Alejandro Amenábar “Thesis” to Get English-Language Remake Treatment from Sentient Entertainment

Posted on October 25, 2021 by Tom Castaneda

Alejandro Amenábar is seeing his thesis revisited…

Sentient Entertainment has snagged the English-language remake rights to Thesis, a horror-thriller from the 49-year-old Spanish-Chilean film director, screenwriter, composer and BAFTA Award nominee.

Amenábar’s original film won seven Goya Awards and other accolades upon its release in 1996.

The original film centered on Ángela (Ana Torrent), a student writing a thesis about violence, who comes upon a snuff video where a girl is tortured to death, soon discovering that the victim was an alumna of her school.

Sentient acquired control of the rights to Thesis from FilmSharks-owned The Remake Co. and Enrique Cerezo’s VideoMercury, in what’s described as a highly competitive bidding war.

Cerezo, who is the president of European football club Atlético Madrid, originally acquired the film rights when he purchased Sogecine, the Spanish production company formerly owned by Canal Plus.

Sentient’s Renee Tab and Christopher Tuffin will produce the remake with Rud and Aliwen Entertainment’s Lucas Akoskin, with Cerezo exec producing.

“Amenabar was ahead of his time in making Thesis. Our culture has become more fascinated and obsessed with sex and violence than ever. The desensitization of violence in the media has reached an all-time high and to devastating effect,” said Tab. “Through a university campus experience, we want to tell the next generation’s story as authentic as possible, touching on what students today are feeling and suffering in accordance with mental health and the pressures ahead of them. All of this is hidden in a great investigative thriller.”

The full-service management and production company founded by Tab in 2010 also recently acquired rights to Amenábar’s horror-thriller The Others, starring Nicole Kidman, and is developing a remake with Universal Pictures and Aliwen Entertainment’s Akoskin. The original was released by Miramax in 2001, going on to gross more than $200M worldwide.

Pilar Palomero’s “The Girls” Wins Big at the Goya Awards

Posted on March 8, 2021 by Tom Castaneda

Pilar Palomero is celebrating a Girls night like no other…

The 40-year-old Spanish film director and screenwriter’s coming-of-age story The Girls has taken home the top prizes, including best picture, at the 35th annual Goya Awards.

The annual Spain awards show, hosted by Antonio Banderas, also saw Palomero’s drama win the prizes for new director, original screenplay and cinematography.

The 35th Goya Awards adopted a hybrid format due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and featured talent presenting and receiving awards virtually or on-site at an audience-less Teatro del Soho CaixaBank.

Among the Hollywood names presenting the event’s various awards were Pedro Almódovar, Penélope Cruz, J.A. Bayona, Alejandro Amenábar and Paz Vega.

The ceremony also featured pre-recorded messages from a number of Hollywood names including Robert DeNiro, Al Pacino, Benicio del Toro, Laura Dern and Charlize Theron.

1492: Conquest of Paradise and Broken Embraces actress Angelina Molina took home the ceremony’s Honorary Goya award.

Here’s the full list of winners at the 35th annual Goya Awards:

FILM
The Girls (Pilar Palomero)

DIRECTOR
Salvador Calvo (Adú)

NEW DIRECTOR
Pilar Palomero (The Girls)

ACTRESS
Patricia López Arnaiz (Ane)

ACTOR
Mario Casas (No matarás)

SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Nathalie Poza (Rosa’s Wedding)

SUPPORTING ACTOR
Alberto San Juan (Sentimental)

NEW ACTRESS
Jone Laspiur (Ane)

NEW ACTOR
Adam Nourou (Adú)

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Pilar Palomero (The Girls)

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
David Pérez Sañudo, Marina Parés Pulido (Ane)

PRODUCTION DESIGN
Ana Parra, Luis Fernández Lago (Adú)

CINEMATOGRAPHY
Daniela Cajías (The Girls)

EDITING
Sergio Jiménez (The Year of the Discovery)

ART DIRECTION
Mikel Serrano (Akelarre)

COSTUME DESIGN
Nerea Torrijos (Akelarre)

MAKEUP AND HAIR DESIGN
Beata Wotjowicz, Ricardo Molina (Akelarre)

