News

Podimo, the fastest growing podcast and audiobook subscription service in Europe, announces the addition of Isabel Salazar as Country Manager for Spain, a position previously held by Juan Galiardo Sosa, who becomes Podimo's new Global Head of Markets.

For Podimo, a company founded in Copenhagen in 2019 and which landed in Spain a year later, one of its main objectives is to build a company and a culture that reflects the diversity of the world we live in. This means diversity of talents, voices, ideas and thoughts, which applies to both the brand and its content, creators and teams. The latter, made up of individuals who bring value in discovering, creating and supporting their creators to bring their ideas and stories to life.

"Isabel's profile is ideal, not only because of her extensive experience managing teams and developing brands like Google in Spain, but also because of her energy and human qualities.

Javier Sierra presenta esta ficción sonora coproducida por Podimo y Planeta Audio, con guion original del escritor, en la que se recrea la historia del mayor descubrimiento arqueológico de la historia. En él, el novelista viajará en el tiempo para encontrarse con dos personajes clave: el decimoséptimo duque de Alba y Howard Carter, descubridor de la tumba de Tutankamón

Recientemente se celebró en Palacio de Liria el evento de presentación de ‘El regreso de Tutankamón’, una ambiciosa producción con guion original de Javier Sierra, popular escritor galardonado con el Premio Planeta en 2017, que se estrena en el mundo de la ficción sonora con esta audioserie, en la que el oyente se sumergirá en un pasaje casi desconocido de nuestra historia reciente. Durante la reunión, Sierra realizó un tour exclusivo a los allí presentes por la exposición ‘Alba y Carter. Cien años descubriendo a Tutankhamon’, que estará disponible para visitar hasta...

We’re just a few weeks away from having the chance to see a new horror film from director Ryûhei Kitamura, as Lionsgate will be giving Kitamura’s The Price We Pay a digital and VOD release on January 10th, as well as a limited theatrical release on January 13th. With those dates coming up fast, Lionsgate has unveiled a trailer for the film, which you can check out in the embed above.

Emile Hirsch (Into the Wild), Stephen Dorff (Blade), and Gigi Zumbado (Fantasy Island) star in The Price We Pay, and when we first heard about the movie last year it was said that Hirsch and Dorff would be playing two criminals who attempt to rob a local pawn shop. But the robbery goes askew, leaving them both injured and with a female hostage. On the run, they take refuge at a remote farmhouse to allow the heat to die down,...

The vampire horror comedy Slayers, starring Thomas Jane (The Punisher 2004) and Abigail Breslin (Zombieland) is getting a theatrical, digital, and VOD release just in time for Halloween – on October 21st, to be exact. In anticipation of the release, a red band trailer for Slayers has arrived online, and you can check it out in the embed above!

Directed by K. Asher Levin from a screenplay Levin wrote with Zack Imbrogno, Slayers finds Jane in the role of

kick-ass vampire slayer Elliot Jones, who has made it his life’s mission to take revenge on the bloodsuckers who murdered his teenage daughter. After years of tracking them, he has finally reached their secret and hidden base. But to get to them he will need to use a motley crew of social media superstars. Enter ‘The Stream Team’: party-girl Jules, gen-z pro-gamer Flynn, and their team of trend-makers and breakers! With a hundred million-plus combined followers,...

Will somebody explain the sheep and the bear? Luis Buñuel really knows how to disturb people. This, his most characteristic surreal drama proposes an impossible, irrational situation – which isn’t all that different from the reality we know. Petty social rules, jealousies and bitterness make life hell for group of dinner guests stuck with each other, caught in an existential trap.

The Exterminating Angel

Blu-ray

The Criterion Collection 459

1962 / B&W / 1:33 flat full frame / 93 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date December 6, 2016 / 39.95

Starring Silvia Pinal, Jacqueline Andere, Augusto Benedicio, José Baviera, Antonio Bravo, Claudio Brook, Rosa Elena Durgel, Lucy Gallardo, Tito Junco .

