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Pedro Almodovar Among Notable Figures Penning Letter of Support to Poland’s LGBT+ Community

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Pedro Almodóvar is offering his support to the LGBT+ community in Poland.

A wide group of global entertainment figures, including the 70-year-old Oscar-winning Spanish filmmaker, have signed a letter supporting the Polish LGBT+ community in the face of growing controversy in the country.

Pedro Almodovar

On Tuesday, the government stepped in to support the Polish town of Tuchow, which recently lost financial support from the European Union after it set up a ‘LGBT-free’ zone. The authorities said they were “supporting a municipality that has a pro-family agenda”; the decision has provoked angry responses around the world. On August 8, authorities detained 48 people at a reportedly peaceful pro-LGBT+ protest.

The responses now include an open letter signed by a cross-section of notable figures from film, literature and further afield, including the Almodóvar and Luca Guadagnino, the Nobel Prize-winning author Olga Tokarczuk, The Handmaid’s Tale writer Margaret Atwood, and Polish filmmakers Agnieszka Holland and Jan Komasa.

The letter, published on the website wyborcza.pl, states that homophobia in Poland is growing because of the incumbent socially conservative government, which it claims is using LGBT+ groups as a “scapegoat”. The letter is addressed to European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and calls on the organization to step in and “defend core European values” of “equality, non-discrimination, respect for minorities” which it says are being “blatantly violated in Poland”.

Here’s the full letter:

Dear Dr. von der Leyen:

We, the undersigned, express our outrage at repressions directed against the LGBT+ community in Poland. We speak out in solidarity with activists and their allies, who are being detained, brutalized, and intimidated. We voice our grave concern about the future of democracy in Poland, a country with an admirable history of resistance to totalitarianism and struggle for freedom.

On Friday, 7 August 2020, 48 persons were arrested in Warsaw – in some cases quite brutally – and detained on the grounds that they had participated in a violent illegal gathering. In fact, they were engaged in a peaceful protest in solidarity with an LGBT+ activist named Margot, who had been arrested for damaging a homophobic campaigner’s van. Her group had also placed rainbow flags over statues, including a statue of Christ. These actions were neither “hooliganism” nor “provocations,” as Poland’s government-run media insist, but rather desperate acts of resistance against degrading homophobic hate speech. The van is one of many similar vehicles parading outrageous claims around the cities of Poland: equating homosexuality with pedophilia, and asserting that gays are the source of diseases and a threat to children. Efforts to stop this well-funded hate campaign by legal means had led to nothing.

The broader context is the persistent use of anti-LGBT+ rhetoric by Polish politicians and media, attacks against “LGBT ideology” in the recent presidential campaign, preceded by the emergence in many municipalities and districts of “zones free of LGBT ideology,” allegedly defending the safety of families and children, and last year’s violent attacks against Equality March in Białystok. Homophobic aggression in Poland is growing because it is condoned by the ruling party, which has chosen sexual minorities as a scapegoat with no regard for the safety and well-being of citizens. Margot is, in fact, a political prisoner, held captive for her refusal to accept indignity.

We call on the Polish government to stop targeting sexual minorities, to stop supporting organizations that spread homophobia and to hold accountable those who are responsible for unlawful and violent arrests of August 7, 2020.

We call on the European Commission to take immediate steps to defend core European values – equality, non-discrimination, respect for minorities – which are being blatantly violated in Poland. LGBT+ rights are human rights and must be defended as such.

