penned by Paolo Logli and Macri –the daughter of Argentine president Mauricio Macri. “Soledad” world-premiered at the Warsaw Film Festival and will be released in Argentina and Italy through Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures and Walt Disney Company Italia respectively.
The Acec Critic’s Award went to another debut, this time from actress-turned-director Laura Jou. Produced by longtime...
Produced by Italy’s 39Films and Argentina’s Cinema 7 Films, and inspired by true events, the film follows titular Soledad Rosas who moved to Italy in 1997 to a squatters community. There she met a militant anarchist with whom she had a brief and intense love affair. A year later the couple was arrested and accused of terroristic acts meant to halt the construction of a railway.
The screenplay was penned by Paolo Logli and Macri –the daughter of Argentine president Mauricio Macri. “Soledad” world-premiered at the Warsaw Film Festival and will be released in Argentina and Italy through Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures and Walt Disney Company Italia respectively.
The Acec Critic’s Award went to another debut, this time from actress-turned-director Laura Jou. Produced by longtime...
- 5/3/2019
- by Emilio Mayorga
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: UTA has signed UK actor Sam Adewunmi for representation in all areas. Adewunmi was most recently seen as the lead in Shola Amoo’s The Last Tree, which has its debut at Sundance.
Adewunmi stars as Femi, a British boy of Nigerian heritage who, after a happy childhood in rural Lincolnshire, moves to inner London to live with his mom. Struggling with the unfamiliar culture and values of his new environment, teenage Femi has to figure out which path to adulthood he wants to take, and what it means to be a young black man in London.
Up next, Adewunmi is set to appear in the upcoming Agustí Villaronga-directed drama Born A King, opposite Ed Skrein and Laurence Fox. Other credits include UK film The Hatton Garden Job, with Matthew Good and Stephen Moyer, the ITV series Prime Suspect: 1973, BBC’s Doctor Who, and Sky’s Lucky Man.
Adewunmi stars as Femi, a British boy of Nigerian heritage who, after a happy childhood in rural Lincolnshire, moves to inner London to live with his mom. Struggling with the unfamiliar culture and values of his new environment, teenage Femi has to figure out which path to adulthood he wants to take, and what it means to be a young black man in London.
Up next, Adewunmi is set to appear in the upcoming Agustí Villaronga-directed drama Born A King, opposite Ed Skrein and Laurence Fox. Other credits include UK film The Hatton Garden Job, with Matthew Good and Stephen Moyer, the ITV series Prime Suspect: 1973, BBC’s Doctor Who, and Sky’s Lucky Man.
- 2/15/2019
- by Amanda N'Duka
- Deadline Film + TV
Barcelona— A portrait of Francesc Boix, a Catalan photographer who managed to survive one of the most atrocious Nazi camps, “The Photographer of Mauthausen” will be released in Spain on Oct. 26 by Filmax. It’s the sophomore sally of producer-turned-director Mar Targarona who, alongside Joaquin Padró, is behind production of films such as Juan Antonio Bayona’s “The Orphanage” and Oriol Paulo’s “The Body.”
Barcelona-based Rodar y Rodar’s “Mauthausen” is a co-production with Netflix, We Produce 2017 Aie and Hungary’s Filmteam, backed by Spanish broadcaster Rtve and Catalan Tvc. Sold by Vicente Canales’ Film Factory, Netflix will be streaming the movie from Dec. 28.
Feature tells the little-known story of Boix, a Spanish Mauthausen inmate who managed to hide some 2,000 negatives –a testimony to the horror lived there— and smuggle them out of the concentration camp. These negatives played a decisive role in the Nuremberg Trials. Boix arrived at Mauthausen,...
Barcelona-based Rodar y Rodar’s “Mauthausen” is a co-production with Netflix, We Produce 2017 Aie and Hungary’s Filmteam, backed by Spanish broadcaster Rtve and Catalan Tvc. Sold by Vicente Canales’ Film Factory, Netflix will be streaming the movie from Dec. 28.
Feature tells the little-known story of Boix, a Spanish Mauthausen inmate who managed to hide some 2,000 negatives –a testimony to the horror lived there— and smuggle them out of the concentration camp. These negatives played a decisive role in the Nuremberg Trials. Boix arrived at Mauthausen,...
