spanish: Last News

John Hopewell Chief International CorrespondentWrapping March 26, the 25th Malaga Festival and its Spanish Screenings delivered another confirmation of Spain’s build as a fiction force in a new platform era. Following, nine final takes on what may prove a historic edition. A Vibrant Spanish ScreeningsMálaga’s plus-size 2022 Spanish Screenings fairly rocked. Extra funding from Spain’s AVS Hub Plan, covering far more buyers’ flights, meant attendance skyrocketed.

 Briefly, five first takeaways from this year’s edition: Spain’s On Fire“Spain’s audiovisual sectors are on fire,” said Luis Cueto, at Spain’s Department of Commerce, at a Malaga round table on Thursday. Just one generation ago, Spanish cinema was regarded with suspicion in Spain’s august financial circles. No more.

Ed Meza @edmezavarSpanish distributors, who have enjoyed a strong track record selling remake rights to local pics, have received a major boost this year with the Malaga Festival Industry Zone’s (MAFIZ) inaugural Remake Day event on Thursday.Leading film sales companies, among them Cinema Republic, Latido Films, Filmax and Feel Content, presented showcases of films considered particularly adaptable to foreign markets. Not surprisingly, comedies and genre pics made up most of the selections.David Castellanos’ Cinema Republic offered one strong example with Borja Cobeaga’s  hit 2009 romantic comedy “Pagafantas,” which has over the years sold to Germany, Italy and Mexico.Cinema Republic also touted Icíar Bollaín’s “Rosa’s Wedding” (“La Boda de Rosa”), about a woman in her mid-40s who decides to finally take charge of her life and fulfill her dream of starting a business.

Manori Ravindran International EditorAmazon Prime Video is continuing its mission of commissioning “local for local” shows as its European operation becomes more entrenched.Georgia Brown, head of Amazon Studios for Europe, told a packed Series Mania session in Lille on Thursday that her regional staff across the continent aren’t looking for international ideas, but rather location-specific conceits.“If we’re commissioning a big show in Spain, I need it to be a hit in Spain,” said Brown. “Lots of people come to us saying, ‘We have a great international show,’ and that doesn’t really work for us.

Anna Marie de la Fuente At a time when journalists are under attack in many parts of the world and the odious term “fake news” has become part of the global lexicon, Spain’s Mediacrest presents the topical drama series “Fake” at a key event in France-based Series Mania, the invitation-only Spain Pitching Breakfast, on Thursday.Leading the charge is industry vet-producer Gustavo Ferrada (“Klaus,” “Nobody Knows Anybody”), Mediacrest’s executive director of fiction, who joined the fast-rising Spanish production company in January.“Fake” is one of five selected projects from leading Spanish production companies seeking European partners, comprising Fedent España, Friki Films, Onza, Vertice 360 and Mediacrest. Created in-house by Mediacrest’s deputy head of fiction, Carlos Molinero and senior scriptwriter Nicolás Romero, the Strasbourg-based series of six 52-minute episodes follows a high-powered couple as their once idyllic relationship turns toxic.

A Place in the Sun’s Laura Hamilton was caught on video pole dancing in a Spanish bar on Tuesday while away on location for the Channel 4 show. The 39 year old was filmed enjoying a wild night out after flying to Valencia on work duty in a clip posted to Instagram Story to be watched by the presenter’s 153,000 followers.

 Current ceilings are €18 million ($19.8 million) for the Canary Islands, €10 million ($11 million) for the rest of Spain.The call for a muscular rise in incentives was made at Spain’s Málaga Film Festival, as industry figures including Fernando Victoria de Lecea, line producer on Wes Anderson’s 2021 Spanish shoot “Asteroid City,” sketched a possible roadmap to take full advantage of the country’s extraordinary $1.8 billion Spain AVS Hub state funding which has begun to flow into events such as Málaga’s Spanish Screenings and the bullush promotion of Spanish series at Series Mania. Other panelists took in Carlos Rosado, president of the Spain Film Commission, Roberto Sacristán, head of Alianza Industria Audiovisual (ALIA) and Rosa García, president of RedCau, a network grouping five of Spain’s biggest film-TV clusters.In contrast to so many Spanish industry panels at festivals down the decades, the panel’s mood was upbeat. Rosado recalled how the Spain Film Commission aided in the creation of Spain’s first international shoot tax rebate on local spend, instituted in 2015, As first-phase COVID-19 still raged, at the instance of Rosado and former U.S.

