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‘Segundo Premio’ también triunfó en la gran noche del cine español.

© Getty Images

Anoche se celebró la gala de los Premios Goya 2025, la que es la gran noche del cine español y una de las ediciones más abiertas de los últimos años donde todo podía pasar. Y es que, por un momento, parecía que íbamos a tener nuestro momento Moonlight–La La Land español, pero no, por primera vez en la historia de los Goya el premio a la Mejor Película se repartió ex aequo a El 47 y La infiltrada. Otra de las grandes triunfadoras de la noche fue Segundo premio, que logró tres galardones, incluido el de Mejor Dirección. Aquí os dejamos con la lista completa de nominados y ganadores de los Goya 2025:

Mejor PELÍCULA (Ex Aequo) Casa en flames

El 47

La estrella azul

La infiltrada

Segundo premio © A Contracorriente Films © Beta Films Mejor DIRECCIÓN Pedro Almodóvar...

Twelve years after co-directing Berlinale entry “The Man of the Crowd,” renowned director Marcelo Gomes is once again joining forces with filmmaker and visual artist Cao Guimarães (“From the Window of My Room”) for a new film, titled “Cape of Pleasures.” The dystopian thriller is one of the projects selected at this year’s CineMart, the co-production market of the International Film Festival Rotterdam.

Speaking exclusively with Variety ahead of the festival, Gomes says the idea for the film came out of reflecting alongside Guimarães on what currently afflicted them. “With ‘The Man of the Crowd,’ we made a film about our affliction about loneliness in big cities. ‘Cape of Pleasures’ came out of our fear of aging in a country with a latent desire for eternal youth. Being old is almost a crime in Brazil.”

“Cape of Pleasures” takes place in a near future in Brazil where a totalitarian...

Last year proved fairly spectacular for Spanish animation with “Robot Dreams” scoring a best animated feature Oscar nomination, “Sultana’s Dream” winning the Annecy Festival’s Contrechamp, its biggest sidebar, and “Buffalo Kids” proving the third most popular local movie in Spain, grossing €5.2 million ($5.4 million) while breaking out to substantial sales abroad.

“Robot Dreams” and “Buffalo Kids” were produced out of Catalan capital Barcelona. Two of the five producers on “Sultana’s Dream,” however, are based out of the Basque Country: San Sebastian’s Sultana Films, the production label of director Isabel Herguera, and UniKo, behind Alberto Vázquez’s “Unicorn Wars,” a Gkids U.S. pickup, and “Homeless Home,” an Annecy Best Short winner.

In 2025, Basque cinema looks on track to grab more international limelight as it builds as an animation hub. Reasons for that growth also suggests why animation is one of the most exciting futures for international cinema.

‘La Habitación de al Lado’ no logra la nominación a Mejor Película y sorprende la ausencia de Najwa Nimri como Mejor Actriz. © Goya |A Contracorriente Films | Beta Films| BTeamPictures | El Deseo

Hoy ha tenido lugar la lectura de nominados a los Premios Goya 2025, en la que las películas El 47, La Infiltrada y Segundo Premio han conseguido el mayor número de nominaciones. Los ganadores se conocerán el 8 de febrero en Granada. Aquí os dejamos con la lista completa de nominados:

Mejor PELÍCULA

Casa en flames

El 47

La estrella azul

La infiltrada

Segundo premio

Mejor DIRECCIÓN

Pedro almodóvar (La habitación de al lado)

Arantxa Echavarría (La infiltrada)

Paula Ortiz (La virgen roja)

Aitor Arregi y Jon Garaño (Marco)

Isaki Lacuesta y Pol Rodríguez (Segundo premio)

Mejor DIRECCIÓN Novel

Miguel Faus (Calladita)

Pedro Martín-Calero (El llanto)

Javier Macipe (La estrella azul)

Sandra Romero (Por donde pasa el silencio)

Paz Vega (Rita...

Spain’s Academia de Cine has unveiled its list of nominations for the 39th Goya Awards, the country’s equivalent to the Oscar. Leading the field is Marcel Barrena’s biographical drama El 47, with 14 mentions. It’s followed by thriller La Infiltrada (Undercover) at 13.