Cinematography Gabriel Figueroa

Film Editor Carlos Savage

Original Music Raúl Lavista

Based on a story by Luis Alcoriza, Luis Buñuel

Produced by Gustavo Alatriste

Written and Directed by Luis Buñuel

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

That intransigent rebel imp Luis Buñuel never mellowed — after ten or so...

Watch the powerful new trailer for Frontera.

Set along the tumultuous Arizona-Mexico border, Frontera, starring Ed Harris, Eva Longoria, and Michael Pena, follows Miguel (Peña), a hardworking father and devoted husband who crosses the border illegally and is wrongfully accused of murdering the wife of a former sheriff (Harris). Miguel’s pregnant wife (Longoria) lands in the hands of corrupt Mexican “Coyote” smugglers as she tries to help her husband, while the ex-lawman investigates his wife’s death and unearths evidence that could destroy one family’s future.

Frontera examines both sides of the complex issues of immigration and human trafficking that deeply affects both the U.S. and Mexico. It shows that a border might divide two countries, but can’t divide humanity, for good or bad, we are all part of the problem and the solution.

Of his film, director and co-writer Michael Berry says:

Though the events...

Actors craving a life of adventure and musical theater on the high seas don’t need to live near an ocean to be cast in onboard cruise ship productions. Casting directors for the major cruise lines hold auditions in cities around the world on a rolling basis. “We just did our New York auditions for ‘Legally Blonde’ and ‘Rock of Ages,’ and we have auditions coming up in L.A. next month,” Robert Dean Hertenstein, Norwegian Cruise Line’s manager of theatrical operations, told Backstage. “We also do a lot of the colleges in the spring; in the summer we go over to Europe and do London, Berlin, Newcastle, Stockholm, and Amsterdam. We go to Australia and the Philippines in November.” The cruise line productions aren’t union—the companies say that’s because of the multinational casts—but they do offer competitive salaries and added perks. For instance, young...

Juan José Campanella’s animation Futbolin with open San Sebastian Film Festival. San Sebastian may begin in the shadow of Toronto, kicking off just days after the Canadian beast has ended but it has plenty of charms of its own. It puts a welcome emphasis on Spanish language(s) film - with more than a third of the titles stemming from either Spain or Latin America and its Zinemira section dedicated to films made in the Basque country - while also offering a European stepping stonefor many of the Toronto films.

And there's no doubt that festival director Juan Luis Rebordinos and his team know a crowd-pleaser when they see one kicking off the festival with the international premiere of Juan Jose Campanella's delightful Foosball (known as Futbolin in Spain and Metegol in Argentina). It was a great feel-good choice and, with an English dub of the film in the works,...

Mexico City — Down a narrow, dead-end street in a middle-class neighborhood of Mexico City, a three-story brick house with white window frames gives up no hint of the bizarre, even shocking images that were dreamed up inside.

Luis Bunuel, known as the father of surrealist cinema, lived in the simple, gated house over the last 30 years of his life after settling in Mexico as an exile from post-civil war Spain. For a man who assaulted moviegoers with such shots as an ant-infested hand, an eyeball sliced open with a straight razor, and elegant diners sitting on toilets, Bunuel enjoyed a surprisingly genteel life here.

Now, the Spanish government, which bought the house from Bunuel's family, has opened it to a public long fascinated with his work. The plan is to turn the building into a meeting place for Spanish and Mexican moviemakers, with workshops and occasional exhibits staged to celebrate Spanish-language cinema.

Vina del Mar (Chile), Ma Mar 1: The Puerto Rican reggaeton duo of Wisin & Yandel denied here that their lyrics are offensive to women, an assessment made by the Cuban government in barring the group's songs from being played on radio and television.

"I believe we're not offending women," Juan Luis Morera Luna, a.k.a. Wisin, said Thursday.

The Cuban government's assessment of the group's lyrics as obscene was "unfounded", he said.

Wisin added that the duo's only intention is to "bring joy and have a good time".

The artist also said the group has "millions" of Cuban fans, not only among the Cuban-exile community in the Us.

