Sony Pictures Classics to Premiere Pedro Almodóvar’s “The Room Next Door” in New York & Los Angeles This December

Posted on October 23, 2024 by Tom Castaneda

Pedro Almodóvar’s highly acclaimed English debut film will opening in the U.S. in December.

Sony Pictures Classics has announced the release date for the 75-year-old Spanish Oscar-winning filmmaker’s acclaimed festival title, The Room Next Door, which premiered in Venice.

Written and directed by Almodóvar, who has long been in business with the studio, The Room Next Door will be released in New York and Los Angeles theaters on December 20 and expand to select cities on January 10 before opening nationwide on January 17.

Taking home the top prize of the Golden Lion at this year’s Venice Film Festival, The Room Next Door, starring Julianne Moore, Tilda Swinton and John Turturro, marks Almodóvar’s first English-language feature.

The film follows Ingrid (Moore) and Martha (Swinton), who were close friends in their youth, when they worked together at the same magazine. Ingrid went on to become an autofiction novelist while Martha became a war reporter, and they were separated by the circumstances of life. After years of being out of touch, they meet again in an extreme but strangely sweet situation.

Zoe Saldana to Receive Critics Choice Association‘s Groundbreaker Award

Posted on October 14, 2024 by Tom Castaneda

Zoe Saldana is a special Critics Choice honoree…

The 46-year-old 44-year-old Puerto Rican and Dominican American actress is among the honorees from the Critics Choice Association‘s 4th Annual Celebration of Latino Cinema & Television taking place on October 22, 2024 at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood.

Saldaña will receive the Groundbreaker Award for her starring role in Netflix’s Emilia Pérez, which won the Best Actress prize for the ensemble cast at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year.

The Director Award – Film will be awarded to Pablo Larraín for his directorial work on Netflix’s Maria.

The film competed in the Venice Film Festival and was one of the official selections for both the Telluride Film Festival and the New York Film Festival this year.

The Vanguard Award will be given to filmmaker Fede Alvarez for his writing and directorial work in creating 20th Century Studios’ Alien: Romulus.

The film notably earned $45.1 million in its domestic opening weekend at the box office and became the highest grossing horror film in IMAX history.

Emmy-nominated director, writer and producer Issa López will receive The Director Award – Series for her directorial work on the HBO Original Series True Detective: Night Country.

The series received 19 Emmy nominations, the most for any limited or anthology series this year and won star Jodie Foster the award for Best Actress in a Leading Role for a Limited Series, Anthology, or Television Movie.

The Showrunner Award will recognize Emmy-nominated television writer and producer Francesca Sloane for her work on Prime Video’s series Mr. & Mrs. Smith. The series was nominated 16 times at this year’s Emmys and was awarded two wins.

Oscar and Emmy-nominated actress Adriana Barraza will be honored with the Actress Award – Film for her role in Roadside Attractions’ film My Penguin Friend.

Barraza previously earned an Academy Award nomination in 2007 for Best Supporting Actress for her work in Alejandro González Iñárritu’s film Babel and just received a 2024 International Emmy nomination for Best Actress for her work in the award-winning Netflix film El último vagón.

Actress and writer Fernanda Torres will receive the Actress Award – International Film for her role in Sony Pictures Classics’ film I’m Still Here, which notably garnered the Best Screenplay award at this year’s Venice Film Festival and has been selected as Brazil’s 2024 submission for Best International Feature Film at the Oscars.

Emayatzy Corinealdi will accept the Actress Award – Series for her performance on Hulu/Onyx Collective’s Reasonable Doubt.

Corinealdi also recently appeared in the HBO series Ballers and in the Miles Davis biopic Miles Ahead. STARZ will bestow Emayatzy Corinealdi’s award with a special STARZ #TakeTheLead designation as part of its ongoing commitment to amplifying narratives by, about, and for women and underrepresented audiences.

Ramón Rodríguez will be awarded with the Breakthrough Actor Award – Series for his starring role in the ABC series Will Trent.

Rodríguez was also nominated in the Best Actor in a Drama Series category for season one at last year’s Critics Choice Awards.

The Comedy Series Award will be bestowed upon the acclaimed Apple TV+ series Acapulco, starring Emmy-winner Eugenio Derbez, Enrique Arrizon, Fernando Carsa, and Camila Perez.

The International Series Award will recognize the Apple TV+ Spanish-language drama series Familia de Medianoche, which features an entirely Latino cast and crew led by performers Renata Vaca, Joaquín Cosío, and Diego Calva.

