Ivana Baquero is making her English-language television debut on MTV…
The 21-year-old Spanish actress, best known for her starring role in Guillermo del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth, is starring in the cable network’sThe Shannara Chronicles, based on the best-selling books by Terry Brooks.
Set thousands of years in the future, the sci-fi fantasy series follows a trio of heroes who’ve embarked on a quest to stop a demon army hell bent on destroying humanity’s world.
The heroes are Amberle (Poppy Drayton), an Elvin Princess; Eretria (Baquero), a Human Rover; and Wil (Austin Butler), a Half-Elf, Half-Human.
The trailer for the series debuted during the MTV Video Music Awards.
Jonathan Liebesman directed the first two episodes.
MTV is producing with Sonar Entertainment.
Baquero, who won the Goya Award for Best New Actress for her role in Pan’s Labyrinth, has also starred in The New Daughter and The Anarchist’s Wife.
Alberto Rodriguez’s latest film, one of Spain’s most recent blockbusters, is ready to conquer North America.
Todo Cine Latino, the specialty label of Paul Hudson’s Outsider Pictures, has teamed with Canada’s AZ Films to acquire the North America rights to La Isla Minima.
The 44-year-old Spanish filmmaker’s fifth feature, titled Marshland in English is described as a noirish period cop thriller.
The film won 10 Spanish Film AcademyGoya Awards, among them best picture, director and actor (for star Javier Gutierrez).
Produced by Atresmedia Cine, Sacromonte Films and Atipica Films, and a competition frontrunner at San Sebastian International Film Festival, where it world premiered on September 20, winning the jury prize and best actor (Gutierrez), Marshland went on to gross $8.4 million in Spain, a standout achievement for its distributor, Warner Bros. Entertainment España.
Marshland now figures with nine category recognitions as the leading contender for 2015’s Platino Awards, taking in movies from Spain, Latin America and Portugal, which takes place July 18 in Marbella.
Written by Rodriguez and his near-career-long co-scribe Rafael Cobos, and set in Spain’s deep South in 1980, Marshland begins in classic crime thriller style with two homicide detectives, one a Francoist hardliner, the other younger and more pliable with a bright future ahead of him in Madrid, being called in to investigate the disappearance of two teen girls on Seville’s flatlands, a sprawling marsh expanse of stunning natural beauty and base poverty ruled by a few families certainly not willing to give up their centuries-old power and privileges – economic, social or of droit du seigneur.
Marshland impressed for its stunning, often kinetic, and varied cinematography: It’s made up of some 170 sequences, some multi-shot, some not. It also won critical plaudits for the interplay between the two cops who realize that they must put aside their personal differences if they’re to stop a serial killer, and the shaded balance of its portrait of one, played by Gutierrez. Capable of absolute heroism, he also tortured suspects under Franco and will never be hauled up in court for that.
“Marshland has been compared to everything from the first season of True Detective to Seven, and is a first class thriller, and the Goya Awards are a testament to the quality of the filmmaking,” said Hudson.
Todo Cine Latino will look to build word-of-mouth via festivals; AZ Films will release the film in Canada on August 14, while Outsider will release in the U.S. on August 21 in Miami, where “Marshland” had its U.S. premiere in March at the Miami Film Festival.
Marshland will then be released on digital streaming site Todocinelatino.com, which is dedicated to the release of the best in Latin Cinema in North America.
The 43-year-old Spanish filmmaker’s latest film, the thriller La isla mínima, performed up to expectations at the 29th Goya Awards, winning in 10 of the 17 categories in which it competed, including Best Film and Best Director.
The film’s stars, Javier Gutierrez, and Nerea Barros, won the Best Actor and Best New Actress awards, respectively, during Saturday night’s show.
La isla mínima also won in the Best Original Screenplay and Best Original Music Score, among other categories.
“El Niño,” which received 16 nominations, won four Goyas.
La isla mínima was selected to represent Spain at Mexico’s Ariel Awards, according to the Spanish Motion Picture Academy.
Argentina’s Relatos Salvaje took home the Goya for Best Ibero-American Film.
The movie, a Spanish-Argentine production directed by Damian Szifron, beat out “Conducta” (Cuba), “Kaplan” (Uruguay) and “La Distancia Mas Larga” (Venezuela) for the prize.
Spanish actor Antonio Banderas received a Goya of Honor for his achievements in the movie industry.
