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A duo of scripted projects has landed €100,000 each at Conecta Fiction & Entertainment.

The international content event began last night in the against the dramatic surroundings of the mountainous Spanish city Cuenca, with Patricia Franco, Regional Minister of Economy, Business and Employment of Castilla-La Mancha, using a speech to announce the winning projects of the third Castilla-La Mancha Feature Films and Series Competition.

In the regional category, Piedra, Papel o Tijera, which comes from Toledan production company Altamira Entertainment, won out. The series stars the likes of Aitana Sánchez-Gijón, José Coronado, Irene Escolar and Chino Darín.

In the national category award went to La Celestina, a modern take on the 1499 book by Fernando de Rojas. Directed by Tina Olivares, it stars the likes of Esmeralda Pimentel and Juana Acosta.

A total of 19 projects were submitted for the awards.

The awards were the first news out of the ninth edition of Conecta,...

The world premiere of Spanish social drama La Deuda, thethird feature from actor-director Daniel Guzmán, will open the Malaga International Film Festival (Miff) on March 14.

Guzmán stars as a man living with an elderly woman, plaayed by Itziar Ituño, in a city apartment, while she struggles with her health and he has to confront a precarious job situation. The film is produced by Spain’s Acqu y Alli Films.La Deudatranslates as ‘The Debt’ but no English-language title has been confirmed.

Scroll down for the full line up

Miff showcases Spanish and Ibero-American films to the local and international industry...

A few years back, directors Lois Patiño and Matías Piñeiro joined forces for what was meant to be a very loose adaptation of Shakespeare’s The Tempest. The resulting short, Sycorax, felt like the meeting of two kindred spirits. Piñeiro’s ability to resuscitate the Bard’s texts and graft them onto present-day settings met with Patiño’s keen eye for the otherworldly. The story of a fictional cineaste (Piñeiro regular Agustina Muñoz) who roams the Azores in search of a woman to play the eponymous witch from The Tempest, Sycorax oozed both the playfulness of Piñeiro’s “Shakespeareads” and the sensual, hypnotic aura of Patiño’s Red Moon Tide or Samsara. It was that rare joint project whose two directors worked in perfect symbiosis, each playing to the other’s strengths.

Based on an original idea by Piñeiro and Patiño, through written and directed by the latter only, Ariel...

Right from the opening of Lois Patiño’s endlessly beguiling new film “Ariel,” reality is ruptured. The sky and the sea are mottled with a purple glow. The camera shifts its gaze to a troupe of performers on the shores. It’s a Shakespeare play; there’s a rapt audience watching. Agustina Muñoz plays herself, an actress whom the troupe has tapped to play Ariel from The Tempest.

Set in the Azores, she travels to an island to partake in a production. However, a heightened air of the uncanny sets in on the ferry trip itself. Suddenly, everyone aboard except Agustina slips into sleep, as if hexed. It gets even more confounding when she reaches the island. Each of its inhabitants is a Shakespeare character. Agustina is baffled. She thinks they are all playing some trick on her. But they refuse to shake off their performative air.

It’s everywhere she goes,...

Lights On has secured international sales rights to “Ariel,” the latest feature from acclaimed Galician director Lois Patiño, whose previous work “Samsara” tripped out audiences at the Berlin Film Festival. The film is set to make its world premiere at the International Film Festival Rotterdam(IFFR) on Feb. 11, screening in the Harbour section, a platform for bold and innovative contemporary cinema.

“Ariel” tells the story of Agustina Muñoz, an Argentine actress who arrives on the Azores Islands to perform in a production of Shakespeare’s “The Tempest” with the Galician theater company Voadora.

However, after a strange incident on the ferry over, she notices peculiar behavior among the island’s inhabitants. Guided by a mysterious girl named Ariel, the actress navigates a surreal landscape where reality and fantasy blur, creating an ambiguous, dreamlike world.

The film is a Spain-Portugal co-production by Filmika Galaika and Bando à Parte, shot on location in the Azores.

Àlex Monner volverá a meterse en la piel de Marc Ribó. © Atresplayer

Comienza el rodaje en la Comunidad Valenciana y las Islas Baleares de La Ruta. Vol. 2: Ibiza, la segunda temporada de la serie original de Atresplayer La Ruta.

Esta nueva temporada, de seis episodios, se desarrolla en dos líneas temporales para abordar otra etapa musical distinta y un nuevo enclave: Ibiza. Marc Ribó (Monner) es el DJ residente una de las grandes discotecas de Ibiza en 1996, cuando la isla está a punto de convertirse en la capital del ocio mundial. Aunque solo veinticinco años antes, a principios de los 70, era un oasis de libertad en la España franquista. Esa Ibiza es la que conocen los padres de Marc, pocos meses antes de morir en el famoso accidente aéreo del Caravelle de 1972, con los mismos años que cumplirá Marc al llegar a la isla. Así, la juventud de Marc...

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,...

Lois Patiño, one of the leading lights of the New Galician Cinema in Spain, is putting the final touches to “Ariel,” the highly anticipated follow up to his critically-acclaimed feature ”Samsara” which has secured distribution in more than a dozen territories and won a Special Jury Prize at the Berlinale Encounters 2023.

