Alejandro Amenábar Partners with AMC & Movistar+ to Develop His First-Ever TV Drama

Posted on July 19, 2020 by Tom Castaneda

Alejandro Amenábar is ready to work in television…

The 48-year-oldSpanish-Chilean film director, screenwriter and composer will make his first-ever television drama for AMC and Spain’s pay-TV broadcaster Movistar+.

The Oscar-winning director behind The Others and The Sea Inside will work with AMC Studios, Movistar+ and MOD Pictures to adapt 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.

The yet-to-be-titled six-part series goes into production this summer and will premiere in 2021 on AMC in the United States, Canada, UK, Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as Movistar+ in Spain.

Ed Carroll, COO at AMC Networks, said: “This project is uniquely a Spanish/American story inspired by real life events that at times seem more unbelievable than fiction – replete with courtroom drama, international intrigue, and even the largest recovered sunken treasure in history.”

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

Colombia Selects Alejandro Landes’ “Monos” as Its Pick for the Oscar’s International Feature Film Race

Posted on August 29, 2019 by Tom Castaneda

Alejandro Landes is representing Colombia…

The 39-year-old Brazil-born Colombian-Ecuadorian film director’s latest project, the Spanish-language survival thriller Monos, has been selected as Colombia’s selection for the International Feature Film race at the 92nd Academy Awards.

The film centers on a young group of soldiers and rebels training on a remote mountain in Latin America with an American hostage (Julianne Nicholson).

Moisés Arias, Sofia Buenaventura, Deiby Rueda, Karen Quintero and Laura Castrillón star in the film, which Landes co-wrote with Alexis Dos Santos.

The film won a World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Awardat this year’s Sundance Film Festivalin Park City, Utah.

The news comes as Neon and co-distributor Participant Media prepare to release the film theatrically in the U.S. on September 13.

Colombia has only seen one film nominated in what was formerly known as the Best Foreign Language Film category. That was Ciro Guerra’s Embrace of the Serpent in 2015, the year Hungary’s Son of Saulwon the Oscar.

Mexico Selects Alfonso Cuarón’s “Roma” for the Best Foreign Language Film Race

Posted on September 17, 2018 by Tom Castaneda

Alfonso Cuarón is ready for a foreign fight…

Mexico has selected the 56-year-old Mexican filmmaker and Oscar winner’s latest film Roma from Netflix as its official submission for the Academy Award race for Best Foreign Language Film.

After its launch in the fall festival space, Roma has been on fire, winning the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival.

Cuarón’s memoir to his homeland reportedly also played in a cinema down in Mexico City during August to qualify. Netflix is working to give Roma a theatrical release in Dolby Atmos, the format the director prefers. The qualifying theatrical run will reportedly start on December 14 in select cities.

Much like how Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon received love throughout all Oscar categories outside of foreign language, it would come as no surprise to see the same for Roma.

Cuarón produced, wrote, directed and shot the black-and-white film about his memories growing up in Mexico City.

In 2014, he became the first Mexico-born filmmaker to win the Oscar in the directing category for his sci-fi opus, Gravity.

Sebastián Lelio’s “A Fantastic Woman” Makes Oscars Shortlist for Best Foreign Language Film

Posted on December 15, 2017 by Tom Castaneda

Sebastián Lelio is one step closer to a special date with Oscar…

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has whittled through 92 submissions to come up with its shortlist of nine titles to advance in the Best Foreign Language Film category this year, with the 43-year-old Argentinian-born Chilean filmmaker still in the running.

Sebastián Lelio

Lelio’s A Fantastic Woman, Chile’s pick to enter the race for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar, joins other favorites like Ruben Ostlund’s The Square (Sweden) and Loveless from Russia’s Andrey Zvyagintsev in advancing to the next round.

Each of those was nominated for a Golden Globe earlier this week. As was Fatih Akin’s Germany terrorism drama In The Fade, which has seen its street cred solidified by the Academy with tonight’s shortlist inclusion.

The final five Academy Award nominations in the race will be announced along with the rest of the categories on January 23.

