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Spanish auteur Eduardo Casanova takes disturbing and obscene to shocking heights in La Pietà, a twisted tale of mother and son co-dependency that will burn your ears and eyeballs with its graphic delivery. Boundaries are pushed off a cliff as a cancerous relationship, a term used both literally and figuratively, grows like a tumor to a blech conclusion. The primary narrative is supported by a North Korean subplot, yup - you read that right, that's equally bewildering and bonkers. Strap in for a wild ride that's certainly not for mass consumption.

In 2011 Spain, Libertad (Ángela Molina) clutches the hands of her adult son, Mateo (Manel Llunell), as a clock ticks in the background to foreboding piano music. The doctor seated before them delivers news of a cancer diagnosis. Several days earlier, Mateo, always dressed in pink by his mother, watches her perform at a dance class. Libertad couldn't care less about a stressed out colleague.

The Return is more than just a cinematic reunion for Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche; it is a return to basics from director Uberto Pasolini, who shares a more grounded interpretation of Homer's The Odyssey. Written by Pasolini, John Collee, and Edward Bond, Pasolini filmed in Italy and Greece's Corfu and Peloponnese regions, bringing little artificiality to these locations with VFX or elaborate sets.

The locations remain largely untouched, making the story of Odysseus grounded in reality. At times, it feels like Pasolini, Collee, and Bond aren't adapting a literary epic but a story from a history textbook. Lacking Hollywood's usual embellishments and adornments, The Return is an adaptation that seeks to center the humanity and sincerity of Odysseus' journey and Penelope's resolve, returning to the basic themes of the poem.

After two decades away, Odysseus returns to Ithaca, haggard and unrecognizable, only to find his kingdom transformed...

Uberto Pasolini adapts epic poetry on an intimate scale in The Return, which loosely transposes the second half of Homer’s The Odyssey for the screen. Gone are the gods and monsters, or anything of a mythological bent, in this interpretation of Odysseus’s decades-in-the-making voyage home to Ithaca. Pasolini reduces the scale without minimizing the stakes of a husband, father, and warrior who must come to terms with small but mighty forces, from the ravages of age to the unyielding passage of time.

For a film based on one of the oldest works of literature, Pasolini leverages little in the way of words to tell his version of the story. Rather than relying on verse to have us learn about the characters’ responses to various developments, The Return often turns to its actors to convey or process information in close-ups. When talents like Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche sign...

They Will Be Dust is Carlos Marques-Marcet’s fourth feature film, which made its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in the Platform competition. The accomplished Spanish director assembled an impressive cast led by Ángela Molina and Alfredo Castro to tell a story that few would dare to bring to the screen.

Molina stars as Claudia, an elderly actress living with her long-time partner Flavio, played by Castro. When Claudia is diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor, she decides she does not want to endure the suffering ahead and proposes to Flavio that they end their lives together through assisted suicide in Switzerland, where it is legal. Flavio, unwilling to face life without the woman he loves, agrees to join her.

Their daughter Violeta and other children are shocked by the news. The film explores the varied emotional experiences and perspectives within the family as they confront their parents’ controversial choice.

Veteran actors Juliette Binoche and Ralph Fiennes exchanged teary-eyed tributes as they picked up honorary career achievement awards this evening at the Thessaloniki Film Festival in Greece.

The veteran duo are two of the headline guests this year in Thessaloniki, and they were presented with the festival’s honorary Golden Alexander award for their respective bodies of work, which now includes three collaborations.

“I’m very grateful and honored to be here with this woman. I’m very grateful for the opportunity to talk about Juliette,” Fiennes told the crowd in Greece. “I want to thank Juliette because working with her is a dream. She is an extraordinary artist to spend your time with. She’s a great woman. She channels a very unusual and unique energy. She’s inspirational to work with. She gives in a way that I have not experienced with any other actor.”

At this point Fiennes began to tear up,...

Alain Guiraudie’s “Misericordia,” Carlos Marqués-Marcet “They Will be Dust” and Yeo Siew Hua’s “Stranger Eyes” all won big at Spain’s auteurist haven Valladolid Film Festival on Saturday, in a second edition under José Luis Cienfuegos whose prizes served as a vindication of the changes he has wrought at the festival as well as an indication of some ways European arthouse is going.

All three directors’ awards build on prior upbeat reception. Playing Cannes Premiere, “Misericordia,” which scooped Valladolid’s best picture Golden Spike and its screenplay trophy, was hailed by Variety as a “darkly comic backwoods fable of pansexual desire and small-town sociopathy” which marks a “welcome re-embrace of the streamlined murdery perversities of his terrific ‘Stranger by the Lake.'”

The Valladolid jury, made up of Greek director Sofia Exarchou, Spanish actress Aida Folch, critic and editor Devika Girish, German producer Ingmar Trost and Spanish director and writer Luis López Carrasco,...

The 2024 edition of the Valladolid International Film Week, also known as Seminci, wrapped on Saturday (October 26), giving its top award, the Golden Spike, to Misericordia by Alain Guiraudie.

Misericordia tells the story of a man who returns to his hometown for the funeral of his former boss, the village baker, and decides to stay for a few days with the man’s widow, getting involved in a series of unexpected events.

Guiraudie also won the best screenplay award.

The members of the Valladolid jury, Greek director Sofía Exarchou; Spanish actress Aida Folch; American critic Devika Girish; Spanish filmmaker Luis López Carrasco...

Bound In Heaven, the feature debut of director Huo Xin, won the top prize at the 2024 Rome Film Festival, with the awards unveiled at the Auditorium Parco della Musica on October 26.

The domestic abuse drama won best film in the Progressive Cinema Competition, the festival’s competitive strand, and also shared the best first feature award ex aequo with Edgardo Pistone’s Ciao Bambino.

Bound In Heaven premiered at Toronto, and features a starry cast including Ni Ni, Zhou You and Liao Fan. Director Huo is a veteran scriptwriter whose credits include Shower, Kung Fu Hustle, Sunflower and The Monkey King.

La película se hizo con el premio Platform en el Festival de Cine de Toronto. © Elástica Films

Ya se ha publicado el primer tráiler de Polvo serán, la tragicomedia musical de Carlos Marqués-Marcet. La película inaugura hoy la Sección Oficial a Competición de la Seminci (Semana Internacional de Cine de Valladolid), después de su triunfo en el Festival Internacional de Cine de Toronto en la sección competitiva Platform.

En Polvo serán, tras serle diagnosticada una enfermedad terminal, Claudia decide hacer su último viaje a Suiza. Flavio, que lleva más de cuarenta años sin separarse de ella, decide acompañarla en este viaje sin retorno.

La película, escrita por el propio Carlos Marques-Marcet, junto a Clara Roquet (Libertad) y Coral Cruz (Verónica), está protagonizada por Ángela Molina (Los abrazos rotos), Alfredo Castro (El club) y Mònica Almirall (El médico).

En palabras del director, Carlos Marques-Marcet: «En esta mezcla de géneros, el musical...

Disney+ shared some early footage from its upcoming original Spanish series Return To Las Sabinas (Regreso a Las Sabinas) this morning at Iberseries and Platino Industria in Madrid.