A contemporary and playful reinterpretation of Shakespeare’s “The Tempest” from the perspective of the character Ariel, the feature, produced by Spain’s Filmika Galaika with Portugal’s Bando à Parte, will be sneak-peeked for the first time ever at the inaugural Ecam Forum co-production market, set to run June 10-14 in Madrid.

Producer Beli Martínez said more than 80% of the financing is locked via broadcasting partners Rtp in Portugal, Tvg in Galicia, Spain, public funders Agadic in Galicia and Spanish federal agency Icaa and Turismo de Portugal.

At Ecam Forum, she will be looking for post-production financing, distribution and sales.

Descúbrelo todo sobre el nuevo thriller español de Disney Plus+. © Disney+

Ya está disponible el tráiler oficial de la serie original de Disney+ “Las Largas Sombras”, un poderoso thriller femenino de 6 episodios que reflexiona sobre el peso de la culpa y cómo evoluciona la amistad de un grupo de amigas con el paso de los años. La serie, que cuenta con un equipo íntegramente femenino delante y detrás de las cámaras, es la historia de un grupo de mujeres cuyas estables vidas de éxito se ven repentinamente sacudidas por la aparición de los restos mortales de una de sus compañeras de instituto, desaparecida durante el viaje de fin de curso a Mallorca veinticinco años antes. Y es que, de primeras la serie nos recuerda algo a “Big Little Lies”, una serie muy aclamada y que ha sido una de las claras referencias de la cineasta a la hora de crear este intrigante thriller.

Descúbrelo todo sobre el thriller emocional producido por J.A. Bayona. © Universal Pictures

Universal Pictures ha publicado el tráiler y el póster de “Caída Libre”, un thriller emocional producido por Juan Antonio Bayona que promete ser una adición más al tropo del ‘artista obsesionado’ (ese tropo que vemos en “Whiplash” o “Cisne Negro”).

El filme está protagonizado por Belén Rueda en el papel de una autoritaria entrenadora de gimnasia rítmica cuya vida personal se resquebraja. A sus 60 años, Marisol (Rueda), Es una entrenadora emblemática de gimnasia rítmica de élite, la mejor. Es metódica, controladora, autoritaria, dominante, se irrita con facilidad y carece de la más mínima capacidad de autocrítica. Ha construido un mundo a su medida, que se resquebraja el día en que Octavio, su marido, le confiesa que se marcha de casa para rehacer su vida con una mujer más joven a la que ha dejado embarazada. Ella se embarca...

Screen shines a light on 30 European titles that look set to grab the attention of festival directors in 2023, including new features by Tom Tykwer, Paz Vega, Paolo Sorrentino, Cecilia Verheyden and Baltasar Kormakur.

For our separate list of French festival hopefuls for 2024, click here.

Ariel (Sp-Por)

Dir. Lois Patiño

Patiño won the Encounters special jury prize at Berlin last year for Samsara and picked up the emerging director prize at Locarno in 2013 with Coast Of Death. His latest is a free adaptation of William Shakespeare’s The Tempest, shot in Galicia and The Azores islands. Ariel stars Goya winner Irene Escolar...

The loose, lolling chapters of “The Girls Are Alright” are marked and separated by a simple visual motif: for each one, a different close-up panel of ornately illustrated Toile de Jouy fabric, rendered in various pastel shades against a calico background. The material’s distinctive period pastoral scenes, depicting gussied-up women in various states of passive repose and their corresponding noblemen, contrast pleasingly with the more modern, less dependent portrait of 21st-century femininity presented in Spanish writer-director-star Itsaso Arana’s short, sweet, winsome freshman feature. When its female characters don Toile-appropriate corsets and hoop skirts, it’s with a postmodern, literally performative sense of irony.

For the five women descending on a sleepy, tucked-away villa at the outset of Arana’s film are all in the theater — four of them actors, one a playwright — with the reflective, hyper-examined ways of being that come with that environment, where even real life...

Spanish actress Itsaso Arana proves that “Girls Are Alright” with her directorial debut, vying for the Crystal Globe at Karlovy Vary Film Festival.

Known to the festival’s audience thanks to Jonás Trueba’s “August Virgin,” which she also co-wrote, she is currently readying their next project, set to shoot in the autumn.

“That experience, as well as his other films I starred in, have been profoundly significant in my life. Jonás is a great inspiration,” says Arana. But after years of collaborations, however satisfying, she is ready to venture out on her own.

“I have always created collectively or in a partnership, and I needed to prove to myself I was capable of leading a project. For better or worse, it’s mine,” she says, calling the process “healing.”

“I feel like acting, writing and directing, at least as I experience it, are part of the same thing. These...

Belén Rueda stars in drama about demanding national gymnastics coach.

Spanish sales company Film Factory has boarded Laura Jou’s Free Falling, which is being produced by Juan Antonio Bayona and stars Belén Rueda.

Bayona, who directed Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom and The Impossible, is producing Free Fall alongside his regular producers Sandra Hermida and Belén Atienza at Suspense Entertainment, who are both behind Bayona’s upcoming The Society of Snow for Netflix. Free Fall is also co-produced by Oriol Maymó Corte at Confección de Películas.

Free Falling is Jou’s second feature after Life Without Sara Amat, which won plaudits from local reviewers.