Also in the mix is Segundo Premio (Saturn Return) with 11 nods. The movie about real-life rock band Los Planetas was Spain’s submission for the International Feature Oscar, though it did not make AMPAS’ shortlist cut which was revealed yesterday.

Meanwhile, Spanish maestro Pedro Almodóvar’s first English-language feature, The Room Next Door, scored 10 nominations including Best Director and a pair of Best Actress nods for Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton. It did not surface in the Goyas’ Best Picture race, despite taking the top prize Golden Lion in Venice earlier this year, his first ever top A-list festival prize.

The Goyas will be handed out on February 8 in Granada.

The Spanish film academy gave a surprise snub to its best-known director when Pedro Almodóvar’s The Room Next Door was not nominated for best film for the Goya Film Awards, Spain’s equivalent to the Oscars.

The Room Next Door picked up 13 Goya nominations, including best director for Almodóvar and best acting nominations for both of the film’s leads, Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore, but the film was left out of the best picture category. Perhaps the language barrier — it’s Almodóvar’s first English-language feature — counted against it among Spanish academy voters.

Instead, the Goya’s best picture race will include five Spanish-language features: Casa en flames from director Dani de la Orden, Marcel Barrena’s El 47, La estrella azul from Javier Macipe, Arantxa Echevarría’s La infiltrada, and Segundo premio from director Isaki Lacuesta and Pol Rodríguez, which was Spain’s official Oscar submission this year.

The 2025 Spanish Academy Goya Award nominations were unveiled today, where the big surprise was Pedro Almodóvar’s “The Room Next Door” being left out of the competition’s best picture category.

Although the film won’t compete for the ceremony’s top honor, its director and both his lead actors, Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore, all received individual nods, Almodóvar for best director and the two performers for best actress.

Titles selected for this year’s best feature category include Marcel Barrena’s “El 47” – the most nominated with 14 nods – “La Estrella Azul” by Javier Macipe, “Saturn Return” from Isaki Lacuesta and Pol Rodríguez, “Unddercover” from Arantxa Echevarría and “A House on Fire” by Dani de la Orden.

In the best director category, Almodóvar will face off against Goya regulars, including “Saturn Return” co-directors Isaki Lacuesta and Pol Rodríguez, “Undercover’s” Arantxa Echevarría (2019 best new director winner for “Carmen y Lola...

Chile’s most bankable stars, Paulina Garcia (“Gloria”), Alfredo Castro (“El Conde”) and Luis Gnecco (“No”), are leading the voice cast in the upcoming animated feature “Winnipeg, Seeds of Hope.” Producer Sebastián Freund (“Dad to the Rescue”), who launched Rizco Content Sales with partner Ángel Zambrano last October at Iberseries, has pounced on the international streaming rights to the toon and boarded as an executive producer.

“Securing the international streaming rights for this vital and emblematic project, which portrays a significant chapter in the shared history of Chile, Spain, and Argentina, marks a major milestone for our agency and the global market for diverse audiences,” said Freund, who is attending Ventana Sur where the project participates in the annual event’s Animation! Wip section.

Co-produced by Spain’s La Ballesta and Dibulitoon Studio, Chile’s El Otro Film, and Argentina’s Malabar Prods, “Winnipeg” unfolds through the reflections of 86-year-old Julia,...

L.A.-based Outsider Pictures, a U.S. distribution hub for Spanish-language cinema, has snagged North American rights to three International Oscar entries to the 97th Academy Awards: Costa Rica’s “Memories of a Burning Body,” Spain’s “Saturn Return” and Switzerland’s “Queens” (Reinas”), directed by Peruvian-born helmer, Klaudia Reynicke.

In addition, it has picked up Cannes Directors’ Fortnight title “Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed” by Argentina’s Hernán Rosselli and Toronto Platform awardee “They Will Be Dust,” starring Chile’s Alfredo Castro and Spain’s Angela Molina.

“I think the recent acquisitions from Outsider reflect the exciting and challenging cinema being produced in Latin America and Spain. These may not be star driven or hugely commercial films, but like most independent cinema, they are labors of love, passion pieces that film-makers have worked so hard for and that any company would be proud to distribute,” said Outsider Pictures founder-ceo Paul Hudson.

Buenos Aires-based FilmSharks has closed new distribution deals for “I Can’t Live Without You” (“No puedo vivir sin ti”), the latest comedy from Argentina’s most bankable star, Adrián Suar.

