News

Karla Sofía Gascón wants to be in the light. It’s a warm late-October day in Los Angeles, and the actress has arrived for a lunch date at the Sunset Marquis in a silky black dress and a bare face. In English, she asks the restaurant waiter for a sunlit table. In Spanish, she turns to me and says, self-mockingly, “I seem like la Sofia Vergara with my accent. But I guess it’s part of the appeal.”

Gascón is in L.A. today for what feels like a fleeting moment.

Ricky Gervais’ career-launching mockumentary series “The Office” is getting a Mexican remake with Prime Video, Amazon MGM Studios and Gary “Gaz” Alazraki’s Máquina Vega leading the charge.

Alazraki, who proved his comedy chops directing and producing major hits “Nosotros los Nobles” and “Club de Cuervos” serves as director and executive producer of “La Oficina” while Marcos Bucay (“Cómo Sobrevivir Soltero”) showruns the Mexican adaptation.

As part of the overall deal signed between Amazon MGM Studios and Máquina Vega, “La Oficina” will be available exclusively on Prime Video in Latin America, Brazil and Spain.

The wildly popular BBC Studios format has already been adapted in the U.S., France, Chile and Poland, among others, in addition to the Australian version, which begun streaming on Prime Video this October.

This new version is set in the Mexican state of Aguascalientes where the office will be led by Jerónimo Ponce III, regional...

Exclusive: Guillermo Calderón, one of Latin America’s most respected screenwriters and playwrights, has come aboard to script the miracle true story from last year of four children, including a baby, who survived a plane crash and 40 days in the Amazon Rainforest before being rescued by Colombian special forces.

Calderón is known for his frequent collaborations with acclaimed filmmaker Pablo Larraín, including on well-received movies Neruda, The Club and most recently, El Conde, for which he won the Best Screenplay award at the 2023 Venice Film Festival.

As we previously told you, Candle Media‘s Exile Content Studios is partnering with Colombian journalist Daniel Coronell and director Gaz Alazraki (Father Of The Bride) on the as-yet untitled Spanish-language project. Alazraki’s recently formed LA and Mexico-based production outfit Maquina Vega, which he set up with former Anonymous Content exec Alisa Tager, is newly aboard as co-producer with Exile.

World media was...

Karla Sofía Gascón, who delivered a breakthrough performance as a ruthless narco gangster transitioning in Jacques Audiard’s crime musical “Emilia Pérez,” has revealed how she fought to get the part.

“At the beginning, (Audiard) did not consider me for the role (of Juan “Manitas” Del Monte), he only wanted me to play the female role after the transition,” the Spanish actress said during a masterclass at the Biarritz’ Nouvelles Vagues Festival, speaking in a packed theater. “It took me a long time to convince him that I could do both, and thanks to… I don’t know what, thanks to this universe, I ended up convincing him.”

Gascón’s performance in the film would earn her the best acting prize at the Cannes Film Festival.

From the start, she felt that it was “absolutely obvious” that she had to play both roles. “I do not see which actor would...

Before she solved murders at the Arconia alongside Steve Martin and Martin Short in Only Murders in the Building, Selena Gomez made magic happen for Disney as a part of Wizards of Waverly Place. The enchanting teen sitcom cast a spell on Mouseketeers for four seasons from 2007 to 2012, and now, toil and trouble are brewing again with a Wizards of Waverly Place sequel series under the working title Wizards.

Original stars Selena Gomez (Alex Russo) and David Henrie (Justin Russo) will take their wands out of storage to executive produce the revival project. At the same time, Gomez plans to appear in a guest role, with Henrie returning as a primary cast member for the Wizards of Waverly Place sequel series. The duo plans to launch Wizards on Disney Channel and Disney+ later this year. The project comes from Disney Branded Television.

Gomez reprises her iconic role in the premiere episode as Alex,...

Exclusive: Luis Gerardo Méndez will be in front of and behind the camera in Technoboys, a Netflix movie about a boyband on the comeback trail.

Hailing from Netflix Mexico, the Spanish-language film follows the titular band two decades after they topped the charts. Now they are back to reclaim their pop throne, but the music world has changed and they have to battle rival groups and make it all over again in a world they barely understand. Meanwhile, the lead singer of the Technoboys has a hidden reasons for wanting to return to the music scene. The film will bow on Netflix later this year.

Méndez will play the band’s lead singer, Alan, and co-directs Technoboys alongside Gerardo Gatica. The pair’s production company, Cine Vaquero, is making the movie, alongside Panorama and Bengala. Alexandro Aldrete penned the script.

The Noble Family, Murder Mystery, Narcos: Mexico, Netflix’s first...

Exclusive: Amazon MGM Studios has signed an exclusive overall deal with Gary “Gaz” Alazraki’s Maquina Vega. Under the deal, Alazraki is set to produce, write and direct series for Amazon MGM Studios.

Alazraki is a Mexican director known for directing the movies Father of The Bride (2022; writer and director of Mexico’s record-breaking comedy Nosotros Los Nobles (2013); and co-creator, executive producer and director of Club De Cuervos (2015), Netflix’s first Spanish original series. He heads Maquina Vega and is a board member of Oceana.

Alazraki began his career by directing commercials and the short films: Volver (2005) starring Jaime Camil, Martha Higareda, Tony Dalton and La Hora Cero (2008) produced by Guillermo Arriaga.

In 2011, he began production on Nosotros Los Nobles starring Gonzalo Vega, Luis Gerardo Méndez, Karla Souza and Juan Pablo Gil which he directed/wrote/produced. The film was released by Warner Bros. in 2013 and it became the highest-grossing Mexican movie of all time.

Exclusive: Gaz Alazraki, Alisa Tager, Mark Alazraki and Moises Chiver have partnered to create Maquina Vega, a new production company with offices in Los Angeles and Mexico City, which will provide a pipeline between the English and Spanish-speaking worlds.

Working with creators across countries and genres, the company will produce films and television series in both English and Spanish, bolstering emerging talents from Mexico and Latin America, while looking to increase the production of high-quality entertainment for Spanish-speaking audiences worldwide.

The Alazrakis come to Maquina Vega after launching Alazraki Entertainment in 2013 with the release of Gaz’s mega-hit Nosotros Los Nobles, a dark comedy which upon its theatrical debut became the highest grossing homegrown film ever released in Mexico. Following that up was Club de Cuervos, Netflix’s first Spanish-language original series, centered on football club Cuervos Fc. Co-created, exec produced and directed by Gaz Alazraki, the show ran for...