- 11/1/2018
- by Emilio Mayorga
- Variety Film + TV
‘Little River Run’ plays at Bristol’s Encounters Film Festival on September 29.
UK actor Ed Skrein, best known for roles in Deadpool and Game Of Thrones, has moved behind the camera for his directorial debut, the short film Little River Run. The 15-minute film will have its world premiere as the opening title in the ‘Teen Shorts: We See You’ strand at the UK’s Encounters Film Festival in Bristol on September 29.
It follows two teenagers searching for solitude amid the whirl of inner city London. Skrein shot the film across three days in November 2017, in a gap between two...
UK actor Ed Skrein, best known for roles in Deadpool and Game Of Thrones, has moved behind the camera for his directorial debut, the short film Little River Run. The 15-minute film will have its world premiere as the opening title in the ‘Teen Shorts: We See You’ strand at the UK’s Encounters Film Festival in Bristol on September 29.
It follows two teenagers searching for solitude amid the whirl of inner city London. Skrein shot the film across three days in November 2017, in a gap between two...
- 9/28/2018
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
Nebras Films will develop and produce a portfolio of films, TV and advertising content.
The first full-service production studio has launched today in Saudi Arabia, as the country’s Vision 2030 transformation plan continues to take shape.
Nebras Films aims to “develop and produce a diverse portfolio of feature films, TV series, documentaries and advertising content”.
The studio has a 42,000 square-foot production facility, which houses post-production services alongside art workshops, 3D animation, audio, casting, crew, equipment, props and sets.
The facility recently wrapped production on its first international co-pro Born A King, starring Ed Skrein, directed by Agustí Villaronga and produced by Andres Gomez.
The first full-service production studio has launched today in Saudi Arabia, as the country’s Vision 2030 transformation plan continues to take shape.
Nebras Films aims to “develop and produce a diverse portfolio of feature films, TV series, documentaries and advertising content”.
The studio has a 42,000 square-foot production facility, which houses post-production services alongside art workshops, 3D animation, audio, casting, crew, equipment, props and sets.
The facility recently wrapped production on its first international co-pro Born A King, starring Ed Skrein, directed by Agustí Villaronga and produced by Andres Gomez.
- 4/30/2018
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
The roll-out of Saudi Arabia’s nascent film industry continue apace. Today sees the official launch of the kingdom’s first full-service production studio Nebras Films which hopes to be a home to features, TV, documentaries and advertising content. The 42,000 square-foot production facility will be offering post-production services, art workshops, 3D animation, audio, casting, crew, equipment, props and sets.
Among the studio’s ‘state of the art equipment’ will be Arri cameras, Master Prime, anamorphic lenses, lighting and grips, vehicles, aerial drones, 3D scanners and surveying and camera stabilizers and cranes. Production recently wrapped on the facility’s first international co-production, Born A King, produced by Andres Gomez, directed by Agustí Villaronga and starring Deadpool‘s Ed Skrein.
Studio principals include Chairman Abdullah Al Nafisah, General Manager Niko Ruokosuo, Head of Production Matty Beckerman, Deputy General Manager Abdulrahman Al Nafisah, Assistant Producer Fouad Al Khateeb and Project Manager Saad Abutaily.
Among the studio’s ‘state of the art equipment’ will be Arri cameras, Master Prime, anamorphic lenses, lighting and grips, vehicles, aerial drones, 3D scanners and surveying and camera stabilizers and cranes. Production recently wrapped on the facility’s first international co-production, Born A King, produced by Andres Gomez, directed by Agustí Villaronga and starring Deadpool‘s Ed Skrein.
Studio principals include Chairman Abdullah Al Nafisah, General Manager Niko Ruokosuo, Head of Production Matty Beckerman, Deputy General Manager Abdulrahman Al Nafisah, Assistant Producer Fouad Al Khateeb and Project Manager Saad Abutaily.
- 4/30/2018
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
Cult Epics has long been one of our favorite home video distributors for their unwavering dedication to the darkest corners of upsetting and challenging cinema. From their releases of Radley Metzger's late '60s softcore masterpieces Score, The Lickerish Quartet, and Camille 2000, to their championing of German underground legend Jorg Buttgereit, to their astoung releases of disturbing classics like Agustin Villaronga's In a Glass Cage and Gerald Kargl's Angst, Cult Epics has never shied away from a challenging title, often introducing home video enthusiasts to films they may not have known existed. Now, as they celebrate their 25th year, Cult Epics is getting ready to release their first book, a hardcover exploration of their legacy titled Cult Epics Comprehensive Guide to Cult Cinema. The book...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
- 3/28/2017
- Screen Anarchy
Screen investigates which films from around the world could launch on the Croisette, including on opening night.
