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Netflix launched two new film titles and shared details on several projects currently in development at a buzzy showcase this afternoon at the San Sebastian Film Festival.

The streamer announced at the event that it will back two new genre projects, Cortafuego directed by David Victori (Cross The Line), and The Black Widow from filmmaker Carlos Sedes (The Summer We Lived).

The Black Widow will be produced by Ramón Campos, Bambú Producciones. The official synopsis shared by the streamer reads: August 2017. The body of a man appears in a parking lot in Valencia, stabbed seven times. Everything points to a crime of passion. The city’s Homicide Group, led by a veteran inspector, begins an investigation against the clock that soon leads them to a suspect that no one expected: Maje, the young widow, sweet and serene, who had been married to the victim for less than a year.

Cortafuego,...

San Sebastian — At one of the biggest industry gatherings at this year’s San Sebastián Festival, Netflix has announced new Spanish movies from “Cable Girls” showrunner Ramón Campos and “Cross the Line” director David Victori, as it unveiled new talent details on four other banner titles.

Produced by Ramón Campos at his Madrid-based label Bambú Producciones, also behind “Grand Hotel,” “Velvet” and “Fariña,” and directed by Carlos Sedes “The Asunta Case,” “Cable Girls”), murder mystery “La Viuda Negra” begins with a body stabbed seven times is discovered in a car park in Valencia. The prime suspect for the city’s Homicide Group is Maje, the dead man’s Maje, young and kind widow to whom the deceased had been married for less than a year.

Billed as a psychological thriller, Victori’s “Cortafuego” is produced by Anxo Rodríguez y Ferrán Tomás of ESpotlight Media and stars a topnotch cast of Joaquín Furriel,...

Netflix will produce and release 53 Domingos, the new film from Spanish director Cesc Gay, an adaptation of his own award-winning theater play.

The dramedy follows three brothers who meet up to discuss what to do with their octogenarian father who has started behaving oddly. As they debate whether to put him in a nursing home or have him move in with one of them, the polite family meeting descends into an outrageous, out-of-control fight.

Carmen Machi (Piggy), Javier Cámara (Talk to Her) and Javier Gutierrez (Prison 77) star in the film version.

Gay is best known internationally for his 2015 breakout Truman, starring Ricardo Darín and Javier Cámara. His other features include Stories Not to Be Told (2022), En la ciudad (2003), and Nico and Dani (2000).

53 Domingos is one of three features Netflix unveiled this week as part of its new Spanish originals lineup. The other two are the political thriller Un Fantasma en...

Netflix has boarded a big screen adaptation of Spanish director Cesc Gay’s award-winning theatre play 53 Domingos, which he will direct.

The drama, exploring family relationships, follows three brothers who meet to discuss what to do with their octogenarian father, who has started showing strange behavior.

As they discuss whether to move him to a nursing home, or into one of their homes, the initially civilized family discussion degenerates into an unexpected and hilarious fight.

Cast include Carmen Machi (Piggy), Javier Cámara (Talk To Her) and Javier Gutierrez.

Gay’s previous credits include international breakout Truman, the choral film Stories Not To Be Told and the TV drama Félix.

The Netflix announcement rounds out a trio of Spanish feature productions unveiled by the streamer this week.

The previously announced titles span alongside political thriller Un Fantasma en la Batalla, produced by Society of Snow filmmaker J.A. Bayona,...

In what marks the most ambitious film from Peru’s leading producer Tondero and, most likely, Peruvian cinema in recent times, Pedro Almodóvar’s El Deseo, Infinity Hill (“Argentina 1985”) and Tondero have joined forces to co-produce a drama based on the hostage crisis that took place at the Japanese embassy in Lima in 1996.

El Deseo executive producer Esther Garcia and Infinity Hill co-founder/chief creative officer Axel Kuschevatzky were in Lima to attend Tondero’s 15th anniversary festivities and for Garcia to receive a tribute from the ongoing 27th Lima Film Festival, which runs Aug. 10-18.

The still-untitled project has been co-written by Spain’s Alicia Luna and Peru’s Santiago Roncagliolio, Patricia Romero and Lima Film Fest artistic director Josué Mendez who together spent some four years delving into the facts behind the crisis that drew massive international attention at the time.

The incident spawned several works in literature and film.

The good times just keep on rolling at Plex. The service started the week by offering 20% off a lifetime subscription to its Plex Pass, and is finishing it by adding an impressive array of new, free streaming channels to its platform.

Plex is adding a total of 25 free ad-supported TV (Fast) channels this week. There’s something for everyone on this channel list, from fans of classic TV shows to anime to horror films, and everything in between. These new additions boost Plex’s channel count to well over 300, and the service is supplementing that lineup seemingly every month.

The new channels available to stream now on Plex include:

21 Jump Street: To combat a rise in school crimes, LAPD sends four young-looking officers to high school to pose as students. Starring Johnny Depp, Holly Robinson, Peter DeLuise and Dustin Nguyen.

Unsolved Mysteries: Hosted by Robert Stack, this series...