The series drops on Disney+ on October 11 and is one of the streamer’s first forays into the production of daily series. The first five episodes of Return To Las Sabinas will drop on October 11 while the remaining episodes will air one each day from Monday to Friday starting October 14.

The series, which consists of 70 episodes, was created by Eulàlia Carrillo and is directed by Jordi Frades, who was on the ground here at Iberseries and Platino Industria with Sofía Fábregas, VP of Original Production, Spain.

“We thought why is nobody doing this? Why is there no daily programming on any of the platforms,” Fábregas told the crowd in Madrid of the premise behind the series. “We thought who could do this?...

Tras su estreno mundial en Toronto, la película inaugurará la Seminci. © Elástica Films

Polvo serán, la tragicomedia musical de Carlos Marqués-Marcet, se ha alzado con el Premio Platform en el Festival Internacional de Cine de Toronto, donde ha tenido su estreno mundial.

En Polvo serán, tras serle diagnosticada una enfermedad terminal, Claudia decide hacer su último viaje a Suiza. Flavio, que lleva más de cuarenta años sin separarse de ella, decide acompañarla en este viaje sin retorno.

La película, escrita por el propio Carlos Marques-Marcet, junto a Clara Roquet (Libertad) y Coral Cruz (Verónica), está protagonizada por Ángela Molina (Los abrazos rotos), Alfredo Castro (El club) y Mònica Almirall (El médico).

Atom Egoyan, presidente del jurado Platform, ha destacado «las conmovedoras interpretaciones de Alfredo Castro y Ángela Molina» y «la capacidad de la película para mezclar momentos de extremo patetismo con humor, única y completamente convincente» en «una historia cargada...

In The Return, a soldier comes home after being away for many years at war, looking haggard and exhausted. His friends don’t recognize him, he has a difficult time readjusting to society and even his wife doesn’t seem to know who he is. It seems a fairly familiar story, except that the main characters’ names are Odysseus and Penelope, the setting is the island of Ithaca and the war took place in Troy. Yes, this film — receiving its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival before a theatrical release later this year — is an adaptation of a section of Homer’s The Odyssey.

But don’t expect appearances by gods or goddesses or mythological creatures created by the likes of Ray Harryhausen. Rather, director/co-screenwriter Uberto Pasolini (Still Life, Nowhere Special) strips the tale to its bare essentials, resulting in a stark, solemnly paced experience that viewers...

La cinta, protagonizada por Verónica Echegui, narra el despertar de una joven de 17 años en 2024 tras estar en coma desde los 90. © Sony Pictures

Sony Pictures ha publicado el tráiler de Yo no soy esa, la nueva película dirigida por María Ripoll (Ahora o nunca), que se presentó en la Sección Oficial Fuera de Concurso del pasado Festival de Málaga.

En Yo no soy esa, cuando Susana, una joven de 17 años, cae en coma en los años 90, lo último que esperaba era despertar de nuevo en 2024. Susana tendrá que enfrentarse a una sociedad completamente ajena a la que conoció, crecer a marchas forzadas y darse cuenta de que lo más importante no es ni el amor romántico ni la popularidad: se trata de ser uno mismo y ser fiel a lo que uno es.

La película está protagonizada por Verónica Echegui (Yo soy La Juani), Silma López (Valeria), Ángela Molina (La...

Carlos Marqués-Marcet brings life to a grave situation in “They Will Be Dust,” realizing that when so many tiptoe around the subject of death, it might not be such a stretch to put an elderly couple in ballet shoes if they’re thinking it’s time to choose for themselves to shuffle off their mortal coil. The unconventional drama proves moving in more ways than one when following the septuagenarian pair that has booked a one-way trip to Switzerland, achieving a level of intimacy unusual even for its reliably sensitive director when music and dance can crack open what mere dialogue cannot.

Marqués-Marcet’s approach to his fourth feature may be unexpected, but the subject seems inevitable when the director has spent his previous three films considering different stages of life. After his impressive debut “10,000Km” involved a couple too young to see the issues that a long-distance relationship might pose,...

This year’s San Sebastian International Film Festival will feature the most eye-catching list of international superstars it has ever hosted, including A-list actors such as Cate Blanchett and Javier Bardem – who will both receive Donostia career achievement awards, Andrew Garfield, Pamela Anderson, Tilda Swinton and Lupita Nyong’o and filmmakers like local legend Pedro Almodovar – another Donostia award recipient, Adam Elliot, Gia Coppola, Mike Leigh and Walter Salles.

Other international actors who have confirmed they will attend this year’s festival include Monica Bellucci, Jamie Campbell Bower, Johnny Depp, Isabelle Huppert, Noémie Merlant, Ángela Molina, Franco Nero, Charlotte Rampling and Will Sharpe, among others.

Normally, many directors attend San Sebastian with their latest films, but the number of titles from consecrated directors at this year’s festival has increased noticeably. Filmmakers bringing their latest to this year’s festival include Jacques Audiard, Sean Baker, Edward Berger, Leos Carax, Costa-Gavras, Audrey Diwan,...

In “They Will Be Dust,” Carlos Marqués-Marcet, the Goya-winning director of “10,000 Km,” heads into a genre-bending exploration of life, love, and death. World Premiering at this year’s stacked Toronto International Film Festival’s Platform strand, the film is far from a conventional musical. It fuses contemporary dance and musical elements with the stark realities of a right-to-die story.

Co-written with Clara Roquet, whose “Libertad” garnered acclaim at both the Goya and Gaudí awards, the film is co-produced by Lastor Media, Alina Film, and Kino Produzioni— part of the same team behind Carla Simón’s Golden Bear-winning “Alcarràs.” Latido Films handles international sales.

The film centers on Claudia, played by Ángela Molina, who decides not to wait for her terminal illness to strip her of agency. Instead, she and her beloved Flavio embark on a plan to end their lives together in Switzerland. Their adult children are particularly appalled...

La 69 edición del Festival de Cine contará con 18 producciones españolas. © Seminci

La Semana Internacional de Cine de Valladolid, en su 69 edición, que se celebra del 18 al 26 de octubre, ha anunciado las producciones españolas que formarán parte de su programación.

Entre las películas anunciadas, cinco películas La Espiga de Oro competirán por la Espiga de Oro: la película inaugural de Carlos Marques-Marcet, Polvo serán, Javier Rebollo con En la alcoba del sultán, Mar Coll con Salve Maria, Marta Nieto con La mitad de Ana y Elena Manrique con Fin de fiesta.

La inaugural Polvo serán, de Carlos Marques-Marcet, tendrá en la Seminci su estreno nacional después de pasar por el Festival Internacional de Cine de Toronto (TIFF). En esta película, definida como una tragicomedia musical y protagonizada por Ángela Molina, Alfredo Castro y Mònica Almirall, Tras ser diagnosticada con una enfermedad terminal, Claudia decide hacer su último viaje a Suiza y Flavio,...

La película tendrá su estreno mundial en el Festival de Cine de Toronto. © Elástica Films

Polvo serán, la tragicomedia musical de Carlos Marqués-Marcet, inaugurará la Sección Oficial a Competición de la Seminci (Semana Internacional de Cine de Valladolid), que se celebrará del 18 al 26 de octubre, después de su estreno mundial en el Festival Internacional de Cine de Toronto en la sección competitiva Platform.

