“Emilia Pérez” star Adriana Paz, a Cannes 2024 best actress winner alongside the rest of the film’s female key cast, is headlining “The Huntress” (“La Cazadora”), where she plays a Ciudad Juárez factory worker turned vigilante who attains the status of a legend. “The Huntress” marks the first feature from U.S.-Mexican filmmaker Suzanne Andrews Correa […]

Seen from the 14th floor of its Radisson Hotel, Montevideo’s skyline, bristling with white marble high-rises and monuments, looks like a very different scenario for Ventana Sur, Latin America’s foremost film-TV co-pro forum and market, relocated from its chic Buenos Aires setting for the first time since 2009.  Yet in many ways, this is the […]

Anonymous Content España, backed by Anonymous Content and Spain’s Morena Films (“Piggy,” “Below Zero”), is teaming with Alea Media to produce a series based on Spain’s 1981 Toxic Oil Syndrome, one of – if not the – deadliest case of food poisoning in modern-day Europe. The still-to-be-titled series is the first project announced by Anonymous […]

Jô Serfaty’s “Beyond the Edge,” Jorge Cadena’s “Tropical Malady,” and María Paz Barragán’s “The Tenants” look like potential standouts at the 7th Proyecta project platform at next week’s Ventana Sur. Supported by two powerful partners, Cannes Marché du Film and the San Sebastian Film Festival, Proyecta, will take place place Dec. 4 in Montevideo’s Teatro […]

As “Game of Thrones’” foreign unit line producer and then producer, Duncan Muggoch leveraged some of Spain’s staggering landscapes and historical heritage sites into iconic settings for “Game of Thrones.” He returned to Spain as co-executive producer of “3 Body Problem” to create crucial early scenes in China for the Netflix banner show.  Steve Squillante, […]

“Honour of Persia,” the directorial debut of Cannes best actress winner Zar Amir Ebrahimi (“Holy Spider”), is one of five features at financing stage to be pitched at the Göteborg Film Festival’s first-ever Nordic Gateway curated program. The five international titles – hailing from Germany, Macedonia, Canada and Kosovo – will vie for the Tint […]

Two Brazilian titles, Marcelo Gomes’ “Portrait of a Certain Orient” and Marianne Brennand’s “Manas,” swept the three biggest awards at Spain’s Huelva Ibero-American Film Festival, which wrapped Saturday night in the Southern Spanish city. With Brazil’s Marcelo Caetano scooping a fourth trophy of a total seven on offer for competition titles, Huelva served to confirm […]

Having made a splash with tense and brutal petty crime caper short “No Key,” an Indie Short Fest winner that also screened at Fantastic Fest, Casablanca-born director Walid Messnaoui and fast-building Moroccan production house Caestus Films are preparing Messnaoiu’s first feature, “The Last Beast of Atlas,” described as a twilight Western and drama.  “The Last […]

The 28th Black Nights Film Festival, known as PÖFF, wrapped Nov. 22 with an awards ceremony in Tallinn where filmmakers took centre stage to ask for the end of war in the Middle East, solidarity with Georgia under Russian influence and the defence of culture. Oscar-nominated British-Palestinian filmmaker Farah Nabulsi – whose debut feature “The Teacher” […]

TALLINN, Estonia — Industry @ Tallinn & Baltic Event, one of the leading industry events in Northern Europe, closed Nov. 22 with an awards ceremony where the focus country Germany dominated the list of 15 winning projects at various stages of development or post-production, on top of two accolades to promising producers.  For the first time, […]

Lina Soualem’s Spain-set family tale “Alicante,” Walid Messnaoui’s gangster Western “The Last Beast of Atlas” and Linda Lô’s search-for-identity drama “Lucky Girl” rank as buzz titles at the 7th Atlas Workshops, running Dec. 1-5 at the Marrakech Festival.  “Mud” director Jeff Nichols has already been announced as this year’s Workshops tutor.  They will also unveil […]

Alseni Barthily, who headed Cannes 2020 main competition breakout “Gagarine” is set to star in “Lucky Girl,” the feature debut of Linda Lö set up at France’s Maneki Films, which is shaping up as one of the buzz titles at the Marrakech Festival’s 2024 Atlas Workshops. Selected in the Workshops’ Projects in Development showcase, “Lucky […]

On the heels of a world premiere at the 28th Annual Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival’s First Feature Competition and ahead of its screening at Latin America’s largest film market, Ventana Sur, Paris-based sales outfit MPM Premium and Santiago-based Infractor Films have given Variety exclusive access to the trailer for Chilean filmmaker Diego Figueroa’s frantic psychological thriller, […]

“Quinografía,” a portrait of the famously timid Mafalda cartoonist Quino, and “Habana Libre,” a take on rebellious youth in Cuba, look like potential standouts at Ventana Docs, a selection of 12 doc features from across Latin America and Spain.   A notable number have been developed at prestigious labs, whether Sundance Festival programs (“Bleeding Heart,” “Violent-House-Fiction”) […]

Klaus Härö tells the story of a complicated real-life hero, Abraham Stiller, in World War II drama “Never Alone.” When Jewish refugees sought shelter in Finland, Stiller, a respected member of Finland’s Jewish community, tried to save some of them from deportation. But he “wasn’t flawless,” argued the director after the premiere at Tallinn.    […]

The Mediapro Studio’s “The 47,” placing star Eduard Fernández is a pole position in the Best Actor Goyas race, is breaking box office records in Spain.  Directed by Marcel Barrena, who already showed in “Mediterráneo: The Law of the Sea” his sense of broad audience appeal on movies engaging social issues, results for “The 47” […]

For a brief period, over 1982-86, the U.K. enjoyed a remarkable film renaissance. Four films – “Chariots of Fire,” (1982) “Gandhi,” (1983) “The Killing Fields” (1985) and “The Mission” (1986) – won a total 19 Academy Awards, including Best Picture two years running. All of those films, save “Gandhi,” were produced by David Puttnam. To […]

Ukraine’s Kateryna Vyshnevska is set to receive the very first Honorary TV Beats Producer Award at Tallinn. But she’s not planning to slow down anytime soon, teasing upcoming shows “Moloch” and “A Girl from Tallinn.”  Set in the contemporary world of high politics and secret service intrigue in Central Europe, “Moloch” is produced by Bionaut […]

From the day that Christopher Columbus set sail from Huelva to beach up in the Caribbean, the Spanish city has always had strong ties to Latin America.  With Spain still laboring under the dictatorship of Francisco Franco, when a group of young film buffs at Huelva’s Film Club aimed to galvanize the city’s culture, “It […]