Belén Rueda stars in drama about demanding national gymnastics coach.

Spanish sales company Film Factory has boarded Laura Jou’s Free Fall, which is being produced by Juan Antonio Bayona and stars Belén Rueda.

Bayona, who directed Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom and The Impossible, is producing Free Fall alongside his regular producers Sandra Hermida and Belén Atienza at Suspense Entertainment, who are both behind Bayona’s upcoming The Society of Snow for Netflix. Free Fall is also co-produced by Oriol Maymó Corte at Confección de Películas.

Free Fall is Jou’s second feature after Life Without Sara Amat, which won plaudits from local reviewers.

Bendita Film Sales has grown its slate acquiring Itsaso Arana’s directorial debut “The Girls Are Alright,” (“Las chicas están bien”).

The acquisition marks the latest pick up by the Tenerife based-outfit following recent announcements on Juan Sebastián Torales’ “Almamula,” and Lois Patiño’s “Samsara,” both featuring at the Berlinale. The film has already secured domestic distribution in Spain with Elástica Films.

“Itsaso gave us the chance to read one of the first versions of the script for ‘The Girls Are Alright.’ We immediately fell in love and realized that we were dealing with a singular talent, with a unique vision,” said Luis Renart, head of Bendita Film Sales. “It has been a pleasure to follow the evolution of this project and to finally discover this beautiful, festive and unique film, which we are thrilled to bring to audiences around the world,” he added.

Arana has built a strong reputation in film,...

Dir: Gaston Duprat, Mariano Cohn. Starring: Penelope Cruz, Antonio Banderas, Oscar Martinez, Jose Luis Gomez, Irene Escolar, Manolo Solo. 15, 114 minutes.

Is the film industry’s obsession with poking fun at its own excesses just another form of vanity? After the hundredth comedy about conceited artists and their many gluttonies (see: Judd Apatow’s painfully unfunny The Bubble), it all starts to feel a little like the dirtbag boyfriend who loves to apologise for how “messed up” he is, but never makes the slightest attempt to fix his behaviour. Gaston Duprat and Mariano Cohn’s Official Competition may be yet another satire on filmmaking, but it’s the rare iteration that’s nuanced enough to understand that self-awareness does not equal absolution.

The Argentinian directors have, admittedly, corralled exactly the sort of headline-grabbing cast that normally populates these indulgent meta-comedies. Official Competition marks the first time Pedro Almodovar’s two most recognisable collaborators,...

Whether you’ve moved out of the city, or your friends have, there’s much to relate to in You Have To Come And See It (Tenéis Que Venir A Verla). This Spanish film from Jonás Trueba (The August Virgin) is an enjoyable entry into the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival Competition, centering on two couples in their thirties, who used to hang out in Madrid.

Elena (Itsaso Arana) and Daniel (Vitor Sanz) are still wedded to the city, unlike their friends Susana (Irene Escolar) and Guillermo. The latter pair have moved out to a small rural town, and returned to the city for a rare reunion at a piano concert.

We know it’s rare because, over a glass of wine after the show, Susana and Guillermo appear to have been counting the months. You have to come and see it,...

In Spain there is a tradition called “la hora del vermut” (the vermouth hour) which refers to a little stretch of time before lunch when you sip vermouth to prepare your stomach for the meal to come. Spanish director Jonás Trueba’s “You Have to Come and See It,” one of the late-breaking joys of the Karlovy Vary competition, only just crosses la hora mark, but it is as sociable and swiggable as a draught or ten of sweetly fortified wine. In fact, it’s an aperitif that proves so satisfying, so simple and sunny and sage, that you might find yourself filling up on its drowsily erudite, oddly nourishing pleasures and forgetting about lunch altogether.

Even the opening titles are a zippy, witty delight, popping up onscreen in time to a skittery uptempo piano piece which, as we learn by the burst of applause that cutely occurs just as Trueba’s writer-director credit appears,...

"Wait, it doesn't end there." IFC Films has finally revealed an official US trailer for Official Competition, the amusing Argentinian satire about making an indie film for film festivals. It's made by two Argentinian filmmakers, and the film co-stars the powerhouse duo Penelope Cruz and Antonio Banderas. A wealthy businessman hires an enigmatic art-house filmmaker to help make an award-winning film based on a Nobel Prize-winning novel. She casts two superstar leads that hate each other. Alternating between exacerbating the actors' mutual antipathy and uniting in their shared discomfort with her psychologically tumultuous rehearsal techniques, Lola seeks to capture the drama of two alpha males vying for the limelight — but it won't be long before the gambit goes off the rails. Also starring Irene Escolar, Melina Matthews, Oscar Martínez, Pilar Castro, Manolo Solo, and Karina Kolokolchykova. This premiered last year at both the Venice & Toronto Film Festivals (here's the teaser...

It’s about to be film festival season again when things really kick off in May at the Cannes Film Festival, and so what better time than to release the trailer for “Official Competition,” a comedy that skewers Cannes, red carpet glitz, and the entire film festival industrial complex. One of the delightful stand outs of last year’s Venice Film Festival, “Official Competition,” the film skewers the entire business and does so with leads Penélope Cruz, Antonio Banderas, along with Oscar Martínez, José Luis Gómez, Nagore Aranburu, Irene Escolar, Manolo Solo, Pilar Castro, and Koldo Olabarri.