Naja Marie Aidt, writer, Danish language
Pedro Almodóvar, film director, Spain
Jakuta Alikavazovic, writer, France
Margaret Atwood, writer, Canada
Paul Auster, writer, USA
John Banville, writer, Ireland
Sebastian Barry, writer, Ireland
Judith Butler, philosopher, USA
Sophie Calle, writer and artist, France
John Maxwell Coetzee, writer, South Africa
Isabel Coixet, director, Spain
Stephen Daldry, director, UK
Jean-Baptiste Del Amo, writer, France
Lucas Dhont, director, Belgium
Marion Döring, director of European Film Academy
Cynthia Enloe, political scientist, USA
Anne Enright, writer, Ireland
Ildiko Enyedi, director, Hungary
Richard Flanagan, writer, Australia
Barbara Frey, theatre and opera director, Switzerland/Austria
Timothy Garton Ash, historian, UK
Agnieszka Graff, americanist, Poland
Luca Guadagnino, director, Italy
Miron Hackenbeck, dramaturg, Germany
Ed Harris, actor, director USA
Aleksander Hemon, writer, Bosnia/USA
Agnieszka Holland, director, Poland
Siri Hustvedt, writer, USA
Isabelle Huppert, actress, France
Aki Kaurismäki, director, Finland
Padraic Kenney, historian, USA
Jan Komasa, director, Poland
Ivan Krastev, political scientist, Bulgaria
Jan Kubik, political scientist, UK
Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, choreographer, Belgium
Yorgos Lanthimos, director, Greece
Andrzej Leder, philosopher, Poland
Jacek Leociak, historian, Poland
Jonathan Littell, writer, France
Mike Leigh, director, UK
Deborah Levi, writer, UK
Edouard Louis, writer, France
Sergei Loznitsa, director, Germany/Ukraine
Valeria Luiselli, writer, USA
Dorota Masłowska, writer, Poland
Hisham Matar, writer, USA
Ulrich Matthes, actor, Germany
Ian McEwan, writer, UK
Lina Meruane, writer, Chile
Teona Mitevska, director, North Macedonia
Chantal Mouffe, philosopher, Belgium
James Norton, actor, UK
Claus Offe, sociologist, Germany
Paweł Pawlikowski, director, Poland
Richard Powers, writer, USA
Axel Ranisch, filmmaker and opera director, Germany
Keith Ridgway, writer, Ireland
Philippe Sands, lawyer and writer, UK
Volker Schlöndorff, director, Germany
Marci Shore, historian, USA
Stellan Skarsgaard, actor, Sweden
Leila Slimani, writer, France
Timothy Snyder, historian, USA
Johanna ter Steege, actress, the Netherlands
Dariusz Stola, historian, Poland
Małgorzata Szczęśniak, stage designer, Poland
Małgorzata Szumowska, director, Poland
Colm Toibin, writer, Ireland
Olga Tokarczuk, writer, Poland
Alia Trabucco Zerán, writer, Chile
Fien Troch, director, Belgium
Jan Vandenhouwe, artistic director and opera dramaturg, Belgium
Krzysztof Warlikowski, theater director, Poland/France
Beau Willimon, playwright, screenwriter, USA
Adam Zagajewski, poet, Poland
Slavoj Žižek, philosopher, Slovenia

Jared Leto to Star in the Next Installment of Disney’s “Tron”

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Jared Leto’s latest project is revving up…

The 48-year-old part-Spanish Oscar-winning actor and Thirty Seconds to Mars frontman will star in the next installment of Disney’s sci-fi franchise Tron.

Jared Leto

The film will be directed by Garth Davis, who directed the critically acclaimed 2016 drama Lion, which received six Oscar nominations including one for Best Picture. 

Jesse Wigutow wrote the most recent draft of the script. Leto is producing along with Justin Springer and Emma Ludbrook.

The original 1982 film starring Jeff Bridges was set inside the computer program called the Grid, where a computer hacker is abducted and forced to participate in gladiatorial games. The film wasn’t a hit and received mixed reviews, even though its special effects were seen as game-changing at the time. The cult following that swelled around the film in years to come as it played on cable only helped grow its popularity, to the point where Disney decided to move forward with a sequel, Tron: Legacy, in 2010, with Bridges reprising his role and Garret Hedlund and Olivia Wilde joining the franchise.

That film did go on to have box office success, bringing in $400 million globally, but even so plans for a sequel were pushed while Disney figured out how to move the story forward. 

The studio eventually scrapped plans for a direct sequel to Tron: Legacyand has been taking time to figure out next steps for this project.

Leto, who earned an Academy Award for his performance in Dallas Buyers Club, will next be seen in Morbius and The Little Things. His previous credits include Suicide Squad, Blade Runner 2049, Phone Booth and Panic Room.

Ana Golja’s Award-Winning Film “The Cuban” to Play at Sunset Barrie Drive-in Theatre

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Ana Golja’s latest project is headed to the big screen in a special way…

The S.N.A.P. Films Inc. production The Cuban, starring the 24-year-old part-Spanish Canadian actress, will play at Ontario’s Sunset Barrie Drive-in Theatre on Tuesday, August 11.