Films also making the cut include Berlinale Golden Bear winner On Body And Soul from resurgent Turkish director Ildikó Enyedi; and Venice favorites Foxtrot, from Israel’s Samuel Maoz, and The Insult by Franco-Lebanese helmer Ziad Doueiri.

The last Spanish-language film to earn a nomination in the Best Foreign Language Film category was Ciro Guerra’s Embrace of the Serpent (representing Colombia) in 2015.

The Last Spanish-language film to win the Oscar in the category was Juan José Campanella’s The Secret in Their Eyes (representing Argentina) in 2009.

In 2012, Chile earned its first and only Oscar nomination in the category with Pablo Larrain’s No, which starred Gael Garcia Bernal.

Here’s this year’s complete shortlist:

Chile, A Fantastic Woman, Sebastián Lelio, director;
Germany, In the Fade, Fatih Akin, director;
Hungary, On Body and Soul, Ildikó Enyedi, director;
Israel, Foxtrot, Samuel Maoz, director;
Lebanon, The Insult, Ziad Doueiri, dirctor;
Russia, Loveless, Andrey Zvyagintsev, director;
Senegal, Félicité, Alain Gomis, director;
South Africa, The Wound, John Trengove, director;
Sweden, The Square, Ruben Östlund, director.

Larrain Attached to Direct Annapurna Pictures’ “The True American”

Posted on April 5, 2017 by Tom Castaneda

Things could be ringing True for Pablo Larraín…

The 40-year-old Chilean filmmaker, the Oscar-nominated director behind such titles as Jackie and Neruda, is attached to direct Tom Hardy in Annapurna Pictures’ The True American.

The project is based on Anand Giridharadas’ nonfiction book of the same name, which is set in Texas in the days following 9/11. It follows the story of Rais Bhuiyan, a Muslim immigrant and Bangladesh Air Force veteran who narrowly survived a killing spree that took the lives of two other immigrants. Employed at a Dallas-area convenience store as he established himself in America, Bhuiyan worked to have his attacker, self-styled “Arab-slayer” Mark Stroman, spared from execution.

This is a project that has been kicking around for a few years now, with Kathryn Bigelow attached to direct at one point, but now it’s moving forward with Bigelow taking a producer role on the film.

Larraín is fast becoming one of the most sought after international directors after his recent effort Jackie, starring Natalie Portman as the former First Lady in the days following the assassination of John F. Kennedy, was nominated for three Oscars.

His Spanish-language film Neruda, a twist on the biopic genre about the eponymous Nobel Prize-winning poet, was made in Chile and debuted at the Cannes Film Festival while his 2012 political satire No was nominated for an Academy Award in the Best Foreign Language Film category.

The True American: Murder and Mercy in Texas was published in 2014 by W.W. Norton & Company.

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.

Trapero to Direct Fox Searchlight’s “The Man In The Rockefeller Suit”

Posted on February 9, 2016 by Tom Castaneda

Pablo Trapero is ready to Rock(efeller)…

The 44-year-old Argentine filmmaker has been tapped to direct The Man In The Rockefeller Suit for Fox Searchlight Pictures.

The film tells the true story of Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter, an imposter who conned his way into various jobs on Wall Street — as well a marriage — posing as a member of the Rockefeller family. After achieving a life in rarefied social circles, his past finally catches up with him and he fears losing custody of his only daughter.

David Barr Katz has adapted the book by Mark Seal.

This part weekend, Trapero won the Goya Award for Best Ibero-American film for The Clan, which will have a platform release in the U.S. beginning March 19 through Fox. He won the Silver Lion for the picture at last year’s Venice Film Festival, just at it broke the record for largest local-language opening of all time in Argentina.
Trapero has twice had films nominated for Best Foreign Language Film Oscars, for Lion’s Den and Carancho.

Trapero, whose White Elephant premiered in Un Certain Regard at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival, chaired the Cannes jury for Un Certain Regard at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival.