En Polvo serán, tras serle diagnosticada una enfermedad terminal, Claudia decide hacer su último viaje a Suiza. Flavio, que lleva más de cuarenta años sin separarse de ella, decide acompañarla en este viaje sin retorno.

La película, escrita por el propio Carlos Marques-Marcet, junto a Clara Roquet (Libertad) y Coral Cruz (Verónica), está protagonizada por Ángela Molina (Los abrazos rotos), Alfredo Castro (El club) y Mònica Almirall (El médico).

En palabras del director, Carlos Marques-Marcet: «En esta mezcla de géneros, el musical tendrá la función de permitir...

Una tragicomedia musical protagonizada por Ángela Molina, Alfredo Castro y Mònica Almirall. © Elástica Films

“Polvo Serán”, una tragicomedia musical de Carlos Marqués-Marcet, tendrá su estreno mundial en el Festival Internacional de Cine de Toronto en la sección competitiva Platform.

En “Polvo Serán”, tras serle diagnosticada una enfermedad terminal, Claudia decide hacer su último viaje a Suiza. Flavio, que lleva más de cuarenta años sin separarse de ella, decide acompañarla en este viaje sin retorno.

La película, escrita por el propio Carlos Marques-Marcet, junto a Clara Roquet (“Libertad”) y Coral Cruz (“Verónica”), está protagonizada por Ángela Molina (“Los Abrazos Rotos”), Alfredo Castro (“El Club”) y Mònica Almirall (“El Médico”).

En palabras del director, Carlos Marques-Marcet: «En esta mezcla de géneros, el musical tendrá la función de permitir acercarnos a estas complejas emociones y al agujero insondable de la muerte allá donde las palabras no llegan, expresado a través del cuerpo y de la música.

New films by Julio Medem, Alejandro Amenábar, Alberto Rodríguez, Isaki Lacuesta, Jonas Trueba and Oliver Laxe join a brace of smart thrillers in a rich Cannes lineup from Spain.

“8,” (Julio Medem)

Medem returns towhat he does best: a love story transcending time and space and a poetic critique of recent history, according to sales agent Latido Films. “Fariña’s” Javier Rey and “La Mesías” Ana Rujus star as the lovers. Morena Films produces.

Sales: Latido

“As Neves,” (Sonia Méndez)

After a magic mushroom-fueled party, teens in a snowbound Galician village discover one of them is missing. The film was well-received at the Malaga festival.

Sales: Begin Again Films

“Barren Land,” (Albert Pintó)

From a director on “Money Heist” and “Berlin,” this suspense thriller captures how the drug trade devastates friendships and lives in Andalusía’s Cádiz. Film sports a great cast: Luis Zahera (“The Beasts”), Karra Elejalde (“While at War...

Costa-Gavras, the celebrated Franco-Greek master who’s won an Oscar and a Palme d’Or, has teamed with French sales company Playtime for his latest film, “Last Breath.”

Currently in post-production, “Last Breath” boasts a strong international cast led by Denis Podalydès (“Deception”) and Kad Merad (“Welcome to the Sticks”), who star alongside Marilyne Canto (“The Starry Sky Above Me”), Charlotte Rampling (“Dune”), Ángela Molina (“Broken Embraces”), Karin Viard (“Strangers by Night”), Hiam Abbass (“Succession”) and Agathe Bonitzer (“Maria Montessori”).

Costa-Gavras penned the film, based on the book “Le Dernier Souffle” by Régis Debray and Claude Grange. A Cannes regular, Costa-Gavras won the Palme d’Or for “Missing” in 1982, served on the jury in 1976 and won the Jury Prize with his political thriller “Z” which went on to win an Oscar. He has also been feted as guest of honor at Cannes Classics, the selection dedicated to heritage films.

“We...

In a bid to give more opportunities to women directors and boost the romcom genre, Sony Pictures International has teamed up with Maria Ripoll’s Cahuenga Filmmakers and transatlantic production shingle El Estudio to launch The Love Collection, a series of romantic comedy features to be written and helmed by women.

Ripoll, best known for her romcom “Ahora o nunca,” the highest-grossing femme-directed film in Spain, will serve as executive producer on all the titles, and will direct the first in the collection, “Yo no soy esa,” (roughly translated to “I’m Not That One” or “I’m Not Her”) starring Verónica Echegui. El Estudio’s Enrique López Lavigne will serve as producer on all the titles.

In “Yo no soy esa,” Susana (Echegui) wakes up after a 20-year coma. Stuck in a grown woman’s body but emotionally and psychologically still a teenager, Susana must learn to navigate an unfamiliar world and rediscover herself.

L’ordine del tempo

On our list we have a quartet of filmmakers who returned to the director’s chair after at least a decade away and who’ll present something fresh in ’23. Among them we find Italy’s Liliana Cavaniwho returns after more than two decades away from the game and this one appears to be a fun end of times drama. Alessandro Gassmann, Claudia Gerini and Angela Molina joined L’ordine del tempo – which was shot in Rome this past August. This is about a group of friends who gather who gather annually but on this occasion there is an hourglass spoiling the occasion.…...

Exclusive: French film actress Judith Godrèche is making her debut as a TV director debut with an A24-backed comedy series inspired by her life.

A24 is co-producing Icon of French Cinema with Franco-German channel Arte and Cpb Films on the English- and French-language project, which stars and is inspired by arthouse icon Godrèche’s life and career. Production is set to begin later this year.

Godrèche will play her fictional alter ego, and will be joined by Liz Kingsman (Borderline, Parlement), Angela Molina (Etreintes Brisées), her daughter Tess Barthélémy (Under the Eiffel Tower), Laurent Stocker (Jeux d’influence, Caprice), Thomas Scimeca (Azuro, Notre Dame), Loïc Corbery (Dom Juan, Pas son genre) and Jean-Christophe Folly (Triangle of Sadness), with the special participation of Carole Bouquet.

Icon of French Cinema will follow Judith as she returns to Paris after exile from Hollywood, intent of making a comeback with a new movie.

First we have Catherine Breillat getting back in the saddle, and now we have some great news coming out of Italy with Liliana Cavani working on her first feature film in more than two decades. Cineuropa reports that Alessandro Gassmann, Claudia Gerini and Angela Molina are toplining L’ordine del tempo – which is currently shooting in Rome until mid-October. The supporting cast includes Edoardo Leo, Ksenia Rappoport, Richard Sammel, Valentina Cervi, Francesca Inaudi, Angeliqa Devi, Mariana Tamayo and Fabrizio Rongione. We’re thinking the 92 year-old filmmaker will get an invite to the Venice Film Festival next year.…...