Ana Golja

The film, the third feature from director Sergio Navarretta co-starring legendary Oscar winner Louis Gossett Jr., follows the film’s 2019/2020 festival run, including a World Premiere at the Whistler Film Festival, where the film won a Borsos Award for Cinematography, followed by a U.S. premiere in February at the Pan African Film + Arts Festival, where the film won both a Special Programmers Award and the coveted Audience Favorite for Feature Narrative Award.

The Cuban, which Golja produced, had originally been slated to open theatrically in April, but like all film and cultural events had to be postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic. 

Ana Golja, The Cuban

However, following a successful and warmly received screening as part of the virtual edition of the Canadian Film Festival on Super Channel, the filmmakers and team at A71 have decided to bring the film to Canadian audiences.

The drive-in release is a natural follow-up to the film’s Toronto premiere event on July 20, opening the Lavazza Drive-In Film Festival presented by the Italian Contemporary Film Festival.

The Cuban is a touching story of a friendship that blossoms through music and the power of the imagination – and the film is incredibly topical at a moment that the world has its eyes on the realities of long-term care.

A naive pre-med student named Mina (Golja) gets her first job in a nursing home and meets an elderly Cuban jazz musician named Luis (Gossett). When the young woman realizes music triggers Luis’ memories, she uses it to break him out of his dementia and to create moments of lucidity and joy.

At the heart of The Cuban is music. In the film, music dissolves the boundaries of age, ethnicity, gender, culture and politics. It bridges the present with the past and has the power to trigger memory and awaken long-forgotten emotions. Afro-Cuban Jazz, permeates The Cuban, drawing in the audience in the same way it draws in the characters. It brings vibrancy and joy to a previously stale environment and it triggers the pulsating, sensuous and colorful world of Luis’ own imagination.

The film’s incredible soundtrack was composed by multi Juno Award winner and Grammy nominated artist, Hilario Duran. Duran grew up and received his musical training in Havana and has since gone on to work with legendary musicians like Chucho Valdes, Dizzy Gillespie and Arturo Sandoval. He is a widely respected piano virtuoso on the international jazz scene.

In addition to Golja and Gossett, The Cuban also stars Shohreh Aghdashloo, Lauren Holly and Giacomo Gianniotti. 

“We are extremely excited to finally be bringing this beautiful and affecting drama to drive-in theatres this summer”, says A71 CEO, Justin Rebelo. “Sergio Navarretta has crafted a thoughtful and moving film with a powerful central performance from one of the truly great actors of our time, Louis Gossett Jr., surrounded by an incredible cast of Canadian and international stars. Another star of the film is the incredible original score by Afro-Cuban artist Hilario Duran. The warmth and lyricism of the music feels like a perfect fit for a hot summer drive-in experience.”

The Cuban was written by Alessandra Piccione and lensed by Celiana Cardenas.

Arlen Escarpeta to Star in the Second Season of OWN’s Drama Series “David Makes Man”

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Arlen Escarpeta is the Manof the hour…

The 39-year-old Belizean actor has been cast as a series regular for the second season of OWN’s acclaimed Peabody-winning drama series David Makes Man.

Arlen Escarpeta

He’ll star alongside Kwame Patterson, who has been tapped to portray the title character, the adult version of David.

Escarpeta will play his brother JG, in the series which hails from Oscar winner Tarell Alvin McCraney and Warner Horizon Scripted Television. 

They join returning series regulars Akili McDowell, Alana Arenas, Travis Coles and Cayden K. Williams for season two.

Created by McCraney and executive produced by Oprah Winfrey, the first season ofDavid Makes Mancentered on David Young (McDowell), a 14-year-old prodigy learning to survive the streets that raised him and the higher education that could offer him a way out. Season two finds David in his early 30s, a rising business man facing an opportunity that will change him and his community forever; the mounting pressure forces David to choose between the instincts that helped him survive or finding a new way to finally, truly live.

Escarpeta’s television credits include series regular roles on Crackle’s The Oath and NBC’s American Dreams, and a recurring role in Syfy’s The Magicians,among others. He also starred as Bobby Brown in the Lifetime original film Whitney. 

His feature film credits include Into the Storm, Final Destination 5, Brotherhood, Friday the 13th (2009), and We Are Marshall, among others.