Warner Bros. Discovery clinched rights for Eastern Europe, while New People Film Company secured rights to Cis, which includes Russia, and the Baltic states, Tanweer for Greece and Av Jet for Taiwan. Distribution rights for France, Germany, Korea, Australia and China are under discussion.

FilmSharks subsidiary The Remake Company has also sealed remake deals for the social satire with Italy’s Federation and Mexico’s BH5 with French, German, Chinese and Korean adaptation talks underway.

“This modern and realistic high concept comedy about cell phone addiction has translated globally very well, raising its distribution and remake potential,” said FilmSharks CEO-founder Guido Rud.

The latest from the producers of Spain’s reigning #1 Comedy “Ocho Apellidos Vascos” (“Spanish Affair”), the Spanish-Argentine co-production...

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.

The Valladolid International Film Festival in Spain recently concluded its awards ceremony, handing out prizes to films that used elements of different genres to explore meaningful social and political issues. The festival, which ran from October 18th to the 26th, recognizes innovative works that push creative boundaries in cinema.

French director Alain Guiraudie’s film “Misericordia” took home both the Golden Spike for best picture and Miguel Delibes screenplay award. According to the jury, the film balances genres and tones in a simple yet complex way. Beneath the surface of a small-town thriller and comedy lies a profound meditation on how desire and guilt impact human relationships.

Two Silver Spikes were also awarded, split between “Stranger Eyes” from Singapore and Spanish film “They Will Be Dust.” “Stranger Eyes” examines surveillance and isolation through its genre storytelling. “They Will Be Dust” presented the serious topic of euthanasia in a unique musical format.

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...

With Mipcom in full swing, Spain’s Onza Distribution – with offices in Madrid and Miami – has cemented sales to Portugal, Romania, Croatia, Latvia and Mozambique for a slew of key titles.

Chilean drama “Allende, The Thousand Days,” Onza-produced thriller “Heartless” and its comedy “Traffic Jam” as well as acclaimed Italian mini-series “Flowers Over the Inferno” are among productions included in deals alongside telenovelas “Cacao,” “The Value of Life” and “Forever.” Portugal’s Rtp and Romania’s Antenaplay go all-in, with several acquisitions each.

Onza’s “Heartless,” an eight-episode psychological thriller which hit the No. 2 slot on Prime Video Spain upon its release, was acquired by Portugal’s public broadcaster Rtp and streamer Antenaplay, an arm of Romania’s Antena TV Group. The narrative follows a diabolical criminal targeting elite businessmen in Madrid, capturing and cruelly torturing them, investigators hot on the case.

“Allende, The Thousand Days” was swooped on...

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...

Carlos Marques-Marcet’s Toronto-winning musical drama They Will Be Dust, will open the 69th edition of the Valladolid International Film Week, also known as the Seminci, on October 18.

The end of life drama starring Alfredo Castro and Angela Molina won the Platform section at TIFF last month.

Valladolid, headed by José Luis Cienfuegos for a second year, is a key launchpad into the Spanish market for local and international films.

There are a total of 22 titles in the running for the festival’s top prize, the Golden Spike that comes with a €70,000 award for the Spanish distributor. The Silver Spike...

Global production, sales and distribution outfit Filmsharks has picked up international sales rights to the Spanish dramedy “Samana Sunrise,” starring box office mega-draw Luis Tosar.

FilmSharks wooed exhibitors at last week’s Iberseries & Platino Industria in Madrid and will now take it to RioMarket, the AFM and Film Baazar. Universal Pictures will release the film in Spain on Nov. 8, with Movistar Plus+ taking second window pay TV and SVOD rights.

Directed by Rafa Cortés (“Yo”) and based on a play by Jordi Galcerán, the comedy stars Spanish actors Tosar, Luisa Mayol, Luis Zahera and Bárbara Santa-Cruz alongside international performers including Charles Dance and Alfredo Castro.

In the film, two couples head off on a Caribbean vacation to celebrate their parallel 20-year anniversaries. As the friends reconnect over perhaps too many drinks, old truths come out that their pairings were almost very different on the night the four of them first met.