The Celebration honors standout performances and work, both onscreen and offscreen from the Latino entertainment community.

Jenna Ortega’s “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” to World Premiere at Venice Film Festival

Posted on July 2, 2024 by Tom Castaneda

Jenna Ortega’s latest project is launching in Italy…

The 81st Venice Film Festival will open with the world premiere of Tim Burton‘s Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, starring the 21-year-old Mexican American actress.

Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, Catherine O’Hara, Justin Theroux, Monica Bellucci and Willem Dafoe star alongside Ortega in the highly anticipated sequel to Beetlejuice.

The Warner Bros film will be screened out of competition on Wednesday, August 28 at the Sala Grande, the festival said Tuesday.

This will mark a return to the sort of glitzy red carpet with which Venice has become synonymous, after last year’s Lido event had less star-wattage than usual as it took place amid the SAG-AFTRA strike.

Warner Bros starts the international rollout on Beetlejuice 2 on September 4 with domestic joining September 6.

Said Venice chief Alberto Barbera today, “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice marks the long-awaited return of one of the most iconic characters of Tim Burton’s cinema, but also the happy confirmation of the extraordinary visionary talent and the masterly realization of one of the most fascinating auteurs of his time. The Venice Biennale is honored and proud to host the world premiere of a work that features a surprising swing of creative imagination and driving hallucinatory rhythm.”

Added Burton, “I’m very excited by this. It means a lot to me to have the world premiere of this film at the Venice Film Festival.”

In the sequel to Beetlejuice, Burton’s classic 1988 supernatural comedy, three generations of the Deetz family return home to Winter River following an unexpected tragedy. Still haunted by Beetlejuice (Keaton), Lydia’s (Ryder) life is turned upside down when her rebellious teenage daughter, Astrid (Ortega), discovers the mysterious model of the town in the attic and the portal to the Afterlife is accidentally opened. With trouble brewing in both realms, it’s only a matter of time until someone says Beetlejuice’s name three times and the mischievous demon returns to unleash his very own brand of mayhem.

This year’s Venice runs from August 28-September 7 with French star Isabelle Huppert acting as jury president.

Pablo Trapero Begins Casting for His English-Language Debut Film “& Sons”

Posted on May 19, 2024 by Tom Castaneda

Pablo Trapero has lined up an impressive cast for his English-language film debut.

Bill Nighy, Noah Jupe, George MacKay and Matt Smith has been cast in the 52-year-old Argentine film producer, editor and director’s & Sons.

The film is being scripted by Oscar winner Sarah Polley.

Bankside Films launched world sales on the buzzy project at this week’s Cannes market. Bankside, UTA Independent Film Group and CAA Media Finance are co-repping the film’s North American rights.

The film is based on the novel of the same name by David Gilbert.

The official synopsis reads: “Andrew is a novelist best known to the world as A.N. Dyer. He wrote his first book when he was 27 and it became an instant classic, selling 45M copies and creating a cult around its elusive author. Andrew wakes up one morning convinced that he is about to die. He knows that with his time on Earth dwindling he needs to set right the major relationships of his life and so he summons his sons to be with him.

“It’s been almost 20 years since an ‘incident’ tore apart the Dyer home. An incident that has a name – Andy. Andy’s the reason his world-famous father, Andrew, no longer speaks to his adult age sons, Richard and Jamie, nor to his ex-wife, Isabel. However when his sons arrive, laden with their own problems, Andrew does not seek their forgiveness, as they expected, instead he tells them something so wild it couldn’t possibly be true. Or could it?”

Trapero, considered to be a big creative force in Latin American cinema, will also produce the film through his own company Matanza Cine.

Trapero’s 2015 film El Clan set the record for the largest opening weekend box-office of all time in his home country of Argentina and went on to win the Silver Lion for Best Director at the Venice Film Festival.

His first feature, Mundo Grúa, won the Critics Prize at the 1999 Venice International Film Festival.

He’s a regular at major festivals including Cannes, Toronto and Venice. More recently he has directed high profile series for Amazon and Apple+.

The filmmaker said: “What appealed to me most was the universality of a “normal” family dynamic as the core of the storytelling. Our most intimate relationships are usually our most complicated. & Sons tells the story of a collection of people who are all flawed and trying to find peace with one another, although struggling to do so. The unexpected surreal twist makes things beautifully more complicated. The sensational cast, that i am thrilled to be working with, is a dream come true. They are the perfect ensemble to tackle and elevate these characters in the most powerful way, honoring the equally potent writing from Sarah.”