Larrain’s “The Club” Selected as Chile’s Bid for the Oscar’s Foreign Film Category

Posted on September 17, 2015 by Tom Castaneda

Pablo Larrain is Chile’s choice for Oscar glory once again…

The 39-year-old Chilean filmmaker and former Oscar nominee’s latest film, The Club, has been selected as the nation’s bid for the Academy Awards‘ Best Foreign Language Film category, the Chilean Minister of Culture Ernesto Ottone has announced.

At the official send-off for the delegation that will attend the San Sebastian Film Festival, Ottone also announced Maite Alberdi’s documentary Tea Time will be the candidate for the Spanish Goya Awards.

A gripping portrait of four former priests who live secluded in a cabin as a punishment for their past sins, Larrain’s film won the Grand Jury Prize at the Berlin Film Festival earlier this year.

One of Chile’s most renowned directors today, Larrain’s previous film No, starring Gael Garcia Bernal, grabbed a Foreign Language nomination in 2013. Before that, his film Tony Manero was Chile’s entry in 2008, but it failed to get a nomination.

Garcia Bernal also stars in Larrain’s upcoming Neruda, about the political persecution of Chile’s renowned poet and left-wing senator Pablo Neruda, played by Luis Gnecco.

His next project, the Jackie Kennedy biopic Jackie, starring Natalie Portman, will be produced by Darren Aronofsky, Scott Franklin, and Chile’s Fabula, lead by Larrain’s brother Juan De Dios.

“What is relevant now is that we have two Chilean films that have already been awarded abroad, and they are aiming to secure a nomination for these academies,” said Ottone. “These awards are an important platform to make local productions visible, as they are creating a unique mark. So, we congratulate their creative teams for proposing new ways to see today’s Chilean society, both from an intimate perspective in Tea Time, and from the social questioning The Club suggests,” he added.

Szifron to Direct Sci-Fi Series “The Stranger” for Media Rights Capital

Posted on June 8, 2015 by Tom Castaneda

It’s stranger times for Damian Szifron…

The 39-year-old Argentine film and television director, whose Relatos Salvajes was nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 87th Academy Awards, is set to helm a sci-fi series in the United States.

Szifron will make his directorial debut on the small screen in the U.S. with “The Stranger,” a series limited to 10 episodes that he’ll write and direct for Media Rights Capital (MRC) studios.

The format will include stories that go global, with multiple locations and different languages, according to Deadline.com.

The agreement gives Szifron a new project in the U.S. market, where he recently closed a deal to write the screenplay for the film The Six Billion Dollar Man starring Mark Wahlberg and directed by Peter Berg.

That film is a movie adaptation of the TV series of the same name that was a hit on the ABC network in the United States between 1974 and 1978.

Szifron has also signed a deal to write and direct a future thriller for TriStar.

Mexico Selects del Amo’s “Cantinflas” as its Best Foreign Language Film Oscar Submission

Posted on September 13, 2014 by Tom Castaneda

Sebastián del Amo is one step closer to a possible Academy Award nomination…

The Mexican filmmaker’s second feature film Cantinflas has been named by Mexico as its Best Foreign Language Film Oscar submission, just in time for the film’s theatrical push into Mexico and Latin America this month.

The biopic about famed Mexican comedian Mario Moreno aka Cantinflas was released by Pantelion Films in the United States on August 29 and has grossed $5 million stateside in 400 theaters.

del Amo co-wrote the script with Edui Tijerina.

Óscar Jaenada (The Losers, Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides) stars opposite Michael Imperioli in the tale of the oddly mustachioed icon who rose from humble beginnings, earned the nickname “The Charlie Chaplin of Mexico,” and helped launch the country’s golden age of cinema.

Pantelion has been pushing Cantinflas hard for months, attaching its trailer to screenings of studio blockbusters and marketing to multigenerational Latino audiences.

The film opens in Mexico on September 16 via Videocine Distribucion and will be released in 14 Latin American countries during the next few months.

Mexico’s most recent submissions to earn an Oscar nomination were Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Biutiful in 2010 and Guillermo del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth in 2006.

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