Storming out of the gate like a harrowing, hilarious crossbreed of What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? and Dogtooth, with the sensibilities of John Waters at his most acerbic and the aesthetics of a deranged Wes Anderson, Eduardo Casanova’s sophomore feature La Pietà is a film that will a leave an indelible mark on viewers. Whether that mark is a stamp of approval or a weeping gash is another question entirely, and it very much depends on which one of the two is more appealing to one’s own sense of beauty. The story of Mateo (Manel Llunell) is that of a young man tethered to his domineering mother, Libertad (Ángela Molina) by a sense of manufactured obligation and dependence. Mateo is a wisp of a...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

Off the heels of a world premiere at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival, where he scooped the Proxima Special Jury Prize, writer-director Eduardo Casanova arrives in Montreal to screen his latest feature “La Piedad” (“La Pietà”) as part of the Queer Genre Cinema Spotlight at Fantasia. The screening marks its North American debut.

The film offers a delightfully bizarre peek into the lives of manic and obsessive Libertad (Ángela Molina), a mother with an insatiable desire to be needed, and her son, Mateo (Manel Llunell), who warily leans into her toxic trappings as the pair become increasingly entwined.

A personal story unfurls in tandem with a poignant subplot that likens their familial relationship to that of a populace and its dictator, showing that those in control of a mere few can use propaganda just as readily as a sadistic leader to manipulate their wards into submission.

“The syndrome I worked from was Munchausen By Proxy,...

The Goyas were presented by Antonio Banderas from the theatre he owns in Malaga.

Pilar Palomero’s directorial debut Schoolgirls won the best film and best new director award at Spain’s Goya awards on Saturday March 6 in a pandemic-era ceremony that celebrated fresh voices and a strong female presence.

The hybrid ceremony - all the nominees were at home - was sober and started with a minute’s silence for the pandemic’s victims. It was also much shorter than usual. The socially-distanced red carpet was only for the celebrities in charge of giving the awards and Antonio Banderas,...

The Criterion Collection will be heralding in 2021 with a mix of new and old. First up, Bing Liu’s stellar documentary Minding the Gap will be joining the collection, as will another documentary, Martin Scorsese’s playful Rolling Thunder Revue. Also arriving is a three-film Luis Buñuel box set focusing on his late career, featuring The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, The Phantom of Liberty, and That Obscure Object of Desire. Larisa Shepitko’s final, harrowing feature The Ascent will also be getting a release.

Check out the cover art and special features below, and see more on Criterion’s website.

New high-definition digital master, approved by director Bing Liu, with 5.1 surround DTS-hd Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-rayNew audio commentary featuring Liu and documentary subjects Keire Johnson and Zack MulliganNew follow-up conversation between Liu and documentary subject Nina BowgrenNew programs featuring interviews with professional skateboarder Tony Hawk and with Liu,...

The 1994 Sundance Film Festival may have been immortalized by Kevin Smith’s “Clerks,” but Boaz Yakin’s debut “Fresh” made out well enough. After scripting “Punisher” and “The Rookie,” Yakin directed a spry African American crime drama that put his career on a steady upward trajectory. That culminated in 2000 football hit “Remember the Titans,” which grossed $136.7 million and suggested a bright future in the studio system.

Yakin, however, wasn’t sure he wanted that. His latest movie, “Aviva,” marks his most personal movie in 30 years — and only would have been possible with those decades of roadblocks behind him. “I was a super-hot director after ‘Remember the Titans,’ and everyone in Hollywood wanted to work with me,” the 53-year-old New Yorker said in a recent interview. “I was being offered gigantic movies. I just had this moment where I was like, oh no, if I go down this road, I’m...

The shoot for the director’s second feature, a thriller toplined by the star of Palm Trees in the Snow and being produced by Filmax, wrapped in Barcelona in early July. Bearing the same Spanish title ("No matarás") as an episode of Dekalog by Krzysztof Kieslowski, Cross the Line will be the name of the second feature by David Victori, the Manresa, Barcelona-born filmmaker who won a YouTube competition in 2010 with his short film The Guilt and managed to get sponsorship from Ridley Scott and Michael Fassbender for his subsequent short, Zero. Then, one year ago, he released his eagerly awaited feature debut, The Pact, a drama-horror toplined by Belén Rueda, which grossed more than €1.5 million in Spain and even secured a release in the USA. Now, after a six-week...

Barcelona – Spanish production company Good Mood has initiated a co-operation agreement with Madrid’s Ecam Film School aimed at creating professional internships for university alumni.

Madrid-based Good Mood was founded by Daniel Écija, a veteran producer and showrunner behind more than 30 TV series including, when Ecija was a senior executive at Globomedia, recent titles such as the groundbreaking “Locked Up,” one of Spain’s biggest primetime hits “Red Eagle,” and supernatural cop thriller popular “I Am Alive.” He currently has upcoming series “The Fence” in production.

Produced by Good Mood and Atresmedia, “The Fence” is a dystopian fantasy set in 2045 Spain starring Ángela Molina (“Broken Embraces”) and her daughter Olivia Molina.

Two Ecam screenwriter alumni, Roberto Martín Maiztegui and Clara Botas –pictured, are working on the series as part of the Good Mood-Ecam agreement. Spanish director Inés París (“Miguel and William”) executive produces alongside Écija, David Molina and Sonia Martínez.

Continuing its investment in Spanish originals, Netflix has unveiled five new projects which will launch on the service worldwide in 2020. In various stages of development and production, they include superhero comedy El Vecino (The Neighbor), based on the graphic novels by Santiago Garcia and Pepo Perez. Colossal and Timecrimes filmmaker Nacho Vigalondo directs the series from Elite‘s Zeta Audiovisual.

Also in the mix, Elite‘s co-creator, Carlos Montero, has a new project in the works for Netflix. El Desorden Que Dejas (The Mess You Leave Behind) is a psychological drama based on Montero’s own award-winning novel.

There are two female-centered series to come including dramedy Valeria based on the novels by Elísabet Benavent, and Días De Navidad (Christmas Days) starring Fortitude‘s Verónica Echegui, Las Chicas Del Cable‘s Anna Moliner and High Heels‘ Victoria Abril.

The fifth project announced today is an anime adaptation of the best-selling...

Starring “La casa de papel’s” Ursula Corberó, “The Tree of Blood,” the latest movie from Spain’s Julio Medem, is being brought onto the international market at Rome’s Mia market by FilmSharks Intl., which has acquired world sales rights.

FilmSharks Intl. will continue introducing the film to buyers at the American Film Market, which opens Oct. 31 in Santa Monica.

The deal was negotiated by FilmSharks Intl.’s Guido Rud and Sandra Tapia, Ignasi Estapé and Ibon Cormenzana at the film’s lead producer Arcadia Motion Pictures (Amp).

A romantic thriller which Diamond Films Spain will release in Spain on Nov. 1 on over 200 locations, said FilmSharks’ Guido Rud, “The Tree of Blood” (El Arbol de la Sangre) marks the latest movie from the Cormenzana-founded, and the ninth fiction feature of Medem, a director whose debut, 1991’s “Vacas,” helped bring down the flag on the modern Spanish cinema through...

A Polish-born Holocaust survivor decides to travel from Buenos Aires to Lodz to fulfill a promise he made nearly 70 years earlier in Argentine writer-director Pablo Solarz’s touching, albeit occasionally heavy-handed, drama “The Last Suit.” Thankfully, this late-life road movie also boasts plenty of poignant and humorous moments that will play well with older viewers and those seeking Jewish-interest content. After reaping numerous audience awards on the festival circuit, the film begins a U.S. theatrical run in New York on Sept. 21, before expanding to Los Angeles on Sept. 28 and later the hinterlands via small but enterprising distribution outfit Outsider Pictures.