This year’s Berlinale Series Market kicks off Monday as Spanish series “The Snow Girl,” a missing girl suspense thriller produced by Spain’s Atípica Films, has attracted huge heat for Netflix, punching 101.7 million hours watched in its first three weeks. Doing so, it ranked as the streamer’s No. 1 non-English show in the world over Jan. 30 – Feb. 5.

In all, Spain has more shows and movies in Netflix’s all time non-English Top 10s than any other country in the world, seven to France’s two, for example.

Spain, it could be argued, has cracked online. But its drama series industry wants to ring more options.

As scripted commissions look to have dropped from second half 2022 in not only the U.S. but also Europe and Latin America, an energetic posse of Spanish producers and stars are rolling into Berlin to present new productions. These look set to explore an...

Argentina’s Impacto Cine (“Lady Di”) has swooped on all Latin American sales rights to Cesc Gay’s comedy “Stories Not To Be Told” (“Historias Para No Contar”), propelling it into the territory and cementing its regional footing.

International sales on the title are handled by Filmax, in a longterm relationship with Gay.

News of the sale comes as Filmax readies to present Alex de la Iglesia’s shook-up black comedy “Four’s a Crowd” (“El cuarto pasajero”), a wayward romance tale that takes a dark turn, to industry peers at Argentina’s Ventana Sur this week in Buenos Aires.

“We’re proud to have the opportunity to join forces with Filmax and bring this Spanish film, from the excellent Cesc Gay to Latin American audiences,” Impacto Cine’s Luis Ignacio Perez Endara told Variety, talking “Stories Not To Be Told.”

He added:“The director, now in full creative maturity and with his trademark fluid,...

A new crop of prestige titles plant a flag at the arthouse in limited release this weekend from Luca Guadagnino’s Bones and All to Jerzy Skolimowski’s Eo, to Elegance Bratton’s The Inspection. Greenwich Entertainment opens doc Love, Charlie: The Rise And Fall Of Charlie Trotter IFC Films presents Bad Axe and Cohen Media Group is taking a swing at Fernando Trueba’s Memories Of My Father.

A host of other specialty releases are holding over even as She Said from Universal Pictures and The Menu from Searchlight Pictures open wide. Juggernaut Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is in week two. It’s getting crowded here. Sony Pictures Classics just said it will push a November 25 release date for The Son back to Jan., citing “a marketplace that appears to be getting more overcrowded daily.” (It’s keeping the Nov. date for a one-week only qualifying run.)

But that...

Widely translated since its initial publication 16 years ago, Colombian novelist Hector Abad Faciolince’s “Oblivion: A Memoir” was an acclaimed reminiscence of his father Hector Abad Gomez. That crusading academic’s public criticism of institutionalized inequities led to his 1987 murder by paramilitary assassins. Retitled “Memories of My Father” for a belated U.S. release, veteran Spanish director Fernando Trueba’s screen version plays to his own familiar strengths, creating what’s primarily a nostalgic flashback to the author’s boisterous family life in 1970s Medellin.

The sharp political divisions and dangerous climate for dissent that ultimately claimed Gomez’s life become a somewhat vague backdrop in this warm-and-fuzzy approach. It does not make for the most penetrating history lesson. Still, those seeking a pleasantly expansive, somewhat old-school dose of laughter and tears — one not so distant from the director’s Oscar-winning “Belle Epoque” three decades ago — will enjoy this handsomely produced tale.

For his new yet familiarly expansive contemplation of life’s transitions and the dynamics of love, Spanish director Fernando Trueba (“Belle Epoque”) introduces a simple but effective visual proposition that toys with the way we conventionally understand time in cinema.

In “Memories of My Father,” adapted from Colombian author Héctor Abad Faciolince’s autobiographical novel “Forgotten We Will Be” (El olvido que seremos), the past, set during the early 1970s, is presented in color, while the story’s present, 1983, appears in black-and-white. Bygone days, evidently, were the happiest and brightest for the central family.

Adored by students and locals in the city of Medellín, doctor and professor Héctor Abad Gómez, played by seasoned Spanish actor Javier Cámara (“Talk to Her”), walks tall as a beacon of disinterested kindness and dedication to the collective well-being. His wife Cecilia (Patricia Tamayo), however, wishes he cared more about their financial stability.

Through the...

Fernando Trueba, director of the Oscar-winning Belle Époque and, more recently, The Queen of Spain, The Artist and the Model, and Chico & Rita, is back this year with the U.S. release of Memories of My Father. Set for a release on November 16—alongside the Quad Cinema’s retrospective “The Ages of Trueba: From Opera Prima to Memories of My Father,” taking place Nov. 14-17—we’re pleased to exclusively debut a new poster and clip from the acclaimed drama.

Based on Héctor Abad Faciolince’s book Oblivion. A Memoir, the film dramatizes the true story of Héctor Abad Gómez (Javier Cámara), a renowned Colombian doctor and human-rights activist in Medellín during the violent 1970s. Driven by sadness and rage after cancer takes the life of one of his daughters, he devotes himself to social and political causes without regard to his personal safety.