Backed by some of Latin America’s best known independent production labels – Argentina Kapow, Non Stop Studios Tarea Fina, Chile’s Parox and Rizoma Producciones, Colombia’s Rhayuela and Mexico’s Caponeto, Iberseries & Platino Industria’s industry centerpiece Co-Production and Financing Forum delivers a snapshot of current TV and film production in Latin America and Spain.

Yes, a social focus still remains but it is laced by entertainment genres, led by crime and comedy, pushing titles into a cross-over territory.

Following, brief profiles of the 10 pic and 10 series lineup, which features stars – Alfredo Castro and Clara Lago in “Queen of the Woods,” and name directors such as Berlin Competition contender Natalia Smirnoff, helming “(Im)perfect Mom” and “Sleepwalkers’” Paula Hernández on “Duarte.”

Enjoy.

Series Projects

“El Abogado Mattos,” (Colombia, Mexico)

A true crime thriller turning on David Durán, lawyer to Colombian magnate Carlos Mattos, debating in jail whether to break...

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...

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,...

Clara Lago, best known for her roles in hit romcom “Spanish Affair” and Andi Baiz suspense drama “The Hidden Face,” will star opposite Chile’s indefatigable Alfredo Castro in the Iberseries Co-Production Forum-bound “Queen of the Woods” (“La reina del bosque”).

To be directed by Luján Loioco, the drama is produced by Loioco’s Buenos Aires-based Libre Cine alongside Argentine-Spanish company Non Stop, Brazil’s Cinefilm and the U.S.-based Bosco Entertainment, run by Julio Bove.

“Queen of the Woods” is described as a female-driven suspense film that tells the story of a failed relationship between a pregnant woman and her dying father. Forced to spend their last days together while isolated in a mountain cabin, she must confront the ghosts of her childhood to discover the kind of mother she truly wants to be, the synopsis goes.

“I aim to craft a story that truly connects with the audience.

The Toronto Film Festival is awash with international titles. Led by Mohammad Rasoulof’s “The Seed Of The Sacred Fig” and Gints Zilbalodis’ “Flow,” the festival’s huge Centrepiece spread alone has 38 titles from outside Canada and the U.S. The Discovery section has another 18.

Not all Toronto international titles are world premieres, however. Here are 16 which are sparking good word of mouth. Variety isn’t claiming they are the best. The buzz might not be justified. But they are certainly worth tracking.

“Sunshine,” (Antoinette Jadaone, Philippines)

Anima, the Filipino studio behind Erik Matti’s Venice winner “On The Job 2: The Missing 8” and Sundance winner “Leonor Will Never” Die, joined Project 8 Projects to co-produce Antoinette Jadaone’s teenage pregnancy drama “Sunshine.” It turns on a young gymnast who discovers she is pregnant on the week of the national team tryouts. On her way to a seller of illegal abortion drugs,...

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...

Mohit Ramchandani’s City of Dreams shines a light on the dark reality of human trafficking. At its core is Jesús, a teenage boy with dreams of soccer stardom who is preyed upon and smuggled across the border. Within the dreary walls of an LA sweatshop, he endures brutal conditions while clinging to hope of escape.

Ramchandani takes on an urgent task—raising awareness of victims like Jesus. But good intentions alone don’t make a whole film. While his direction brings the sweatshop to life, other elements feel exploitative or leave key questions unanswered. Jesús’ harrowing ordeal seems to demand shock value over compassion.

This review examines City of Dreams as both a cautionary story and a flawed artistic work. Through Jesus’ resilient spirit, it provides a window into lives often unseen. But in its ambition to shock, does it lose sight of its message? By exploring its successes and shortfalls,...

Last year’s “Sound of Freedom” made a splash at the box-office appealing to conspiracy theorists and religious groups and convincing audiences that watching it was a morally righteous action taken against those perpetuating the horrors of human trafficking.

“City of Dreams,” from producer-turned writer-director Mohit Ramchandani, seeks to repeat the formula. The “must-see” account this time comes from the perspective of non-verbal 15-year-old Jesús (Ari López) from the state of Puebla in central Mexico. With the promise that he’ll partake in a soccer camp, a cartel-backed trafficker (actor Francisco Denis in an embarrassingly awful part) convinces his father to let him go alone. Instead, the boy is held against his will inside a dark, windowless Los Angeles home that functions as clandestine clothing manufacturing operation. Throughout the ordeal, Jesús holds on to his dream of playing in a packed stadium, which materializes on screen as shiny dreamlike sequences.