Rodrigo Prieto: The Cinematographer Behind the Lens of Taylor Swift’s “Cardigan” Video

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Everything’s o-Tay for Rodrigo Prieto…

The 54-year-old three-time Oscar-nominated Mexican cinematographer is earning rave reviews for his work on Taylor Swift’s music video for the pop star’s latest single “Cardigan.”

Rodrigo Prieto

The top-secret music video, written, directed and styled by Swift, was filmed during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The dreamy video, released on Friday, July 24 alongside Swift’s new album Folklore, presents a cottagecore aesthetic and features Swift in three different settings.

The “homespun” and “dreamlike” video starts out with Swift sitting in a candlelit cottage in the woods, wearing a nightgown and playing a vintage upright piano. When the soundboard starts glowing, she climbs into it and is magically transported to a moss-covered forest, where she plays the song on a grand piano producing a waterfall. The piano bench starts to glow and she climbs into it. She gets transported to a dark stormy sea, where she holds on to a floating piano. The piano soundboard glows and she climbs in, and she returns to the cottage, where she dons a cardigan.

Taylor Swift Cardigan Video

“She had the whole storyline – the whole notion of going into the piano and coming out into the forest, the water, going back into the piano,” Prieto tells Rolling Stoneof hisfirst phone call with Swift.

Their last collaboration, on the music video for “The Man,” saw Swift adopting a male alter ego to satirize gender inequality.

From the beginning, though, Prieto says “Cardigan” was always going to be more ambiguous, and more personal: “When she called me and told me that this was more of a fantasy, I found that really appealing.”

This was in early July, when Prieto had simultaneously begun serving on a committee for the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) to conceive solutions for safely resuming film production during the ongoing pandemic.

Prieto had just finished filming a PSA for a healthcare company when Swift asked him to work on “Cardigan,” and he was well aware of the many, many layers of risks involved in the project.

“We needed to be safe, for her sake and for our sake as a crew during the shoot, but also for the future of filmmaking,” he says. “Because we want to keep working and doing what we do, and if, God forbid, someone got sick on one of the first jobs that was filmed, it would probably close down [the industry].”

The extensive safety protocols for the shoot ranged from standard – everybody had to get tested, and every member of the crew wore a mask – to outlandish: Because Swift would need to spend a large part of the shoot not wearing a face covering, the crew used a colored wristband system, determining which members of the team were permitted to stand closest to her. (Prieto, assistant director Joe Osborne, and set designer Ethan Tobman all wore one color, lighting designers and gaffers wore another, and so on.)

Prieto actually wore two face coverings – a mask and an acrylic shield – for most of the day-and-a-half-long shoot. And just to ensure that crew members crossed within a six-foot range of Swift as little as possible, the entire “Cardigan” video was shot by mounting the camera to a robotic arm, which was then controlled by a remote operator.

The “techno arm,” as Prieto calls it, is typically only used in the industry for crane shots and other establishing visuals.

“We were going to use the crane for the ocean scene,” Prieto explains, referencing the shot where the image zooms out on the wide expanse of the water before honing back in on Swift. “So then I said, let’s have it both days.”

Hooking the camera up to a giant robot was the safest way to get close-ups on Swift’s face, Prieto explains. And as unwieldy as that sounds, you’d never know from watching the video that a human being wasn’t behind the lens at all times.

There was, of course, the added tangle of secrecy – the filmmaking had to be done indoors to avoid crowds, and Swift wore an earpiece throughout the shoot to lip-sync to the song without any of the crew hearing it.

The crew built three sets on two stages across one large studio, and in order to create the illusion of natural light for the outdoor scenes, Prieto and his crew draped giant stretches of white bouncing fabric on the walls and ceiling. The process took longer than usual due to COVID, with the lighting crew working in small groups and frequently taking breaks so they could remove masks and catch their breath.

“Filmmaking is a gregarious endeavor by nature,” Prieto says. “People are close to each other, so it’s really hard to remember to keep to yourselves.” Given the distancing on set, it was sometimes tricky for crew members to communicate over reference points and documents – “we had to kind of point at each other” – but Prieto attributes Swift’s clear vision for the project as a guiding light.

Ahead of the shoot, she sent him and Tobman numerous visual references for each scene – a mix of photographs for the dark ocean water and drawings for the fantastical forest sequence. One illustration, of a sword lodged into a rock formation overlooking a creek, was particularly inspiring: “That became our focal interest – we didn’t imitate it, but the feeling of it was what we went with.”

