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The thrill of the chase meets an offbeat character study in Diego San Jose’s latest series “Celeste,” a six-part episodic set to bow at San Sebastian’s Velodrome on Sept. 22.

Produced by Movistar Plus+ and The Mediapro Studio’s 100 Balas, with The Mediapro Studio Distribution handling international sales, the slyly enthralling first season follows Sara, an uninspiring tax investigator inching through life. On the cusp of early retirement, she’s lured into staying on the job for one last case – running down Latin pop star Celeste, who’s rumored to be taking advantage of her status to evade paying dues.

Setting out to make a thriller he likens to “Zodiac” or “Seven” but with a twist, San José manages an act of rebellion certain to shake monotonous algorithms and pull a curious, rapt audience. While not a masochist, he admits to craving change – and as he crafted this wily,...

With the third installment of their Danza Macabra series, the fine, twisted folks at Severin Films shift focus from the boot of Italy to the Iberian peninsula. This collection spotlights four fascinating Spanish examples of the sort of moody gothic filmmaking that Italian directors like Mario Bava and Antonio Margheriti, not to mention Hammer Films in Britain, helped to popularize for international markets.

Rife with reptilian monsters, vampires, zombified Knights Templar, and even a cameo from Frankenstein and his misbegotten creation, these films vary considerably in tone and approach, ranging from rambling shaggy-dog tales to almost esoteric fables. They also differ in how far they’re willing to go with their respective lashings of sex and violence, growing bolder as the restrictions of the Franco regime lifted after the dictator’s passing in 1975.

Writer-director Miguel Madrid’s schizoid Necrophagous, from 1971, divides its time between two principal storylines that barely cohere in the end.

Homegrown hits led by A Moroccan Affair and Championext, an explosion of comedies and the solid performance of several European indies have helped the Spanish box office to withstand the lack of US releases following the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes last year.

Local productions were the highest grossing independent films at the Spanish box office in the year ending February 2024, with Álvaro Fernández Armero’s A Moroccan Affair at the top of the list.

The 2023 Spanish box office total was €504 million, with 77.8 million tickets sold, representing a 26% increase on 2022.

The two biggest Spanish films are both part of existing franchises.

Malaga — Opening last Friday with “Dragonkeeper,” also in competition, Spain’s Malaga Festival, its biggest dedicated event for movies from Spain and Latin America, is studded by latest films by Isaki Lacuesta – “Saturn Return,” reportedly fun, broad audience and radical – David Trueba – “The Good Man,” small scale but almost certainly ingratiating – and Antonio Chavarrías’ “Holy Mother,” about an extraordinary real life female figure in Spain’s 9th century Reconquista.

Also in the running is “Rest in Peace,” from notable Argentine writer-director Sebastián Borensztein (“Chinese Takeaway”).

All are front-runners for some kind of award next Saturday. Prominent also is a bevy of first or second features, featuring from Spain three titles from women directors – gender abuse drama “The Snows,” “Nina,” reportedly a Western set in a northern Spanish town, and tragi-comedy “We Treat Women Too Well” – plus a clutch of debuts from Latin America.

This year’s Competition may, in the final analysis,...

The 27th edition of the Malaga Film Festival (Mff) opens today (March 1) with animated feature Dragonkeeper and a strong line-up of Spanish and Latin American world premieres. The festival is a popular annual meeting point for the Spanish film industry, attended by most buyers and sellers, and showcases the best in new Spanish-language filmmaking.

The world premiere of Salvador Simó and Jian-Ping Li’s Dragonkeeper opens the festival, marking the first time Malaga has raised its curtain with an animated movie. A Spain-China co-production, Dragonkeeper is based on books by Carol Wilkinson, with an English-language voice cast that includes Bill Nighy and Mayalinee Griffiths.

La comedia española original de Prime Video, que se proyectará en el próximo Festival de Cine de Málaga en el apartado de Selección Oficial, ya tiene fecha de estreno en la plataforma. © Prime Video

Tras haberse alejado del mundo del largometraje, Emilio Martínez Lázaro vuelve para dirigir “Un Hípster en la España Vacía” — su primera película desde la “Miamor Perdido” de 2018 —, una comedia basada en el libro homónimo de Daniel Gascón.

