MTV Documentary Films Acquires Worldwide Rights to Maite Alberdi’s “The Eternal Memory”

Maite Alberdi’s latest project is going global…

MTV Documentary Films has acquired the worldwide rights to the love story The Eternal Memory, the 39-year-old Chilean film producer, director, documentarian, screenwriter and film critic’s follow-up to her Oscar nominated documentary The Mole Agent.

Maite Alberdi,The price is said to be approaching $3 million in a competitive situation with a number of bidders.

The film, which screened in the Sundance Film Festival World Documentary Competition section, will have its international premiere at the Berlinale next month in the Panorama Section and the company is planning a theatrical release and robust awards campaign later this year.

The Eternal Memory was produced by Alberdi, Juan De Dios Larraín, Pablo Larraín and Rocío Jadue.

In the film, Augusto and Paulina have been together and in love for 25 years. Eight years ago, he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, and his wife has since become his caretaker. As one of Chile’s most prominent cultural commentators and television presenters, Augusto is no stranger to building an archive of memory, having been responsible for that herculean task following the Pinochet dictatorship and its systematic erasure of collective consciousness. Now he turns that work to his own life, trying to hold on to his identity with the help of his beloved wife. Day by day, the couple face this challenge head-on, adapting to the disruptions brought on by the taxing disease while relying on the tender affection and sense of humor shared between them that remains intact.

“I am so happy that The Eternal Memory has found its home at MTV Documentary Films, which in recent years, has believed in the artistic innovation of documentaries and has released documentaries that I greatly admire,” said Alberdi. “Working with Sheila Nevins is an honor, and I admire what she has built in the documentary industry.”

“The gift of love that lasts is revealed in The Eternal Memory. One cannot be cynical in Maite’s verité film – a remarkable achievement that allows us to observe what remains as memory fades. We reconsider the value of a long life lived and consider in our own lives the eternal reach of comfort and caring to an otherwise merciless end,” said Nevins, Executive Producer, MTV Documentary Films.

Nina Diaz and Liza Burnett Fefferman, Co-Head, MTV Documentary Films, called the doc “an extraordinary and sublime love story, we simply couldn’t take our eyes off the screen. The Eternal Memory left us so deeply moved and devoted to Augusto and Pauli – we can’t stop thinking, talking and marveling about the beautiful work Maite has done and how elated we are to bring this film out into the world.”

The film is a Micromundo and Fabula production. Submarine and United Talent Agency Independent Film Group brokered the deal with MTV Documentary Films on behalf of the filmmakers.

UTA also represents Alberdi, the first Chilean woman to be nominated at the Academy Awards, and an important voice in Latin American documentary. She premiered her last film The Mole Agent at Sundance in 2020. It was the first Chilean documentary to be nominated for an Oscar.

In 2011, Alberdi released her first feature film, The Lifeguard. Through Micromundo, her production company, she directed her second film Tea Time, which won more than 12 international awards, and was nominated for the 2016 Goya Award for Best Ibero-American Film. In 2016, she released the short film I am not from here nominated for the European Films Award and also premiered her third feature The Grown-Ups that got 10 international awards.

Prime Video to Premiere Armando Bo’s FIFA Gate-Themed Docuseries “El Presidente: The Corruption Game” in November

Armando Bo’s look into how a Brazilian man wrestled control from Europe of the biggest sport on earth is headed to Prime Video.

Amazon will release the 43-year-old Argentine Oscar-winning screenwriter and film director’s Amazon Original El Presidente: The Corruption Game on November 4.

Armando Bo's Amazon Original El Presidente: The Corruption GameBo’s Latin American series focuses on João Havelange.

In a neat historical echo, backed by Bo’s About Entertainment, Narcos producer Gaumont TV, Pablo and Juan de Dios Larraín’s Fabula and Argentine powerhouse Kapow, the second season in the El Presidente series saga of soccer business high jinks and low morals now looks set to become one of the biggest soccer titles released in the countdown to the greatest show on earth, the FIFA World Cup.

Whether FIFA will be entirely comfortable with it is another matter, if a trailer, shared in exclusivity with Variety, is anything to go by.