Continue reading ‘Official Competition’ Trailer: Penélope Cruz & Antonio Banderas Skewer Cannes, Film Festivals & More at The Playlist.

Exclusive: It’s a homecoming for April King: William Morris Endeavor announced today that King is returning to the agency to join the talent department.

King comes from ICM, where she secured opportunities in film, scripted and non-scripted television, theatre and podcasts for the agency’s music, comedy and acting clients.

Her clients included Kalen Allen, Luke James, Ne-Yo, Quinta Brunson, Tiffany Boone and Thuso Mbedu. James and Mbedu are joining King at WME as well as Irene Escolar, Alexis Floyd and Letoya Luckett.

King started her career as an agent trainee at WME and worked with clients including Christina Milian, Nas and Keke Palmer.

Her appointment is effective today.

"It's not the first time I've worked with an idiot." Madman Films in Australia has unveiled an official trailer for Official Competition, the kooky Argentinian satire about making an indie film to play at film festivals. It's made by two Argentinian filmmakers and co-stars the powerhouse duo Penelope Cruz and Antonio Banderas. A wealthy businessman hires an enigmatic art-house filmmaker to help make an award-winning film based on a Nobel Prize-winning novel. She casts two superstar leads that hate each other. Alternating between exacerbating the actors' mutual antipathy and uniting them in their shared discomfort with her psychologically tumultuous rehearsal techniques, Lola seeks to capture the drama of two alpha males vying for the limelight — but it won't be long before the gambit goes off the rails. Also starring Irene Escolar, Melina Matthews, Oscar Martínez, Pilar Castro, Manolo Solo, and Karina Kolokolchykova. This premiered last year at both the Venice...

"It's not the first time I've worked with an idiot." Yes!! This is going to be amazing. An early teaser trailer has debuted for a film titled Official Competition, which is riffing on film festivals and art house films and making fun of them. The film is a satire from two Argentinian filmmakers and co-stars the powerhouse duo Penelope Cruz and Antonio Banderas. From this first look, it could be described as The Square but for festivals, making fun of them and how ridiculous all the films are playing in the "official competition." A wealthy businessman hires a famous filmmaker to make a smash hit film. "Through a series of increasingly eccentric challenges set by Lola, Felix and Iván must face not only each other, but also their own legacies." Also starring Irene Escolar, Melina Matthews, Oscar Martínez, Pilar Castro, Manolo Solo, and Karina Kolokolchykova. Oh I am All about...

Peacock has launched international drama series Dime Quién Soy: Mistress of War, based on Julia Navarro’s bestselling novel. The streamer released all nine episodes today, March 8, in celebration of International Women’s Day. The series is streaming in both English and Spanish.

Created by José Manuel Lorenzo and written by Piti Español, Dime Quién Soy: Mistress of War tells the story of Amelia Garayoa, a Spanish socialite who is suddenly plunged into the world of international espionage. Set in 1934 amid a turbulent Europe, Amelia leaves behind her family to join the fight for freedom. When Amelia is enlisted as an international spy, intrigue, war, love and espionage quickly become the center of her life placing her in the middle of the most important events in the history of 20th century Europe.

The series stars Irene Escolar, Pablo Derqui, Oriol Plá, Will Keen, Pierre Kiwitt, and Maria Pia Calzone.

Dime...

Having closed Latin America with HBO earlier this year, Beta Film has clinched first-phase sales in Europe on “Tell Me Who I Am,” an epic tale of a woman’s emancipation, and its cost, which celebrates its international premiere today at Mipcom Online Plus.

First fruit of a three-year, three series co-production alliance between Spain’s Movistar Plus and Telemundo Intl. Studios (Tis) in the U.S., “Tell Me Who I Am” has closed Nordic territories, selling to Norway’s Nrk, Denmark’s Dr and Yle in Finland, the public broadcasters in all three countries.

Further deals on the historical drama, which spans the Spanish Civil War, WWII and the fall of the Berlin Wall, take in Portugal (Rtp) and Greece and Cyprus (Forthnet Group). Tis is handling distribution in the U.S.; Movistar Plus plans an event release release in Spain.

Further deals are in final negotiations, Beta Film announced Tuesday.

One of Spanish pay TV Movistar Plus’ most ambitious pushes into original, international TV yet, the 20th Century-spanning period drama “Tell Me Who I Am,” will headline Monday evening’s Movistar Gala at the San Sebastian Film Festival, screening episodes out of competition.

Director Eduard Cortés will be joined on the red carpet by lead actors Irene Escolar and Oriel Pla, screenwriter and author of book on which the series is based Julia Navarro, producer José Luis Escolar, executive producer José Manuel Lorenzo and Movistar Plus head of original programming Domingo Corral.

Following its protagonist, a Spanish upper-class socialite turned reluctant spy after falling for a Russian agent, “Tell Me Who I Am” shot for eight months in more than 300 locations across Europe, employing more than 3,000 actors and extras and choreographing action scenes on a level rarely seen in Spanish TV, if ever. A benchmark series for the Telefonica pay TV’s international ambitions,...