La película, que se proyectará el próximo 2 de marzo en el Festival de Cine de Málaga, está protagonizada por Lalo Tenorio (“La Familia Perfecta”), quien da vida a Quique, un joven al que le encargan liderar la política de la España Vaciada en un pueblo de Teruel. Un joven que se verá obligado a enfrentarse solo a un pueblo dispuesto a tomarle el pelo a él y a sus modernas propuestas y que, por si esto no fuera suficiente,...

Descubre las películas que estarán en el 27 Festival de Málaga: una lista de las películas en competición y fuera de concurso.

Todos los años se celebra en Málaga, el Festival de Cine de Málaga. Un festival que se centra principalmente en producciones españolas y tiene como objetivo promover y celebrar la industria cinematográfica en España, así como proporcionar una plataforma para el reconocimiento y la difusión del cine español. Un festival en el que han tenido su estreno mundial muchas películas que después han sido nominadas a los premios Goya, como es el caso de “20.000 Especies de Abejas” en esta pasada edición de los premios más grandes del cine español.

Este año, el 27 Festival de Málaga se celebra del 1 al 10 de marzo y cuenta con un total de 19 películas (11 españolas y 8 latinoamericanas), que concursarán en la Sección Oficial y 18 películas (15 españolas y 3 latinas) en sección Oficial no competitiva. Una...

Mubi Podcast: Encuentros returns with a series of special episodes in audio and video.This episode features:Ernesto Alterio (Argentina), an actor who has been nominated for two Goya Awards for his performances in Fernando Colomo’s The Stolen Years and David Serrano’s comedy Días de fútbol. He has worked with several renowned directors from Argentina and Spain, including Marcelo Piñeyro, Mariano Barroso, Emilio Martínez-Lázaro, Carlso Saura, Benjamín Ávila, and Álex de la Iglesia. Cecilia Suárez (Mexico), an actress who has been nominated for three Ariel Awards, and has won two Platino Awards. In recent years, she has worked on Manolo Caro's film and streaming projects, as well as films by Fernando Colomo and Violeta Salama. In this episode, the guests talk about acting as a space where identities dissolve and words can take on new meaning. In front of a live audience, Cecilia and Ernesto meet to...

Prime Video is reviving classic Spanish talent gala format Operación Triunfo and has unveiled its latest slate of scripted shows, films and doc series from the nation along with a local version of Takeshi’s Castle.

The 12th season Operación Triunfo, which is filmed in front of a live audience, will stream on the SVoD in Spain and Latin America later this year.

A major ratings hit and cultural phenomenon, the first 11 seasons aired on Spanish public broadcaster Rtve and ran between 2001 and 2020.

The musical talent show follows a series of aspiring contestants as they enter a musical academy to train and display singing and artistic skills. Each week, in a live gala, they compete on stage.

“Operación Triunfo has entertained fans for over 22 years and brought joy to millions of viewers. We are thrilled and honored to bring back this beloved show to fans not only in Spain but also across Latin America,...

This January, get ready for an X-Men story so big, Marvel enlisted two superstar writers to bring it to life! Written by Marc Guggenheim (X-Men Gold) and Leah Williams (Secret Empire: Brave New World) with art by Alitha E. Martinez (Black Panther: World of Wakanda), the original Excalibur team will reunite in X-Men Gold Annual #1

But getting the gang back together proves to have its own challenges…and who is the new Braddock bundle of joy? “Since the launch of ResurrXtion, fans have been wondering when the classic Excalibur team would come together again,” said series editor Chris Robinson. “With this Annual, Marc, Leah, and Alitha have painstakingly put together a love letter to them and the classic series we’re all still talking about!” With a cover by Excalibur co-creator and industry legend Alan Davis, don’t miss all the action in X-men Gold Annual #1, coming to comic shops this January!

Presenting two real-life stories from my days of yore, although names have been changed to protect both the innocent and the guilty.