Also starring Whit Stillman, Patricia Tamayo,...

"Life isn't worth much in this country." Cohen Media Group has debuted a new official US trailer for a Colombian film titled Memories of My Father, made by acclaimed Spanish filmmaker Fernando Trueba. This was originally selected for Cannes in 2020, but eventually premiered at the 2020 San Sebastián Film Festival a few years back. The life of Héctor Abad Gómez, one of Colombia's most beloved national figures, is beautifully dramatized by filmmaker Fernando Trueba, the director of the Oscar-winning Belle Epoque. Set in the 1970s during a violent time in Colombia's history, an author recalls his time with his father, a university medical professor who fought against oppression and social inequality; plus the circumstances of his murder by Colombian paramilitaries. Winner of Best Iberoamerican Film at the Goya Awards (2021), Memories of My Father is based on the best-seller Oblivion: A Memoir by renowned auteur Héctor Abad Faciolince. Starring Javier Cámara, Nicolás Reyes Cano,...

Continuing to tap top series from Spain, Munich-based Beta Film has snapped up international distribution rights to “Simple,” the new dramedy by Anna R. Costa, the co-creator of Movistar Plus+‘s most-binged series, “Arde Madrid.”

Costa’s directorial debut, “Simple” world premiered earlier this week in San Sebastian as a Movistar Plus+ world premiere.

Produced by Movistar Plus+ in collaboration with Destrucción y Salvación, “Simple” turns on four young women in their twenties and thirties, who have reached a milestone in their lives: Sharing an apartment as truly independent adults. The series follows the flat mates, all of whom have disabilities, as they navigate the pressures of adulthood and the absurd norms imposed on them by society.

As Costa asked in a Variety interview: “How on earth has society relegated certain people to the margins based solely on their gender, race, cognition, forcing them into social isolation, challenging and abusing...

Spanish satire starring Javier Bardem one of the big winners at the Ibero-American film awards held in Madrid.

The Good Boss produced by The Mediapro Studio and Reposado PC took home four prizes at the Platino Awards on Sunday (May 1), the Ibero-American equivalent to the Oscars which took place in Madrid.

This satire about the petty boss of an industrial scales factory won best film, best director and screenplay for Fernando León de Aranoa, and best actor for Javier Bardem following its success at Spanish Film Academy awards the Goyas in February when it won six prizes.

Blanca Portillo won...

Spanish satire starring Javier Bardem one of the big winners at the Ibero-American film awards held in Madrid.

The Good Boss produced by The Mediapro Studio and Reposado PC took home four prizes at the Platino Awards on Sunday (May 1), the Ibero-American equivalent to the Oscars which took place in Madrid.

This satire about the petty boss of an industrial scales factory won best film, best director and screenplay for Fernando León de Aranoa, and best actor for Javier Bardem following its success at Spanish Film Academy awards the Goyas in February when it won six prizes.

Blanca Portillo won...

An eerily quaint and picturesque Galician town sets the scene for a chilling high-profile murder in “Rapa,” the highly anticipated follow-up to Spain’s Movistar Plus hit “Hierro.”

After coming to the aid of bloodied Mayor Amparo Seoane (Mabel Rivera), lone witness and stymied professor Tomás becomes obsessed with her murder case and forms an unlikely bond with unyielding Civil Guard Sargent, Maite. As word of the crime shakes the town, a community’s secrets rise to the surface.

Produced by Movistar Plus in conjunction with Portocabo, led by Alfonso Blanco, and expertly directed by Jorge Coira, the six-part series offers up complex and riveting plot twists as questions arise regarding the salient nature between victim and perpetrator.

The drama, distributed by Beta Film, reunites creators Pepe Coira and Fran Araújo. Stunning and vast local landscapes take a front seat and intimate shots are used to elicit high-emotion, the cast delivering exceptional performances,...

A historic Malaga Festival-Spanish Screenings finally began to wind down Thursday evening. Spain has celebrated national showcases for decades, but it’s never seen anything quite like the last four days.

Briefly, five first takeaways from this year’s edition:

Spain’s On Fire

“Spain’s audiovisual sectors are on fire,” said Luis Cueto, at Spain’s Department of Commerce, at a Malaga round table on Thursday. Just one generation ago, Spanish cinema was regarded with suspicion in Spain’s august financial circles. No more. At the same panel, Arturo Azcorra at Spain’s Telecommunications Ministry announced €30 million ($33 million) in new incentives, largely for high-tech innovation, such as VFX prototypes, animation and AI production technology. Cueto presented an ambitious Spain Avs Hub website. Speakers took 100 minutes to drill down on new r expanded financial instruments planned for Spain’s film and TV, such as the country’s Ico state bank...

Traditionally, Spanish broadcasters retained all rights, paying producers a percentage of the budget of their series, which prevented them from building catalogs of their own rights. Although at first, the arrival of SVOD platforms didn’t change their business relationship, the increasing demand for TV fiction and financial needs have forced an increased use of the co-production model.