Spanish producer-distributor and sales agent Filmax will handle international rights on Lara Izagirre’s “Nora,” the film opener at this year’s San Sebastian Zinemira Basque cinema showcase.

Selected for San Sebastian’s Europe-Latin America Co-Production Forum in 2018, “Nora” is Izagirre’s second feature, following on ”An Autumn Without Berlin,” a Basque homecoming drama which scored a best new actress Goya award for Irene Escolar in 2016.

A co-production between Gariza Films and Tandem Films in Spain and France’s La Fidèle Production, “Nora” turns on a 30-year-old woman who lives with her grandfather in a small village in the north of the Basque Country. Although her dream is to become a travel writer, she is stuck writing the horoscope for the local paper and taking care of her friend Meri.

“My grandparents were the inspiration behind ‘Nora.’ They are four very different people but even when life got tough, they...

BritBox Acquires ‘Cold Courage’

BritBox UK has acquired Viaplay and Lionsgate’s John Simm-fronted political drama Cold Courage. The BBC and ITV-owned streamer will premiere the eight-part series on September 3, telling the story of how two Finnish women get drawn into a clandestine group dedicated to righting the wrongs of the powerful, influential and corrupt. Based on the award-winning and best-selling books by Pekka Hiltunen, Cold Courage was written by BAFTA-nominated David Joss Buckley (Hinterland) and Brendan Foley (The Riddle). The series is produced by Markku Flink and Pauli Pentti, and directed by Agenta Fagerstrom-Olsson and Kadir Ferati Balci. Fredrik Ljungberg, Jon Petersson, Kjartan Por Pordarson, Cormac Fox, Tom Hameeuw, Peter De Maegd and Marc B. Lorber are executive Pproducers.

Banijay Recruits Owain Walbyoff As Commercial Chief

Banijay has hired former Endemol Shine Group executive Owain Walbyoff to the newly-created role of chief commercial officer. Walbyoff will be...

Standout Spanish cinema actors Irene Escolar and Bárbara Lennie have teamed on a new anthology series commissioned by HBO España and produced by Calle Cruzada.

Created and executive produced by the pair (pictured), who will also perform in the show, “Escenario 0” features six episodes from prominent writers and filmmakers. A unique project that will mix different disciplines to create an exceptional fusion between the performing and audiovisual arts.

“Escanario 0” is the latest example of HBO Europe looking to tap Spanish talent for its HBO Spain original programming. Previous series include Isabel Coixet’s “Foodie Love” and Álex de la Iglesia’s “30 Coins,” as well as the much-anticipated series adaptation of best-selling novel “Patria,” and recently announced comedy series “Por H o por B.”

Commission

Keshet has closed a deal for a Dutch remake of the popular musical quiz program “The Hit List,” commissioned by public broadcaster Npo to be produced locally by Vincent TV.

Movistar Plus’ first U.S. co-production, “Tell Me Who I Am,” produced with Telemundo, has been sold by Germany’s Beta Film to HBO Latin America, a deal announced today during the sales company’s pioneering live virtual pitching event – Beta Summer Insights.

In addition to the Latin American deal, Telemundo’s boarding production at last year’s Natpe ensured U.S. distribution for the series as well.

One of Movistar Plus’ biggest gambles since moving into original production, deals for U.S. and Latin American distribution look like promising early payback, and that payout is likely.

Based on the popular Spanish novel “Dime Quien Soy” from writer Julia Navarro, the series takes place across multiple decades of the 20th century, kicking off when 30-something internet journalist Javier is tasked by his aunt to investigate the life of his great-grandmother, Amelia Garayoa, who left her husband and son behind her...

Munich-based TV sales company Beta Film is launching an extended virtual sales pitch, titled Beta Summer Insights, which will stream live on June 18 from 10.00 a.m. to 12.30 p.m. (Cest).

Guests will be able to take a look inside Beta’s upcoming productions, which come from across Europe and cover a variety of genres, from period drama to young adult, and from crime procedural to comedy.

The event will include visits to the sets of productions during their shoots, live Q&As with creatives and producers, presentations of upcoming series, and, during the last hour, visitors will be able to enjoy a live screening of two of Beta’s new series.

The event is a next step in Beta’s online marketing strategy, providing a bridge between the international TV markets MipTV and Mipcom, and is given greater urgency given that sales agents are unable to visit their clients for their usual updates.

In this week’s packed International TV Newswire, as newsflow quickens, Movistar Plus’ first U.S. co-production, with Telemundo, gets release details and a first teaser, Finnish drama “Shadow Lines” sells in the U.S., U.K. and other key territories, Fremantle announces its first steps into kids programming with partner 720 Creative, Red Arrow sells “Vienna Blood” in Europe and Asia, Moonbug brings cartoon “Mia’s Magic Playground” to the Sky in the U.K., and Blue Ant Media launches Smithsonian Channel in South Korea.

Movistar, Telemundo’s “Tell Me Who I Am” Gets First Trailer, Broadcast Details

Movistar Plus, the pay TV and production arm of Spanish telco giant Telefonica, has released the first trailer for its ambitious new series “Tell Me Who I Am,” the company’s first-ever U.S. co-production, following a strategic deal struck with Telemundo at last year’s Natpe, which also guaranteed U.S.