Paramount+ today released the official teaser trailer for the second season of the Spanish-language thriller series The Envoys (Los Enviados).  The original series features an all-star cast, including Luis Gerardo Méndez and Miguel Ángel Silvestre.  Oscar winner Juan José Campanella (El Secreto de Sus Ojos) serves as showrunner, producer and director. All eight episodes will be available to binge exclusively on Paramount+ soon. In the second season, Priests Pedro Salinas (Méndez) and Simón Antequera (Silvestre) delve into a web of mystery and murder in a Galician convent. With ... Read more...

Former Amazon executive Leo Zimbrón has been appointed senior vice president of Spanish-language features and international co-productions at Eugenio Derbez and Ben Odell’s 3Pas Studios.

“There are few executives with the levels of experience and success that Leo has garnered over the years. Eugenio and I have both worked with him previously and love what he will bring to 3pas as we continue to build and scale our business,” Odell said. “He has great creative instincts combined with a sharp business mind. I don’t want to call him a unicorn for Spanish-language content – but oops, I just did.”

Previously, Zimbrón served as head of local original movies for Latin America at Amazon Studios; he has worked on 40 projects for the company. In 2018, he held the position of director of fiction programming at EndemolShine Boomdog. Zimbrón also served as director of local production for Warner Bros. Pictures in Mexico from 2004 through 2010. Additionally,...

Exclusive: Candle Media’s Exile Content Studio is partnering with acclaimed Colombian journalist Daniel Coronell and director Gaz Alazraki (Father Of The Bride) to produce a scripted feature about the incredible recent news story of the four children, including a baby, that survived a plane crash and 40 days in the Amazon Rainforest before being rescued by Colombian special forces.

A story this remarkable was unlikely to go unnoticed by the industry for long, but this is a quick turnaround even for Hollywood.

Earlier this month, world media was captivated by the story of the four children – Lesly, 13; Soleiny, 9; Tien Noriel, 4; and Cristin, 1 – who were found alive in the Amazon after a rescue operation that searched more than 1,600 miles of dense forest.

The children survived the plane crash that killed their mother, the pilot and the only other adult on board, and then got through the dense jungle, alive with jaguars,...

Buenos Aires-based FilmSharks subsidiary The Remake Company has closed a remake deal with Italy’s Marco Belardi and his new label Bamboo Prod. for Ariel Winograd’s latest film “Today We Fix the World” (“Hoy se Arregla el Mundo”).

Produced by powerhouse shingle Patagonik, the family dramedy was picked up by Netflix for several key territories after its theatrical release by Disney’s Star early this year.

Mexico’s BH5 has also acquired the remake rights and is about to produce its version while talks are underway with Korean and French companies, said FilmSharks founder and CEO, Guido Rud. Winograd is already a known quantity in Italy. His last film “Ten Days Without Mom” topped the box office in Italy when it was released.

Dramedy stars Leonardo Sbaraglia from “Wild Tales” and “Pain and Glory” who finds out that he’s not the biological father of the nine-year-old boy at home.

Karla Sofía Gascón to star, Zoe Saldana and Selena Gomez in talks. The Veterans and CAA Media Finance launching Cannes sales.

Jacques Audiard will direct the musical comedy Emilia Perez starring Spanish trans actress Karla Sofía Gascón which The Veterans and CAA Media Finance will introduce to buyers in Cannes next week.

Zoe Saldana and Selena Gomez are in talks to join the cast on the story about Rita, a woman at a large firm in Mexico who is asked to help feared cartel boss Juan ‘Little Hands’ Del Monte retire from his business and disappear forever by becoming the...

Karla Sofía Gascón to star, Zoe Saldana and Selena Gomez in talks. The Veterans and CAA Media Finance launching Cannes sales.

Jacques Audiard will direct the Spanish-language musical comedy Emilia Perez starring Spanish trans actress Karla Sofía Gascón which The Veterans and CAA Media Finance will introduce to buyers in Cannes next week.

Zoe Saldana and Selena Gomez are in talks to join the cast on the story about Rita, a woman at a large firm in Mexico who is asked to help feared cartel boss Juan ‘Little Hands’ Del Monte retire from his business and disappear forever by becoming...

TelevisaUnivision reached a deal with Hemisphere Media Group to acquire Pantaya, a U.S. streaming platform for Spanish-language movies and TV series, snapping up the rival streamer to bolster the ViX service.

The companies didn’t disclose a value for the Pantaya deal. Last year, Hemisphere Media bought out the remaining 75 stake of Pantaya it didn’t own from Lionsgate for about 124 million in cash; Pantaya was launched in 2017 as a joint venture of Lionsgate and Hemisphere.

The pact will add Pantaya’s content, subscribers and management team to TelevisaUnivision’s own subscription-streaming platform, ViX+, which is expected to launch in the second half of 2022. In April, TelevisaUnivision launched ad-supported VOD service ViX, which combined Univision’s PrendeTV and Televisa’s Blim TV.

The deal for Pantaya comprises cash and includes the transfer of some of TelevisaUnivision’s Puerto Rican radio stations, including Wkaq-am and KQ105-fm, to Hemisphere (which...

Exclusive: UTA has signed Luis Gerardo Méndez (Narcos: Mexico), one of Mexico’s biggest stars, for representation in all areas.

Méndez is an actor, writer and producer best known for exec producing and starring in Netflix’s first Spanish-language original comedy series, Club de Cuervos. He most recently appeared in the third season of Netflix’s Narcos: Mexico, as well as in Los Enviados (The Envoys) for Paramount+, where he is currently under a first-look producing deal for Spanish-language projects.

Méndez will next be seen in a starring role in the Netflix limited series, Belascoaran, and in Netflix’s Me Time, with Kevin Hart and Mark Wahlberg, which is slated to premiere later this year. He will soon begin filming for the Peacock limited series, The Resort, which was written and will be directed by Andy Siara.

The actor made his entrance into the U.S. feature marketplace opposite Adam Sandler...

Karla Souza and Dani Rovira, two of the foremost Hispanic actors with comedic chops, have joined the upcoming musical comedy, “Voy a pasarmelo bien” (“I’m Going to Have a Good Time”), produced by Sony Pictures International Productions (Spip), El Estudio and Spanish pop-rock band, Hombres G.

Mexico City-born Souza has starred in three of Mexico’s top-grossing pics: “Nosotros Los Nobles,” “Instructions Not Included” and “Que Culpa Tiene el Niño.” Her TV credits include ABC comedy series “Home Economics” and “How to Get Away with Murder.”

Spanish actor-comic Rovira made his big screen debut with Spanish blockbuster comedy “Spanish Affair” and has starred in the 2018 Spip romcom “Miamor Perdido,” among others.