With just over a month to go before the line-up for this year’s Cannes Film Festival is unveiled in Paris, Croisette predictions and wish lists are hitting the web thick and fast.
Screen’s network of correspondents and contributors around the world have been putting out feelers to get a sense of what might or might not make it to the Palais du Cinéma or one of the parallel sections.
Just like the Oscars, this year’s festival is likely to unfold amid a politically-charged atmosphere. Beyond Trump and the rise of populism across the globe, France will be digesting the result of its own presidential election on May 7. Against this background, the festival will be feting its 70th edition.
Below, Screen reveals which titles might - and might not - be in the running for a place at the...
With just over a month to go before the line-up for this year’s Cannes Film Festival is unveiled in Paris, Croisette predictions and wish lists are hitting the web thick and fast.
Screen’s network of correspondents and contributors around the world have been putting out feelers to get a sense of what might or might not make it to the Palais du Cinéma or one of the parallel sections.
Just like the Oscars, this year’s festival is likely to unfold amid a politically-charged atmosphere. Beyond Trump and the rise of populism across the globe, France will be digesting the result of its own presidential election on May 7. Against this background, the festival will be feting its 70th edition.
Below, Screen reveals which titles might - and might not - be in the running for a place at the...
- 3/13/2017
- ScreenDaily
On Mubi Off is a bi-weekly column exploring two films: one currently available on Mubi in the United States, and the other screening offsite (in theaters, on VOD, Blu-ray/DVD, etc).On MUBIIn a Glass Cage (Agustí Villaronga, 1986)A number of directors have put audiences in the head of a murderer using a subjective point of view shot—Michael Powell, John Carpenter, Dario Argento, to name but a very few. The opening sequence of Agustí Villaronga's 1986 feature film debut, In a Glass Cage, further perverts that sense of empathetic identification by using subjective Pov to put us in the mind of a killer in the making. We don't know who this germinal cut-throat is at first, only that he or she is bearing witness to a truly unspeakable horror: a middle-aged man lasciviously caressing, then beating to death, a naked, bloodied and helpless adolescent boy. Though the actions playing...
- 2/2/2016
- by Keith Uhlich
- MUBI
Films include Shepherds and Butchers with Steve Coogan; Don’t Call Me Son from Anna Muylaert; and a documentary about a director and actress who were kidnapped by Kim Jong-il.
The Berlinale (Feb 11-21) has completed the selection for this year’s Panorama strand, comprising 51 films from 33 countries. A total of 34 fiction features comprise the main programme and Panorama Special while a further 17 titles will screen in Panorama Dokumente.
A total of 33 films are world premieres, nine are international premieres and nine European premieres. The 30th Teddy Award is also being celebrated with an anniversary series of 17 films.
Notable titles include Shepherds and Butchers from South Africa, which is set toward the end of Apartheid and stars Steve Coogan as a hotshot lawyer who faces his biggest test when he agrees to defend a white prison guard who has killed seven black men. What ensues is a charge against the death penalty itself, in a case...
The Berlinale (Feb 11-21) has completed the selection for this year’s Panorama strand, comprising 51 films from 33 countries. A total of 34 fiction features comprise the main programme and Panorama Special while a further 17 titles will screen in Panorama Dokumente.
A total of 33 films are world premieres, nine are international premieres and nine European premieres. The 30th Teddy Award is also being celebrated with an anniversary series of 17 films.
Notable titles include Shepherds and Butchers from South Africa, which is set toward the end of Apartheid and stars Steve Coogan as a hotshot lawyer who faces his biggest test when he agrees to defend a white prison guard who has killed seven black men. What ensues is a charge against the death penalty itself, in a case...
- 1/21/2016
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
Films include Shepherds and Butchers, starring Steve Coogan; Don’t Call Me Son from Anna Muylaert; and a documentary about a director and actress who were kidnapped by Kim Jong-il and forced to make films.