when the Oscar nominations were announced this year. Spanish cinema, long lagging behind other European rivals like Italy and France, has finally begun to catch up. Carla Simón’s win in Berlin for ‘Alcarràs’ is proof of that. According to Variety, Cruz is currently in the mix to be the president of the Cannes festival jury, a distinction already granted in 2017 to Pedro Almodóvar, by far the most appreciated Iberian director abroad.

Justin Morgan “Beyond the Summit” (“La Cima”), the latest film from director Ibón Cormenzana, producer of Goya-winning “Blancanieves,” has world premiered at Spain’s Malaga Film Festival, where it must rate as one of the event’s most singular and striking films. It was also one of four new Spanish films to feature in a Market Premiere showcase on Monday, the first day of the Spanish Screenings. The French-Spanish co-production, starring Javier Rey (“Sin fin”) and Patricia López Arnaiz (“The Plague”), tells the story of Mateo (Rey), an amateur mountaineer determined to scale Annapurna, a Nepalese peak rated as one of the world’s deadliest.On his first day, Mateo takes a fall, ending up in the care of revered Spanish mountaineer Ione (Arnaiz), who cares for him despite his recklessness. The story follows a tug-of-war relationship between the two of them, as Mateo seeks to summit despite ghastly conditions, and Ione attempts to bring him to sanity.But Mateo is determined to push for the summit, whatever the cost.

John Hopewell Chief International CorrespondentLaunched in 1998, the Malaga Film Festival first grabbed attention as a Spanish movie showcase and birthplace of a Spanish star system, TV actors walking a red carpet to acclaim from milling throngs. Under Juan Antonio Vigar, director from 2013, it has consolidated as a platform for a new generation of Spanish filmmakers while adding ever increasing industry heft – co-pro forums, WIPs, a HACK digital forum initiative – and also opening up to TV. In 2021, however, Malaga Festival and Spanish Screenings have exploded in scale, impact and attendance.  The narrative of this year’s event is largely one of that growth. Eight takes on this and other Malaga highlights:Malaga Lifts Off  Little wonder Malaga forms part of what’s now the Spanish Screenings XXL.

“Ainarak,” (“Swallows,” Maluta Films, 601 Prods.Audiovisuales)Directed by Juan San Martín and starring singer-songwriter Anne Etchegoyen, the documentary follows the annual diaspora from 1870 to 1940 of hundreds of women from Navarre and Aragon to Mauléon in the French Pyrenees, where they worked from fall to spring making canvas shoes. First presented at Conecta Fiction in 2021.

Manori Ravindran International EditorUniversal International Studios has struck a deal with one of the hottest players in Spanish-language programming, Buendía Estudios.Under the deal, the company, whose recent credits include the hit dramas “Cardo” and “Veneno,” will co-develop and co-produce Spanish-language series with Universal International Studios, a division of Universal Studio Group. Formed in 2020, Buendía Estudios is a joint venture between Atresmedia and Telefónica’s Movistar Plus, and incorporates the in-house player formerly known as Atresmedia Studios.The company, which is led by CEO Ignacio Corrales, told Variety earlier this year that, in addition to producing for Spain and Latin America, it’s looking to develop projects from the region that are global-facing, in the vein of international Spanish-language triumphs like “Money Heist” and “Velvet.” A slate of around 40 projects across various genres and formats is currently in the works.

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentTop Italian commercial broadcaster Mediaset, which is being rebranded as MediaForEurope (MFE), is launching a bid to gain full ownership of its Spanish unit Mediaset Espana in move touted as a first step in its stated plan to gain scale in Europe.The company, which is controlled by the family of former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, after a board meeting late on Tuesday revealed that it has given the go-ahead for a public offer in cash and shares to buy the 44.31% stake it does not already own in Mediaset Espana, which is Spain’s leading private free-TV player. MFE is valuing the Mediaset Espana stake at roughly €780 million euros ($854.6 million).“The offer represents an important step forward in the creation of a pan-European media and entertainment group,” MFE said in a statement.