Los Angeles, CA (February 19, 2013) – Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment today introduced 23 new films to its manufacture-on-demand (Mod) series, Fox Cinema Archives. Designed for true collectors and film aficionados, Fox Cinema Archives goes deep into the studio’s vault each month to bring classic films featuring some of the biggest stars of the twentieth century to DVD for the first time. Launched in 2012, Fox Cinema Archives has seen the release of more than 140 films from the Studio’s library. Movie lovers can purchase previously released and new films from the Fox Cinema Archives series at major online retailers and at www.foxconnect.com. New titles available today include: Warlock (1959), 122 min. The town of Warlock is plagued by a gang of thugs, leading the inhabitants to hire Clay Blaisdell, a famous gunman, to act as marshal. Clive of India (1935), 94 min. In the mid-1700′s the East India Company has power over commerce...

Watch new clips from As Luck Would Have It (La chispa de la vida) directed by Alex De La Iglesia, staring Jose Mota and Salma Hayek IFC's drama screenwritten by Randy Feldman opened in limited theaters and VOD on February 1st Juan Luis Galiardo, Fernando Tejero, Tallafé, Antonio Garrido, Carolina Bang and Eduardo Casanova co-star. In As Luck Would Have It, Roberto (famed Spanish comic José Mota) once had a promising career in advertising. But now out of work during the economic downturn, he struggles to keep his family afloat and their dire situation a secret from his adoring wife Luisa (Salma Hayek). After yet another dead end interview, it seems like reality will come crashing down on Roberto – until a freak accident places him at the center of a wild media storm. Realizing his opportunity, Roberto hires a brazen agent to help him leverage his new found fame into fortune,...

Watch new clips from As Luck Would Have It (La chispa de la vida) directed by Alex De La Iglesia, staring Jose Mota and Salma Hayek IFC's drama screenwritten by Randy Feldman opened in limited theaters and VOD on February 1st Juan Luis Galiardo, Fernando Tejero, Tallafé, Antonio Garrido, Carolina Bang and Eduardo Casanova co-star. In As Luck Would Have It, Roberto (famed Spanish comic José Mota) once had a promising career in advertising. But now out of work during the economic downturn, he struggles to keep his family afloat and their dire situation a secret from his adoring wife Luisa (Salma Hayek). After yet another dead end interview, it seems like reality will come crashing down on Roberto – until a freak accident places him at the center of a wild media storm. Realizing his opportunity, Roberto hires a brazen agent to help him leverage his new found fame into fortune,...

Álex de la Iglesia's As Luck Would Have It (La chispa de la vida) has new images in the gallery. The drama stars José Mota and Salma Hayek as well as Blanca Portillo, Juan Luis Galiardo, Fernando Tejero, Manuel Tallafé, Antonio Garrido and Carolina Bang. The film opens Friday in select theaters, Cable VOD, SundanceNOW and other digital platforms. Roberto (famed Spanish comic José Mota) once had a promising career in advertising. But now out of work during the economic downturn, he struggles to keep his family afloat and their dire situation a secret from his adoring wife Luisa (Salma Hayek). After yet another dead end interview, it seems like reality will come crashing down on Roberto – until a freak accident places him at the center of a wild media storm. Realizing his opportunity, Roberto hires a brazen agent to help him leverage his new found fame into fortune,...

Álex de la Iglesia's As Luck Would Have It (La chispa de la vida) has new images in the gallery. The drama stars José Mota and Salma Hayek as well as Blanca Portillo, Juan Luis Galiardo, Fernando Tejero, Manuel Tallafé, Antonio Garrido and Carolina Bang. The film opens Friday in select theaters, Cable VOD, SundanceNOW and other digital platforms. Roberto (famed Spanish comic José Mota) once had a promising career in advertising. But now out of work during the economic downturn, he struggles to keep his family afloat and their dire situation a secret from his adoring wife Luisa (Salma Hayek). After yet another dead end interview, it seems like reality will come crashing down on Roberto – until a freak accident places him at the center of a wild media storm. Realizing his opportunity, Roberto hires a brazen agent to help him leverage his new found fame into fortune,...

Las Vegas -- As Colombian rockero Juanes took home the best album award, Mexican brother-sister duo Jesse & Joy and their pop hit "Corre!" ran away with four awards at the 13th Annual Latin Grammys.