Story The First:

I knew a girl in high school – I wouldn’t say we were friends, but she was someone who had never participated in the Piggy horrors. Sally was an A+ student, on the track to an Ivy League school. Pretty (but not gorgeous) and popular (but quiet about it), she came to me one day and said that she needed to talk to me privately. I was surprised… and a bit suspicious. What did she want? But because Sally had never been overtly mean to me, even though she was part of the clique that instigated most of the callous cruelties upon me, and because I still hoped to be “accepted,” and I wanted to believe for some reason she was about to warn me...

This past weekend I found myself at a convention once again with Molly Jackson, but now joined by ComicMix’s own Glenn Hauman. It was an island getaway. Sure, it was Long Island, but it was still technically a getaway so I’m sticking to it.

The convention in question was I-con, and no, it is not a convention dedicated to the superhero Icon of Milestone Media fame, but he should really be used more over at DC and his original run written by Dwayne McDuffie and penciled by M. D. Bright should be collected in its entirely as it has never been before.

I-con is a long running non-profit science fiction, fact, and fantasy convention. This show was billed as I-con 32, but the convention was on hiatus after I-con 31 in 2012. This new iteration debuted at a new location, Suffolk Community College.

Having grown up on Long Island, I had...

All-New Series, Co-Written by Roxane Gay and Ta-Nehisi Coates and Drawn by Alitha E. Martinez, Compliments and Expands Marvel Comics’Black Panther

Wakanda, the African country and home of the Black Panther, is the most sophisticated and technologically advanced nation on Earth. Its influence reaches across all of the Marvel Universe, and today Marvel Comics is proud to present an all-new ongoing series devoted to the exploring the people of this fascinating locale with Black Panther: World Of Wakanda!

The first arc, co-written by Roxane Gay (Bad Feminist, An Untamed State) and the best-selling Black Panther series writer Ta-Nehisi Coates, with artwork by Alitha E. Martinez, will focus on Ayo and Aneka, two members of the Dora Milaje, Black Panther’s elite squad of female bodyguards.

“Under the leadership of Ayo and Aneka, the Dora Milaje decide to expand their mission, to not only serve as protection for Black Panther,...

Mainstream Spanish films are thriving as TV broadcasters fill the gap in public funding. But at what cost to auteur film-making? Could a new Pedro Almodovar emerge now?Spain territory focusSpain focus: new talent, the magnificent sevenSpain focus: hot projects, big name draws

The Spanish film industry has started 2016 on an optimistic note. Emilio Martinez-Lazaro’s broad comedy Spanish Affair 2 (Ocho Apellidos Catalanes), the sequel to the all-time local hit Spanish Affair, was the top grossing film of 2015, taking $34.7m (€32m), and Fernando Gonzalez Molina’s romantic period drama Palm Trees In The Snow, released on December 25, out-performed Star Wars: The Force Awakens on its second weekend on release and has garnered more than $17m to date.

The label ‘made in Spain’ on a commercial, locally produced film is now a positive note for local audiences. “As in France, we’re learning to make films that work for a big audience,” says [link=nm...

Álex de la Iglesia’s comedy will head a strand of Spanish films set to play at the 33rd Miami International Film Festival that runs from March 4-13, 2016.

My Big Night (Mi Gran Noche) follow the backstage shenanigans before a TV special celebrating a legendary pop singer. Star and Spanish pop icon Raphael is scheduled to attend the festival.

The film also stars Mario Casas, Santiago Segura, Carlos Areces, Blanca Suarez, Hugo Silva, Carmen Machi and Carolina Bang.

“Álex de la Iglesia has made a perfect pop movie with My Big Night,” said the festival’s executive director and director of programming Jaie Laplante. “This riotously funny film is much more than one of the very best films by de la Iglesia, it is a party!”

The Spanish line-up includes Cinedwntwn Galas Truman from Cesc Gay starring Ricardo Darín and Javier Cámara; Emilio Martínez Lázaro’s Spanish Affair 2 (Ocho Apellidos Catalanes) – now the biggest Spanish film of...