The film is inspired by the music of the iconic band Hombres G, which rose to prominence in the ‘80s with their Beatles and British new wave-influenced music. Based in Madrid, Hombres G have published 12 studio albums to...

Amazon Prime Video has appointed seasoned Mexican film and TV producer Leonardo Zimbron for the newly created position of head of film for Spanish-speaking Latin America, effective January.

Zimbron was most recently with Endemol Shine Boomdog where he led its scripted unit since 2018. He has moved to Miami where he will report to Javiera Balmaceda, head of local originals for Spanish-speaking Latin America at Amazon Studios.

With this new role, Zimbron fulfills his long-time ambition to expand his purview from Mexico to the rest of the region. It is unclear who will oversee Portuguese-speaking Brazil.

Zimbron’s film credits include some of the biggest box office hits in Mexico, taking in 2013 comedy “We are the Nobles” (“Nosotros los Nobles”) Gary Alazraki’s debut feature, which has been or will be remade in various territories, including the U.S.

Aside from founding his own production company, Traziende Films, Zimbron ran Warner Bros.

FIlmSharks (exclusive)

Buenos Aires-based FilmSharks’ The Remake Co. has struck international deals on a quartet of comedies led by Ariel Winograd’s No Kids and That’s Not Cheating.

Guido Rud and his team have sold remake rights on No Kids to India’s Germ, which has offices in the subcontinent and the US. Shyam Madiraju (who produced Jennifer Aniston drama Cake) will produce the story based on the 2015 Argentina-Spain original about a man who is swept off his feet by a new lover and does not tell her about his young daughter.

The South Korean remake is set to...

Commission

ITV has commissioned West Road Pictures to produce “Ridley,” a new detective drama starring “Line of Duty” and “Blood” star Adrian Dunbar. The series is created and written by “Vera” lead writer Paul Matthew Thompson and West Road Pictures managing director Jonathan Fisher. They will executive produce the series.

“I couldn’t be happier to be getting started on ‘Ridley,’ as we continue to build the West Road production slate with our second commission for ITV,” said Fisher of the announcement. “ITV has a fine tradition of nurturing much-loved detective series, and it’s a real privilege to be bringing ‘Ridley’ to the channel.”

“Ridley” follows a detective inspector pushed into retirement from the force after 25 years investigating homicides. Convinced he is still in his prime, Ridley welcomes an invitation from his replacement and former protégé Carol Farman to aid her on a particularly complex case, eventually leading to more consulting jobs.

International films and series have a greater reach and wider audience than ever thanks to the success of global streaming platforms and a growing acceptance to leap over, as Parasite director Bong Joon Ho put it, “the 1-inch-tall barrier of subtitles.” So why, then, is the adaptation business booming?

In the past three weeks, Leonardo DiCaprio’s Appian Way has optioned the remake rights to Thomas Vinterberg’s Oscar-winning Danish dramedy Another Round, Chris Columbus’ 26th Street Pictures has agreed to put an English-language spin on hit 2013 Mexican comedy Nosotros Los Nobles for Netflix, and Bron Studios and Headline Pictures confirmed they’ll ...

International films and series have a greater reach and wider audience than ever thanks to the success of global streaming platforms and a growing acceptance to leap over, as Parasite director Bong Joon Ho put it, “the 1-inch-tall barrier of subtitles.” So why, then, is the adaptation business booming?

In the past three weeks, Leonardo DiCaprio’s Appian Way has optioned the remake rights to Thomas Vinterberg’s Oscar-winning Danish dramedy Another Round, Chris Columbus’ 26th Street Pictures has agreed to put an English-language spin on hit 2013 Mexican comedy Nosotros Los Nobles for Netflix, and Bron Studios and Headline Pictures confirmed they’ll ...

Netflix is about to introduce one of Mexico’s most legendary fictional families to the English-speaking world with “We Are the Nobles,” a new U.S. film adaptation of Mexican sensation “Nosotros los Nobles” (The Noble Family).

Eight years ago, Gaz Alazraki’s family comedy became a certified blockbuster, and still ranks as the second highest-grossing Mexican film of all time, behind “Instructions Not Included.” When Netflix was getting into original production outside of the U.S., its first effort was the series “Club of Crows,” created by Alazraki and inspired by his cinema super-hit.

Netflix is co-producing with Alazraki, who produced and directed the original, and Chris Columbus, Michael Barnathan and Mark Radcliffe from 26th Street Pictures, with whom the streamer has a larger overall deal, which also includes an untitled Chupacabra film with Jonas Cuarón, son and frequent collaborator of Alfonso Cuarón. Guido Rud, CEO and founder at FilmSharks,...

The Mexican comedy Nosotros Los Nobles (We Are the Nobles) is getting an English-language feature take at Netflix from producers Chris Columbus, Michael Barnathan and Mark Radcliffe for 26th Street Pictures as part of their overall deal with the streamer.

The 2013 movie directed and co-written by Gaz Alazraki follows three spoiled and superficial children and their self-made wealthy father who feigns bankruptcy to cut them off, and forces them to do the unthinkable: Get a job.

Nosotros Los Nobles stands as the second-highest grossing local movie in Mexico with $26.2M behind Eugenio Derbez’s Instructions Not Included which grossed $46.1M. Nosotros Los Nobles was also a success across Latin America and served as the inspiration for Netflix’s first Mexican original series Club de Cuervos. The original movie is based on the play El Gran Calavera written by Adolfo Torrado. The pic stars Gonzalo Vega, Luis Gerardo Mendez, Karla Souza and Juan Pablo Gil.

Chris Columbus, Gaz Alazraki. among producers. FilmSharks’ Guido Rud is EP.

Netflix is planning an English-language remake of Gaz Alazraki’s Mexican comedy juggernaut We Are The Nobles (Nosotros Los Nobles).

Chris Columbus is producing with Michael Barnathan and Mark Radcliffe for 26th Street Pictures as part of their overall deal with Netflix, and Alazraki.

Guido Rud, whose Buenos Aires-based sales agency FilmSharks has licensed remake rights to the film in multiple territories via its subsidiary The Remake Co., serves as executive producer.

The comedy centres on a self-made man who fakes bankruptcy and cuts off his spoiled children in...

Exclusive: Warner Bros and Plan B’s Cuban-American Father of the Bride looks to have landed one of the most famous Cuban-American entertainers of all. Sources tell Deadline that singer-songwriter Gloria Estefan is in negotiations to join Andy Garcia in the reboot, which Gaz Alazraki has been set to helm. The pic will revolve around a Cuban-American family, with Matt Lopez penning the script. Estefan would play Garcia’s wife, with Adria Arjona tapped to play the bride-to-be.