The Berlinale (Feb 11-21) has completed the selection for this year’s Panorama strand, comprising 51 films from 33 countries. A total of 34 fiction features comprise the main programme and Panorama Special while a further 17 titles will screen in Panorama Dokumente.
A total of 33 films are world premieres, nine are international premieres and nine European premieres. The 30th Teddy Award is also being celebrated with an anniversary series of 17 films.
Notable titles include Shepherds and Butchers from South Africa, which is set toward the end of Apartheid and stars Steve Coogan as a hotshot lawyer faces his biggest test when he agrees to defend a white prison guard who has killed seven black men. What ensues is a charge against the death penalty itself...
The Berlinale (Feb 11-21) has completed the selection for this year’s Panorama strand, comprising 51 films from 33 countries. A total of 34 fiction features comprise the main programme and Panorama Special while a further 17 titles will screen in Panorama Dokumente.
A total of 33 films are world premieres, nine are international premieres and nine European premieres. The 30th Teddy Award is also being celebrated with an anniversary series of 17 films.
Notable titles include Shepherds and Butchers from South Africa, which is set toward the end of Apartheid and stars Steve Coogan as a hotshot lawyer faces his biggest test when he agrees to defend a white prison guard who has killed seven black men. What ensues is a charge against the death penalty itself...
- 1/21/2016
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
The Academia de las Artes y Ciencias Cinematográficas de España has announced the nominees for the 30th edition of the Goya Awards, to be presented on February 6.
The finalist with most nominations is "La Novia" (The Bride) , which had its world premiere in the Zabaltegi section at the last edition of the San Sebastian Festival. The film by Paula Ortiz is nominated in twelve categories: Best Film, Best Director, Best Actress (Inma Cuesta), Best Actor (Asier Etxeandia), Best Supporting Actress (Luisa Gavasa), Best New Actor (Álex García), Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Original Music, Best Sound, Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction and Best Makeup and/or Hairstyles.
"Truman," the film by Cesc Gay which competed in the Official Selection and won the best actor award for Ricardo Darin and Javier Cámara at the last edition, earned six nominations: Best film, Best Director, Best Actor (Ricardo Darin), Best Supporting Actor (Javier Cámara), Best Original Screenplay and Best Editing.
The winner of the best actress award at the last Festival, Yordanka Ariosa for Agustí Villaronga’s "El Rey de La Habana" (The King of Havana), received a Best New Actress nomination alongside another two in the Best Cinematography and Best Adapted Screenplay categories.
Another two titles screened in the Official Selection have landed nominations: "Amama" (When a Tree Falls) for Best New Actress (Iraia Elias), and the film by Álex de la Iglesia, "Mi Gran Noche" (My Big Night) , premiered out of competition, which competes for the Best Art Director, Best Costume Design, Best Sound and Best Special Effects Goya Awards.
Another two titles that premiered in this year’s Zabaltegi section are also among the finalists. Álvaro Longoria’s "The Propaganda Game" is nominated for best documentary, while Fernando Colomo competes for the best new actor award with his movie "Isla Bonita."
Dani de la Torre’s "El Desconocido" (Retribution) , screened in the Velodrome section, garnered eight candidacies: Best New Director, Best Actor (Luis Tosar), Best Supporting Actress (Elvira Mínguez), Best Original Screenplay, Best Production Supervision, Best Editing, Best Sound and Best Special Effects.
Furthermore, Borja Cobeaga's "Negociador" (Negociator), which premiered in the Zabaltegi section at the 62nd edition of the Festival, landed a nomination for Best Original Screenplay.
"Un Otoño Sin Berlin" (An Autumn without Berlin) by Lara Izagirre, opening film of the Zinemira section, also got a nomination for Best new Actress for Irene Escolar.
Two films that also screened at the San Sebastian Festival compete for the Best Foreign Film in the Spanish Language Award: Pablo Trapero’s "El Clan" (The Clan) screened in the Pearls section following its premiere at the Venice Festival; and Salvador del Solar’s "Magallanes" winner of the Films in Progress Award at the 62nd edition of the Festival, before going on to form part of this year’s Horizontes Latinos selection.
Another three nominated were programmed as part of the Made in Spain section, following their premiere at the Malaga Festival: Daniel Guzmán’s "A Cambio de Nada" (Nothing in Return) , with six nominations, Leticia Dolera’s "Requisitos Para Ser Una Persona Normal," with three candidacies and Gracia Querejeta’s "Felices 140" (Happy 140) , which competes for two awards.