Stephen Kelliher of Bankside Films added: “We are thrilled to be working with Pablo and his sensational cast on this brilliantly original story, which will delight and surprise audiences in equal measure.”

Axel Kuschevatzky commented: “It is a pleasure for us to bring to the big screen the wonderful, smart and dazzling national bestseller by David Gilbert, masterfully adapted by Sarah Polley for director Pablo Trapero. As strong believers in international talent, we are proud of supporting latino filmmakers with such a unique vision as Pablo has”.

J.A. Bayona’s “Society Of The Snow” Named Best Feature at This Year’s Platino Awards

Posted on April 21, 2024 by Tom Castaneda

J.A. Bayona’s most recent project is still picking up awards…

Society Of The Snow, the Spanish filmmaker’s survival drama for Netflix, dominated the top honors at the eleventh Platino Awards on Saturday evening.

Bayona’s Society Of The Snow closed last year’s Venice Film Festival. Based on the book of the same name by Pablo Vierci, first published in 2008, the film charts the story of the 45 people who, on October 13, 1972, boarded Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 from Montevideo to Chile. There were five crew members on board and 40 passengers, including 19 members of the Old Christians Club rugby team.

Tragedy struck when the pilot began his descent too early, crashing into the Andes and killing 12 immediately. The survivors clung to the belief that help was coming, but none did. After weeks of hunger, having exhausted everything in the plane’s hold, they were forced to do the unthinkable and eat the flesh of those who had died.

The story was told by Frank Marshall in the 1993 film Alive. The film was Spain’s pick for the Best International Feature Oscar race.

The Ibero-American award show took place this year at the El Gran Tlachco theater in Xcaret Park, Riviera Maya.

Bayona claimed the award for best director for Society Of The Snow, which won Best Feature.

20,000 Species Of Bees, the debut film by Basque filmmaker Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren won Best Screenplay and Best First Feature.

The film is set during a summer in a village house linked to beekeeping and follows an eight-year-old and her mother experiencing revelations that will change their lives forever.

Elsewhere, Robot Dreams won Best Animated Feature and Under Therapy by Gerardo Herrero took Best Comedy, capping off a good night for Spain in Mexico, with all main film awards bar Best Documentary (The Eternal Memory by Maite Alberdi of Chile) going to Spanish filmmakers.

Here’s the full list of 2024 Platinos winners:

Film
Best Fiction Film: Society of the Snow (Spain)
Best Fictional comedy: Bajo Terapia (Spain)
Best Director: J. A. Bayona (Spain)
Best Screenplay: Estibaliz Urresola for 20,000 Species of Bees (Spain)
Best original music: Alfonso de Vilallonga for Robot Dreams (Spain)
Best Male Performance: Enzo Vogrincic for Society of the Snow
Best Female Performance: Laia Costa for Un amor (Spain)
Best Supporting Male Performance: Jose Coronado for Cerrar los ojos (Spain)
Best Supporting Female Performance: Ana Gabarain for 20,000 Species of Bees (Spain)
Best Animated Film: Eagle and Jaguar: Robot Dreams (Spain)
Best documentary film: The Eternal Memory by Maite Alberdi (Chile)
Best Ibero-American first feature film: 20,000 Species Of Bees
Best Editing: Jaume Marti, Andres Gil for Society of the Snow (Spain)
Best Art Direction: Rodrigo Bazaes for El Conde (Chile)
Best Director of Photography: Pedro Luque for Society of the Snow (Spain)
Best Sound Direction: Oriol Tarragó, Marc Orts, Jorge Adrados for Society of the Snow (Spain)

Series
Best film miniseries or television series: Barrabrava
Best Male Performance: Andy Chango for El amor después del amor
Best female performance: Carmen Machi for Las Mesias
Best supporting male performance: Alfredo Castro for The Thousand Days of Allende
Best Supporting Female Performance: Lola Dueñas for Las Mesias
Best creator of a film miniseries or television series: Daniel Burman for Iosi, the Regretful Spy

Pablo Larrain Claims Best Screenplay Award at Venice Film Festival for “El Conde”

Posted on September 9, 2023 by Tom Castaneda

Pablo Larrain has the write stuff…

The 80th Venice Film Festival has handed out its awards, with the 47-year-old Chilean Oscar-nominated filmmaker claiming a prize alongside co-writer Guillermo Calderón.

Larrain was awarded the Best Screenplay prize for co-writing El Conde with Guillermo Calderón.