One of Iberseries’ biggest market premieres, El Presidente: The Corruption Game had its world premiere of its first two episodes on October 14 at this year’s reinvigorated Festival do Rio.

Season 1 turned on the feckless, sly, amoral but simpático Sergio Jadue, a Chilean small town soccer club supremo who’s elected president of Chile’s soccer association. The wrong man in the right place, a fish out of water, he rises in FIFA’s hierarchy, sparking FIFA Gate, a $150 million corruption scandal. Bo tells the story as ironic farce.

Now narrated by Jadue, The President: The Corruption Game teases out the human tragedy in a still arch comedy, which unspools on a far grander scale.

It takes on another extraordinary – but far more towering – figure, Brazil’s Havelange, FIFA president over 1974-98. A hulking giant with dashing blond looks, Havelange dedicated his life to serving Brazil – swimming in the 1936 Berlin Games, working as the vice-president of the Brazilian Sports Confederation from 1958 to 1973, when Brazil won three World Cups – and to serving himself from FIFA’s gravy train.

Glimpsed in the trailer, colorful scenes kick off El Presidente: The Corruption Game with Havelange fuming as Pele is literally kicked out of the first round of England’s 1966 Word Cup, Havelange, the son of a Belgian arms dealer, is outraged by a FIFA meeting where “third world” members are forced to sit in a different room from their European colleagues.

In 1974, as Johan Cruyff forged the modern game on-field, Havelange began to revolutionize its economics and reach – central events in the second season.

Seizing control of FIFA from Sir Stanley Rous, a neo-colonial buffer, over the next 24 years, he created soccer’s modern global business, powered by sponsorship and TV deals, while enlarging the World Cup to 32 teams and introducing a FIFA Women’s World Cup.

But Havelange did so at a tremendous cost, opening FIFA up to multi-million bribery and money laundering and losing his friends, family and honor when he fell into final total disgrace over the 2015-16 FIFA Gate at the age of 98.

El Presidente: The Corruption Game, a mixture of near doc recreation and self-declared fiction, begins with a doddery Havelange, now celebrating his 100th birthday. Only one guest accepts his invitation.

Much of this is caught in the fast-paced, extensive trailer. Havelange used Brazil’s stunning 1970 World Cup triumph to bid to become FIFA president. He is rebuffed by Europe’s still colonial FIFA members. “Even if Brazil wins 100 World Cups, decisions will never be made in the colonies,” FIFA general secretary Helmut Kässer tells him.

Havelange launches an extraordinary play for the votes of poor countries, winning them by his promises, backhanders and a tour of Africa with Pele.

“FIFA is entering the future,” Havelange announces in the trailer. Nobody transformed soccer more off the field more than he did. It wasn’t all for the better.

Daniel Brühl to Star in Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia’s Thriller “Rich Flu”

Daniel Brühl’s acting riches continue…

The 43-year-old half-Spanish actor has joined the cast of the Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia directed thriller, Rich Flu, alongside Macaulay Culkin.

Daniel BruhlRosamund Pike is attached to star in the film, which is expected to begin production in the fall.

In the film, a strange disease is killing off some of the richest and most influential people on the planet. First it was the billionaires, then the multi-millionaires and so on progressively. Now it threatens to strike anyone with any sort of fortune, and no one knows where it might end. With the whole world panicking and our very way of life headed for collapse, people are trying to flood the market with assets the world no longer wants.

Pedro Rivero, Gaztelu-Urrutia and David Desola wrote the screenplay with revisions by Sam Steiner.

Sierra/Affinity is handling foreign sales and has the project available to buyers at this year’s Cannes Film Market. CAA Media Finance is representing the film domestically.

Producers on Rich Flu include Pablo Larraín and Juan de Dios Larraín via their Fabula banner, which produced the movies Spencer, Jackieand No; Adrián Guerra and Núria Valls via the Nostromo Pictures label; Carlos Juárez; as well as Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia and Albert Soler.