Karim Aïnouz's Playa del Futuro“Films are interesting when they’re specific.” So said Brazilian filmmaker Karim Aïnouz when asked why he explores identity—queer, national, gender, ethnic—in his films like Madame Satã and his most recent work, the sensuous Playa del Futuro. With his features being the focus of the International Film Festival Panama’s retrospective during its fourth edition, Aïnouz’s comment can also be extended to the fest’s (still evolving) mandate: an emphasis on—and bolstering of—the geographically specific cinemas in Central America. This idea of films defined by borders has increasingly gone out of vogue, as the nation state as it was defined in the 19th and 20th century has all but dissipated with increasing international co-financing and multi-national organizations not recognizing borders (let alone international labor laws). But as Aïnouz notes, this only makes festivals like Iffp more important: “It’s...

Fury (David Ayer)

[via the BFI]

The programme for the 58th BFI London Film Festival launched today, with Festival Director Clare Stewart presenting this year’s rich and diverse selection of films and events. The lineup includes highly anticipated fall titles including David Ayer’s Fury, Bennett Miller’s Foxcatcher, the Sundance smash Whiplash, Jean-Luc Godard’s Goodbye to Language 3D, The Imitation Game starring Benedict Cumberbatch, Mike Leigh’s Mr. Turner, Jason Reitman’s Men, Women and Children and Jean-Marc Vallee’s Wild.

As Britain’s leading film event and one of the world’s oldest film festivals, it introduces the finest new British and international films to an expanding London and UK-wide audience, offering a compelling combination of red carpet glamour, engaged audiences and vibrant exchange. The Festival provides an essential profiling opportunity for films seeking global success at the start of the Awards season, promotes the careers of British and...

Competitive strand will feature 14 films, including Jauja starring Viggo Mortensen.

A total of 14 titles have been selected to compete in Horizontes Latinos at the 62nd San Sebastian Festival (Sept 19-27).

The strand comprises productions from Argentina, Mexico, Chile, Brazil, Uruguay and Colombia that have competed or screneed at international festivals but have yet to be seen in Spain.

The selected films compete for the Horizontes Award, decided by a jury and including a prize of €35,000 ($46,000), of which €10,000 ($13,000) goes to the director of the winning film, and the remaining €25,000 ($33,000) to its distributor in Spain.

Casa Grande

Fellipe Barbosa (Brazil - USA)

Set within Rio’s social elite, a teenage boy struggles to escape his overprotective parents as his family spirals into bankruptcy. This second movie by Brazil’s Fellipe Barbosa was presented in the Official Selection at the Rotterdam Festival.

Ciencias naturales (Natural Sciences)

Matías Lucchesi (Argentina - France)

Presented in the Generation section of the Berlin Festival...

Paramount Pictures has closed worldwide distribution rights for Spanish animation duo.

Paramount Pictures has closed a worldwide distribution deal for Enrique Gato’s next two animation productions, Capture the Flag and Tad Jones: The Hero Returns.

The agreement was signed with TeleCinco Cinema, Telefónica Studios and Los Rockets Aie along with producers Jordi Gasull - creator and co-writer of Tad - Edmon Roch and Nico Maji, CEO of Lightbox Entertainment.

The deal follows the breakout success of Spanish animation feature Tad the Explorer ($54m worldwide), which charts the story of a construction worker who realises his dream of becoming an adventurer like his hero Indiana Jones.

This character will be back “with new and exciting adventures”, said Gasull, “in funnier film that won’t lose its tenderness”.

Capture the Flag, based on the return of men to the moon when a greedy millionaire wants to exploit its natural resources for his own benefit, is scheduled...

Paramount Pictures has closed worldwide distribution rights for Spanish animation duo.

Paramount Pictures has closed a worldwide distribution deal for Enrique Gato’s next two animation productions, Capture the Flag and Tad Jones: The Hero Returns.

The agreement was signed with TeleCinco Cinema, Telefónica Studios and Los Rockets Aie along with producers Jordi Gasull - creator and co-writer of Tad - Edmon Roch and Nico Maji, CEO of Lightbox Entertainment.

The deal follows the breakout success of Spanish animation feature Tad the Explorer ($54m worldwide), which charts the story of a construction worker who realises his dream of becoming an adventurer like his hero Indiana Jones.

This character will be back “with new and exciting adventures”, said Gasull, “in funnier film that won’t lose its tenderness.”

Capture the Flag, based on the return of men to the moon when a greedy millionaire wants to exploit its natural resources for his own benefit, is scheduled...