The Spanish-language film, which Larrain directed, is a historical black comedy that revolves around former Chilean president Augusto Pinochet who is not dead but an aged vampire who, after 250 years in this world, has decided to die once and for all, due to ailments brought about by his dishonor and family conflicts.

In the Horizons category, Margarita Rosa De Francisco took home the Best Actress award for her work in El Paraiso, while Enrico Maria Artale took home the Best Screenplay award for El Paraiso.

Here’s the full list of winners:

VENICE 79
Golden Lion
Poor Things, Yorgos Lanthimos

Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize
Evil Does Not Exist, Ryusuke Hamaguchi

Silver Lion Best Director
Matteo Garrone, Io Capitano

Special Jury Prize
Green Border, Agnieszka Holland

Best Screenplay
Pablo Larrain and Guillermo Calderón, El Conde

Best Actress
Cailee Spaeny, Priscilla

Best Actor
Peter Sarsgaard, Memory

Marcello Mastroianni Award for Best New Young Actor or Actress
Seydou Sarr, Io Capitano

HORIZONS
Best Film
Explanation For Everything, Gábor Reisz

Best Director
Mika Gustafson, Paradise Is Burning

Special Jury Prize
Una Sterminata Domenica, Alain Parroni

Best Actress
Margarita Rosa De Francisco, El Paraiso

Best Actor
Tergel Bold-Erdene, City of Wind

Best Screenplay
El Paraiso, Enrico Maria Artale

Best Short Film
A Short Trip, Erenik Beqiri

Lion of the Future – Luigi De Laurentiis Award for a Debut Film
Love Is A Gun, Lee Hong-Chi

HORIZONS EXTRA
Audience Award
FELICITÀ (HAPPINESS), Micaela Ramazzotti

VENICE CLASSICS

Best Documentary
Thank You Very Much, Alex Braverman

Best Restored Film
OHIKKOSHI (MOVING), Shinji Somai

VENICE IMMERSIVE

Grand Jury Prize
Songs For A Passerby, Celine Daemen

Special Jury Prize
Flow, Adriaan Lokman

Immersive Achievement Prize
Emperor, Marion Burger, Ilan Cohen

A24 Moves Release Date of Jacob Elordi’s New Film “Priscilla” to November

Posted on September 8, 2023 by Tom Castaneda

Jacob Elordi’s Blue Suede Shoes will have to wait an extra week…

A24’s Sofia Coppola-directed film, Priscilla, starring the 26-year-old half-Spanish Australian actor, will now go wide on November 3 instead of October 27.

The news comes on the heels of a glowing world premiere out of the Venice Film Festival where the movie based on the Priscilla Presley’s memoir Elvis and Me grabbed a 94% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes.

With Dune: Part Two moving off of November 3, it creates more breathing room for others movies and availability of theaters. And, it’s also the last ‘official’ weekend of the Taylor Swift: Eras Concert movie.

Talent and creators of the film including Coppola, Cailee Spaeny and Jacob Elordi are now cleared to promote the film since it was granted a SAG-AFTRA Interim Agreement ahead of its world premiere.

The film stars Spaeny as Priscilla and Elordi as Elvis. Coppola adapted the memoir. Producers are Coppola, Lorenzo Mieli and Youree Henley.

First Look Trailer Released for Nathaly Garcia’s New Film “Gasoline Rainbow”

Posted on August 30, 2023 by Tom Castaneda

Nathaly Garcia is gassed up for her latest project…

The first trailer for Gasoline Rainbow, starring the Latina actress, has been released.

The first narrative feature from the acclaimed indie duo of Bill Ross IV and Turner Ross, which is soon to have its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival, is set to hit U.S. theaters via Mubi next year.

Gasoline Rainbow is a formally experimental work that’s reminiscent of Andrea Arnold’s Cannes Film Festival prize winner American Honey.

Written, produced, shot and directed by the Ross Brothers, it follows five teenagers from small-town Oregon who, with high school in the rearview, decide to embark on one last adventure. Piling into a van with a busted taillight, their mission is to make it to a place they’ve never been — the Pacific coast, five hundred miles away. Their plan, in full: “F**k it.”

By van, boat, train, and foot, their improvised odyssey takes them through desert wilderness, industrial backwaters, and city streets. Along the way, they encounter outsiders from the fringes of the American West and discover that the contours of their lives will be set by trails they blaze themselves. They are forgotten kids from a forgotten town, but they have their freedom and they have each other, hurtling toward an unknowable future — and The Party at the End of the World.