Brühl, who will next star in Stefano Mordini’s racing film 2 Win, was nominated for Best Supporting Actor at the BAFTAs for Ron Howard’s Rush

His previous feature credits include The King’s Man, Captain America: Civil War, Inglourious Basterds and the Disney+ series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier

HBO Max Picks Up First Season of Daniela Vega’s Spanish-Language Thriller “La Jauria”

Daniela Vega is maxing out…

WarnerMedia streaming service HBO Max has picked up the first season of La Jauría, Amazon Prime Video’s Spanish-language thriller starring the 31-year-old Chilean actress and mezzo-soprano singer.

Daniela Vega

Hailing from Pablo and Juan de Dios Larraín’s Fabula, which made the Oscar-winning A Fantastic Woman, the series tells the story of the disappearance of a young girl, who becomes the center of a police investigation into an online game that grooms men into assaulting women.

HBO Max will premiere the eight-part series on December 16.

In addition to Vega, La Jauría also stars Antonia Zegers, while Lucía Puenzo is the director. Fremantle produced the show alongside Fabula and Argentine company Kapow. Fremantle handles worldwide distribution.

Amazon commissioned a second season of La Jauría in July after premiering it across Latin America and Spain. Chilean public broadcaster TVN and the Consejo Nacional de Televisión (CNTV) are co-producers.

“It’s a gripping, compelling and timely drama that addresses important topical issues regarding the epidemic of violence against women. We are confident HBO’s audience will be moved by the standout storyline and the powerful performances,” said Sheila Aguirre, EVP of content distribution and format sales, Latin America, international, Fremantle.

Karla Souza to Star in Amazon’s FIFA Gate-Inspired Drama “El Presidente”

Karla Souzawill be acting presidential…

The 33-year-old Mexican actress and How to Get Away with Murder star is set to star in Amazon’s FIFA drama El Presidente.

Karla Souza

Andrés Parra (Pablo Escobar: El Patrón del Mal) and Paulina Gaitán (Diablo Guardian) also star in the eight-part series, which is produced by Oscar‐winning director Pablo Larrain’s production company Fabula (A Fantastic Woman), Narcosproducer Gaumont and Argentine producer Kapow.

Birdman’sArmando Bowill direct and executive-produce the series, which is inspired by the real-life characters and events behind the 2015 “FIFA Gate” corruption scandal.

The series explores the scandal from the angle of a small‐time Chilean football club president who rises from obscurity to become a key player in a $150M bribery conspiracy. Set against the backdrop of cities across Latin America, the U.S. and Europe, the series explores the sports scandal that rocked the world through the story of Jadue (Parra), a small‐time Chilean football club president who rose from obscurity to become a key player in a $150M bribery conspiracy at the hand of the infamous president of the Argentine football association, Julio Grondona.

It will air on Amazon’s SVOD service in more than 200 countries and territories.

El Presidente will show the world, with loads of irony, how the most beloved sport of all is in fact a multimillionaire business run by a ridiculous mob we have never seen before: the Football Mafia,” added Bo.

Souza’s previous credits include Everybody Loves Somebody and 31 días.

Sony Pictures Classics Acquires Lelio’s “A Fantastic Woman”

Sebastián Lelio’s latest project is expanding globally…

Sony Pictures Classics has acquired the North American, Australian and New Zealand rights to the 42-year-old Argentine-Chilean filmmaker’s A Fantastic Woman, ahead of its world premiere in competition Sunday at the Berlin Film Festival.

Sebastián Lelio

Written by Lelio and Gonzalo Maza, the Spanish-language film stars Daniela Vega as Marina, a waitress and singer, and Orlando (Francisco Reyes), an older man, who are in love and planning for the future. After Orlando suddenly falls ill and dies, Marina is forced to confront his family and society, and to fight again to show them who she is: complex, strong, forthright, fantastic.

The Chile-U.S.-Germany-Spain co-production is produced by Fabula’s Juan de Dios Larraín and Pablo Larraín with German banner Komplizen Film.

Lelio’s previous film, Gloria, won Best Ibero-American Film at the 1st Platino Awards.

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

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

Pablo Larrain

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 AwardsBest 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.