Hosted by actors Cristian De La Fuente and Lucero, Thursday night's event attracted stars from across the world and from dozens of Latin musical genres to the Mandalay Bay Events Center. Just like at a big family party, new faces shared the spotlight with older generations, and traditional styles mixed with electronica and Vegas dancers on stage.

Traditional Mexico met Las Vegas in a colorful number featuring Oaxaca native Lila Downs, Afro-Colombian singer Toto la Momposina and dancers in regional costumes, Carnival masques and skeleton makeup.

"What a great joy. Thank God, and all the fans," Juanes said as he dragged Dominican mereguero Juan Luis Guerra, who produced "MTV Unplugged," to the stage to accept the...

Tune in alert for Fox series "Hotel Hell's" Two Night Premiere - Monday, 8/13 & Tuesday, 8/14! Gordon Ramsay.s newest series, Hotel Hell, premieres on Monday August 13 on Fox. Award-winning chef and hospitality expert Gordon Ramsay will travel across the country to fix horrid hotels, awful inns and just plain bad bed and breakfasts. The first hotel is Juniper Hill Inn in Windsor, Vt. Ramsay checks in to the inn, a place that looks like a million dollars, but smells of raw sewage. He meets the inn.s wealthy and arrogant owner, Robert Dean II, and witnesses Dean.s inexcusable treatment of his staff. The .Juniper Hill Inn, Part One. series premiere episode airs Monday, Aug. 13 (8:00-9:00...

Thanks to the efforts of the Hero Initiative and comics fans and pros, Robert L. Washington was able to receive a proper funeral.

On Monday, June 25th, a funeral service was held for Robert L. Washington III in the Bronx borough of New York City, with a second service to come in Detroit, Michigan. The service was attended by various comic book creators, classmates, and friends from Robert’s various creative, work, and hobby circles.

Through the actions of Robert’s friends from Milestone Media, Inc. and his classmates from The Roeper School, The Hero Initiative was able to use all of your donations to pay for the service and provide Robert’s mother and two of his sisters with the means to travel from Detroit, Michigan to New York and give him a proper funeral.

via The Hero Initiative.

There were over 300 contributors to his cause, and we honor them below.

Robert Hegyes, who played Juan Epstein on '70s sitcom "Welcome Back, Kotter," died Thursday from an apparent heart attack. He was 60.

The actor, whose health had been steadily declining for the past two years, suffered chest pains at his New Jersey home before going into full cardiac arrest. He died at JFK Medical Center in Edison.

Hegyes is best remembered for his role on "Kotter" as the Jewish/Puerto Rican wisecracking student, Juan Luis Pedro Phillipo de Huevos Epstein,...

Actor Robert Hegyes died after an apparent heart attack in his native New Jersey yesterday, the New Jersey Star-Ledger reports. The 60-year-old, who acted on Broadway, co-starred in Cagney and Lacey and guest-starred in everything from the Drew Carey Show to Diagnosis Murder, will forever be remembered as high school student Juan Luis Pedro Filipo De Huevos Epstein, his role on Welcome Back, Kotter, from 1975-1979.

Most people think of Kotter as the show that made John Travolta’s career. Not me. Though of Italian descent himself, the Jewish Puerto Rican Hegyes played has always been a kind of icon for mixed-up products of immigration. As the daughter of a Dominican and a Hungarian Israeli, I basically grew up hearing “Juan Epstein” jokes all my life, and I can’t say I minded it. If people associated my crazy background with a wise-cracking kid on TV reruns, that seemed pretty cool to me.

This news is hard to process, but Robert Hegyes, who starred in my favorite '70s hit comedy that was never missed in my home, "Welcome Back Kotter," has died. The classic TV show featured the antics of a group of less-than-stellar New York city high school kids, starring Hegyes, John Travolta, Ron Palillo, Gabe Kaplan and Lawrence-Hilton Jacobs. Hegyes portrayed Epstein, aka Juan Luis Pedro Phillipo de Huevos Epstein, the Jewish Puerto Rican fast-talker with a heart of gold. Hegyes died from an apparent heart attack after suffering chest pains at his Metuchen home. He was 60. The group, known as the Sweathogs, reunited last year at the TV Land Awards to recognize the show's 35th anniversary. On...