SOUND
Eduardo Esquide, Jamaica Ruíz García, Juan Ferro, Nicolas de Poulpiquet (Adú)

SPECIAL EFFECTS
Mariano García Marty, Ana Rubio, (Akelarre)

ORIGINAL MUSIC
Aránzazu Calleja, Maite Arroitajauregi (Akelarre)

ORIGINAL SONG
“Que no, que no,” (María Rozalén for Rosa’s Wedding)

ANIMATED FEATURE
Turu, the Wacky Hen (Eduardo Gondell, Víctor Monigote)

DOCUMENTARY
The Year of the Discovery (Luis López Carrasco)

IBERO-AMERICAN FILM
Forgotten We’ll Be (Fernando Trueba, Colombia)

EUROPEAN PICTURE
The Father (Florian Zeller, U.K., France)

LIVE-ACTION SHORT FILM
A la cara (Javier Marco)

DOCUMENTARY SHORT
Biography of a Woman’s Corpse (Mabel Lozano)

ANIMATED SHORT FILM
Blue & Malone: Casos imposibles (Abraham López Guerrero)

HONORARY GOYA
Angela Molina

AMC Offers First Look at Alejandro Amenábar’s First Television Series “La Fortuna”

Posted on February 26, 2021 by Tom Castaneda

Alejandro Amenábar’s fortune is being finalized…

AMC has released the first stills from the 48-year-old Spanish-Chilean Oscar-winning film director, screenwriter and composer’s first television series La Fortuna, which is in the final stages of production in Spain and the U.S.

Based on Paco Roca and Guillermo Corral’s graphic novel El Tesoro del Cisne Negro, the story centers on young diplomat Alex Ventura who teams with a combative public official and a brilliant American lawyer to recover treasure stolen by Frank Wild, who travels the world plundering historic items from the ocean.

Stanley Tucci plays Wild, while Spanish actor Álvaro Mel features as Ventura. Spain’s Ana Polvorosa stars as Ventura’s colleague in work and adventure, Lucia. Rounding out the cast are Clarke Peters as attorney Jonas Pierce, and British actress T’Nia Miller, who plays attorney Susan McLean. Karra Elejalde, Manolo Solo, Blanca Portillo and Pedro Casablanc also appear.

The six-part MOD Pictures-produced series will premiere in 2021 on AMC in the United States, Canada, UK, Latin America, and the Caribbean, as well as Movistar+ in Spain.

Amenábar, who directs, won the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar in 2005 for The Sea Inside, while he directed Nicole Kidman in 2001’s The Others.

Almodovar’s “Julieta” Selected as Spain’s Official Best Foreign Language Film Entry

Posted on September 7, 2016 by Tom Castaneda

Spain is putting its Oscar bet on Pedro Almodovar…

The Spanish Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has selected the 66-year-old Spanish filmmaker’s drama Julieta as its official submission in the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar race, marking the sixth time the director has represented Spain in the category.

The film, which Sony Pictures Classics will release in the U.S. on December 21, was selected by the organization from a shortlist of three titles including Iciar Bollain’s The Olive Tree and Paula Ortiz’s The Bride.

Julieta, Almodovar’s 20th film, premiered in competition at the Cannes Film Festival this year and was welcomed by critics and festgoers.

Produced by Esther Garcia through brothers Pedro and Agustin Almodovar’s banner El Deseo, the film is based on three short stories by Canadian Nobel laureate Alice Munro.

It follows the story of a woman who lives in Madrid with her daughter Anita who both suffer in silence over the loss of Xoan, Anita’s father and Julieta’s husband. The grief eventually drives them apart, and Anita abandons her mother age 18 without an explanation.

Adriana Ugarte, Emma Suarez, Rossy de Palma and Michelle Jenner star in the film, which was released in Spain in April through Warner Bros. and grossed $2.4 million in the territory.

Spain has won the Foreign Language Oscar category four times with the most recent win in 2004 with Alejandro Amenabar’s The Sea Inside.

The last time an Almodovar title was selected by the Spanish Academy as the country’s Oscar submission was in 2006 with Volver.