Making good on a recent slew of awards at Venice for Chilean films, Chile will be the Venice Production Bridge’s Focus Country in 2025.

The announcement will be made Thursday from the Venice Film Festival by Carolina Arredondo, Chile’s Minister of Culture, Arts, and Heritage as Chilean director Pablo Larraín’s “María,” starring Angelina Jolie as the legendary opera singer Maria Callas, world premieres on Venice’s Lido.

“This is a significant achievement for our creators, who have found in Venice a crucial platform to internationalize their projects,” Arredondo underscored. “Being the Focus Country will allow us to strengthen Chile’s audiovisual industry and attract new opportunities for co-production and global promotion.”

The honor comes after a decade or more, broadly dating back to Larraín’s 2012 “No,” starring Gael García Bernal, when Chile has punched way above its weight as an international film force. Chilean films’ Academy Award tally...

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,...

The poster for writer-director Mohit Ramchandani’s City of Dreams touts that the film is “from Executive Producers of Sound of Freedom,” though picking them out of the laundry list of credited names might take some time. Among the many producers of Ramchandani’s feature directorial debut who’ve thrown their support behind its marketing campaign are Tony Robbins, Linda Perry, Thomas Jane, and former Republican presidential candidate and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy. It would seem that nothing unites people across the political spectrum as fervently as exposing the horrors of child trafficking.

In contrast to Sound of Freedom’s law-enforcement-centred action-movie approach, City of Dreams presents its story through the vivid point of view of a young mute Mexican boy named Jésus (Ari Lopez) who’s been trafficked over the border and sold into the underground sweatshop industry. Lured by the promise of a soccer training camp in Los Angeles,...

With the theatrical release of Roadside Attractions’ child trafficking drama City of Dreams coming up, the filmmakers will be giving away $1 million in free tickets for a series of sneak previews beginning Wednesday, August 28, the studio announced today.

It’s expected that the giveaway will result in more than 50,000 moviegoers coming out. The hope is to bring out trafficking survivors and individuals from anti-trafficking organizations, as well as schools, churches, municipalities, and people who might not otherwise be able to afford a screening. Complimentary advance preview passes are available at the link.

In the top 25 markets nationwide, iHeart Media will provide live coverage, with on-air talent on site to help bring added awareness to the issue of child trafficking. The ticket giveaway was made possible through a donation from John Devaney, founder of United Capital and Manor House Films.

Inspired by a landmark sweatshop case in El Monte, CA, City of Dreams...

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...

Former Pimienta Films executive producer Paulina Valencia has boarded coming-of-age drama “The Weird” (“Lo Raro”), the debut feature of Nicolasa Ruiz, whose most recent short, “Extinction of the Species,” which she co-directed with Matt Porterfield, participated in Cannes’ Critics Week last year.

Valencia joins Chile’s Matías de Bourguignon of Cordyceps Content, a producer of “The Dog Thief,” directed by Chile’s Vinko Tomicic and sold by Luxbox, which competes in the Santiago Film Festival’s (Sanfic) international section. Set in La Paz, Bolivia, it stars Alfredo Castro (“El Conde”) as a lonely tailor, Señor Novoa, whose dog is stolen by a 15-year-old shoe shiner who imagines Sr. Novoa to be his father.

Mexicali-set “The Weird” follows Consuelo, a shy teenage nerd with a deep passion for technology who has built Alita, a robot pet driven by artificial intelligence. Her love for science and robotics is matched only by her growing crush on Ángel,...

Chile’s Los Bunkers, one of the most admired of Latin America’s rock bands, has signed on to score “The Last Witness” (“El Ultimo Testigo”), a doc feature portrait of Luis Poirot, a Chilean photographer who has snapped many key events and figures in the country’s history from Salvador Allende to the estallido outburst of social protests in 2019, and beyond.

Some of Poirot’s earliest photos, all black and white, capture Allende on his successful 1959 presidential campaign trail, Poirot appointed its official photographer. He took illicit shots of Chile’s presidential Palacio de la Moneda days after Allende died there in a military coup d’etat, its windows gutted by Chilean Air Force strafing. He also snapped Nobel prize-winning poet Pablo Neruda at his Isla Negra beachside home.