“There is a lot of creativity and versatility in co-productions from Spain,” says Caroline Servy, managing director at The Wit.

Dipping its toe into the co-production arena in 2016 with “The Young Pope,” The Mediapro Studio, one of Europe’s super-indies, is expanding across Asia, Latin America and the U.S. markets, teaming with key broadcasters and platforms.

“Co-production has been the perfect model to hike the international reach of our productions. This way of working has become common among production companies, platforms and networks in recent years, and is in fact the...

Ahead of the streamer’s Oct. 26 arrival in Spain, representatives from several shows commissioned for WarnerMedia’s HBO Max assembled at the San Sebastian Film Festival on Sunday to preview their shows, slated to arrive on the platform on or after its launch.

Four series were presented to an at-capacity press conference held in San Sebastian’s Kuursal conference center, the main hub for the Spanish festival.

First up was “Todo lo otro,” a release day launch for HBO Max staring multi-hyphenate Abril Zamora who writes, directs and stars in the story of a group of 30-somethings living in Madrid who have reached adulthood and found themselves living lives different from what they’d once dreamed. Playing the series’ lead protagonist, Zamora stars as Daphne, pushing middle age, recently single and with a crap job. Complicating things even more, she finds herself falling for her best friend, who himself is...

Spain’s Movistar Plus, the Spanish TV and streaming label of telco giant Telefonica, has announced “Rapa,” a new Latin Noir thriller original series starring one of the country’s most decorated film and TV actors, Javier Cámara.

La Rapa is supposed to be a day of celebration and festival in the Galician town of A Capelada. However, when the village’s mayor is murdered the local community goes into panic mode. In a careful-what-you-wish-for moment, frustrated professor Tomás (Cámara) becomes the center of attention and the resulting investigation as the only witness to the crime. He will join forces with local Civil Guard inspector Maite, a woman most in her element when on a manhunt, to uncover what happened on that day.

“Rapa” sees Movistar team once again with leading Galician production company Portocabo, producers of one of the broadcaster’s biggest hit original hits “Hierro” – it’s Movistar...

Almodóvar regular Javier Cámara brings a wonderful richness to his portrayal of Colombian professor and campaigner Héctor Abad Gómez

Javier Cámara is the Spanish actor with the gentle, open, everyman face who has been a stalwart repertory player for Pedro Almodóvar for around 20 years, particularly in the mysterious and beautiful 2002 film Talk to Her; Cámara unforgettably played Benigno, the nurse tending to a young woman in a coma, believing that he must always talk to her. Now he gives a wonderful richness and warmth to this very affecting movie, directed by Fernando Trueba; it is based on the true story of Héctor Abad Gómez, the Colombian public-health activist and prominent government critic who in 1987 was shot dead in Médellin by far-right paramilitaries. It is adapted from the 2005 memoir of Gómez by his son, the now prominent Colombian author Héctor Abad Faciolince, entitled El Olvido Que Seremos (which is the movie...

“Glocal” is the key word for the Miami Dade College’s Miami Film Festival as the annual event provides a platform for both local and global projects. Of the 93 international submissions to the Oscars, the Florida fest has picked seven films “that moved us and that would speak powerfully to our Miami audience,” says festival executive director Jaie Laplante, who leads a selection committee alongside programming co-director, Lauren Cohen.

“We’ve always thought it important to look out for films by female directors but it wasn’t at all difficult this year,” says Cohen about the festival’s lineup, which includes nearly 100 shorts and features from some 40 countries.

This year’s 38th edition, which takes place March 5-14, and for the first time in its history, runs before the Oscars, includes international film shortlisted contenders “La Llorona,” “Sun Children,” “Quo Vadis, Aida?,” “Charlatan,” “The Mole Agent” and “Night of the Kings.

Exclusive: The People Upstairs, the Spanish comedy which debuted at San Sebastian last year and is up for multiple Goya Awards in 2021, is getting the English-language treatment after producer David Permut, whose credits include Hacksaw Ridge and Face/Off, acquired remake rights.

The Spanish movie comes from Truman filmmaker Cesc Gay and features an all-star local cast including Belén Cuesta, Javier Cámara, Alberto San Juan, and Griselda Siciliani. The pic is a contained comedy exploring the complexity of modern relationships.

The film is nominated for five Goya Awards, Spain’s premium awards ceremony, including Best Film, Best Screenplay and Best Actor. Winners will be crowned on March 6.

Permut will produce through his Permut Presentations banner alongside his director of development, Alex Astrachan who will act as a co-producer on the project. The company worked with Ivan Diaz at Filmax to purchase the remake rights.

“Without giving too much away, the film...

Having scored an Oscar for Spain with Belle Epoque in 1994, director Fernando Trueba returns to the International Feature Film race with a Colombian entry. Memories Of My Father (aka El Olvido Que Seremos) strikes a similarly nostalgic note to Belle Epoque, but focuses on familial love. Based on Héctor Abad Faciolince’s memoirs, it’s adapted by the director’s own brother, David Trueba: an apt familial collaboration.

