Avatar Entertainment Acquires Worldwide Rights to Vadhir Derbez’s Erotic Thriller “SVGS”

Vadhir Derbez’s latest project is going global…

Avatar Entertainment has acquired the worldwide rights to the 31-year-old Mexican actor and Elyfer Torres’s erotic thriller SVGS and is shopping them at the Cannes Market.

Vadhir Derbez,The Jorge Xolalpa-written and directed film, pronounced ‘Savages,’ follows a young couple, who on the night of celebrating their anniversary, decide to test the strength of their relationship and push each other to their mental and physical limits. What was supposed to be a romantic night takes a deadly turn.

Derbez recently starred in The Seventh Day alongside Guy Pearce and has in the past year completed shooting for Jesse Johnson’s White Elephant starring Bruce Willis and John Malkovich and “SVGS” and shot a pilot for HBO Max’s unscripted television series From Sloppy to Papi.

Torres was in Telemundo telenovela in Betty en NY and is currently starring in Netflix’s Guerra de Vecinos. She recently wrapped an untitled thriller, produced by Gary and Julie Auerbach.

Xolalpa shot the film, which is his sixth, over six days from within his own home. “I’ve always wanted to do a single-location, one-take film. Although I didn’t come close to that with SVGS, we do open the film with a 20-page single take shot,” he said. “We shot 33 pages on our first day.”

Val Valdez and Sara Seligman produced the film, which comes from Xolalpa’s Mighty Aphrodite Pictures.

Lionel Messi Among the Barcelona FC Teammates Featured in New Documentary “Matchday”

Lionel Messi is sharing his life story with the world…

Matchday, a new behind the scenes documentary about Barcelona FC‘s 2018-19 season gives viewers access to exclusive never seen before footage, including a special look at the 32-year-old Argentine soccer star.

Lionel Messi

The documentary, narrated by Hollywood actor John Malkovich, offers a glimpse into the life of one of the world’s biggest soccer stars.

The documentary centers on eight key games from last season where Barcawon La Liga and reached the semifinals of the Champions League, where it was blown away by Liverpoolin one of the greatest comebacks in the history of European football.

There’s also footage from outside the locker room with cameras being allowed into the players’ homes including a barbecue at Luis Suarez‘s house where he’s joined by Messi and Jordi Alba.

Gerard Piqueis also featured, spending time with his family, while Ivan Rakiticshows off his culinary skills and Marc-Andre ter Stegentalks about designing his new home.

Last week, in front of an adoring home crowd at the Camp Nouin a Champions League match against German team Borussia Dortmund, Messi made it 700 appearances for Barca, games in which he’s contributed 613 goals and 237 assists.

Messi scored one and set up two others as Barca claimed top spot in Group F with a 3-1 win over Dortmund.

Barca is just the latest big soccer club to allow cameras into the club. Manchester Cityand Juventushave both been subjects of documentaries while a series on Tottenhamis currently being filmed by Amazon.

The series, which consists of eight 45-minute episodes, is being broadcast by Rakuten TV , with the documentary also being shown in Japan.

Trailer Released for Louis C.K.’s Latest Film “I Love You, Daddy”

Louis C.K.’s latest project may be a little too timely…

“A girl that age is getting into trouble, and if she loves her daddy, that means you’re doing nothing,” says the first trailer for I Love You, Daddy, the new film from the 50-year-old Mexican American comedian, filmmaker and television creator that is likely to be looked at quite differently now than when it debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Louis C.K.

The potentially jarring dark comedy is directed by Louis C.K., who also stars as Glen, a successful TV writer-producer-father who panics when his 17-year-old daughter China (Chloë Grace Moretz) starts spending time with a legendary movie director (John Malkovich) — who is sixtysomething and well known for dating “really young women.”

“She is a child — she knows nothing,” Glen says of his progeny. “She’s like a Disney princess on estrogen.

Conceived in 1940s Hollywood style and resplendent in vintage black-and-white, the film also features Helen Hunt as Glen’s combative ex-wife, Better ThingsPamela Adlon as his feisty ex-girlfriend, Edie Falco as his long-suffering production partner and Charlie Day as his brash TV actor buddy Ralph.

The Orchard swooped in with a distribution deal after the film’s well-received TIFF premiere screening last month and will release I Love You, Daddy on November 17.

 

 

Banderas to Star in Millennium Films’ Thriller “Unchained”

Antonio Banderas’ career is off the chain

The 56-year-old Spanish actor has landed a role in Millennium Films’ Reservoir Dogs-style thriller Unchained.

Antonio Banderas

Banderas joins a cast that includes Adrien Brody and John Malkovich. Paul Solet will direct the film.