Directed by Catalan documentarian-journalist Francesc Relea (“Serrat y Sabina: el símbolo y el cuate”), “The Last Witness” captures Poirot shooting...

Exclusive: Mohit Ramchandani (City of Dreams) has co-written and will direct Asphyxia, a new survival thriller for Capstone Studios.

Daniel Negret and Ramchandani penned the script for the pic, to be produced by the Warner Bros-based Hunt Lowry. Capstone is fully financing with casting currently underway and production to kick off in Q1 2025. The project marks Ramchandani’s sophomore feature on the heels of City of Dreams, an enslaved child labor thriller that Roadside Attractions releases nationwide on August 30.

Asphyxia follows Dr. Joanna Miller, a marine biologist specializing in migratory and birthing patterns in whales, whose ship capsizes in a storm during a routine expedition, killing her entire crew. She’s left stranded in an air pocket inside the mess hall, trying to signal the patrolling coast guard rovers, when she comes across an unexpected survivor, the captain’s daughter. As...

Aiming to be a weapon of mass inspiration in the war against child trafficking, “City Of Dreams” written and directed by veteran producer Mohit Ramchandani showcases one boy’s story of ultimate resilience and hope as he’s trafficked across the border from Mexico and sold to a sweatshop in downtown Los Angeles. City Of Dreams

Visit: www.cityofdreamsmovie.com & watch the powerful trailer here.

Already critically acclaimed with a 100% critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes, the feature film hits theaters nationwide on Aug. 30 via Roadside Attractions, the studio behind Academy Award Winner “Manchester by the Sea,” “Margin Call” and “Winter’s Bone.” The “City Of Dreams” film is supported by icons of film, music and media including New York Times bestseller and speaker Tony Robbins, Academy Award Winning Producer Michael Phillips, award-winning singer-song-writer Linda Perry (“Beautiful”), Academy Award nominated actress Yalitza Aparicio (“Roma”), 5 Time Latin Grammy Winning artist Luis Fonsi, Producer...

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.

“Babylon” breakout star Diego Calva is returning to his film roots for Mexican feature “City of Dreams.”

The drama, which is inspired by true events, follows young boy Jesús, whose dreams of becoming a soccer star are shattered when he’s trafficked across the border and sold to a sweatshop making fast fashion in downtown Los Angeles.

The official synopsis reads: “Thrust into a world of exploitation and despair, he’s forced to adhere to the grueling work schedule dictated by El Jefe, a boss who promises freedom for those who complete their quotas. Despite Jesus’s hellish existence, he finds solace in Elena, a girl who was similarly betrayed and sold into slavery. When she goes missing and another co-worker Carlito’s is severely beaten, Jesus realizes that his only hope for freedom is to make a daring escape.”

The film is written and directed by Mohit Ramchandani; Jason Patric,...

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (Ampas) has invited 487 artists and executives to become members, with Sandra Huller, Justin Triet, Celine Song and Da’Vine Joy Randolph among the high profile invitees.

Also invited to join are actors Da’Vine Joy Randolph and Fiona Shaw, directors Alice Diop, David Yates and S S Rajamouli, and writers Arthur Harari and Tony McNamara.

Executives invited to join that branch of the Academy include British Film Institute CEO Ben Roberts and Fifth Season co-CEOs Chris Rice and Graham Taylor.

Among those invited to join the costume designers branch are Holly Waddington and Małgorzata Karpiuk.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (Ampas) has invited 487 artists and executives to become members, with Sandra Huller, Justin Triet, Celine Song and Da’Vine Joy Randolph among the high profile invitees.

Also invited to join are actors Da’Vine Joy Randolph and Fiona Shaw, directors Alice Diop, David Yates and S S Rajamouli, and writers Arthur Harari and Tony McNamara.

Executives invited to join that branch of the Academy include British Film Institute CEO Ben Roberts and Fifth Season co-CEOs Chris Rice and Graham Taylor.

Among those invited to join the costume designers branch are Holly Waddington and Małgorzata Karpiuk.

Every summer, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences invites a deluge of new members to join its ranks. Since #OscarsSoWhite back in 2015, the Academy has moved away from its elitist tendencies and toward embracing younger and more diverse artists and executives from all over the world. This year’s invited class is no exception.