Despite a bum right leg that he nicknames “tzuris” because of the aggravation it gives him, stubborn, 88-year-old retired tailor Abraham Bursztein still has plenty of fight and flair left in him. Unfortunately, his family refuses to recognize it. Bursztein, like some latter-day King Lear, has already foolishly divided his property among his daughters,...

Exclusive: Chavela Vargas documentary sells to Us and France.

Madrid-based sales agent Latido has scored key territory deals on Chavela, the documentary by Catherine Gund and Daresha Kyi which premiered at this week’s Berlin Film Festival in the Panorama strand.

The documentary about iconic Mexican singer Chavela Vargas has gone to Bodega Films in France and The Film Collaborative in the Us. A deal has been closed with Portugal (Leopardo Filmes), and Latido is reporting interest from Israel and Germany.

A bidding war is underway between two companies in Spain, which comes as no surprise considering the popularity of Chavela Vargas’ music in the country. Her songs are closely related to Pedro Almodóvar’s films and the director had personal involvement in the singer’s revival in the later years of her career.

Further titles on Latido’s line-up to have inked deals include Spanish war film Rescue Under Fire, which is set...

Dailies is a round-up of essential film writing, news bits, videos, and other highlights from across the Internet. If you’d like to submit a piece for consideration, get in touch with us in the comments below or on Twitter at @TheFilmStage.

Watch a clip from Quentin Tarantino‘s commencement speech at AFI this year:

Catherine Deneuve will receive the 2016 Lumière Award and Alejandro Jodorowsky will get the Locarno Film Festival’s Leopard of Honor.

At BFI, Pedro Almodóvar on 13 great Spanish films that inspired him, and watch a video on his use of circles:

Blancanieves is one of the peaks in recent Spanish cinema, but had the bad luck to be released a year after The Artist (2011), a silent film that triumphed the world over. Pablo Berger had in fact decided years earlier to film his personal take on the Brothers Grimm fairytale as a black-and-white silent; the result is heartrendingly beautiful.

Marking his return to the female-centric dramas with which the director made his name, Pedro Almodóvar stopped by Cannes Film Festival with Julieta. Adapted from a series of short stories of Canadian Nobel prize-winning author Alice Munro, the story follows a woman who recalls the pivotal moments of her adult life. We said in our positive review from the festival, “It’s charmingly self-aware in its use of kitsch and melodrama — almost to the point of self-parody — and, while small in scope, it’s also one of his lusher and leaner offerings.”

While at the festival, we got the opportunity to speak with Emma Suarez, who plays the older version of Julieta. We discussed shooting chronologically, only meeting her co-star once on set, the wide range of inspirations for the film, what the film means to her, and much more. Check out the conversation below and our interview with Adriana Ugarte here.

Media Luna's lineup of predominantly women-centric and Spanish language films is very attractive for Ficg's upcoming market this March 6 - 16th.

"Flocking" by Beata Gårdeler won the Crystal Bear for Best Feature at Berlinale 2015

Synopsis: The small village community is convinced that the young Jennifer is lying, when she claims to have been raped by classmate Alexander. Evidence and court decisions mean nothing, where grown-up people lay down their own rules and laws to stick with the flock.

(Sweden 2015; Drama/Thriller) Based on true stories.

"Two Women" by Vera Glagoleva. Starring Ralph Fiennes ("The Grand Budapest Hotel," "The English Patient") and Sylvie Testud ("La Vie en Rose," "Lourdes")

Synopsis: Natalya is married to a land baron. Her feelings for her son’s attractive new tutor will confront her with her own daughter and turn her devoted life into a complex web of unappreciated love, lust and jealousy. (Russia, France, Latvia 2014; Drama)

"3 Beauties"(3 Bellezas) by Carlos Caridad-Montero (Venezuela 2014; Comedy) Miss Venezuela. When obsession for beauty and cosmetic surgery is taken too far.

Synopsis:Perla is obsessed with having a beauty queen in the family and she is willing to do whatever it takes to make her dream come true. Including destroying her own family.

"No Thank You" by Samuli Valkama (Finland 2014; Comedy) - Based on the Anna-Leena Härkönen bestseller, “Ei Kiitos”, published by Otava, the novel now exceeds 110.000 printed exemplars and "No Thank You" became a Box Office hit in Finland!

Synopsis: Heli’s husband is not in the mood. After many years of marriage a shoulder massage is the highest form of intimacy for him. When subtle hints, nice words and fetching clothes won’t help, Heli turns to increasingly direct action — in vain! Then she meets the attractive Jarno, a stunning young man. Soon she will discover what she wants, and what she doesn’t want in life.

"The Mud Woman" (La Mujer de Barro) by Sergio Castro San Martín (Chile & Argentina 2015; Drama) Starring Catalina Saavedra (Best actress at Sundace Film Festival for “The Maid”) World Premiere at Berlinale Forum 2015.

Synopsis: Maria and her daughter Teresa leave near the border between Chile and Argentina. Ten years have passed, since she last worked in the vineyard's harvest season. Now Maria has to earn some extra money and decides to return at the plantation… not knowing she will have to face her unsolved past.

"Baby Steps" by Barney Cheng (USA, Taiwan 2015; Comedy/Drama) From Oscar-winning producer of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," "Eat Drink Man Woman" and "The Wedding Banquet" by Ang Lee. Starring the award-winning actress Ah-Leh Gua ("The Wedding Banquet" and" Eat Drink Man Woman").

Synopsis: Danny and his boyfriend long to have a baby. The complex world of international surrogacy is further complicated by Danny's well-meaning but extremely meddlesome Mother who wants to control every aspect of the process all the way from Taipei.

"Internet Junkie" by Alexander Katzowicz (Argentina, Mexico & Israel 2015; Dark Comedy/Erotic) Starring Antonio Birabent ("Wild Tango"), Angela Molina ("That Obscure Object of Desire," "The Things of Love") and special appearance of Arturo Ripstein (Director of "No One Writes to the Colonel," "The Queen of the Night")

Synopsis: Inside the virtual world... A soldier looking for lovers, a teenager searching for porn, a mother in need of friends, a graduated looking for a job, women waiting to find the love of their life and the best –or any- lover in the area... outside the virtual world no one is what they seem.

"Get Married If You Can" (Casese Quien Pueda) by Marco Polo Constandse (Mexico 2014; Comedy) Box Office hit in Mexico! - Third highest-grossing film of all time – Starring Martha Higadera ("Street Kings," "Amar te duele"), Luis Gerardo Méndez ("Cantinflas") and Michel Brown ("Pasión de Gavilanes" – TV)

Synopsis: Ana is obsessed with her big dream wedding. Daniela is focused on her career, no time for marriage. When Ana finds out her fiancé is cheating on her and Daniela falls in love with her best friend they discover that the only true path to marriage is love.

"Sweet Girls" by Jean-Paul Cardinaux & Xavier Ruiz (Switzerland 2015; Dark Comedy) Generational clash, when a hopeless young generation meet an aged population.