The film will tell the story of a father coming to grips with his daughter’s upcoming wedding through the prism of multiple relationships within a big, sprawling Cuban-American family. It will be more of a rom-com than previous versions of film. While this will mark the third iteration of the story, sources say this will be more in the vein of the original Spencer Tracy pic and not the Steve Martin franchise from the 1990s.

After collaborating on a number of hit songs over the years, Snoop Dogg and Jamie Foxx are now teaming up for vampire-hunter film “Day Shift.”

Also joining the ensemble cast are Meagan Good and Karla Souza.

Foxx stars in the new Netflix movie as a hard working, blue collar dad who wants to provide a good life for his quick-witted 8-year-old daughter, but his mundane San Fernando Valley pool cleaning job is a front for his real source of income — hunting and killing vampires as part of an international union of vampire hunters.

J.J. Perry — known for his work as a second-unit director and stunt coordinator on films including “Fast 9,” “The Fate of the Furious,” “Bloodshot,” and the “John Wick” franchise — makes his directorial debut with the pic. “Day Shift” is written by Tyler Tice with current revisions by Shay Hatten.

Producers are Chad Stahelski (“John Wick” franchise) and Jason Spitz for 87Eleven Entertainment,...

Sony Pictures Television (Spt) has tapped Oscar-nominated scribe Guillermo Arriaga to be the creative lead on “Yo No Soy Mendoza,” an Spt project Colombian writer-creator Fernando Gaitan was developing before he died unexpectedly in January 2019.

Gaitan was best known for his Colombian aspirational telenovela “Yo Soy Betty La Fea” (“Ugly Betty”), deemed by the Guinness World Records as the most successful telenovela in history.

“Ugly Betty” aired in some 180 countries, was dubbed into 15 languages, and adapted in up to 28 territories, including China, India, South Africa, and the U.S.

Gaitan had just signed a landmark content development deal with Sony Pictures Television, when he was felled by a heart attack at age 58. It was the first such agreement for the writer who had worked exclusively for Colombia’s Rcn for most of his 30-year career.

Arriaga commented, “Fernando Gaitán, my Colombian brother, called me before he passed away. He wanted...

Gaz Alazraki is set to direct a “Father of the Bride” film remake with a Cuban-American twist at Warner Bros, according to an individual with knowledge of the project.

Screenwriter Matt Lopez is penning the script for the romantic comedy. For the remake, Lopez will draw on his experience from attending Cuban weddings. Executives Jesse Ehrman and Paul Perez will oversee development of the project at the studio.

“Father of the Bride” was a remake of the 1950 original film which starred Spencer Tracy and Elizabeth Taylor. The 1991 version of the film starred Steve Martin as George Banks as a dotting father who is reluctant to let go of his daughter when he discovers that she is getting married. Diane Keaton also starred in the 1991 film as George’s wife Nina.

The 1991 “Father of the Bride” grossed $89 million domestically at the box office. A 1995 sequel followed and grossed $76 million domestically.

Alazraki...

Exclusive: Warner Bros’ new take on the classic story Father of the Bride is gaining momentum as Club de Cuervos director Gaz Alazraki has been set to helm the studio’s new reboot. This latest will revolve around a Latinx family, with Matt Lopez penning the script.

The film will tell the story of a father coming to grips with his daughter’s upcoming wedding through the prism of multiple relationships within a big, sprawling Cuban-American family. It will be more of a rom-com than previous versions of film. While this will mark the third iteration of the story, sources say this will be more in the vein of the original Spencer Tracy pic and not the Steve Martin franchise from the 1990s.

Dede Garner and Jeremy Kleiner will produce for Plan B Entertainment.

Alazraki has quickly become a rising star in the directing ranks and one of the most...

Karla Souza, co-star of “How to Get Away With Murder” and star of two of the three highest-grossing Mexican films of all time – “¿Qué Culpa Tiene el Niño?” and “Nosotros los Nobles” – is bringing her marquee clout to “La Hiedra” (“The Ivy”), the third feature from on-the-rise Ecuatorian writer-director Ana Cristina Barragán.

Now at second draft re-write, “The Ivy” will be presented by Barragán and Souza at the 2021 Rotterdam Festival CineMart co-production market.

Born in Quito, Barragán broke out with her debut feature, “Alba.” Ecuador’s Oscar submission, it was selected as one of five titles at the 2015 Bal Goes to Cannes showcase, world premiered at the 2016 Rotterdam Festival, winning the Lions Film Award, and subsequently snagged a special mention at San Sebastian’s Horizontes Latinos.

“The Ivy” is set up at Ecuador’s Botón Films, headed by producer-director Joe Houlberg, director of “Thirst,” a groundbreaking psychological thriller for Ecuador,...

Apple TV+ has given a series order to Acapulco, a Spanish and English-language half-hour comedy executive produced and starring Eugenio Derbez. inspired by hit 2017 feature comedy How to Be A Latin Lover, which was headlined by Derbez, Acapulco hails from Lionsgate Television, studio-based The Tannenbaum Company as well as Derbez and Benjamin Odell’s 3Pas Studios.

Created by Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist creator Austin Winsberg, Eduardo Cisneros & Jason Shuman (Half Brothers), in Acapulco, a young Mexican man’s dream comes true when he gets the job of a lifetime at the hottest resort in Acapulco. But he soon realizes the job is far more complicated than he ever imagined as all of his beliefs and morals start to be questioned. The show takes place in 1984 with Derbez narrating and playing the present-day version of the main character.

In How to Be a Latin Lover, produced by 3Pas Studios and distributed by Pantelion Films,...

Exclusive: Bluff City Law star Caitlin McGee is set as a co-lead opposite Topher Grace in ABC’s Home Economics. Also cast as major characters in the single-camera family comedy pilot are How To Get Away With Murder alumna Karla Souza in her return to ABC, and Saturday Night Live alumna Sasheer Zamata. The project hails from from writers Michael Colton and John Aboud, the Tannenbaum Co., Lionsgate TV and ABC Studios.

Written by Colton and Aboud inspired by Colton’s family,, Home Economics is said to be in the vein of Modern Family and revolves around three adult siblings: one in the 1 percent, one middle-class, and one barely holding on.

McGee plays the oldest sibling, Sarah, a therapist for at-risk kids, married to a teacher, and they’re often scraping to make ends meet. Of her siblings, she earns the least money, but she does the most socially important...

Paris-based company will reveal first footage at the Unifrance Rendez-vous with French Cinema in Paris.

French sales company Other Angle Pictures has boarded sales on dark comedy Spoiled Brats, the French-language remake of 2013 Mexican hit The Noble Family (Nosotros Los Nobles).