Amenabar’s “Regression” to Open the San Sebastian Film Festival

Posted on August 14, 2015 by Tom Castaneda

Alejandro Amenabar latest project will have its world premiere at one of the most important cinema festivals in the world.

The 43-year-old Spanish-Chilean director’s Regression will open the 63rd annual San Sebastian Film Festival as part of its world premiere.

“The world premiere of the film, presented in the Official Selection out of competition, will take place on September 18 in the Kursaal Auditorium,” the festival’s official website announced on Friday.

Ethan Hawke, Emma Watson, David Thewlis and David Dencik star in the psychological thriller, following in the path he forged with favorites like The Others and Open Your Eyes.

The story focuses on a detective, played by Hawke, who is investigating the claims of a young woman, Watson, who has accused her father, played by Dencik, of a crime that he has no recollection of committing.

When the father unexpectedly admits his guilt, a renowned psychologist, David Thewlis, is brought in to help the father rediscover his apparently repressed memories.

Regression is an English-language film shot in Canada, and will hit select cinemas just a few weeks after its screening in San Sebastian.

“Regression will open in Spain on October 2 followed by key territories, including Germany, the UK, France, Italy, China and Korea later this fall. The remaining worldwide releases will take place in the months to follow,” the announcement added.

Spain Selects Trueba’s “Vivir es Facil con los Ojos Cerrados” as Its Oscar Entry for Best Foreign Language Film

Posted on September 26, 2014 by Tom Castaneda

Does David Trueba‘s latest film have what it takes to earn Oscar glory?

The Spanish Academy of Arts and Cinematographic Sciences seems to think so, selecting the 45-year-old Spanish director’s Vivir es Facil con los Ojos Cerrados as its entry for best foreign language film at next year’s Academy Awards.

Trueba’s film, chosen Thursday the nation’s film acaedmy, tells the true story of an English-language teacher from Spain who traveled to the southern province of Almeria in 1966 to try to meet late Beatles star John Lennon, who was staying there.

The movie takes its name from the lyrics of the Beatles song “Strawberry Fields Forever,” which Lennon began writing in Almeria.

The U.S. film academy will select finalists for the Oscars in January, with the awards announced a month later.

Spain has won four Oscars for best foreign language film. Trueba’s brother, Fernando Trueba, won the category in 1994 for Belle Epoque. The country’s other winners include José Luis Garci’s Begin the Beguine (1982), Pedro Almodovar’s All About My Mother (1999) and Alejandro Amenábar’s The Sea Inside.

In all, Spain has earned 18 Best Foreign Language Film nominations since the launch of the category in 1956, with The Sea Inside serving as the country’s last nominated (and eventual Oscar-winning) film.

Bovaira Heading the Seven-Person Jury at This Year’s San Sebastian International Film Festival

Posted on September 12, 2014 by Tom Castaneda

Fernando Bovaira is the head of the class at one of Spain’s biggest film festivals…

The Spanish producer will head the seven-person jury that will select the winner of the top prize, the Golden Shell, at this year’s San Sebastian International Film Festival, which runs September 19-27.

One of Spain’s most international names, Bovaira has produced all of director Alejandro Amenabar’s films including The Others, The Sea Inside and the upcoming Regression — starring Ethan Hawke and Emma Watson — as well as Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu’s Biutiful, Julio Medem’s Sex and Lucia and Javier Fesser’s Mortadelo and Filemon, The Big Adventure.

Bovaira is joined by Venezuelan writer/director/producer Mariana Rondon, who returns to San Sebastian after winning last year’s Golden Shell with her acclaimed film Bad Hair, while Iranian born writer and director Marjane Satrapi will come to the seaside resort town in Spain’s northern Basque region after premiering her latest work, The Voices, starring Ryan Reynolds, at the Toronto Film Festival.

Singaporean director Eric Khoo, who heads Zhao Wei Films/Gorylah Pictures, will also join the panel. He has been credited with putting Singapore on the international film map with films like My Magic and animated Tatsumi.

Berlin-born actress Natassja Kinski, Germany director of photography Reinhold Vorschneider and Romanian character actor Vlad Ivanov, who won the L.A. Critics Award for his portrayal of an illegal abortion doctor in 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days, round out the jury.