They play career criminals who trap themselves in a warehouse with the law closing in, and run into the attack dog named DeNiro. The tale is told in an a series of intertwining narratives that explore the love, fear and conditioning and all the wrong turns that have put them in the dog house, fighting for their lives.

Ori Pfeffer and Alexandra Dinu have also been cast.

Unchained begins production on November 14.

Santoro to Star in the Indie Drama “Dominion”

Rodrigo Santoro is ready to establish a little dominion of his own…

The 38-year-old Brazilian actor has signed on to star in the indie drama Dominion.

Rodrigo Santoro

The film, which also stars John Malkovich and Rhys Ifans, is based on the last day of Welsh poet Dylan Thomas’ short life at the White Horse Tavern in New York. Thomas died at the age of 39 of pneumonia but was a voracious drinker.

The film is being shot in black and white by Steven Bernstein, the cinematographer on Monsterand Like Water for Chocolate, from his own script.

Santoro, who reprised his role as Xerxes in this year’s 300: Rise of an Empire and was the voice of Tulio in Rio 2, will portray the bartender at the White Horse, a pivotal role as a character who continues to communicate with Thomas throughout the film. Diego Luna was previously linked to the role.

The tavern, which opened in 1880, became a well-known Bohemian hangout in New York in Greenwich Village in the 1950s and is still a going concern on Hudson and 11th St.

“It’s not a biopic at all, but rather a testament to the man and his legacy,” says producer Richard Gladstein.

Santoro will next star alongside Will Smith and Margot Robbie in the heist movie Focus and just wrapped The 33, the film about the Chilean miners.

Luna’s “Chavez” Claims an Audience Award at the South by Southwest Film Conference and Festival

The future looks like bright for Diego Luna’s biopic on Cesar Chavez

The 34-year-old Mexican actor-turned-director’s film Chavez about the life of the life of Mexican American labor leader and civil rights activist earned an audience award at the South by Southwest Film Conference and Festival.

Cesar Chavez

Chavez, which stars Michael Peña, America Ferrera, Rosario Dawson and John Malkovich, took home the audience prize in the Narrative Spotlight category.  

The film premiered in the Berlinale Special Galas section of the 64th Berlin International Film Festival last month.

Here’s a look at the SXSW Film Festival Audience Award winners:

NARRATIVE FEATURE COMPETITIONAudience Award Winner: Before I Disappear
Director: Shawn Christensen

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE COMPETITIONAudience Award Winner: Vessel
Director: Diana Whitten

DOCUMENTARY SPOTLIGHTAudience Award Winner: DamNation
Director: Ben Knight & Travis Rummel

NARRATIVE SPOTLIGHT Audience Award Winner: CESAR CHAVEZ
Directors: Diego Luna

VISIONSAudience Award Winner: Yakona
Director: Anlo Sepulveda & Paul Collins

MIDNIGHTERSAudience Award Winner: Exists
Director: Eduardo Sánchez

EPISODICAudience Award Winner: Silicon Valley
Director: Mike Judge

SXGLOBALAudience Award Winner: The Special Need
Directors: Carlo Zoratti

FESTIVAL FAVORITESAudience Award Winner: The Case Against 8
Director: Ben Cotner & Ryan White

SXSW Film Design Awards EXCELLENCE IN POSTER DESIGN

Audience Award Winner: Big Significant Things
Designer: Corey Holms

EXCELLENCE IN TITLE DESIGN Audience Award Winner:  True Detective
Designer: Patrick Clair for Elastic

Participant Media Lands the Rights to Luna’s Cesar Chavez Biopic

It looks like Diego Luna’s biopic on Latino labor leader and civil rights activist Cesar Chavez will be making its way to theaters in North America…

Diego Luna

Participant Media has landed all North American rights to Chavez, which is being directed by the 32-year-old Mexican actor.

Based on a script by Hotel Rwanda scribe Keir Pearson, the film stars Michael Peña as the highly celebrated Mexican American labor organizer.

Cesar Chavez

The biopic focuses on Chavez’s work organizing the largest non-violent protest in U.S. history to aid more than 50,000 farm workers in California.

Luna’s Canana Films is producing the biopic, currently filming in Sonora, Mexico, and co-starring America Ferrera, Rosario Dawson, Wes Bentley, Michael Cudlitz and Gabriel Mann.

Chavez Biopic

Canana principals Pablo Cruz, Gael Garcia Bernal (who makes a cameo appearance in the film) and Luna are producing with John Malkovich (who stars as Bogdanovich, one of Chavez’s key adversaries.