The Paris-based sales company will unveil first footage at the five-day Unifrance Rendez-vous with French Cinema in Paris which kicks off today (Jan 16).

Gerard Jugnot stars as a wealthy businessman who pretends his company is financially ruined in a bid to encourage his three pampered, adult offspring to live independently. Comedian Artus, Camille Lou (The Bonfire Of Destiny) and...

Here is a wrap-up of all the news you need to know from Tuesday, December 17, 2019.

Syfy is gearing up to say goodbye to another series.

The cable network has renewed Van Helsing for a fifth and final season, set to air sometime in 2020.

The news broke days before the Season 4 finale of the vampire drama.

“We are thrilled to be able to bring the amazing Van Helsing saga to a close,” said Chad Oakes, Executive Producer and Co-Chairman of Nomadic Pictures.

“This could not have been done without the support of our incredible cast, crew, Syfy, Netflix and SuperEcran.”

“We are so proud of Van Helsing and would like to thank Syfy and the amazing fans who embraced this series,” said Daniel March, Managing Partner, Dynamic Television.

“We are excited to end the show on its own terms and to give our story, these characters, and our fans the conclusion they so richly deserve.

Exclusive: Wme has signed Luis Gerardo Méndez, who is on the rise after starring in and executive producing Netflix’s first Spanish-language original series Club de Cuervos and recently broke out on the streamer’s Adam Sandler-Jennifer Aniston movie Murder Mystery.

The move comes as Méndez shoots the Focus Features film Half Brothers. The comedy, which he developed with co-writers Eduardo Cisneros, Jason Shuman and director Luke Greenfield, revolves around two very different half-brothers (Méndez and Connor Del Rio) forced on a road trip together masterminded by their ailing father, tracing the path their dad took as an immigrant from Mexico to the U.S.

Méndez also will appear in Sony’s Charlie’s Angels reboot which hits theaters November 15. His previous film credits in Mexico include the Netflix boxing drama Bayoneta and the Warner Bros comedy The Noble Family, which grossed $26 million there in 2013. He also co-starred in the 2014 biographical film Cantinflas,...

Mexican satire sold 7.5m tickets across Latin America

Buenos Aires-based FilmSharks’ The Remake Co. has landed another key deal on one of its hottest titles, closing negotiations with New Classics Media for Chinese remake rights to Latin American smash The Noble Family.

Gaz Alazraki’s Mexican comedy about a millionaire businessman who fakes his own bankruptcy in order to force his entitled children to find work was remade in Italian (Belli di Papa), and adaptations are in the works in France, Spain, and Germany.

A major Us studio is understood to be backing the Chinese version and further details are expected shortly.

Chile’s ’No Filter’, Argentina’s ’A Boyfriend For My Wife’, Thailand’s ’Bad Genius’ among big draws

Remake rights have been doing a roaring trade in Cannes. South Korea’s Company L has acquired Chilean hit No Filter while the Philippines’ Glimmer Entertainment has bought the Argentinian rom-com A Boyfriend For My Wife.

Both deals were done by Guido Rud’s Buenos Aires-based FilmSharks, one of the world’s most active purveyors of remake rights. Spain’s Latido Films has assembled an inaugural remakes sales slate where titles include the Argentinian thriller 4x4, a hit at Ventana Sur last December,...

Koblic, My Love Or My Passion among hot sellers.

FilmSharks has closed key deals with Chinese buyers on its Afm slate here, led by a sale on thriller Dark Buildings (Las Grietas de Jara) to Lemon Tree Media.

The Argentina-Spain co-production has also gone to HBO Europe, and Caribbean Cinemas for Central America. Oscar Martinez, who won the 2016 Venice Coppa Volpi for The Distinguished Citizen, stars in Dark Buildings (Las Grietas de Jara) based on the Argentinian crime novel by Claudia Piñeiro.

FilmSharks chief Guido Rud previously struck deals with Buena Vista for Latin America and HBO for the Us.

With more than 233 million Instagram followers combined, these Latino entertainers are cementing their names in Hollywood.

As part of Hispanic Heritage Month, Et is paying tribute to this special group of actors and singers, who are not only enriching the creative arts, but also paying it forward.

Related: 9 Inspiring Latino Designers Slaying the Fashion World

Cardi B

Photo: Getty Images

The 24-year-old rapper -- whose real name is Belcalis Almanzar -- is currently dominating the music charts with her debut single, "Bodak Yellow," which recently reached number one on the Us Billboard Hot 100 chart. Born and raised in the Bronx, Cardi B's mother hails from Trinidad and her father is Dominican. In 2015, she joined the cast of VH1's Love & Hip Hop: New York for two seasons before leaving the reality show to focus on her music.

Now, Cardi B is slaying the hip hop and social media game (she has 10.7 million followers on Instagram) and is...

They said a woman couldn’t be president but now Isabel (Mariana Treviño) is taking over Los Cuervos de Nuevo Toledo in the second season of Netflix’s hit Spanish-language series “Club De Cuervos.”

At the end of the first season, her brother Salvador “Chava” Iglesias Jr., portrayed by Luis Gerardo Méndez, was voted out as president of the company after he put the team’s future and his late father’s legacy at risk with his limited knowledge of sports management and ruthless spending. Season 2 begins with Isabel trying to lead the team to victory.

“It’s one thing to want to be president, but it’s different if you try to screw me over,” Chava tells his sister in the trailer.

Read More: ‘Mozart in the Jungle’ Season 3 Trailer: Gael García Bernal and Lola Kirke Return To The Orchestra

The clip also shows how Isabel’s husband and ex-Cuervo,...

Gary Alazraki’s new feature finds international sales and co-production partner at Rome’s Mia market.

Mexican director Gary Alazraki’s next feature Almost Paradise (Casi El Paraiso) has locked a coproduction partner and international sales company during the last day of Rome Film Festival’s Mia market.

True Colours – the new sales company that is a partnership between Italian powerhouses Lucky Red distribution and Indigo Film — will handle sales for all territories except for North and Latin America, where Fox International Pictures has already secured rights.

Indigo Film, whose credits include The Great Beauty, has also boarded as a co-producer, alongside Film Tank and Ivanhoe Pictures.

The film will shoot in both Mexico and Italy, and it marks the director’s first movie since 2013 smash comedy hit The Noble Family (Nosotros Los Nobles). That film earned more than $340m at the global box office and was remade in Italy by Colorado Film Production as Daddy’s Girl...

Gary Alazraki’s new feature finds international sales and co-production partner at Rome’s Mia market.