The actor suffered a heart attack -- so sad. Robert Hegyes, best known for his role as Juan Luis Pedro Phillipo de Huevos Epstein in Welcome Back Kotter, has passed away. The 60-year-old had a heart attack in his New Jersey home on Jan. 26, The Star Ledger reports. He is survived by three siblings, two children and two step-children. Recent Hollywood Deaths Etta James Dead At Age 73 — So Sad Joe Frazier Dead — Boxing Legend Dies At 67. So Sad. Andy Rooney Dies At 92 — So Sad.

Everett “Welcome Back Koter” cast, clockwise from top left, Ron Palillo, Robert Hegyes, Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs, Gabe Kaplan, John Travolta, 1975-79.

“Welcome Back Kotter” star Robert Hegyes dies; “Let’s Stay Together” sales boosted by Obama…

“Welcome Back Kotter” Star Dies: Robert Hegyes, known for his role as Juan Epstein on “Welcome Back Kotter,” has passed away at the age of 60. According to Reuters, Hegyes was in cardiac arrest when paramedics took the sitcom star to the hospital. The actor would...

One of our Sweathogs really is missing now. Robert Hegyes, best known for playing Juan Epstein—one of Gabe Kaplan's "star" pupils—in Welcome Back, Kotter, died this morning after an apparent heart attack, according to New Jersey's Star Ledger. He was 60. The actor, who also played a detective on the later seasons of Cagney & Lacey, had been in poor health since suffering a previous heart attack a couple of years ago, according to his brother. But he will always be remembered as the note-from-his-mutha-forging Juan Luis Pedro Philippo DeHuevos Epstein! "The character of Epstein from Welcome Back, Kotter was modeled after Chico," the avowed Marx Brothers fan...

Actor Robert Hegyes, one of the stars of the 70s sitcom "Welcome Back Kotter" died today of an apparent heart attack.Hegyes was best known for his role as the Puerto Rican-Jew on that show -- Juan Luis Pedro Phillipo de Huevos Epstein. Epstein for short.Hegyes reunited with John Travolta and the rest of the Sweathogs last year to accept TV Land's 35th Anniversary Award.He also co-starred on the hit drama, "Cagney and Lacey.

The Berlin International Film Festival has just announced the first five films lined up for the Competition and five more for the Berlinale Special. The 62nd edition runs from February 9 through 19.

Update: The Berlinale's also announced that the members of the International Jury, presided over by Mike Leigh, will be Anton Corbijn, Asghar Farhadi, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Jake Gyllenhaal, François Ozon, Boualem Sansal and Barbara Sukowa.

Competition

Captive

France/Philippines/Germany/Great Britain

By Brillante Mendoza (Serbis, Kinatay, Lola)

With Isabelle Huppert, Katherine Mulville, Marc Zanetta

World premiere

From Ioncinema: "Based on a real-life event that occurred in 2001. It centers on Thérèse Bourgoin (Huppert), a French woman who works for a humanitarian organization on Palawan Island in the Philippines. While she is transporting equipment to Puerto Princesa, she is kidnapped by mistake with a colleague by Muslim extremist group Abu Sayyaf, who are fighting for Mindanao independence."

Dictado (Childish Games)

Spain

By Antonio Chavarrías (Susanna,...

Now that the fall “awards festival” circuit is finally at a close — but with Sundance looming in the distance — it’s easy to forget about Biff — the Berlin International Film Festival, that is. (See, I even have to give the name.) This might have something to do with their less-than-huge lineup; in terms of films playing in competition, last year’s biggest art house title was The Turin Horse, while the most mainstream was probably Margin Call. Nothing too slim, but not much compared to Cannes, Venice, or Tiff.

The first round of titles to play this coming February (via Twitch) do carry a few major titles, though. Among them are The Flowers of War (which we were quite ecstatic about), Guy Maddin‘s Keyhole, Extremely Loud…, Kevin Macdonald‘s Bob Marley documentary, and an expansion of Werner Herzog‘s Into the Abyss. A few other foreign titles carry potential,...