If the invitees all accept Academy membership, the total members will number 10,910 and voting members 9,934. And with the addition of the 2024 members, 35 percent of Academy members identify as women, 20 percent of Academy members are from underrepresented ethnic and racial communities, and 20 percent of Academy members are from countries or territories outside the U.S.

As usual, a slew of Oscar nominees and winners are gaining admittance to the club (71 Oscar nominees and 19 winners), including actors Lily Gladstone (“Killers of the Flower Moon”), Sandra Hüller, and Da’Vine Joy Randolph (“The Holdovers”), costume designer Holly Waddington...

Jessica Alba, Lily Gladstone, Greta Lee, Catherine O’Hara, and S.S. Rajamouli, director of “Rrr,” are among the 487 artists and executives invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. With all expected acceptances, AMPAS membership will rise to 10,910 from 10,817 last year, with 9,934 members eligible to vote in the upcoming 97th Oscars in 2025—an increase from last year’s 9,375.

This year’s invitees include 44% women, a 4% increase from 2023, and 41% from underrepresented ethnic and racial communities, marking a significant 7% rise. The actors, casting directors, costume designers, documentary, executives, makeup artists and hairstylists branches have invited more women than men. The actors, directors, documentary, and writers branches mainly comprised artists from underrepresented communities.

The directors branch features the most impressive array of filmmakers from both international and domestic spheres, such as Lila Avilés (“Totem”), Jayro Bustamante (“La Llorona”), Jd Dillard (“Devotion”), Alice Diop (“Saint Omer”), Boots Riley (“Sorry to Bother You...

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said Tuesday that it is extending invitations to 487 to join the membership ranks of the Oscar organizer. If all accept, it will bring the Academy’s total membership to 10,910, of which 9,934 would be voting members.

This year’s list across 19 branches include 2024 Oscar winners Da’Vine Joy Randolph from The Holdovers; Poor Things costume designer Holly Waddington and production design team James Price, Shona Heath and Zsuzsa Mihalek; 20 Days in Mariupol director Mstyslav Chernov, War Is Over! producer Brad Booker; The Zone of Interest sound duo Tarn Willers and Johnnie Burn; the Godzilla Minus One VFX team Tatsuji Nojima, Kiyoko Shibuya, Masaki Takahashi and Takashi Yamazaki; American Fiction writer-director Cord Jefferson; and Anatomy of a Fall writing duo Justine Triet and Arthur Harari.

Jefferson and Triet are among eight names on the list who were invited to more than one branch (noted...

New York City's annual Tribeca Festival always brings something for everyone: from its series of short films made by all the most promising up-and-coming talent to several documentaries about a wide range of topics to the buzzy narrative features both international and close to home, all vying for Tribeca's various top prizes. Co-founded by none other than acting legend Robert De Niro in the aftermath of 2001's 9/11 attacks in an effort to revitalize the Tribeca neighborhood located in Lower Manhattan, the film festival has carefully curated its own identity over the years. While its famous big brothers like Cannes, Sundance, and the Toronto International Film Festival will always receive the bulk of attention, Tribeca tends to feel like the scrappy, blue-collar breeding ground for all the most under-the-radar offerings that the indie system has to offer.

This year's event was no exception, providing all sorts of opportunities for the curious and open-minded moviegoer.

Principal photography of Mexican writer-director Iria Gómez Concheiro’s dystopian thriller “Here be Dragons” is underway in Mexico, with Gómez Concheiro’s Ciudad Cinema producing alongside “La Jaula de Oro” producer Machete Prods., led by Edher Campos.

“When the project was broached to me last year by Iria and her producing partner Rodrigo Rios Legaspi, I was immediately drawn to it as I was keen to make a science fiction film, especially because it deals with themes that interest me, trouble me and that are very relevant today: the control over a society, the fragility of youth, its struggle in a failing system, global warming, the scarcity of resources and the power those resources hold within a government,” said Campos.

“And that control makes you believe you should be afraid. That indeed, here be dragons,” he added wryly.

Starring Chile’s Alfredo Castro (“El Conde”), Hernán Mendoza (“The Box”) and...