Mexican director Gary Alazraki’s next feature Almost Paradise (Casi El Paraiso) has locked a coproduction partner and international sales company during the last day of Rome Film Festival’s Mia market.

True Colours – the new sales company that is a partnership between Italian powerhouses Lucky Red distribution and Indigo Film — will handle sales for all territories except for North and Latin America, where Fox International Pictures has already secured rights.

Indigo Film, whose credits include The Great Beauty, has also boarded as a co-producer, alongside Film Tank and Ivanhoe Pictures.

The film will shoot in both Mexico and Italy, and it marks the director’s first movie since 2013 smash comedy hit The Noble Family (Nosotros Los Nobles). That film earned more than $340m at the global box office and was remade in Italy by Colorado Film Production as Daddy’s Girl...

Exclusive: Original racked up more than 1.3 million admissions.

FilmSharks has licensed remake rights to Nicolas Lopez’ Chilean hit No Filter (Sin Filtro), which generated more than 1.3 million ticket sales when it opened earlier this year.

Deals have closed for France (Andina), Brazil (Conspiracao Filmes) and Mexico (Balero Films in association with Sobras International Pictures).

Guido Rud and his team have also licensed rights in Spain (Amiguetes Entertainment), Colombia, Uruguay and Argentina (Aeroplano Cine), and China (Im Global).

Germany, South Korea, Italy, Russia, and pan-Latin American TV are in play. CAA represents Us rights with Sobras International Pictures, with whom Rud negotiated to handle sales on the remake rights.

“This female-driven super-high concept is like Falling Down meets Trainwreck and buyers are desperate for it,” said Rud, who brokered the deal with Miguel Ansensio Llamas.

In other remake deals, Borsalino Full House has taken French remake rights to Mexican smash The Noble Family (Nosotros Los Nobles), while [link=tt...

Original racked up more than 1.3 million admissions.

FilmSharks has licensed remake rights to Nicolas Lopez’ Chilean hit No Filter (Sin Filtro), which generated more than 1.3 million ticket sales when it opened earlier this year.

Deals have closed for France (Andina), Brazil (Conspiracao Filmes) and Mexico (Balero Films in association with Sobras International Pictures).

Guido Rud and his team have also licensed rights in Spain (Amiguetes Entertainment), Colombia, Uruguay and Argentina (Aeroplano Cine), and China (Im Global).

Germany, South Korea, Italy, Russia, and pan-Latin American TV are in play. CAA represents Us rights with Sobras International Pictures, with whom Rud negotiated to handle sales on the remake rights.

“This female-driven super-high concept is like Falling Down meets Trainwreck and buyers are desperate for it,” said Rud, who brokered the deal with Miguel Ansensio Llamas.

In other remake deals, Borsalino Full House has taken French remake rights to Mexican smash The Noble Family (Nosotros Los Nobles), while A Boyfriend For My Wife has gone...

An exponential surge in the quantity and quality of films is continuing to come out of Latin America. (Hence my urge to write two books on the subject, the next to come out this fall.)

Mexico's output of 140 films, the highest in its glorious if erratic film history, has been accompanied by an explosion of the number of top ranking directors (Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Alfonso Cuarón,Guillermo del Toro), DOPs (Emmanuel Lubezki), actors (Eugenio Derbez, Gael García Bernal), producers, below the line, etc; major blockbusters (“Instructions Not Included”, “The Noble Family”), and festivals in every state of The United States of Mexico from Chiapas, Morelia, Cuernavaca, Oaxaca, Baja, Guadalajara, Puerta Vallarta, Acapulco, etc. What a way to see Mexico through its films and film festivals! USA's partnership in the cross-border cultural achievements of Mexico unites our two countries in culture, a great alliance which benefits us perhaps more than it does them...but that is another article.

Argentina continues, in spite of its erratic politics and economy, to keep its production steady as it always has and continues export the largest number of arthouse cinema of Latin America, Daniel Burman’s "The Tenth Man" being its latest, with Kino Lorber picking it up for U.S. and Canada. Argentina's Latam market, Ventana Sur, in partnership with the Cannes Marché, is the strongest and best market of Latin America for Latino films.

Colombia's systematic, steady work at creating a film culture is paying off in a tremendous outflow of award winning arthouse, indigenous (Ciro Guerra's "Embrace of the Serpent" whose Isa Films Boutique sold to Oscilloscope for U.S., Interior 13 Cine for Mexico, Alfa Films for Argentina, Diaphana Films for France, Mfa Filmdistribution for Germany, Magyarhangya for Hungary, Peccadillo Pictures for U.K.,trigon-film for Switzerland, Natlys for Denmark, Diaphana for France, Alambique for Portugal) , Afro-diaspora ("La Playa DC" whose Isa Cineplex sold it for U.S. to Artmattan Productions, Canada to K Films Amerique, Colombia to Cineplex, France to Jour2fete; and "La Sirga" which Cineplex licensed to Film Movement for U.S., for Colombia to Cineplex, France to Zootrope Films ) and genre films.

Tiny Uruguay has strong films by doubly strong producers like Mariana Secco whose strength at carving out a niche equals the work of Wonder Woman. Guatamala, Paraguay, Peru and Cuba are showing the world their undeniable accomplishments as well.

Central America, long denied its own voice -- first because United States and United Fruit created banana republics out of them, then by the trade in drugs and now by exporting gang members to their parents' countries – all of which has resulted in creating nations of violence and poverty -- is now experiencing the thrill of creating sustainable film economies.

Will Costa Rica prevail? To its advantage, it has not been a part of the violent cycle of drugs and gangs) and its stability and economy are able to sustain growth if the government creates cinema laws to help it along. The film writer María Lourdes Cortés from Costa Rica is the most articulate advocate of Central American Cinema and has established Cinergia, Central America's only homemade film promotion, training, dissemination and funding organ. The astoundingly prolific young producer, Marcela Esquivel, whose "Red Princesses" brought Costa Rica to the world's attention as two frontrunners in Costa Rica's race is another promient voice from Costa Rica. Esquivel's Cuban-Costa Rican coproduction “August”/ "Agosto" (Isa: FiGa) was nurtured by Cannes's Fabrique des Cinemas du Monde and was recently in Ficg’s Coproduction Market along with her project “The Ballroom”/ “El Baile y el salon” about to start production.

Or will Panama prevail? Its Canal has just doubled in size and is a center for international trade to such a degree that China itself is challenging it by tearing up the rain forest of Nicaragua in order to build its own canal.