With the world engrossed by the turmoil of the News of the World newspaper’s demise amidst a whirlwind of phone-hacking allegations (which I’m sure many of you agree was done in the most despicable of manners to people who were thoroughly undeserving of such treatment), I began thinking about the giant conspiracy amongst News International big wigs surrounding their underhand actions.

Conspiracy theories have long been at the forefront of popular culture: from the mysteries surrounding Marilyn Monroe and Princess Diana’s deaths to elements of the politics of virtually every regime to have even an ounce of power, we quite simply love them. It’s no surprise, therefore, that the film world has picked up on this and produced hoards of films with a conspiracy theory narrative. So as we all theorise about The News of the World, sit back and enjoy the ten best conspiracy theory films out there!

After the cold reception at the box office, mixed reaction from critics and only two tech award wins at the recent Goya awards with A Sad Trumpet Ballad a.k.a The Last Circus, director Alex de la Iglesia has commenced filming on “La Chispa De La Vida”. Based on an original screenplay by Randy Feldman (“Tango & Cash”), the film stars Salma Hayek (“Frida”) and Spaniard comedian José Mota. Although De la Iglesias has claimed this will be a dramatic feature film, in his own words ”…it has a lot in common with “The Last Circus” intentions wise. A strange story that also makes to think about “La Cabina” by Antonio Mercero in which it resembles story wise since it's about a man that has an accident and is left trapped in such a way that nobody knows how to rescue him, but in this case, the character being a publicist,...

Madrid, Feb 8: Mexican actress Salma Hayek is the star of the new film by moviemaker and president of the Film Academy of Spain, Alex de la Iglesia.

Willy Toledo, Javier Gutierrez, Jose Mota, Juan Luis Galiardo and Santiago Segura complete the cast of ‘La Chispa de la Vida’ (The Spark of Life) to be filmed in Madrid and Cartagena,.

The ultimate Cinco de Mayo celebration requires two things: lots of beer and great music. Enrique Iglesias's new single "I Like It" featuring Pitbull (and a cameo by Lionel Richie) is a perfect party-starter - it's even being included on the upcoming Jersey Shore soundtrack - so People asked the singer, 34, to share the five songs he loves to listen to on the holiday. "Ojala que llueva Café" by Juan Luis Guerra "This is one of the most classic Latin songs of all time," says Iglesias, who recently had Guerra record on one of his tracks. "Si No Te...

The three singers team up for a bilingual funeral in the rain.

By Sabrina Rojas Weiss

Wisin y Yandel's Juan Luis Morera Luna

Photo: MTV News

Reggaeton duo Wisin y Yandel weren't just content to team up with 50 Cent for "Mujeres in the Club" and Spanish crooner Enrique Iglesias for "Gracias a Tí." For "Imagínate," the first single from their La Revolución re-release, La Evolución, they felt it was only logical to recruit one of the most popular collaborators in the biz, T-Pain.

"After doing the song with 50 Cent, I thought this [collaboration] needed to happen," Wisin explained to MTV News on the set of their video for "Imagínate," which premieres on Monday (November 2). "T-Pain is an artist who's been going at it hard for a while now, and when he does something, he leaves his mark."

"T-Pain is one of our favorite artists, and we support him in everything he does,...

The three singers team up for a bilingual funeral in the rain.

By Sabrina Rojas Weiss

Wisin y Yandel's Juan Luis Morera Luna

Photo: MTV News

Reggaeton duo Wisin y Yandel weren't just content to team up with 50 Cent for "Mujeres in the Club" and Spanish crooner Enrique Iglesias for "Gracias a Tí." For "Imagínate," the first single from their La Revolución re-release, La Evolución, they felt it was only logical to recruit one of the most popular collaborators in the biz, T-Pain.

"After doing the song with 50 Cent, I thought this [collaboration] needed to happen," Wisin explained to MTV News on the set of their video for "Imagínate," which premieres on Monday (November 2). "T-Pain is an artist who's been going at it hard for a while now, and when he does something, he leaves his mark."