Set in two timelines, Memories Of My Father opens in Turin, 1983, where Colombian student Héctor (Juan Pablo Urrego) is summoned to a ceremony honoring his father, Héctor Abad Gómez (Javier Cámara), a celebrated doctor and social justice campaigner. The film then flashes back to the writer’s childhood in 1970s Medellín, where much of the film takes place.

Curiously, the 1980s scenes are in black and white. The director has said this was an instinctive choice, but it could be read...

March festival bookended by world premieres of Edson Jean’s Ludi, Jayme Gershen’s Birthright.

Spanish master Pedro Almodovar and Sundance documentary subject and Puerto Rican performer Rita Moreno are among honourees at the upcoming Miami Film Festival.

The festival is scheduled to run from March 5-14 as a hybrid event with virtual and in-person screenings and is bookended by the world premieres of Edson Jean’s Ludi and Jayme Gershen’s Birthright.

Besides Almodovar and Moreno, who played Anita in the original screen version of West Side Story and is the subject of recent Sundance world premiere Rita Moreno:...

Riz Ahmed, one of the top contenders in the best actor race, is being honored by the Miami Film Festival with its inaugural Impact Award.

“Sound of Metal,” co-written and directed by Darius Marder, tells the story of a heavy metal drummer (Ahmed) who begins to lose his hearing. The film also stars Olivia Wilde, Paul Raci, Mathieu Amalric and Lauren Ridloff.

“We selected Riz for this distinguished honor for his incisive, brilliant performance in ‘Sound of Metal’ and what it has meant for the Recovery community within the Deaf community, which is often invisible in our society,” says Miami Film Festival Executive Director Jaie Laplante.

Ahmed’s performance as Ruben has received critical acclaim and currently has won the most accolades of any best actor contender this awards season, including the National Board of Review and the Gothams. His co-star Raci also leads for supporting actor wins. Ahmed also...

Miami Dade College’s Miami Film Festival announced its shortlist of international feature film submissions that will screen during its 10-day hybrid event, with virtual and in-theater presentations, March 5-14. This year’s festival will present films from Academy Award-winning director Fernando Trueba and Oscar-nominated filmmakers Agnieszka Holland and Majid Majidi, among others.

For his performance in bringing a national hero to life, the festival will present a precious gem award to the star of “El Olvido Que Seremos,” Javier Cámara, prior to the film’s U.S. premiere. The festival’s signature award, the precious gem award honors the top stars of films whose one-of-a-kind performances are unforgettable. Cámara’s career accomplishments include a Goya award for “Living Is Easy With Eyes Closed” and acclaimed performances in HBO’s “The Young Pope” and Netflix’s “Narcos,” as well as starring roles in Pedro Almodóvar’s films “Talk to Her,...

Deadline on Monday launched its streaming site for Contenders Film, featuring all panels from the ambitious two-day virtual awards-season event that took place over the weekend. The annual kickoff highlighting movies in the conversation for kudos put the spotlight on 49 films from 16 distributors, streamers and studios.

Click here for Contenders Film videos.

The launch of the video site follows those for the first two Contenders events of 2021 which were new to the party this year: Contenders International and Contenders Documentary.

This weekend, A24, Amazon Studios, Apple, Bleecker Street, DreamWorks Animation, Focus Features, Gravitas Ventures, Hulu, Kino Lorber, Neon, Netflix, Sony Pictures Classics, STX Entertainment, Universal Pictures, Walt Disney Studios and Warner Bros took part in the virtual gala, which featured panel Q&As along with clips from the films being talked about this awards season.

The lineup of more than 150 participants included Gal Gadot & Patty Jenkins, George Clooney, the Russo Brothers,...

Salvador Calvo’s “Adú” leads the way at Spain’s annual Goya Awards nominations with 14 nods, including for best film and best director.

“Las niñas” and “Akelarre” followed with nine nominations each, while “Rosa’s Wedding” has eight.

In the running for the best film Goya are “Adú,” a Netflix acquisition; “Ane” by David Perez Sanudo; “La boda de Rosa” by Iciar Bollain; “Las niñas” by Pilar Palomero; and “Sentimental” by Cesc Gay.

Competing for the best direction Goya will be Salvador Calvo for “Adú”; Juanma Bajo Ulloa for “Baby”; Iciar Bollain for “La boda de Rosa”; and Isabel Coixet for “Nieva en Benidorm.”

In the running for best European film are Jan Komasa’s “Corpus Christi”; Florian Zeller’s “The Father”; Viggo Mortensen’s “Falling”; and Roman Polanski’s “An Officer and a Spy.”

Mortensen was the big draw at the 2020 San Sebastian Film Festival where “Falling” played, and where he received the Donostia Award.

Veteran Spanish actor Javier Cámara — who played Guillermo Pallomari, the chief accountant of Colombia’s Cali Cartel in the third season “Narcos” — took the starring role in “El Olvido Que Seremos” (English title: “Memories of My Father”) in part because of the Netflix series.