Hollywood stars Antonio Banderas and Penelope Cruz are set to co-star in a new film titled "Competencia Oficial" (Official Competition).

The project from Madrid's The Mediapro Studio will be directed by Argentine filmmakers Mariano Cohn and Gaston Duprat. The actors recently starred in "Pain and Glory", although they never appeared together on screen, reports variety.com.

Also Read:?Pedro Almod?var talks about reuniting with the people he's worked with before

The last time the Spanish actors shared a scene was in the 2013 film "I'm So Excited".

Other cast members include Spanish veteran Jose Luis Gomez, Carlos Hipolito, Irene Escolar, Koldo Olabarri, Nagore Aranburu, Pilar Castro and Juan Grandinetti.

Madrid — Spain’s two most recognizable cinematic faces, Antonio Banderas and Penélope Cruz, will co-star in a new film from Madrid’s The Mediapro Studio, titled “Competencia Oficial” (Official Competition), directed by Argentine filmmakers Mariano Cohn and Gastón Duprat.

The pair recently both starred in Pedro Almodóvar’s “Pain and Glory,” although they never appeared together on screen. Banderas went on to win best actor at the Cannes Festival, a Spanish Academy Goya Award, and is now nominated for best actor at the Oscars.

Although the two have seen plenty of each other over the past year, promoting “Pain and Glory,” the last time they shared a scene was in 2013’s “I’m So Excited.”

Cohn and Duprat have recruited one of their most popular Argentine mature leading men to join the endeavor as well in Oscar Martínez, a Venice best actor winner for his work in “The Distinguished Citizen...

Penélope Cruz and Antonio Banderas are to topline Spanish-language feature Competencia Oficial, which is due to get underway in Spain at the end of next month. Veteran Argentine actor Oscar Martínez will also star.

The movie is co-written and co-directed by Argentine filmmaking duo Mariano Cohn and Gastón Duprat. Andrés Duprat also scripted. The MediaPro Studio is producing.

Banderas and Martínez will play actors with very different track records whose methods clash during the preparation for a movie financed by a notorious and over-eager millionaire. Cruz will play the film’s prestigious but eccentric director.

Additional cast includes José Luis Gómez, Carlos Hipólito, Koldo Olabarri, Irene Escolar, Nagore Aramburu, Pilar Castro and Juan Grandinetti.

This will be The MediaPro Studio’s third co-production with Cohn and Duprat after My Masterpiece and 4×4.

Madrid — Movistar Plus’ upcoming original series “Tell Me Who I Am,” based on Julia Navarro’s popular Spanish novel “Dime Quien Soy,” has finished shooting and will head to post-production for delivery later this year.

Set across multiple decades of the 20th century, the story kicks off with 30-something internet journalist Javier, tasked by his aunt to investigate the life of his great-grandmother, Amelia Garayoa, who left her husband and son behind her as she fled Spain as a result of the Spanish Civil War in 1936.

Amelia becomes embroiled in some of the most important historical events of the century, from Franco’s ascent in Spain, the uprising and liberation of Berlin, the rise of Stalin’s communist U.S.S.R., the barbarity of Warsaw’s ghettos, Rome in the final years of Mussolini and the decline of Nazi Germany in occupied Athens. With a foot in both the past and future,...

Beta Film has added two more high-profile Spanish scripted series from Movistar Plus to its lineup ahead of Mipcom. The Germany-based content outfit has a history of selling Spanish drama globally, and has snagged the rights to action-thriller “La Unidad” and drama series “Tell Me Who I Am.”

The scripted series will be highlights of the Movistar Plus 2020 lineup as the pay-tv and streaming outfit goes deeper into original drama. Beta and Movistar Plus have a co-production and distribution deal in place, with recent successes including Alex Pina’s “The Pier,” Leticia Dolera‘s “Perfect Life” and Paco Leon’s “Arde Madrid.”

Beta Film will bring the two new dramas to market for the first time at Mipcom, the biggest event on the international TV calendar. Both “La Unidad” and “Tell Me Who I Am” are in production, and the focus at Mipcom will be pre-sales.

“La Unidad” re-teams director...

This year, the motion picture academy made history by inviting an equal number of women and men to join. In all, 842 film professionals were invited to become part of the organization that hands out the Oscars. Compare this intake to the totals of the previous five years: a record 928 in 2018; 774 in 2017; 683 in 2016; 322 in 2015; and 271 in 2014.

While Academy Awards nominees are automatically eligible for consideration, the rest of the candidates must go through a fairly cumbersome process. A candidate must meet certain branch specific requirements before even being eligible.

For example, actors must “have a minimum of three theatrical feature film credits, in all of which the roles played were scripted roles, one of which was released in the past five years, and all of which are of a caliber that reflect the high standards of the Academy.” For writers, directors and producers they need have just two of these credits.

In its continuing push to swell the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences membership ranks, 842 artists and executives from 59 countries have been invited to join this year. The branches have increasingly actively sought eligible people to become Academy members, but the Board of Governors makes the final call.

People of color (29 percent) and women (50 percent) are among the many invites, as the Academy continues to address its long-term white-male dominance. As always, actors make up the largest branch of the Academy, but many new members also come from overseas.

In 2018, the Academy invited 928 new members.