"T-Pain is one of our favorite artists, and we support him in everything he does,...

Madrid -- Spanish media giant Prisa said its television subsidiary Sogecable had a turnover of 1 billion euros ($1.56 billion) in the first half of the year for the first time and posted a 16% rise in advertising revenue for its audiovisual arm over the same period in 2007 to 291 million euros ($456 million).

Free-to-air television channel Cuatro, which debuted two years ago, garnered 174 million euros ($272.6 million) in ad sales from January-June, up 22.3%, while subscriber channel Digital Plus' ad revenue was flat at 15 million euros ($23.5 million).

Prisa CEO Juan Luis Cebrian said in May that the company would sell all or part of Digital Plus, ending months of speculation about what Prisa planned to do with the dominant player in Spain's pay TV market.

Ad revenue at the company's Portuguese television operations, Media Capital, rose 21.7% to 93 million euros ($145.7 million).

In its first-half results statement released Wednesday, Prisa said the Cuatro's audience share continued to rise with a monthly average of 9.3%.

In June, when Cuatro was the only free-to-air channel broadcasting Spain's march to triumph in the Euro 2008 soccer championship, audience share jumped to 13%.

Prisa Group's overall net profits were up 18.6% to 87 million euros ($136.3 million).

Latest: Latino pop superstar Juanes' free peace concert on the Venezuela-Colombia border was a huge success at the weekend, luring 300,000 music fans to the Simon Bolivar Bridge.

The singer was joined by Ricardo Montaner, Juan Luis Guerra, Miguel Bose and Alejandro Sanz, among others, while fellow Colombian Shakira filmed a video message for the historic show.

The concert's location was carefully chosen - the bridge gig was at the crossroads of Cucuta in Colombia and San Antonio in Venezuela.

Spaniard Sanz, who recently scrapped a concert in Venezuela after comments he made about the country's President Hugo Chavez led to a public outcry, told fans, "It is a pleasure to be here for Colombia, for Venezuela, for Ecuador, for peace.

"This day will go down in history. You're all making history. The message is clear: we don't want wars amongst our people."

Sanz ended his set by performing his hit Corazon partio with event organiser Juanes, Miguel Bose, Vives, Juan Luis Guerra and Velasco.

A modern master at capturing the energy and beauty of dance on film, Spanish writer-director Carlos Saura ("Carmen", "Flamenco") has created a cinematic tribute to the tango in this beautifully made, long-but-captivating movie about love and creativity. With an often intoxicatingly sensual Latin American passion and an excellent cast, "Tango" may not be everybody's cup of tea, but it's a marvelous gift in what has turned out to be a relatively strong year for foreign-language films released domestically.

One of the few unabashedly entertaining festival films unveiled at Cannes this year, "Tango" opens today for an exclusive run at Laemmle's Sunset 5, with distributor Sony Pictures Classics planning to roll it out nationally in February. More destined to be discovered willy-nilly by dedicated cineastes than storming cineplexes, the widescreen "Tango" will surely gather many appreciative fans over time.

If one is expecting an unchallenging backstage romantic drama with great dancing sequences, "Tango" obliges, although the story of filmmaker-theater director-performer Mario (Miguel Angel Sola) and his affair with promising young dancer Elena (Mia Maestro) is not frivolous. The latter is the mistress of a gangster Juan Luis Galiardo) who invests in Mario's projects with the condition that he audition Elena.

In a growing rivalry that thankfully is not taken to extremes but skillfully sketched out like most of the nondancing scenes, Mario's ex-wife Laura (Cecilia Narova) is jealous of Elena's swift rise to prominence. The gangster, meanwhile, threatens but then backs off when Mario and Elena fall in love and don't hide it.

Gaging perfectly one's attention span and seemingly boasting an inexhaustible supply of incredible tango sequences, Saura and his collaborators dazzle with intricate production numbers, where the camera draws the viewer into the colorful, kinetic action, building up to a very serious but impressionistic number about the political turmoil in 1970s-80s Argentina.