The finalist with most nominations is "La Novia" (The Bride) , which had its world premiere in the Zabaltegi section at the last edition of the San Sebastian Festival. The film by Paula Ortiz is nominated in twelve categories: Best Film, Best Director, Best Actress (Inma Cuesta), Best Actor (Asier Etxeandia), Best Supporting Actress (Luisa Gavasa), Best New Actor (Álex García), Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Original Music, Best Sound, Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction and Best Makeup and/or Hairstyles.
"Truman," the film by Cesc Gay which competed in the Official Selection and won the best actor award for Ricardo Darin and Javier Cámara at the last edition, earned six nominations: Best film, Best Director, Best Actor (Ricardo Darin), Best Supporting Actor (Javier Cámara), Best Original Screenplay and Best Editing.
The winner of the best actress award at the last Festival, Yordanka Ariosa for Agustí Villaronga’s "El Rey de La Habana" (The King of Havana), received a Best New Actress nomination alongside another two in the Best Cinematography and Best Adapted Screenplay categories.
Another two titles screened in the Official Selection have landed nominations: "Amama" (When a Tree Falls) for Best New Actress (Iraia Elias), and the film by Álex de la Iglesia, "Mi Gran Noche" (My Big Night) , premiered out of competition, which competes for the Best Art Director, Best Costume Design, Best Sound and Best Special Effects Goya Awards.
Another two titles that premiered in this year’s Zabaltegi section are also among the finalists. Álvaro Longoria’s "The Propaganda Game" is nominated for best documentary, while Fernando Colomo competes for the best new actor award with his movie "Isla Bonita."
Dani de la Torre’s "El Desconocido" (Retribution) , screened in the Velodrome section, garnered eight candidacies: Best New Director, Best Actor (Luis Tosar), Best Supporting Actress (Elvira Mínguez), Best Original Screenplay, Best Production Supervision, Best Editing, Best Sound and Best Special Effects.
Furthermore, Borja Cobeaga's "Negociador" (Negociator), which premiered in the Zabaltegi section at the 62nd edition of the Festival, landed a nomination for Best Original Screenplay.
"Un Otoño Sin Berlin" (An Autumn without Berlin) by Lara Izagirre, opening film of the Zinemira section, also got a nomination for Best new Actress for Irene Escolar.
Two films that also screened at the San Sebastian Festival compete for the Best Foreign Film in the Spanish Language Award: Pablo Trapero’s "El Clan" (The Clan) screened in the Pearls section following its premiere at the Venice Festival; and Salvador del Solar’s "Magallanes" winner of the Films in Progress Award at the 62nd edition of the Festival, before going on to form part of this year’s Horizontes Latinos selection.
Another three nominated were programmed as part of the Made in Spain section, following their premiere at the Malaga Festival: Daniel Guzmán’s "A Cambio de Nada" (Nothing in Return) , with six nominations, Leticia Dolera’s "Requisitos Para Ser Una Persona Normal," with three candidacies and Gracia Querejeta’s "Felices 140" (Happy 140) , which competes for two awards.
- 12/15/2015
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Lucile Hadzihalilovic’s Evolution wins special jury prize; Joachim Lafosse’s The White Knights wins Silver Shell.Scroll down for full list of winners
Rúnar Rúnarsson’s Sparrows has won the Golden Shell for best film at the 63rd San Sebastian International Film Festival (Sept 18-26).
Runarsson’s second film, following Volcano (2011), follows 16-year-old Ari, who has to leave his mother’s home in Reykjavik and move back to his former hometown in the isolated Westfjords of Iceland where he navigates a rocky relationship with his father.
Lucile Hadzihalilovic’s surreal horror film Evolution picked up the Special Jury Prize. The French director’s first feature in more than a decade follows a young boy living in a mysterious, isolated seaside clinic who uncovers the sinister purposes of his keepers.
The film also saw Manu Dacosse pick up the Jury Prize for best cinematography.
The Silver Shell for best director went to Joachim Lafosse for The White...
Rúnar Rúnarsson’s Sparrows has won the Golden Shell for best film at the 63rd San Sebastian International Film Festival (Sept 18-26).