Apple TV+ has set its first-ever all Spanish-language series Midnight Family from Pablo and Juan de Dios Larraín. Cast includes Academy Award nominee Yalitza Aparicio (Roma), Joaquín Cosío (Narcos: Mexico, Suicide Squad 2), and Óscar Jaenada (The Losers, Luis Miguel: The Series).

Joe Otterson TV ReporterApple has ordered a Spanish-language series inspired by the documentary “Midnight Family” (“Familia de Medianoche”).The series will be Apple’s first series produced entirely in Spanish. “Midnight Family” follows Marigaby Tamayo (Renata Vaca), an ambitious and gifted medical student by day, who spends her nights saving lives throughout a sprawling, contrasted and fascinating Mexico City aboard her family’s privately owned ambulance. Along with her father Ramón (Joaquín Cosío) and her siblings Marcus (Diego Calva) and Julito (Sergio Bautista), Marigaby serves a population of millions by tackling extreme medical emergencies to make a living.“Midnight Family” also stars Yalitza Aparicio, Itzan Escamilla, José María de Tavira, Óscar Jaenada, Dolores Heredia, and Mariana Gómez.

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentItalian commercial broadcaster Mediaset announced on Monday that it will be holding a board meeting to decide whether to raise its stake in Mediaset Espana, following press reports that the company intends to gain full control of its Spanish TV unit.In a statement issued by its MediaForEurope subsidiary, Mediaset, which is controlled by the family of former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, said it will hold a board meeting on Monday or Tuesday “with a view to adopting eventual resolutions on the case.”“A study is being made of the strategy regarding the stake held in Mediaset Espana,” the statement said.Mediaset, which currently owns a more than 50% stake in Mediaset Espana, is believed to be mulling the launch of a takeover bid of the remaining more than 40% stake it does not own in the company, which has a market value of €1.6 billion ($1.8 billion) according to Bloomberg.

Rosalia, 28, is a name that’s been taking the music world by storm over the last year and with a gig as the musical guest for the March 12 episode of Saturday Night Live, she’s about to get even more attention. The Spanish singer-songwriter will team up with host Zoe Kravitz for the comedy sketch show and it’s just one of many fantastic opportunities she’s been getting lately. With over 18 million followers on Instagram, she’s definitely making her mark in a big way and we’re ready to see what else she has in store!

Anna Marie de la Fuente Barcelona-based Scenic Rights, the leading literary rights broker for Spanish-language film and TV series, has officially opened its Mexico City office as it continues to expand its purview across key territories, including Madrid, Los Angeles and most recently, Prague.The Mexico City office opening, delayed twice by the pandemic, kicks off operations on Monday March 7. According to Scenic Rights CEO, Sydney Borjas, the company’s Mexican branch will oversee more than 30 book to film-TV project adaptations, mostly into series.Ana Karen Larios, previously a foreign rights manager at VF Literary Agency, has been tapped as Scenic Rights’ content manager in Mexico and will report to the agency’s Chief Operating Officer Ignacio Diaz.

Mónica Marie Zorrilla Vix and Vix Plus — a two-tier, macro-scale Spanish-language streaming service with more than 50,000 hours of content across genres for users in the United States, Mexico and Latin America — will launch March 31 as the first lovechild of TelevisaUnivision since the two media giants united.Vix may not signal the beginning of a trend, given that Pluto TV, Netflix, Hulu, Sling TV, Tubi and FuboTV have offered Spanish-language content since they entered the fray, and services that stream solely Spanish-language content, like Pantaya, have existed for several years. But it certainly serves as fuel for the growing demand for Spanish-language programming geared toward U.S.

EXCLUSIVE: Euro distributor and producer Ascot Elite Entertainment has secured remake rights to successful Spanish comedy Sentimental for Switzerland and all German-speaking parts of Europe from Filmax and is producing a Swiss remake called The People Upstairs (Die Nachbarn Von Oben).

Fox Entertainment’s MarVista Entertainment, a prolific producer and distributor of original movies for traditional and streaming networks worldwide, is continuing its expansion into Latin America, signing a major development and production deal with TelevisaUnivision.