Synopsis: Elodie and Marie are two teenagers that face the lack of opportunities offered by the housing crisis. They come up to an extreme solution: empty the apartments unjustly occupied by “the old people” who, at her eyes, are responsible of the current social imbalance. In this journey, they will discover that there are human beings, just as lost and forgotten by society as they are.

"Perfect Obedience" (Obediencia Perfecta) by Luis Urquiza (Mexico 2014; Drama) Based on a true story, the scandal related to the priest Marcial Maciel, the Head of "The Legion of Christ” (Los Legionarios de Cristo). Montreal (Best Film), Cine Ceará (Best Director, Best Actor)

Synopsis: A young seminarian will endure a hard spiritual journey to reach Perfect Obedience. His mentor, captivated by his fragility and innocence, will guide him to complete psychological and physical surrender.

"Buzzard" by Joel Potrykus (USA 2014; Dark Comedy, Drama) Joel Potrykus won Best Emerging Director and Special Mention for Best First Feature at Locarno 2012 for his film “Ape”. At this year’s Locarno, he won Special Mention from the Independent Juries and Prices in 2014 for his new feature “Buzzard”.

Synopsis: Marty is a small-time con artist drifting from one scam to the next. When his latest ruse goes awry, mounting paranoia forces him to leave his lousy temp job and hide out in his co-worker's basement. Until eventually he flees to Detroit with nothing but a pocket full of bogus checks, his Power Glove, and a bad temper.

"Unlucky Plaza" by Ken Kwek (Singapore 2014; Thriller, Dark Comedy) Ken Kwek’s previous compilation of shortfilms “Sex.Violence.FamilyValues - three dirrty stories from the world's cleanest city-“ was banned by the Singapore and Malaysia government in 2012. World Premiere Toronto 2014.

Synopsis: Sky has a debt to the mafia and hopes to convince his wife to sell her parent’s flat. Looking for a way out, she rents the flat to an evicted single father, while unintentionally setting into motion a series of unfortunate events.

For more information http://www.medialuna.biz/...

That Obscure Object Of Desire screens tonight at Bam as part of their Buñuel retrospective, July 11 - August 14).

Pauline Kael may have dubbed David Lynch “the first popular surrealist,” but the honor is more accurately bestowed upon Spanish maestro Luis Buñuel. Though his Salvador Dalí collaboration, Un chien andalou (1929), is regarded as a touchstone of the movement, it was not until later in his career that Buñuel would exploit the very meaning of the surreal, brashly straying from his contemporaries’ aesthetically driven impulses. With the respectively never-ending and never-beginning dinner parties of his elliptical masterpieces The Exterminating Angel (1962) and The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972), Buñuel’s breed of Surrealism drew itself so close to the upper middle-class quotidian, it became far more subversive than any old melting clock. The conceptual hysteria of his films is in turn grounded by a simplified mise-en-scène; the surroundings are such that any outlandish yarn appears rooted in reality.

The Guadalajara International Film Festival (also known as FICG29 or Festival International of Cine in Guadalajara) is on my regular beat, but this year my work with the Talents will include an introduction to the book I am writing on Iberoamerican Film Financing.

The festival's inception occurred in 1986 during Mexican cinema's worst crisis in terms of production (only 12 features were made that year), and it was held with the help of the University of Guadalajara. This small showcase was curated by filmmaker Jaime Humberto Hermosillo and researcher/professor Emilio García Riera. It consisted of 5 features, 7 shorts, 2 documentaries, and a selection of Jaime Humberto Hermosillo's work. During this edition a young Guillermo del Toro stood out as one of the most outstanding volunteers.

A few years after in 1992, the festival premiered Alfonso Cuaron's Love in the Time of Hysteria (Solo con tu pareja), the film that launched his Hollywood career, this year he won the Academy Award as Best Director for his film Gravity. The next year, Guillermo del Toro presented his feature debut Cronos, which would go on to be selected for the Critic's Week at the Cannes Film Festival. From the beginning this film showcase became a required stop for Mexican filmmakers and programmers from various international film festivals.

In 1999 a selection of Iberoamerican films was added to the program and a section highlighting Canadian cinema was included, from the 7-selection 3 were from Quebec (Streetheart by Charles Binamé; The Red Violin by François Girard and 2 Seconds by Manon Briand). During the 23rd edition of the festival a selection of 7 features and 7 shorts was presented. Added to this Patrick Bouchard held a workshop on animation at the University of Guadalajara. This year the festival will have the pleasure to present the latest works from Léa Pool, Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette, and of course, Patrick Bouchard.The results of the 2008 workshop are visible in the constant production of animation in Guadalajara.

Starting in its 15th edition, in 2000,  the showcase became a competitive contest for Mexican films. Two years after all iberoamerican films began taking part in the competition. From that year on, the impact of the Guadalajara program reached the entire iberoamerican region and became the premier meeting point for the region's cinema. In 2003 the initiative know as Iberoamerican Market (Mercano Iberoamericano) was launched bringing together over 170 industry professionals dedicated to selling, buying, and distributing films internationally.

In 2005 the showcase became the Guadalajara International Film Festival (Ficg) with the clear goal of having a space for Mexican and Latin American films, as well as a to expose the public and the industry professionals to international works. In 2013 the festival screened 254 films, 102 of which were in competition. The festival received over 800 journalist, and 817 companies in the industry section. Throughout the years the festival has honored artists such as Pedro Almodóvar, the Taviani brothers, Patricio Guzmán, Theo Angelopoulos, Álex de la Iglesia, Agnès Varda, and more recently Werner Herzog and Mike Leigh, among many other great filmmakers. In terms of actors John Malkovich, Marisa Paredes, Andy Garcia and Ángela Molina have also been recognized at the Ficg.

The festival is divided in 3 competitive sections: Iberoamerican Dramatic Features, Iberoamerican Documentaries, and Iberoamerican Shorts. In total Ficg hands out 16 Official Awards and 5 parallel others though different sections.

Among the array of awards the one dedicated to the Best Mexican Film stands out -The Mezcal Award (Premio Mezcal)

This year the third edition of the Maguey Award (Read more Here) will take place. It brings together, promotes, and recognizes cinema focused on sexual diversity around the world

In total there are more than 200 works programmed and there will be over 500 screenings in Guadalajara and the surroundings areas. Throughout the last 29 years Mexican cinema has changed deeply. From the crisis it suffered in 1986 to its current state there is a notable contrast. From 12 films a year, the average number of films produced currently a year is 120. During the 20 years the Mexican Cinema Showcase and the Ficg have been protagonists in the promotion of Mexican cinema, specially in the last decade.

It is also revelatory to see how influential has Mexican cinema been in the emergence of other film industries in the region such as in Guatemala, Costa Rica, Paraguay, as well as the great period that the cinema of of Chile, Colombia, and Uruguay are experiencing.

Withing the Ficg there are also other sections dedicated to international cinema, which are not competitive, but allow for the festival to be a meeting point for many cinematic voices.