In addition to the seven official jurors, named Thursday, jailed Ukraine filmmaker Oleg Sentsov is an honorary jury member. The Federal Security State of the Russian Federation (FSB) arrested Sentsov on May 10 for backing the protests in Kiev and for his opposition to Russia’s annexation of Crimea. The festival said it took the step of officially naming Sentsov to the jury to defend freedom of expression and in response to an request by the European Film Academy.

Amenábar’s Next Thriller “Regression” to Star Emma Watson

Posted on February 6, 2014 by Tom Castaneda

Alejandro Amenábar has found his next leading lady…

The 41-year-old Chilean-Spanish Oscar-winning filmmaker will direct Harry Potter franchise alum Emma Watson in the thriller Regression.

Amenábar, who rose to acclaim after making the Spanish-language sci-fi film Abre los ojos, wrote the original screenplay for The Weinstein Company–Dimension Films project.

The storyline for Regression is being kept under wraps, but the film is being described as an “elevated suspense thriller.”

As previously reported, Ethan Hawke will star in the Regression, which has been slated for release in 2015.

Amenábar’s previous projects include The Sea Inside, which won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 2004.

Amenábar to Direct Ethan Hawke in the Thriller “Regression” for The Weinstein Company

Posted on November 9, 2013 by Tom Castaneda

Alejandro Amenábar is partnering with The Weinstein Company-Dimension for his next project…

The film studio has acquired the U.S rights to Regression, an elevated suspense thriller to be directed by the 41-year-old Spanish-Chilean Oscar-winning director.

Amenábar returns to the English language realm with the film, starring Ethan Hawke, which is set in 1980 in a small Minnesota town where a man is arrested for sexually abusing his daughter. He admits his guilt despite having no memory of it. With the help of a psychologist, he relives the memories and implicates a police officer as his partner in crime. The man’s estranged son and other townspeople are also suddenly able to relive suppressed memories of horrific abuse. At the same time, the local news reports blame a Satanic cult that has been performing rituals of orgies, assault, killing animals and even babies, for years. The officers are alarmed when similar reports come in from all around the country—they believe they’ve uncovered a national and possibly supernatural conspiracy. Is the abuse real, or something else?

This marks a re-team between Amenábar, who won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 2004 for the Javier Bardem-starrer The Sea Inside, and Harvey and Bob Weinstein, who last worked with the helmer at Miramax on The Others, the sleeper hit thriller that starred Nicole Kidman and grossed $97 million U.S. and $210 million worldwide in 2001.

Amenábar, a nine-time Goya Award winner, has a resume that includes Tesis, Abre los ojos and Agora.

Bardem to Appear in Spanish-Film “Alacran enamorado”

Posted on April 26, 2012 by Tom Castaneda

He received a Best Actor Oscar nod for his role in 2010’s Biutiful— the first entirely Spanish language performance to be nominated for that award… And, now Javier Bardem plans to return to Spanish cinema.

The 43-year-old Spanish actor will play a neo-Nazi ideologue in Alacran enamorado (Scorpion in Love), a film based on a novel by his brother Carlos.

Spanish director Santiago Zannou says Bardem, who won a best-supporting-actor Oscar for his turn in No Country for Old Men, will play a secondary character named Solis, a role distinct from the purely villainous one he has in the upcoming James Bond film.

“In my film (the character) is more realistic, not a wicked villain who wants to destroy the world, but an ordinary person. Those are the ones who truly frighten me, for having a type of ideology that separates people, that engenders violence,” Zannou told Efe.

Alacran enamorado tells the story of Alyssa, a seductive Latin American immigrant who had fallen victim to a prostitution ring and now makes a living cleaning houses, and Julian, alias “El alacran” (The Scorpion), a member of a neo-Nazi group.

Alex Gonzalez and Judith Diakhate have the starring roles, while Carlos Bardem plays a boxing trainer and former boxer Rudo Hovic plays the owner of the gym.

This will mark the first time Bardem has worked with a Spanish director since he won a Goya award for his performance in Alejandro Amenabar’s Mar adentro (The Sea Inside).

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