Panama, with its eye on taking a lead as the internet hub for Latin America, Panama whose Canal creates a Cuba-u.S.-China triangle for trade, Panama whose close history with U.S., its same time zone location with U.S., its direct flights to U.S., its central position for Israeli businesses fleeing the instability of the Mid East, Panama may well come out ahead of Costa Rica. Yes, well there are also the "Panama Papers" whose discovery has come since I first wrote this article. But I don't think this latest revelation of the wealthiest and greediest 1% will put a stop to Panama's growth. These are the two horses I am putting my money on.

I am now at the 5th Panama Film Festival, long headed by the much acclaimed Pituka Ortega-Heilbron and headed on the programming and industry fronts by the Toronto Ff vet Diana Sanchez. Covering it in all its diversity to see if it furthers the odds against the Costa Rica International Film Festival has not been disappointing. Also here is the longtime Costa Rica advisor, 20-year Sundance Film Festival industry vet, Nicole Guillemet. Criff is now, reportedly finally being stabilized by the installation of a permanent producer also attending Iff Panama.

Panama is also premiering six of its own films. Comprised of three documentaries and three fiction films, this year’s Panamanian pictures portray the constant struggle of minorities, problematic life in the city, the search for one’s identity, and unresolved past events, exploring numerous socio-cultural issues living in the isthmus of Panama. Comedy will not be missed.

“Salsipuedes”, co-directed by Ricardo Aguilar and Manolito Rodríguez is about Andrés Pimienta, a young neighborhood boy from Panama who is sent to the United States to remain as far away as possible from his troubled homeland and his father Boby, a boxing ex-champion now serving time in prison. Andrés returns to Panama ten years later to attend his grandfather’s burial, where he meets again with Boby-- a reunion that transforms Andres’ destiny.

“Time to Love, A Backstage Tale”/ "Es la hora de enamorarse", a documentary directed by Guido Bilbao, is the true story of a group of young actors with Down Syndrome who courageously mount the classic Panamanian play La Cucarachita Mandinga, without any previous experience on stage. Many thought it unlikely that they would manage to memorize lines, learn choreography or capture the attention of the public. The artistic process is unveiled as Bilbao shows the intimate world of these young aspiring actors, along with their fears, hopes, and daily struggles.

“Drifting Away”/ "A la deriva", a documentary film directed by Miguel I. González is an expose of the healthcare system in Panama in 2006 when it mistakenly created and distributed over 200,000 jars of a common flu remedy, made of a substance named diethylene glycol used in the automotive industry. This caused the mass poisoning of patients, mostly resulting in permanent illness or even death. This notorious case involved companies in China, Spain and Panama. Highlighted are the lives of Iris, Milagros, and Briseida, three women who were severely affected by the poison, both physically and emotionally telling stories of their inner conflicts, as well as their patience, desperation, solitude, and their yearning to be healthy again.

“The Route”/ "La ruta" is Pituka Ortega-Heilbron’s new documentary.

Every morning from Monday to Saturday Severino González, a construction worker, wakes up at 3:30 A.M. to take the bus to work. For most Panamanians, buses are their only option to get to work and sustain a city that grows so recklessly. Yet these buses are like time bombs, its passengers well-aware of its danger but ignorant of its countdown. Every month people die or get hurt, and Severino knows this, but he has no other choice as he will show us through his everyday bus route and his life. This is the portrait of a nation that claims it is becoming a first world country but lacks the basic resources to live up to it.

“The Check”/ "El cheque" is Arturo Montenegro’s first feature film. It is a Panamanian comedy taking place in the midst of the chaos that haunts the Vinda household. A wild and vigilant vegetarian spirit with massive eyes carrying the name of Dominga changes their lives in unimaginable ways. In her stay with the Vindas, Dominga’s fuss and madness becomes the joy and fervor of the family, except with the household’s spoiled dog, Claudia, who’s the only one aware of Dominga’s secret. Everything seems to work fine until a check raises a debate about identity, happiness, trust and the great beyond.

“Kenke”, directed by Enrique Pérez Him, concerns a professional and successful young man, Josué who accepts the family challenge to help his cousin Kenny get away from marijuana. Unbeknownst to the rest of his family, he too shares this vice. Together Josué and Kenny face a society ruled by double standards and other addictions.

Even if only one of these films is directed by a woman, and that woman is the festival’s own director, it is still noticeable that in all this exciting activity of festivals and countries growing culturally, that women are in the majority taking the lead in innovating and establishing these cultural outposts in counties that have been brought to their knees formerly by the macho impositions of capitalism in its ugliest forms of colonialism and imperialism.

As a side remark here, we are witnessing similar activitiy in Mena's (Middle East and North Africa) Gulf State of Qatar with the Doha Film Institute’s CEO Fatma Al Remaihi and in the Emirate State of Dubai with its long standing Dubai Film Festival led by Managing Director, Shivani Pandya.

Culture, always the first to go when the men get going using armaments to build wealth, is now finding that with the potential strength of 51% of the world’s population behind it, it just might get the upper hand for the first time in "civilized" society. Also we are witnessing the Lgbt community's creative might also being exercised on the side of culture. This always original, innovative segment of world society helps enormously in crossing the lines drawn in the sand by the white male establishment.

So we will put our eye upon Panama, the next possible contender for The Latin American Prize for Excellence in Cinematic Experience.

The Colombian private broadcaster is exploring new collaboration opportunities with Ciro Guerra and producer Ciudad Lunar after investing in the Oscar-nominated film.

Colombia’s foreign language Academy Award contender is the most high-profile feature backed by Caracol Television under a relatively young initiative that has already supported around 25 features in four years.

Alejandro Bernal, the company’s general manager of new channels and film, had been looking for a story of the Amazon and recalled how he took almost no time at all to agree to help Guerra fund his adventure-drama following a meeting in late 2012.

“Ciro came in and… we talked for a few minutes before we knew it was the right time [to invest in the film],” said Bernal. “It’s not always easy to have global success with an auteur film bit we took a bet on it.”

The film already had support from Iberomedia fund and Proimagenes Colombia when Caracol Television took an associate producer credit and ploughed...

Exclusive: The company has taken Chinese remake rights to the Mexican hit.

Marking the latest in a string of initiatives exploring opportunities in the world’s biggest boom market, Los Angeles-based Im Global has picked up Chinese remake rights from FilmSharks to Mexican smash The Noble Family.

Under the terms of the deal, Im Global will develop and produce a Chinese-language remake via its Beijing operation under the auspices of Leslie Chen.

The company’s senior vice-president of sales and acquisitions for Asia has led the office since Im Global chief Stuart Ford opened his China hub in 2012.

The Noble Family (Nosotros Los Nobles) became a box office sensation in Mexico when it opened in 2013 and generated more than 7.6m admissions.