Cámara had the opportunity to know Colombia because “Narcos” was a huge success around the world, and he told TheWrap’s Sharon Waxman, “All this prejudice that we have about Colombia, about these countries, that have this amazing progress, and we have the same progress in our countries too but, we have only seen one side of the country.”

“I was willing to offer all my experience, all my love, and all my emotions, to do this film because it shows the other part of Colombia, the other side of Colombia, the bright side of this amazing country,” Cámara added. “It was amazing because we were...

In what has been the strangest year on recent record for myriad reasons, the International Feature Film Oscar race is not immune to the impact of Covid. Along with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences tweaking submission deadlines, many films vying for recognition in the International Feature category have experienced a lack of physical festival exposure and the customary resultant buzz, as so many events were canceled or moved online throughout the past nine months. In several cases, films selected by their respective countries actually debuted way back in the 2019 festival season.

This comes at a particularly interesting time for non-English language movies, given the incredible 2019 run of Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite. After beginning its career in Cannes, it went on not only to scoop the International Feature trophy, but also Best Director and Best Film — the latter a first for a foreign-language movie.

For the moment, there...

Colombia’s International Feature Oscar submission El ovido que seremos (English title: Memories of My Father) hails from Oscar-winning Spanish director Fernando Trueba and stars Spanish legend Javier Cámara. It’s based on the memoir by Héctor Abad Faciolince about his father who was a doctor, professor and an activist for social justice who was murdered in 1987 by Colombian paramilitaries.

A love letter from son to father, the book was “so dear” to Trueba’s heart that he had given it to friends and family many times over the years. “It’s a book you don’t give to just anyone, you give it to people you really care for,” he says during Deadline’s Contenders International award-season event, where he also talked about making the decision to turn the subject matter into a film.

Even though one of his first thoughts was, “What a pity that Javier Cámara is not Colombian,...

Deadline kicks off the New Year and movie awards season with our first edition of Contenders International, which gets underway this morning at 8 a.m. Pt. The event showcases 22 titles from 15 studios, streamers and distributors with presentations including clips and filmmaker/talent Q&As. In all, 19 of the films are official submissions to the Best International Film category at the 93rd Academy Awards.

Due to the pandemic Contenders International will be presented virtually, so click here to register and join the livestream. You can additionally follow along for the day on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram via @Deadline and #DeadlineContenders. See the full schedule of panels below.

While international markets have been a profit center for the studios for many years, local films have begun to take on greater importance outside festivals and indeed their home countries. That was particularly the case in 2019 with South Korea’s Parasite, which went on...

Georgian-French drama Beginning (Dasatskisi) was the big winner at the San Sebastian Film Festival, winning the top prize Golden Shell at last night’s awards ceremony.

The buzzed-about arthouse film from first-timer Dea Kulumbegashvili also won Best Director, Best Actress and Best Screenplay awards. We debuted first footage for the film earlier this month.

Kulumbegashvili wrote the script with Rati Oneli. Starring are Ia sukhitashvili (best actress winner), Rati Oneli and Kakha Kintsurashvili. Producers are Ilan Amouyal, Rati Oneli and David Zerat. Music comes from Dheepan and Ema composer Nicolas Jaar. Wild Bunch handles sales.

The film charts the story of a persecuted family of Jehovah’s Witness missionaries from the perspective of a wife and mother. Following a shocking act of arson on the place of worship she and her husband have established in a remote village outside of Tbilisi, Yana (Sukhitashvili) finds herself descending into a spiral of confusion and doubt,...

The film also won best director, best actress and best screenplay.

Georgian director Dea Kulumbegashvili’s Beginning has won the Golden Shell for best film at the San Sebastián International Film Festival. The film has also been awarded the prizes for best director, best actress for Ia Sukhitashvili, and best screenplay for Kulumbegashvili and co-writer Rati Oneli by a competition jury headed by Luca Guadagnino.

It is the first time a Georgian film has won the Golden Shell.

The Silver Shell for best actor was shared by the four stars of Thomas Vinterberg’s Another Round - Mads Mikkelsen, Thomas Bo Larsen,...

The film also won best director, best actress and best screenplay.

Georgian director Dea Kulumbegashvili’s Beginning has won the Golden Shell for best film at the San Sebastián International Film Festival. The film has also been awarded the prizes for best director, best actress for Ia Sukhitashvili, and best screenplay for Kulumbegashvili and co-writer Rati Oneli by a competition jury headed by Luca Guadagnino.

It is the first time a Georgian film has won the Golden Shell.

The Silver Shell for best actor was shared by the four stars of Thomas Vinterberg’s Another Round - Mads Mikkelsen, Thomas Bo Larsen,...

Liev Schreiber will star in a movie adaptation of Ernest Hemingway’s novel “Across the River and Into the Trees.”

Tribune Pictures and The Exchange announced the project Monday and said production is planned to start in Venice, Italy, and the Veneto region under Covid-19 guidelines next month. “Across the River and Into the Trees” has the support of the Italian tax credit and will be introduced to buyers through The Exchange at the Toronto International Film Festival’s Virtual market, which opens Sept. 10.