On top of that, Swift came up with a detailed shot list for the video ahead of time, with each visual accompanied by a time sequence within the song.

“The ocean water, the fingers on the piano, whatever it may be, she knew what she wanted for each section,” Prieto says. Unlike with “The Man,” Swift couldn’t be as hands-on with her direction on set – she viewed each take through a video monitor after it was shot – but Prieto was impressed by her ability to “talk with the camera” and utilize cinematic language without formal training, like with the unorthodox, zoom-out-and-in shot over the ocean. “I was blown away, because it’s all metaphorical,” he says. “This video is not just pretty images of things; she’s telling a personal story through her lyrics, her music, and now through the video.”

The video has already been viewed more than 40 million times on YouTube since its release.

Prieto previously earned Academy Awards for his lensing work on Ang Lee’s Brokeback Mountain (2006), Martin Scorsese’s Silence (2017) and Scorsese’s The Irishman (2020).

His other film credits include Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Babel (2006) and Biutiful (2010), Francis Lawrence’s Water for Elephants and Cameron Crowe’s We Bought a Zoo.

Alfonso Cuarón Signs on to Executive Produce Chaitanya Tamhane’s “The Disciple”

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Alfonso Cuarón has signed on for a new project.

The 58-year-old Oscar-winning Mexican filmmaker has signed on as an executive producer on Chaitanya Tamhane’s The Disciple, which became the first Indian movie to land a Venice Film Festival competition slot since 2001’s Golden Lion winner Monsoon Wedding.

Alfonso Cuarón

The plot of The Disciple centers on Sharad Nerulkar, who has devoted his life to becoming an Indian classical music vocalist, diligently following the traditions and discipline of old masters, his guru, and his father. But as years go by, he starts to wonder whether it’s really possible to achieve the excellence he’s striving for.

Tamhane’s debut film Court won Best Film in the Orizzonti section at the 2014 Venice Film Festival, where he was also awarded the Lion of Future.

He and Cuarón met in a mentorship program.

“He was part of most of Roma’s process and I jumped to the opportunity to be part of the process of his second film The Disciple,” Cuarón said. “I believe Chaitanya is one of the most important new voices of contemporary cinema.”

The Venice Film Festival will run from September 2-12 and will be the first major international film event to take place physically since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic. Cate Blanchett is the president of the main competition jury this year.

Gael Garcia Bernal to Star as Saul Armendariz, aka the Liberace of Lucha Libre, in the Biopic “Cassandro”

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Gael García Bernal is hitting the ring to play a Lucha Libre legend.

The 41-year-old Mexican actor/filmmaker will star in Cassandro, an independent feature from Oscar winning and two-time Emmy nominee filmmaker Roger Ross Williams.

Gael García Bernal

Cassandro tells the true story of Saúl Armendáriz, a gay amateur wrestler from El Paso who rises to international stardom after he creates the “exotico” character Cassandro, the “Liberace of Lucha Libre,” and in the process upends not just the macho wrestling world but also his own life.

Armendáriz at the age of 15 quit school and began training for Lucha Libre, beginning his professional wrestling career in 1988 under the mask as Mister Romano. Ultimately he would abandon the character and take on the exotico character of Baby Sharon. Exoticos are male wrestlers who dress in drag.

Ultimately, Armendáriz would take the new ring name of Cassandro, from a Tijuana brothel keeper Cassandra whom he appreciated.

In January 1991, after bad press that he was going to wrestle El Hijo del Santo in the UWA World Welterweight Championship, Armendáriz reportedly attempted suicide by cutting his wrists with a razor blade, but was saved.

The title match occurred a week later and Armendáriz credits it as the match that earned him the lucha libre community’s acceptance.

While Cassandro failed to win the UWA World Welterweight Championship from El Hijo del Santo, he managed to win his first title, the UWA World Lightweight Championship in October 1992, by defeating Lasser, becoming the first exótico in history to hold a championship in UWA.

Bernal, who will star in M. Night Shyamalan’s new secret movie from Universal, will shoot that movie first before stepping into the ring for Cassandro, which is eyeing a November start in Mexico.