Throughout the film -- which has a super musical score by Lalo Schifrin -- Saura and cinematographer Vittorio Storaro ("The Last Emperor") constantly surprise and almost overwhelm with the stunning visuals.

TANGO

Sony Pictures Classics

Pandora Cinema presents

An Argentina Sono Film &

Alma Ata International Pictures co-production

In association with Terraplen Producciones,

Astro Abio Producciones, Adela Pictures,

Beco Films, Hollywood Partners and Saura Films

Writer-director: Carlos Saura

Producers: Luis A. Scalella, Carlos A. Mentasi, Juan Codazzi

Director of photography: Vittorio Storaro

Production designer: Emilio Basaldua

Editor: Julia Juaniz

Music: Lalo Schifrin

Color/stereo

Cast:

Mario: Miguel Angel Sola

Laura: Cecilia Narova

Elena: Mia Maestro

Carlos: Juan Carlos Copes

Ernesto: Carlos Rivarola

Angelo: Juan Luis Galiardo

Running time -- 115 minutes

MPAA rating: PG...

Antonio Mercero's film is a wacky, upbeat, slapstick comedy that is funnier than one would have anticipated. Its lowbrow humor may catch the highbrow art-house crowd a bit off-guard, but it will most likely find them laughing despite themselves. The film's broadness should appeal to even the non-foreign filmgoer.

Don Juan is more like Don Two as the story involves a case of mistaken identity between the real Don Juan and Juan Marquina (both played by Juan Luis Galiardo), an actor portraying the legendary lover in an upcoming play.

It is the eve of Oct. 31, 1990, and the ghost of Don Juan arises from his grave in Seville, Spain. For 450 years his soul has been trapped in purgatory and he is now once again attempting to perform some good deed that will free him from this limbo.

At this same moment and unbeknownst to him, across town an acting troupe is preparing for a production of "Don Juan Tenorio.'' The lead actor, Juan Marquina, is an arrogant, womanizing, egotistical bag of wind who has virtually antagonized every cast and crew member.

In an "artistic'' rage, after losing his wig, he storms off and rendezvouses with a drug kingpin arranging for a big drug exchange. This guy is bad news.

Meanwhile, Marquina's assistant, Ciutti (Vicente Diez), accidentally retrieves the real Don Juan and brings him back to the theater. Once there, the great romancer tries his charms on the leading lady, Dona Ines (Maria Barranco), only to discover that she too mistakes him for Marquina. She suggests Don Juan do something to himself that is anatomically impossible.

The case of the two Don Juans leads to a wildly comic series of misunderstandings that find both of them in trouble, in bed with the same women and in each other's way.

There is also a bunch of supporting players that hilariously add to the chaos. One acrobatic woman (Rossy de Palma) bumblingly tries to somersault her way into Don Juan's bed, while another with similar intentions does all her talking with castanets.

Then there is Police Commissioner Ulloa (Jose Sazatornil) who struggles to catch Marquina in a drug transaction, but can't understand it when Don Juan's image fails to appear on the video surveillance. It's a ghost thing.

Plus there is slapstick aplenty as we find a naked Marquina rolling blindly down a street while trapped in a garbage can on wheels. Or when mistakenly placed in an insane asylum, Marquina has a fight with an inmate who thinks he's a dog.

It all adds up to a laugh-filled, fun-filled ribald romp that is pure unpretentious entertainment. It is with affection that we greet "Don Juan, My Love.''

DON JUAN, MY LOVE

An International Film Exchange Release

DirectorAntonio Mercero

Writers Joaquin Oristrell, Antonio Mercero

Director of photography Carlos Suarez

Editor Rosa Graceli-Salgado

MusicBernardo Bonezzi

Color

In Spanish with subtitles

Cast:

Don Juan/Juan MarquinaJuan Luis Galiardo

Dona InesMaria Barranco

Ana(woman with castanets) Loles Leon

Vuida Prodini (acrobat) Rossy de Palma

Police Commissioner UlloaJose Sazatornil

CiuttiVicente Diez

Ruben (theatre director) Pedro Reyes

Running time ---96 minutes

No MPAA rating

(c) The Hollywood Reporter...