Schreiber will portray Colonel Richard Cantwell, a character partially based on Hemingway’s friend Colonel Charles T. Lanham. In the novel, published in 1950, Cantwell is duck hunting in Northern Italy during the closing days of World War II and dealing with a star-crossed romance with a much younger woman, having been damaged both physically and mentally during World War I and trying to come to terms with his own mortality.

Liev Schreiber is attached to star in a big-screen adaptation of Ernest Hemingway’s novel “Across the River and Into the Trees,” Tribune Pictures and The Exchange announced Monday. The film will be introduced to buyers through The Exchange at the TIFF 2020 virtual market.

The film will start production in October in Venice, Italy, and the Veneto region under Covid-19 guidelines.

“Across the River and Into the Trees” was written by Hemingway in 1950 and spent seven weeks atop the New York Times best-seller list. It was initially serialized in Cosmopolitan magazine.

Schreiber will play Colonel Richard Cantwell, a semi-autobiographical character partially based on Hemingway’s friend Colonel Charles T. Lanham, a complex and conflicted character, wounded and damaged both physically and mentally by World War II who seeks inner peace and tries to come to terms with his own mortality.

Joining Schreiber are Italian actors Matilda De Angelis, Laura Morante and Giancarlo Giannini,...

The Spaniard’s Colombian production Forgotten We’ll Be has been added to the Official Section, the jury for which will be chaired by Luca Guadagnino. We now know a few details about the journey awaiting the hotly anticipated new film by Fernando Trueba after its selection by the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year. Forgotten We’ll Be, the 100% Colombian production by the seasoned Madrilenian director, will have the honour of closing the Official Section of the 68th San Sebastián Film Festival, which is set to unspool from 18-26 September, although it will do so out of competition. The film, starring Javier Cámara, is an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Héctor Abad Faciolince, telling the story of his father, a doctor and human rights activist in the polarised and violent Medellín of the 1970s. The director’s brother, David Trueba, penned the screenplay based on the bestseller,...

In today’s Global Bulletin the U.K. Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport asks for an extension to the current furlough scheme, San Sebastian will close with Fernando Trueba’s “Forgotten We’ll Be,” ITV looks to invest, MediaWorks sells its TV business to Discovery, Zdf commissions a new WWII factual series and “The Eight Hundred” gets a U.K. and Ireland distribution deal.

Furlough

The U.K. Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport committee has called on Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak to extend the existing furlough scheme for workers in the arts and leisure sectors, warning of severe job losses otherwise.

Sunak had introduced the scheme in March, where self-employed individuals could claim 80% of their average income over the last three years up to £2,500 a month.

The scheme was due to run till the end of June but was extended to the end of October with some changes,...

Cesc Gay’s “The People Upstairs” (a.k.a. “Sentimental”), Nacho Álvarez’s feature debut “My Heart Goes Boom! (“Explota Explota”) and the series “Ines of My Soul” (“Inés del alma mía”), based on the book of the same name by Isabel Allende, will have their world premieres at the San Sebastian film festival in September.

All three are galas from Radio Televisión Española (Rtve), official sponsor of the festival.

Spain’s Gay had a hit with “Truman,” starring Ricardo Darin (“The Secret in Their Eyes”) and Javier Cámara (“Talk to Her”). The film world premiered at San Sebastian in 2015, won best actor for Darin and Camara, and went on to carve out sizeable box office in and outside Spain.

“The People Upstairs,” starring Camara, Belen Cuesta, Griselda Siciliani and Alberto San Juan, is the adaptation of a play by Gay himself, where a meeting between two neighboring couples ends in an emotional tsunami.

The People Upstairs Photo: Courtesy of San Sebastian Film Festival The San Sebastian Film Festival has announced an additional three titles for this year's festival, which will run from September 18 to 25.

Cesc Gay's The People Upstairs (Sentimental) - an adaptation of Gay's own play about two pairs of neighbours - will have its world premiere at the festival and features Javier Cámara and Belén Cuesta in the cast. Uruguayan director Nacho Álvarez will make his feature film debut with My Heart Goes Boom! (Explota Explota), about a young singer and dancer trying to make her dreams come true in the grey Spain of the early Seventies, which is also having its world premiere.

The titles are part of the Radio Televisión Española (Rtve) sponsorship of the festival, which will also include the presentation of the first three episodes of the channel's period drama Inés of My Soul (Inés del alma mía...

Paolo Sorrentino, Pablo Larraín, Maggie Gyllenhaal and other film-makers on the restrictions, inspirations and creative solutions to shooting in lockdown

“Shall we take a tour of the Vatican?” the Pope asks the Queen. Except his holiness and her majesty are not actually in the Vatican, they are in the home of the renowned Italian film-maker Paolo Sorrentino. And they’re not actually people; they are little figurines with waving hands, such as you would buy in a souvenir shop. Sorrentino’s bookshelves double for the Vatican library, plant pots for its gardens, the underside of a chair for a grand hall. Then the Dude from the Big Lebowski pops up and tells them there’s a lockdown. “Oh, that’s quite all right,” replies the Queen. “I’ve been in lockdown for the past 94 years.”