The story of three spoiled children cut off from the family and forced to find work remains the second biggest Mexican release behind Instructions Not Included.

Leonardo Zambron produced alongside director Gary Alazmaki and such was...

I have spent two days at a great new film residency program in Mexico. Tepoztlan is a village an hour out of Mexico City and home to many filmmakers and artists. Pueblo Magico offers a three week workshop for first and second time filmmakers. It was founded by Flavio Florencio whose own first feature, the award winning transgender doc “Made in Bangkok” will screen at the Palm Springs Film Festival this coming January.

Read more about “Made in Bangkok” when covered at Guadalajara Film Festival L.A.

“I launched this residency because I realized there was a need for such a space for budding filmmakers where they can be free of distractions and pressure,” said its founder, Flavio Florencio. Florencio also founded the Human Rights Film Festival and the African Film Festivals, Africalal in Mexico.

Within 48 hours after opening the first call for entries for the three week workshop (October 17 to November 5), 120 projects from a dozen countries were received and reviewed by the selection committee that included Florencio, Guanajauto Festival Programming Director Nina Rodriguez and cinematographer Maria Secco. “The projects were so interesting that we have accepted more than the requisite eight this year,” said Florencio.

Projects of the 10 residents included eight fiction features and two docs, the bulk of them debuts. Five projects were from Mexico:

The two favorites (voting was by mentors who also attended the event) include the debut film project of Florian Seufert (Germany), the fiction feature, “Dragonflies Don’t Die”. Florian gathered his family to celebrate his parents 30th anniversary and his own 28th birthday on the same day. The footage already shot shows an atmospheric and mysterious world set within the ordinary confines of the large family celebration.

The “runner up” is the second fiction feature of Mauricio Lopez Fernandez (Chile), “La Jauria” in which a pack of dogs kill a herd of cows in a remote Andean hamlet, forcing village elders to make a sacrifice for the future of their youth. The film is still in early development. Mauricio's short film "La Santa" (2012) premiered at Berlinale Shorts and was a finalist for the Teddy Award. His first feature film, "The Guest" ("La Visita") won Best Picture and Best Actress at the Rencontres du cinema Sud-American de Marseilles et Region 2015 and was nominated Best Latin American Film at San Sebastian Film Festival 2015..

The winner receives post-production services, prestige, honor and glory!

Other debuts included:

Faride Schroeder (Mexico)

“Por el Amor a mi Madre” (fiction)

A young teen realizes her mother is an imperfect and vulnerable human being. Faride has served as second assistant director on “The Noble Family” and “Soy Negro” now in post.

Luis Horacio Pineda (Mexico)

“La Cosecha de los Naranjos” (fiction)

A group of teens affected by a fire 15 years ago in the nursery school Guarderia ABC seek revenge upon those responsible for it.

Luis now lives in Los Angeles where he is seeking to establish roots.

Alexander Albrecht (Switzerland)

“Brooklyn Treehouse” (fiction)

This is the story of four young creatives who come to New York; and through their experience of sharing an apartment with a eccentric French artist, they are pushed to make decisions about their own lives.

Produced by Edher Campos from Machete Producciones ("La Jaula de Oro", "Año Bisiesto")

Veronika Mliczewska (Poland)

“Where the Grass is Greener” (fiction)

A Jamaican dreams of living in Ethiopia while an Ethiopian family sends their son to London to seek a better life.

Antonella Sudasassi (Costa Rica)

“El Despertar de la Hormigas” (fiction)

A young mother who questions what she wants for the first time starts taking birth control pills without telling her husband. Pitting her will against social expectations and the fear of being discovered slowlysubmerge her into a state of psychosis with hallucinatory episodes that portray her feeling of guilt, her relationship with her body and sexuality.

Those with second film projects:

Mak Chun Kit (Singapore)

“Huruma” (docu)

Documentarian Mak Chun Kit returns to Tanzania eight years after he volunteered in an orphanage to find out how his friends there have fared.

Pablo Perez Lombardini (Mexico)

“Los Suenos de Geronimo” (fiction)

A seven-year-old boy runs away to seek answers about his father’s death and comes upon a haunted village in the desert.

Maria Fernanda Galindo (Mexico)

“Defensores” (docu)

Two women fight to defend the rights of a group of women who seek the escape the misogyny of their communities.

The program will be offered three times a year for three weeks at a time. The next one is scheduled for March 2016. “We’d like to focus on American indie filmmakers then, as few applied this time,” said Florencio.

In our time, the idea of slowing down is ever more attractive, more important and more difficult. This is a program which offers time for that. “ Pueblo Magico offers its residents a less frenetic pace and a less impersonal approach to developing their projects, with time to enjoy the beauty of their surroundings, visit the pueblo and hang out with mentors,” he added. The serious business of relaxation was led by yogi Namhari teaching meditation and yoga.

It is not by chance that the filmmakers find their needs fulfilled. Their needs are determined first and then the right mentors are found just for them. “If necessary, we’ll find not just film professionals but scientists, shamans or whatever sources they need,” said Florencio.

Mentors this session included Mexican producers Laura Imperiale,Christian Valdelievre and Nicolas Celis; screenwriter Carlos Contreras; Danish directing and acting coach Birgitte Staermose, festival pros/ consultants Mara Fortes, Christine Davila and Blanca Granados and yours truly, Sydney Levine, giving the closing presentation about the international film circuit, what it is exactly and how to enter its charmed circle of networking and screening opportunities.

A Master Class was given by Fernando Trueba, producer of the 2000 classic doc “Calle 54”, writer of the beautiful “Belle Epoque”, writer and director of the fabulous animated music feature “ Chico and Rita”. Residents also made a trip to D.F. for a private screenwriting session with Guillermo Arriaga.

The master class of Nicolas Celis who has formed a coproduction entity with trend setter Jim Stark (producer of Jim Jarmusch’s first films and films of Icelandic filmmaker Fredrik Fredrikson) will be the subject of an upcoming blog.

And soon, a call will be made to first and second time American indie filmmakers to come this March to Tepoztlan.

For a series whose opening moments include both a hookers-and-blow extravaganza and a scene in which one main character coldcocks the other, “Club de Cuervos” ought to be more fun than it is. This Mexican dramedy–Netflix’s first Spanish-language original series–chronicles the inner workings of a wealthy family that owns a beloved but struggling soccer team. But although the show has a few juicy moments, the overriding feeling is that, at least after two episodes, there may not be enough delicious scheming or bitchy backbiting to justify a binge watch. Co-created by filmmaker Gaz Alazraki, whose 2013 comedy “Nosotros Los Nobles...