Twenty-one Oscar winners are among the new invited members, including Guy Nattiv (“Skin”), filmmaker Jimmy Chin (“Free Solo”), Phil Lord, and Chris Miller (“Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse”), and 82 Oscar nominees (including newbies like Lady Gaga and “Roma” breakout Marina de Tavira). Ten of the 17 branches invited more women than men. The percentage of women...

In its continuing push to swell the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences membership ranks, 842 artists and executives from 59 countries have been invited to join this year. The branches have increasingly actively sought eligible people to become Academy members, but the Board of Governors makes the final call.

People of color (29 percent) and women (50 percent) are among the many invites, as the Academy continues to address its long-term white-male dominance. As always, actors make up the largest branch of the Academy, but many new members also come from overseas.

In 2018, the Academy invited 928 new members.

Twenty-one Oscar winners are among the new invited members, including Guy Nattiv (“Skin”), filmmaker Jimmy Chin (“Free Solo”), Phil Lord, and Chris Miller (“Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse”), and 82 Oscar nominees (including newbies like Lady Gaga and “Roma” breakout Marina de Tavira). Ten of the 17 branches invited more women than men. The percentage of women...

Half of the 842 new members invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences are women, the group announced on Monday.

The organization behind the Oscars also disclosed that 29% of the new invitees are people of color. Should those people accept, and they almost universally do, the Academy will have doubled the percentage of nonwhite people in their ranks in four years.

In 2015, people of color accounted for only 8% of the Academy body. In 2019, it stands at 16%, the Academy reported. As it stands, the Academy counts 8,946 active members, with 8,733 eligible to vote on the Oscars. The total membership including retired members is 9,794. This year’s number falls short of 2018’s record of 928 invitations.

New members in this round include “Crazy Rich Asians” director Jon Chu, actors Winston Duke and Gemma Chan, and screenwriters Ritesh Batra (“Photograph”), Chinonye Chukwu (“Clemency”), Park Young-soo (“Detective Dee”) and Ryo Sakaguchi (“Ant-Man and the Wasp...

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has invited 842 new members in their annual effort to bring in new blood to the organization that hands out the Oscars. This is down from the 928 members invited last year, but 50% of this year’s number are women, inching closer to the goal of creating an even playing field between female and male members. It marks an 7% increase in female members from 2015 to an overall 32% of the entire organization.

A total of 29% of the new class revealed Monday are people of color, marking an 8% increase in that statistic since 2015. Among the new invitees, 21 are already Oscar winners and 82 are past Oscar nominees.

New members among the acting branch include recent Best Song winner Lady Gaga, who is also being invited to the music branch; Sterling K. Brown; Claire Foy; and actors ranging in age from 23-year-old Spider-Man Tom Holland to the (shamefully) never-nominated legendary French star,...

Basque company Gariza Films is partnering with France’s La Fidèle to co-produce “Ane & Peio, A Paprika Love Story,” writer-director Lara Izagirre’s follow-up to “An Autumn Without Berlin.”

Izagirre caught attention with “Berlin,” a Basque homecoming drama which earned a best new actress Goya award for Irene Escolar in 2016.

One of the 17 movie projects selected to be pitched at the San Sebastian Festival’s 7th Europe-Latin America Co-Production Forum, “Ane & Peio” is set up at Gariza, and produced by Itxaso Espinal and Jokin Etcheverria at La Fidèle.

The story turns on Ane, a 30-year-old journalist whose dream has always been to be a travel writer and spend her life globetrotting. But her hopes don’t coincide with reality: She lives in Amorebieta, a small town in the Basque Country, sharing a flat with her grandfather.

However, Ane decides to change her life and starts to look for her first love,...

Miami Dade College’s (Mdc) Miami Film Festival (Mff) is importing film artists Jean-Marc Barr and Mateo Gil to accompany two Marquee events at the international festival’s upcoming 35th anniversary edition (March 9 – 18). The Miami Film Festival, under director Jaie Laplante, showcases Ibero-American cinema — and rising talent –and provides a North American launch pad for new international and documentary films.

In the last five years, the Festival has screened films from more than 60 countries, including 300 World, International, North American, U.S. and East Coast Premieres, and attracted more than 60,000 attendees, including 400 filmmakers and industry professionals.

The Festival’s Marquee series features screenings along with in-depth conversations with contemporary film personalities. Spanish filmmaker Mateo Gil will present the World premiere of his latest film, “The Laws of Thermodynamics” (“Las leyes de la termodinámica”), a romantic comedy starring Vito Sanz (“Maria (and the Others)”) as a Sciences graduate student who blames his disastrous...

Miami Dade College’s (Mdc) Miami Film Festival (Mff) is importing film artists Jean-Marc Barr and Mateo Gil to accompany two Marquee events at the international festival’s upcoming 35th anniversary edition (March 9 – 18). The Miami Film Festival, under director Jaie Laplante, showcases Ibero-American cinema — and rising talent –and provides a North American launch pad for new international and documentary films.

In the last five years, the Festival has screened films from more than 60 countries, including 300 World, International, North American, U.S. and East Coast Premieres, and attracted more than 60,000 attendees, including 400 filmmakers and industry professionals.