Cassandro will rep the feature narrative directorial debut for Williams, who took home the Oscar for his short docu Music by Prudence in 2010, and recently was nominated at the Emmys a second time, this time in Outstanding Documentary/Nonfiction Special category for the HBO doc The Apollo. That movie, which made its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival last year, follows the historic and famed Harlem NYC venue and its legacy.

“As a filmmaker, my own life experience has inspired my passion to tell inspirational stories about outsiders and uplift the voices of people we don’t normally see on screen. The true story of Cassandro, Saúl Armendáriz, was one I knew I wanted to tell from the moment I met him. I look forward to being able to bring Saúl’s story to a wide audience,” said Williams.

Williams wrote Cassandro with Emmy-winner David Teague and Julián Herbert (Satelite).

Bernal is a two-time Golden Globe nominee and winner for the Amazon series Mozart in the Jungle. He was part of the SAG ensemble nominated cast of Paramount’s Babel, and a BAFTA nominee for Focus Features’ 2004 The Motorcycle Diaries. 

The filmmakers are reportedly in talks with Amazon to acquire Cassandro once complete, but that deal is contingent on several factors before it’s a negative pick-up.

Carolina Rivera Signs Deals with Verve and Netflix

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Carolina Rivera has a new deal…

The Mexican screenwriter and producer has signed with Verve and entered an overall deal at Netflix.

Carolina Rivera

Under the Netflix agreement, Rivera will serve as the executive producer of the television series Madre Solo Hay Dos, which she created.

Rivera is the co-executive producer of the CW’s sci-fi drama Roswell: New Mexico, which recently wrapped. 

She also worked on Jane the Virgin. 

Marc Cherry’s production company purchased Rivera’s “Ellas son… la alegría del hogar,”which was originally created for Televisa. The series was the basis for Cherry’s Lifetime series Devious Maids, starring Roselyn Sanchez.

Rivera studied screenwriting at the UCLA Extension Writers Program and wrote her first feature Cilantro y Perejil, which went on to win three Ariel Awards— Mexico’s equivalent of the Oscars— for Best Original Screenplay, Best Story and Best Original Song. Cilantro y Perejil made history in the Mexican film industry as the first Mexican title to be screened at commercial movie theaters throughout the country.

Her writing credits include more than 15 feature films. In 2005, Rivera received the Motion Picture Association Award for Best Hispanic Screenplay for her screenplay Enemigos Íntimos.

In addition, she worked as head writer for the serial telenovela Lucho en Familia and worked on Amor Cautivo. She headed the children’s television development team at Channel 11, Latin America’s largest public television network. While there, she created and served as head writer for Bizbirije and El Divan de Valentina.She has also served as an International Emmy AwardsJuror for Dramatic Series and TV movies.

Armando Bó Developing Two Projects for Television: “Las Malas” & “Cromanon”

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Armando Bó has lined up two Argentina-themed television projects…

The 41-year-old Argentine screenwriter and film director, who won an Oscar for co-writing Birdman, has unveiled his first television slate since launching his own production company, About Entertainment, earlier this year.

Armando Bó,

Bo is developing two series based on well-known Argentinian stories.

About Entertainment has acquired the rights to Las Malas, the 2019 autobiographic novel by Camila Sosa Villada. And, Bo’s company is also developing Cromanon, based on true events of the tragedy that took place at the venue in Balvanera, Argentina in 2004.

Las Malas (Bad Girls) tells the story of a 19-year-old trans woman who moves to the big city and joins a group of trans sex workers that create a unique community. This story of self-discovery has two sides: one is realistic, harsh, and hostile; the other is fantastical, united, and thoughtful. Throughout their journey these ‘bad girls’ will take care of each other as a family.

Cromanonis a coming-of-age series that follows a group of teenagers surrounded by the catastrophic true events that took place in Argentina on December 30, 2004, when a fire broke out at the venue, during a rock concert, killing 194 teenagers and injuring over a thousand others. This unnatural tragedy was a breaking point for a generation and changed the culture of a whole country, as never before had so many young people died in a single incident.

Bó is the showrunner, director and executive producer of the eight-part dramedy series El Presidente, which launched in June on Amazon Prime Video.

He shared the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay with Nicolás Giacobone, Alejandro G. Iñárritu, and Alexander Dinelaris for Birdman. The quartet also won the Golden Globe. 

He followed by writing/directing and producing Animal.

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

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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+.

Alejandro Amenabar

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.

El Tesoro del Cisne Negro

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.