It is a bit of a departure from Sorrentino’s usual sumptuous works such as...

If the only way filmmakers could process life in quarantine was scripted Zoom conversations, the art form might be screwed. “Homemade,” a wondrous and mostly satisfying anthology of 17 short films made over the past two months around the world, proves the opposite. A dense collection of inquisitive, unpredictable and often life-affirming responses to the pandemic from some of the most astute directors working today,

Whereas many anthology projects can feel like mixed bags by default, “Homemade” has been tailor-made to fit its Netflix-sanctioned format, with shorts divided up into chapters that range from four to 11 minutes, and few that feel extraneous. As a diverse assemble of style and substance from active filmmakers with unique sensibilities, it doubles as an overview of international cinema and entry point to many of its strongest active voices, while giving them the opportunity to capture a unique moment in the history of the medium,...

Spain took the spotlight at the Marche du Film on Tuesday afternoon with a Cinema From Spain panel in which sales agents were given a platform to present one of their features currently selling in the market.

Moderated by Tito Rodríguez, marketing policy director at Spain’s Institute of Cinematography and the Audiovisual Arts (Icaa), the presentation was broken up into four blocks with one dedicated to each of the participating companies: Latido Films, Filmax, Moonrise Pictures and Bendita Films.

Latido Films

A particularly current proposition, Latido presented “Tales of the Lockdown,” a new anthology feature which will launch on Amazon Prime Video in Spain next month. Five of Spain’s top filmmakers were enlisted to remotely directed five variations on a theme, life under quarantine. Latido head Antonio Saura was joined by producer Alvaro Longoria of Morena Films, director Fernando Colomo, director-actor Carlos Bardem and actor Sara Sálamo.

Each...

The Cannes Marché du Film, along with a sales initiative led by Hollywood agencies, is hosting the first major virtual market since the start of pandemic, starting on June 23. Distributors and sales agents are looking forward to it: the turn-up for the online Cannes Marché du Film is significant with more than 7,000 accredited participants as of mid-June.

“As nobody can leave their house, a virtual market is the next best thing. It’s a valid and worthwhile effort … people need something to initiate interactions. If this virtual market can help in some way to stimulate business that’s a great thing,” says Dylan Leiner at Sony Pictures Classics.

Here’s a look at some key titles for sale:

“Balestra”

Director: Nicole Dorsey

Producers: Pierre Even

A disgraced competitive fencer (Tessa Thompson) is aiming for her Olympic comeback. She receives a prototype device allowing her to extend her training into her...

The Columbian drama is directed by Oscar-winner Fernando Trueba.

Curzon and Cohen Media Group (Cmg) have secured UK and North American rights to Fernando Trueba’s Forgotten We’ll Be in a deal with Spanish sales agency Film Factory Entertainment.

The Columbian drama was part of the official selection for this year’s cancelled Cannes Film Festival and marks the first joint acquisition across both territories since Cmg acquired Curzon last December.

Theatrical release is planned in the UK and Us in 2021. The deal was negotiated by Cmg’s Robert Aaronson and Film Factory’s Vicente Canales.

Trueba’s Belle Epoque...

Fernando Trueba’s Cannes Official Selection drama Forgotten We’ll Be has scored U.S. and UK deals via a joint acquisition from Cohen Media Group and Artificial Eye.

The acquisition is the first joint buy from the two firms after Ae was acquired by Cmg last year.

The film will be released theatrically in the U.S. and the UK in 2021. The distribution deal was negotiated by Robert Aaronson, Cmg’s Senior Vice President, and Vicente Canales, Managing Director of Spanish international sales agency Film Factory Entertainment

Belle Époque and Chico & Rita director Trueba’s latest is adapted from Héctor Abad Faciolince’s novel about his father, Colombian human rights activist Dr. Héctor Abad Gómez. Starring Javier Cámara (Talk To Her), the story follows a man torn between the love of his family and his political fight set in the violence-riddled Colombia of recent decades. The film also stars Juan Pablo Urrego...

Cohen Media Group and Curzon have acquired North American and U.K. distribution rights to the Colombian drama “Forgotten We’ll Be,” directed by Fernando Trueba.

The acquisition was unveiled Monday, and appears to be the first deal announced for a film from the 2020 Cannes Official Selection. It’s also the first acquisition made jointly across both major English-speaking territories since the Cmg purchase of Curzon in December. The film will be released theatrically in the U.S. and U.K. in 2021. Variety revealed the film’s trailer last week.

“Forgotten We’ll Be” is adapted from Héctor Abad Faciolince’s memoir about his father, Colombian human rights activist Dr. Héctor Abad Gómez. Javier Cámara stars in the story of a man torn between the love of his family and his political fight, set in the violence-riddled Colombia of recent decades. Gomez devoted himself to social and political causes before he was murdered in 1987 in Colombia.