Industry and Market

In order to encourage a productive agenda for filmmakers, producers, distributors, and sales agents during the festival, the Market oriented department will hold the following events:

IX  Iberoamerican Conference of Iberoamerican Co-productions

the 7ª edition of the "Guadalajara Builds" program

Bilateral Conference: Quebec-Mexico

Over 800 film-related companies will be in attendance

Organization

During the last edition of the Ficg, the different events taking place at the festival were the product of strenuous labors by the organizers. They included the 5th edition of Talents Guadalajara, an experience in which 70 filmmakers from Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean participated, as well as the the 5th edition of the Doculab where several Iberoamerican documentaries in post-production were evaluated. Aiming to take advantage of the important figures present, the festival also hosted the 9th Creators Conference on Writing with Light.

Relationships with International Festivals

Throughout its development the Ficg has formed working relationships of support with many of the most important festival in the world. With the Marché du Film at Cannes the two festivals have developed the Guadalajara Film Market Producers Network, which is a window for the exchange of knowledge and ideas among professionals interested in the Iberoamerican cinematic spectrum. Talents Guadalajara is organized with the collaboration of the Berlinale Talents from the Berlin Film Festival, which supports filmmakers from the region. In addition with the help of the San Sebastian Film Festival, Ficg presents the program known as New European Trends : San Sebastian-Guadalajara, allowing for the discovery of new European directors. It is important to mention that Ficg has a close relationship with the Montreal World Film Festival, which allows for films of the region to screen at the Canadian event.

Special Guest

Since 2001 the festival hascdesignated a country or region to be the guest of honor

Germany, 16, 2001

Switzerland, 17, 2002

Chile, 18, 2003

Italy, 19, 2004

Greece, 20, 2005

Spain, 21, 2006

Brazil, 22, 2007

Argentina, 23, 2008

Colombia, 24, 2009

France, 25, 2010

Israel, 26, 2011

U.K., 27, 2012

Scandinavia : Finland, Iceland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, 28. 2013

Besides screening a selection of films from the selected nation, the Ficg always tries to have some of their most notable filmmakers present at the festival. After a decade of its inception the Special Guest section has become one of the most anticipated ones. It allows attendees the opportunity to see the most recent works from that national cinema as well as to have a direct conversation with the filmmakers, actors, and other representatives of that country's film industry.

Quebec 2014

The selection of films was made possible thanks to the support of the Quebecois Delegation in Mexico, the Sodec, the International Documentary Conference in Montreal, the Onf, among other institutions, companies, and filmmakers. This offers the possibility to be confronted with visions that explore the world and its conflicts, it's cinema without borders.On the other hand this can also be a very intimate cinema that captures the multicultural richness of contemporary Quebec with its diverse contradictions. This selection also represents the audiovisual expression of several generations, there are films from filmmakers with a careers that expand over 4 decades who interact with directors who have just finished their debut features.

The selection of films is divided into 4 sections

Narrative Features

Conformed of 16 features completed between 2012 and 2013. Each one of these films has had acclaimed international exposure and have played at festivals such as Cannes, Berlin, Venice, San Sebastian, among others. Together these films have received more than 23 international awards and 30 awards in Canada.

Ridm - Documentaries

Counting with 15 years of experience the Montreal International Documentary Festival (Ridm) is one of the most important events for documentary filmmaking. The rigorous selection process of this festival gives validation to the 5 films that will be shown at the Ficg, which will definitely be a center piece within the Quebecois program in Guadalajara. The Ficg will also have a special screening of a very important work in the history of film, For Those Who Will Follow (Pour la suite du monde) by Michel Brault, who past away last year.

Denis Côté

Denis Côté's career as a filmmaker began in 2005. Since then, he has created a short film, 3 documentaries, and 5 narrative features. Via his intense working rhythm this artist has demonstrated his abilities, rigor, and creativity. A look  into his work will easily confirm that he has a profoundly original vision that takes storytelling to its radical limits.

The Short Films

Quebecois short films show an incredible imaginative freedom. Given the fact that in recent years several shorts, including animation, have been produced in Guadalajara, this will be an enriching exchange of perspectives.

Women in Film and TV Quebec-Mexico

Finally, aiming to strengthen the friendship that exists between the associations for Women in Film and TV both in Quebec and Mexico, the Ficg will host a second panel, which will be paired with a selection of documentaries that deal with the contemporary female experience.

David K. Ross

David K. Ross (1966, Canada) works in various mediums including film, video, photography, and art installations. Ross' formal training in architecture and great experience in photography of large scale and film have resulted in a great variety of projects in which he investigates the history of optical technology and geodesic practices, as well as many urban structures. His work has been exhibited in the most important institutions in the Americas and Europe, they also form part of many public and private collections, including the  National Gallery of Canada, the Contemporary Art Museum of Montreal and the Canadian Center for Architecture. The artist will be present at the Ficg screening his work to expose the audience to his particular style.

Quebecois Presence in the Different Juries 

Prominent members of the Quebecois film industry will be part of the diverse juries which will evaluate the films in competition. 

Narrative Feature: Denise Robert's experience as a producer expands over 51 projects including narrative features, documentaries, shorts, and television.

Documentary: Roxanne Sayegh, who has worked with Ambulante, the most ambitious project to promote documentary distribution in Mexico. She is currently the Executive Director of the Ridm.

Short Films: Danièle Cauchard, Executive Director of the Montreal World Film Festival.

Maguey Award to Support Sexual Diversity in Film: Katharine Setzer, in charge of programming at the Image+Nation festival, which is in its 26th edition.

Fipresci: Montreal based critic Jorge Gutman

Mezcal Award for Best Mexican Film: Alisi Telengut, a student from Concordia University, whose film Tears of Inge was honored at the World Film Festival.

For more information on Ficg 29 and its different sections visit Here...

Starring Maribel Verdú, Daniel Giménez Cacho and Ángela Molina, Pablo Berger's Blancanieves (2012) is a stark and beautiful visualisation of the classic fairytale of Snow White, set in 1920's Spain. This silent fantasy has certainly been making waves, earning fantastic critical acclaim for its excellent performances and impressive cinematography. To celebrate the DVD release of Blancanieves this Monday (5 August), we've kindly been provided with Three copies of the film to give away, thanks to StudioCanal. This is an exclusive competition for our Facebook and Twitter fans, so if you haven't already, 'Like' us at facebook.com/CineVueUK or follow us @CineVue before answering the question below.

In Blancanieves, our young heroine Carmen (Macarena García) escapes her malevolent stepmother (Verdú) to join a travelling troupe of bullfighting dwarves and rises to fame in the corrida. The combination of a much loved fairytale and a female bullfighter crossed with Goya visuals ensures...

Title: Amaro Amore (Bitter Love) Director: Francesco Henderson Pepe Starring: Aylin, Prandi, Malik Zidi, Francesco Casisa, Yorgo Voyagis, Ángela Molina, Lavinia Longhi. Did you know that the French word for dustbin is poubelle? Well if the 50s and 60s were the times of the ‘New Wave,’ the Nouvelle Vague, it seems like Francesco Henderson Pepe’s first feature film ‘Amaro Amore’ will begin the era of the “Poubelle Vague,” i.e. Franco-Italian trash-films! The enticing Eolian location becomes the perfect stage for the existential drama. Two French siblings André and Camille go to the Sicilian islands in search for their identities, where they will meet Santino, a local guy from Salina and [ Read More ]

The post Amaro Amore (Bitter Love) Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.