Chilean producer Tomas Gerlach Mora of A Simple Vista has struck a deal in the Cannes Marché for Colombia’s Rhayuela Films to join as co-producer on the upcoming genre film Dog Legs (Patas De Perro) starring Chilean A-lister Alfredo Castro.

Matías Rojas Valencia will direct and established his reputation with San Sebastián Horizontes Latinos 2013 selection Root and Tallinn 2021 entry A Place Called Dignity.

Based on the 1960 novel by Chilean literary giant Carlos Droguett, Dog Legs follows a lonely man who adopts a child born with the legs of a dog and is met with escalating violence when he tries...

Chilean actor Alfredo Castro will make his directorial debut with the psychological thriller “Los Trabajadores de la Muerte,” which translates to “the workers of death.”

Based on Diamela Eltit’s novel of the same title, the film is penned by Castro and Pablo Valledor. Chile’s Storyboard Media and Les Films de l’Âge d’Or in France co-produce.

Producer and co-writer Valledor tells Variety the project is representative of his larger goal to ramp up international co-productions: “As a producer, my intention is to get involved in projects that present a radical approach and an attractive cinematic language,” he explained. “The aim of Les Films de l’Âge d’Or is to establish a structure dedicated to projects of this nature, creating a bridge between the Americas and Europe to ensure that funds are obtained and that these films are made through well-established international co-productions.”

Set during Chile’s economic crisis...

Based out of Chile and Los Angeles, Quijote Films, behind Cannes 2023 Un Certain Regard Fipresci Prize winner “The Settlers,” and France’s Les Valseurs, behind Oscar-nominated “,” have tied down a powerful alliance of international partners on “The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo,” the first feature of 2018 Cannes Cinéfondation top winner Diego Céspedes.

Quijote Films’ biggest budgeted title to date, said its head Giancarlo Nasi, “The Mysterious Gaze” goes into production on May 20.

An LGBTQ-themed drama, “The Mysterious Gaze” is set in a mining town where a strange illness is said to be transmitted between men who fall in love with each other.

Produced by Quijote Films and France’s Les Valseurs, “The Mysterious Gaze” has now added new partners in Germany’s Weydemann Bros Film and Wrong Men in Belgium. Further partners, Arte France Cinema and Irusoin, have already been announced.

Weydemann Bros has secured French-German mini traité funding to co-produce the film.

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...

From a new Alfredo Castro movie to fresh titles by “Case 63” writer Julio Rojas and “A Fantastic Woman” scribe Gonzalo Maza — plus the debut of Cannes Cinéfondation winner Diego Céspedes — here are titles from seven Chilean production companies whose presence at Cannes is backed by Chile’s ministry of culture.

“Bitter Gold,”

In a defunct North Chilean mining community, a teenage girl battles patriarchal forces to save her family’s business in this empowering neo-Western. Lead-produced by Juntos Films in co-production with La Santé (Chile), Whisky Content (México). Intl. Sales: Patra Spanou Films.

“Después de Elena” (Shawn Garry)

Alfredo Castro stars in a dark comedy as widower Roberto, who seeks solace but faces family dysfunction and lies. Produced by Gabriela Sandoval at Cine Matriz, Magma Cine and Zoe Films.

“Epílogo para un otoño,” (David Belmar)

This Lucho Films drama follows 85-year-old Gabriel, who feels death looming. He fails in his...

Catalan titles will be in no short supply at this year’s Cannes Festival and Marché du Film. Below, a near dozen titles that hope to impress at this year’s event.

“Blue Sun Palace,” (Constance Tsang)

Tsang’s debut feature, shot in New York, world premieres at this year’s Critics’ Week. Field Trip Media and Big Buddha Prods. produce this film about two migrants who work at a massage parlor in Queens. Co- produced by Catalonia’s Marta Cruañas (“Creature”).

Sales: Charades

“Daniela Forever,” (Nacho Vigalondo)

Vigalondo helms this English language romantic drama about loss and memory, reminiscent of “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.” Producers include Mediacrest, Sayaka, XYZ Films, Wrong Men and Señor & Señora.

Sales: XYZ Films

“Misericordia,” (Alain Guiraudie)

French director Guiraudie, behind 2013 Queer Palm winner “Stranger by the Lake,” will bow his latest film in the Cannes Premiere section. This French-Catalan co-production received...