Starring Garcia and fellow newcomers Tony Abuerto, Micah Bunch, Nichole Dukes and Makai Garza, the film began percolating for the Rosses during Covid lockdown. Said the visionaries behind it in a statement setting up the clip, “This scene almost didn’t happen – chasing the sunset after a brutally long day of filming in the van, the sky went electric with color. Racing towards a vantage point, the kids jumped out of the van and ran into the open. We’d found ourselves on the exact same stretch of lonesome road that begins and ends My Own Private Idaho. It was magical. They stayed and pontificated until the light was gone, and then we left. One brief moment along the line.”

Added the duo with regard to their forthcoming premiere, “Venice is a new frontier for us, and we’re thrilled to make it our point of embarkation.”

Produced by the Department of Motion Pictures and Mubi, in association with XTR, Gasoline Rainbow is having international sales handled by The Match Factory.

Mubi Acquires Distribution Rights Across Multiple Territories for “Priscilla,” Starring Jacob Elordi as Elvis

Posted on August 22, 2023 by Tom Castaneda

Jacob Elordi’s king of all projects is going global…

Mubi has acquired the rights across multiple territories for Sofia Coppola’s upcoming feature Priscilla, starring the 26-year-old half-Spanish Australian actor as Elvis Presley.

The announcement comes ahead of the film’s world premiere in Competition at the 80th Venice Film Festival.

Under the deal, the global film distributor, production company and streaming service will retain all rights in the UK, Ireland, Germany, Austria, Latin America, Benelux and Turkey.

The company is planning to release the drama theatrically in the UK, Ireland, Germany, Latin America, Belgium and Netherlands, starting in 2023, and will announce release dates soon.

The Match Factory is handling sales for the rest of the world excluding North America and Italy, which have been previously announced as pre-sold respectively to A24 and Rome-based Sky Italia subsidiary Vision Distribution.

Written and directed by Sofia Coppola, Priscilla is based on the 1985 memoir Elvis and Me co-authored by Priscilla Presley and Sandra Harmon.

Cailee Spaeny stars as Priscilla opposite Elordi (Euphoria, The Kissing Booth) as Elvis, with Dagmara Dominczyk also featuring in the cast.

The official synopsis reads: “When teenage Priscilla Beaulieu meets Elvis Presley at a party, the man who is already a meteoric rock-and-roll superstar becomes someone entirely unexpected in private moments: a thrilling crush, an ally in loneliness, a vulnerable best friend. Through Priscilla’s eyes, Sofia Coppola tells the unseen side of a great American myth in Elvis and Priscilla’s long courtship and turbulent marriage, from a German army base to his dream-world estate at Graceland, in this deeply felt and ravishingly detailed portrait of love, fantasy, and fame.”

The production released a teaser trailer for the film back in June, showing quick shots of the Presleys’ story, from her school girl years and his Army days through marriage, pregnancy, parenthood and fame.

The film unites Coppola with a number of long-time collaborators including cinematographer Philippe Le Sourd, costume designer Stacey Battat, editor Sarah Flack and production designer Tamara Deverell.

The Match Factory is handling international sales for both films.

The Venice Film Festival runs August 9 to September 9.

J.A. Bayona’s “La Sociedad De La Nieve” to Have Its World Premiere at Venice Film Festival

Posted on July 22, 2023 by Tom Castaneda

J.A. Bayona’s latest project will have its big debut in Italy…

The Venice Film Festival will close with the world premiere of the 48-year-old Spanish Goya Award-winning filmmaker’s Netflix Spanish-language survival thriller La Sociedad De La Nieve (Society of the Snow).

The latest film from The Orphanage and The Impossible director charts the iconic true story of a 1970s rugby team whose plane crashes on a glacier in the Andes.

The few passengers who survived the crash find themselves in one of the world’s toughest environments.

The story was told by Frank Marshall in 1993 film Alive.

The Out Of Competition screening will take place on September 9 in the Sala Grande of the Palazzo del Cinema after the awards ceremony.

Starring in the Spanish-language film are Enzo Vogrincic, Matías Recalt, Agustín Pardella, Esteban Kukuriczka and Tomas Wolf.

The film is produced by Belén Atienza, Sandra Hermida and Bayona. The screenplay comes from Bayona, Bernat Vilaplana, Jaime Marques and Nicolás Casariego from the novel by Pablo Vierci. Director of photography is Pedro Luque.

Bayona is also known for movies A Monster Calls (2016) and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018), and for directing on series including Penny Dreadful (2014-2016) and The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (2022).

Society of the Snow is his fifth feature film, and his first to be shot in Spanish in sixteen years.

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