The Festival’s Marquee series features screenings along with in-depth conversations with contemporary film personalities. Spanish filmmaker Mateo Gil will present the World premiere of his latest film, “The Laws of Thermodynamics” (“Las leyes de la termodinámica”), a romantic comedy starring Vito Sanz (“Maria (and the Others)”) as a Sciences graduate student who blames his disastrous...

Sometimes, all it takes is something housed in a cave to stir up some serious controversy. The first trailer for the Antonio Banderas-led Finding Altamira has arrived, following an archaeologist (Banderas) in 1879 who stumbles upon paintings with his daughter in a cave in northern Spain that brings to question the current conceptions of faith and being.

These revelations — and the questions they bring with them — threaten to tear apart his familial life, as well as the world at large, as the understanding of wall paintings over 10,000 years old strike at the hearts and minds of the faithful. The film is directed by Hugh Hudson (Chariots of Fire), and also stars Rupert Everett, Irene Escolar, Tábata Cerezo, Javivi, and About Elly and Paterson‘s Golshifteh Farahani.

See the trailer below, along with the poster.

In 1879, Spanish archaeologist Marcelino (Banderas) and his daughter Maria (Allen) discover seemingly impossible paintings of galloping...

Exclusive: Irene Escolar, who won a Goya Breakthrough Performance Award for her first starring role in Lara Izagirre's romantic drama An Autumn Without Berlin (Un otoño sin Berlin), and has since gone on to star in a vast array of roles in Spanish film, TV and theater, has signed with ICM Partners. Her other film credits include Altamira, The Broken Crown (playing the same role she did on the TV show). She also appears in the upcoming film adaptation of the Calderon de la…...

Exclusive: Irene Escolar, who won a Goya Breakthrough Performance Award for her first starring role in Lara Izagirre's romantic drama An Autumn Without Berlin (Un otoño sin Berlin), and has since gone on to star in a vast array of roles in Spanish film, TV and theater, has signed with ICM Partners. Her other film credits include Altamira, The Broken Crown (playing the same role she did on the TV show). She also appears in the upcoming film adaptation of the Calderon de la…...

The Academia de las Artes y Ciencias Cinematográficas de España has announced the nominees for the 30th edition of the Goya Awards, to be presented on February 6.

The finalist with most nominations is "La Novia" (The Bride) , which had its world premiere in the Zabaltegi section at the last edition of the San Sebastian Festival. The film by Paula Ortiz is nominated in twelve categories: Best Film, Best Director, Best Actress (Inma Cuesta), Best Actor (Asier Etxeandia), Best Supporting Actress (Luisa Gavasa), Best New Actor (Álex García), Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Original Music, Best Sound, Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction and Best Makeup and/or Hairstyles.

"Truman," the film by Cesc Gay which competed in the Official Selection and won the best actor award for Ricardo Darin and Javier Cámara at the last edition, earned six nominations: Best film, Best Director, Best Actor (Ricardo Darin), Best Supporting Actor (Javier Cámara), Best Original Screenplay and Best Editing.

The winner of the best actress award at the last Festival, Yordanka Ariosa for Agustí Villaronga’s "El Rey de La Habana" (The King of Havana), received a Best New Actress nomination alongside another two in the Best Cinematography and Best Adapted Screenplay categories.

Another two titles screened in the Official Selection have landed nominations: "Amama" (When a Tree Falls) for Best New Actress (Iraia Elias), and the film by Álex de la Iglesia, "Mi Gran Noche" (My Big Night) , premiered out of competition, which competes for the Best Art Director, Best Costume Design, Best Sound and Best Special Effects Goya Awards.

Another two titles that premiered in this year’s Zabaltegi section are also among the finalists. Álvaro Longoria’s "The Propaganda Game" is nominated for best documentary, while Fernando Colomo competes for the best new actor award with his movie "Isla Bonita."

Dani de la Torre’s "El Desconocido" (Retribution) , screened in the Velodrome section, garnered eight candidacies: Best New Director, Best Actor (Luis Tosar), Best Supporting Actress (Elvira Mínguez), Best Original Screenplay, Best Production Supervision, Best Editing, Best Sound and Best Special Effects.

Furthermore, Borja Cobeaga's "Negociador" (Negociator), which premiered in the Zabaltegi section at the 62nd edition of the Festival, landed a nomination for Best Original Screenplay.

"Un Otoño Sin Berlin" (An Autumn without Berlin) by Lara Izagirre, opening film of the Zinemira section, also got a nomination for Best new Actress for Irene Escolar.

Two films that also screened at the San Sebastian Festival compete for the Best Foreign Film in the Spanish Language Award: Pablo Trapero’s "El Clan" (The Clan) screened in the Pearls section following its premiere at the Venice Festival; and Salvador del Solar’s "Magallanes" winner of the Films in Progress Award at the 62nd edition of the Festival, before going on to form part of this year’s Horizontes Latinos selection.

Another three nominated were programmed as part of the Made in Spain section, following their premiere at the Malaga Festival: Daniel Guzmán’s "A Cambio de Nada" (Nothing in Return) , with six nominations, Leticia Dolera’s "Requisitos Para Ser Una Persona Normal," with three candidacies and Gracia Querejeta’s "Felices 140" (Happy 140) , which competes for two awards.