Reading the description of a film--and I’m not just talking the marketing spin, but even an honest informative blurb--oftentimes results in false preconceptions about a movie. That Obscure Object of Desire is just such a film. “Consumed by his obsessive desire to possess her, his feelings progressively change from overflowing passion to a self-destructive hatred,” inspires visions in tone (if not in content) along the lines of Fatal Attraction. Not so. That having been said, such preconceptions did not destroy my enjoyment of the film at all. Luis Buñuel’s final film stars Fernando Rey as Mathieu Faber, a wealthy older gentleman on a train ride from Seville to Paris. Just as the train is about to leave, a woman, Conchita (at the moment, Carole Bouquet...but also alternately Angela Molina) appears on the platform. Mathieu dumps a pail of water over her. Mathieu then embarks on a tale...

Madrid — Spaniard Josep Joan Bigas Luna was lauded as a brilliant and "truly special" filmmaker a day after his death, with some of the highest praise coming from actors Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz, two stars whose film careers he launched.

Bigas Luna, 67, died Saturday in northeast Spain after a long battle with cancer.

The filmmaker was regarded as having had an excellent eye for spotting talent and a knack for stimulating on-screen chemistry between actors. His 1992 film "Jamon, Jamon" received unanimous praise as "a classic" in the Spanish press on Sunday,

The director discovered Cruz and Bardem, who married in 2010, as well as a giving early boosts to a host of other now well-known film muses, including Leonor Watling, Angela Molina, Francesca Neri and Valeria Marini.

Many of the roles in his films were explosively steamy, even erotic. Yet they often explored with great insight aspects of modern Spain's quirkiness.

Chicago – The silent film, which was revived by the 2011 Best Picture Oscar winner “The Artist,” is honored again in the new film “Blancanieves.” This artful re-imagining of the Snow White story – set in Spanish bullfighting rings – cherishes the feel of silent film, and features clever composition.

Rating: 3.5/5.0

The story in “Blancanieves” is not as strong as “The Artist,” and the Snow White reworking is heavy handed, but director Pablo Berger adds his own outrageous camera work and point-of-view, imbibing the film with both a smart aleck “wink” at the camera and an example of silent film if Orson Welles had been directing back in those days. “Blancanieves” is a passionate night at the movies, unfolding in the clean lines of old time aspect ratio (square rather than rectangular) and mood music that approximates emotions in a varied and expressive way. This is a must see for admirers of the silent film era,...

K for Kardashian and for Kubrick (!), in addition to one more Snow White and one more Meyer cinematic entry There'll be something for everyone this coming weekend on North American screens, whether your palate (or brain) goes the Kardashian or the Kubrick way. Kim Kardashian, best known for the TV trash hit Keeping Up with the Kardashians and for her quick-as-lightning marriage to basketball player Kris Humphries, is featured in Tyler Perry's Temptation. Distributed by Lionsgate this drama about infidelity also stars Jurnee Smollett-Bell, Lance Gross, Vanessa Williams, Robbie Jones. (photo: a colorfully garbed Vanessa Williams and a very tightly garbed Kk) However, the probable box-office winner this weekend will be Channing Tatum. The Magic Mike and The Vow star is featured alongside Dwayne Johnson and Bruce Willis in Jon M. Chu's G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra sequel: G.I. Joe: Retaliation. The eagerly awaited (by 11-year-olds) action flick...

Title: Blancanieves The Cohen Group Director: Pablo Berger Screenwriter: Pablo Berger Cast: Maribel Verdú, Daniel Giménez Cacho, Inma Cuesta, Ángela Molina, Pere Ponce, Macarena García, Sofía Oria, José Maria Pou, Ramón Barea, Emilio Gavira Screened at: Crosby St. Hotel, NYC, 3/26/13 Opens: March 29, 2013 How do you punish a wicked stepmother? Why, give her the silent treatment of course. To put everyone on an equal footing, however, director Pablo Berger, whose “Torremolinos 73” deals with an encyclopedia salesman and his wife who make an adult movie, gives everyone the silent treatment. Perhaps this is because “Blancanieves” is a silent film, paying homage to the 1920s silent pics in Europe, [ Read More ]

The post Blancanieves Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.

Not only is this great film Blancanieves, written and directed by Pablo Berger (Torremolinos), international sales agent 6 Sales' Marina Fuentes♀, opening theatrically in the U.S. on March 29 thanks to Cohen Media, it is the film we the jury at the 2013 Palm Springs International Film Festival awarded the Cine Latino Award And it has swept the Goyas (the Academy Award equivalent) in Spain. This film which I previously blogged about, is the film which took so long to make that The Artist, took its place in our own Academy Awards last year. Had this one only come first ... this is the real winner. It is a fairytale and much more; it depicts Spain and Seville in the time of fascism and leaves a tear upon the place.

**Winner of the Special Jury Prize at the 2012 San Sebastian Film Festival**

**Winner of Best Actress in a Narrative Feature at the 2012 San Sebastian Film Festival**

**Winner of the Cine Latino Award at the 2013 Palm Springs International Film Festival**

**Official Selection of the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival**

**Official Selection of the 2012 Warsaw International Film Festival**

Blancanieves, a re-working of the Brothers Grimm classic fairy tale "Snow White," is a breathtakingly beautiful film and a uniquely spirited homage to the black-and-white Golden Age of Europe's silent cinema. Set in a romanticized 1920s Seville, Berger's Snow White is Carmen (Macarena García), the daughter of a famous bull fighter, who lives under the tyrannical rule of her monstrous, evil stepmother, Encarna (Maribel Verdú). She escapes and joins a troupe of bullfighting dwarves, where her beauty and natural talent in the ring attract notices from the press. But soon the news reaches Encarna, who at last she knows where to find Carmen, and she prepares for the final showdown.

Written and Directed by: Pablo Berger

Starring: Maribel Verdú, Daniel Giménez Cacho, Ángela Molina, Pere Ponce, and introducing, Macarena García

Language: Spanish (w/English subtitles)

Running Time: 104 minutes

Rating: Not yet rated

Blancanieves sweeps the Goyas becoming best Picture 2013...

Blancanieves

Directed by Pablo Berger

Written by Pablo Berger

2012, Spain

The German tale of Snow White was published by Grimm brothers Jacob and Wilhelm in their Hausmärchen collection in 1812. Considered to be the most famous fairy tale worldwide, Snow White has been adapted to the big screen numerous times by the likes of Walt Disney, Michael Cohn and most recently Tarsem Singh and Rupert Sanders. Every adaptation has featured, respectively, their own variation of the literary source material. Now Spanish filmmaker Pablo Berger has channeled all those energies, and through his own artistic sensibility, he artfully crafts a love letter to Hispanic culture and it’s history. Blancanieves is a beautifully executed vision of the Grimm fairy tale; with the key elements of Snow White all present and accounted for (the poisoned apple, the glass coffin, and the seven dwarfs). Only Berger takes it a step further, adding nods to Sleeping Beauty,...