Runarsson’s second film, following Volcano (2011), follows 16-year-old Ari, who has to leave his mother’s home in Reykjavik and move back to his former hometown in the isolated Westfjords of Iceland where he navigates a rocky relationship with his father.
Lucile Hadzihalilovic’s surreal horror film Evolution picked up the Special Jury Prize. The French director’s first feature in more than a decade follows a young boy living in a mysterious, isolated seaside clinic who uncovers the sinister purposes of his keepers.
The film also saw Manu Dacosse pick up the Jury Prize for best cinematography.
The Silver Shell for best director went to Joachim Lafosse for The White...
- 9/26/2015
- ScreenDaily
Alejandro Amenabar discusses delayed Us release and a penchant for international stories after opener garners mixed response.
The 63rd San Sebastian Film Festival (Sept 18-26) opened last night with the world premiere of Alejandro Amenabar’s Regression.
It is the first time Amenabar has played San Sebastian since 1996’s Thesis, the feature directing debut that put him on the map both at home and abroad.
The film, which met with mixed reviews, tells the story of a teenager (Emma Watson) who accuses her father of sexually abusing her in a satanic ritual. Ethan Hawke plays the tough cop who becomes obsessed with solving the mystery.
During the film’s press conference, Amenábar described his motivation for making the thriller: “I really want to make the kind of films I like to watch as a film-goer. I love horror films and I was inspired by the austere and harsh tones of films of the 1970s.”
Regarding the film...
The 63rd San Sebastian Film Festival (Sept 18-26) opened last night with the world premiere of Alejandro Amenabar’s Regression.
It is the first time Amenabar has played San Sebastian since 1996’s Thesis, the feature directing debut that put him on the map both at home and abroad.
The film, which met with mixed reviews, tells the story of a teenager (Emma Watson) who accuses her father of sexually abusing her in a satanic ritual. Ethan Hawke plays the tough cop who becomes obsessed with solving the mystery.
During the film’s press conference, Amenábar described his motivation for making the thriller: “I really want to make the kind of films I like to watch as a film-goer. I love horror films and I was inspired by the austere and harsh tones of films of the 1970s.”
Regarding the film...
- 9/19/2015
- by jsardafr@hotmail.com (Juan Sarda)
- ScreenDaily
British actress to receive career award; festival guest list includes Tom Hiddleston, Ellen Page, Emily Blunt and Benicio del Toro.
Emily Watson, star of Breaking The Waves, The Book Thief and Everest, is receive the Donostia Award at the 63rd San Sebastian Film Festival (Sept 18-26) in recognition of her 30 years in film.
The British actress will collect the award at a gala on Sept 25 in San Sebastian’s Kursaal Auditorium.
The festival also unveiled some high-profile names and juries for its upcoming edition.
Actors attending include stars of Ben Wheatley’s High-Rise, Sienna Miller, Tom Hiddleston and Luke Evans; Freeheld actress Ellen Page; Sicario stars Emily Blunt and Benicio del Toro; Tim Roth, at the festival with 600 Miles and Chronic; Louise Bourgoin, star of The White Knights; and Karin Viard and Isabelle Carré from 21 nuits avec Pattie.
Filmmakers in attendance include Pablo Agüero (Eva Doesn’t Sleep), Laurie Anderson (Heart of a Dog), Scott Cooper ([link...
Emily Watson, star of Breaking The Waves, The Book Thief and Everest, is receive the Donostia Award at the 63rd San Sebastian Film Festival (Sept 18-26) in recognition of her 30 years in film.
The British actress will collect the award at a gala on Sept 25 in San Sebastian’s Kursaal Auditorium.
The festival also unveiled some high-profile names and juries for its upcoming edition.
Actors attending include stars of Ben Wheatley’s High-Rise, Sienna Miller, Tom Hiddleston and Luke Evans; Freeheld actress Ellen Page; Sicario stars Emily Blunt and Benicio del Toro; Tim Roth, at the festival with 600 Miles and Chronic; Louise Bourgoin, star of The White Knights; and Karin Viard and Isabelle Carré from 21 nuits avec Pattie.
Filmmakers in attendance include Pablo Agüero (Eva Doesn’t Sleep), Laurie Anderson (Heart of a Dog), Scott Cooper ([link...
- 9/4/2015
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
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