“The only way to fight mediocrity is to focus on our cultural values,” Banderas said, referring to the achievements of illustrious Spaniards such as Pablo Picasso, Francisco de Goya, Antonio Machado and Federico Garcia Lorca.
“Our artists, our intellectuals are the best way to know what we are, how we got here,” Banderas said, adding that mediocrity had become “the best business of our times.”
Banderas thanked director Pedro Almodovar for helping him professionally.
“I can’t understand my career without the seven films with him, including my American career, I almost have to say that I owe it to him,” Banderas said.
Filmax, Spanish production-distribution-sales force has acquired world sales rights to Gonzalo Bendala’s Innocent Killers, starring the 23-year-old Spanish actor.
The Barcelona-based company will also distribute Iglesias’ latest film domestically in Spain.
Innocent Killers will have its world premiere at March’s Miami International Film Festival, playing in its Cinema 360º section.
Iglesias, Luis Fernandez and Aura Garrido star in the murder imbroglio from Seville-based production house Aralan, which marks the feature directorial debut of Bendala.
“A suspenser, echoing elements of [Alfred] Hitchcock,” in the words of Aralan CEO Marta Velasco, “Killers turns on a university student (Iglesias) who, in dire straits, suddenly receives an godsend offer of money – if he kills his psychology teacher (Miguel Angel Sola).
What makes the offer so singular is that it is his psychology teacher that makes him the offer.
“This is a suspense film, of situations, characters, intrigue, a genre-blender. Hitchcock, for example, was a master at this. The Sting, Catch Me If You Can, Match Point have been other sources of inspiration,” said Bendela.
Lauded for his shorts – Penumbra 3D, the Goya-nominated Spaghetti Western – Bendala wrote the Killers screenplay with fellow short-film scribe-helmer Jose Manuel Asensio .
Innocent Killers will open in Spain in the second-half 2015.
Maria Valverde is ready for a high profile Romeo & Juliet-esque project…
The 27-year-old Spanish actress, who recently starred in Exodus: Gods And Kings, has signed on to star in the coveted role of Nino in epic love story Ali & Nino.
She’ll join the previously announced Adam Bakri (Omar) in director Asif Kapadia’s (Senna) big-screen adaptation of Kurban Said’s best-selling Azerbaijan-set novel about two star-crossed lovers.
The story begins in the melting pot of Baku at the turn of the 20th century. Ali is a Muslim, with his warrior ancestors’ passion for the desert; and Nino is a Christian Georgian girl with sophisticated European ways. The childhood sweethearts find their lives interrupted when WW1 breaks out and Baku’s oil becomes the focus of Russia’s vie for power. As the war plays out and control of the Caucuses changes hands, Ali and Nino find themselves swept up in Azerbaijan’s fight for independence.
Christopher Hampton (Dangerous Liaisons) wrote the script.
Principal photography will commence in Azerbaijan and Turkey next month.
Valverde won a Goya Award for her film debut, La Flaqueza del Bolchevique.
The 35-year-old Spanish pop star has released his new English-language song “Closer Tonight” in a New Year’s Eve ad for Freixenet. The track with a jazz hot vibe will be included on a gold edition of his albumTu y Yo, which is set for release on December 9.
In a black tie and with his signature curls slicked down, Bisbal is front and center in the glitzy spot that celebrates the 100th anniversary of sparkling wine leader.
Flappers dressed in gold-fringed mini dresses start a party in a wine cellar that continues through the decades until 2014, when the dancers join Bisbal at an outdoor party wearing sequined leotards with hoodies.
Young Spanish actress Maria Valverde, featured in Ridley Scott’s upcomingExodus: Gods and Kings, also stars in the ad, which was released on Freixenet’s YouTube channel late Tuesday night (Nov. 25).
The New Year’s cava commercial was directed by Goya Award winner Kike Maíllo, who also directed a fictional film based on Bisbal’s Tu y Yo tour that debuted earlier this year.
The ad was filmed at Freixenet’s headquarters outside of Barcelona. Freixenet Cordon Negro Brut is the world’s best-selling champagne-method sparkling wine, according to the brand.
Bisbal, known for his romantic ballads, has a lot to celebrate this year. Tu y Yo, the artist’s fifth studio album, debuted at No. 1 in Spain and was immediately certified double platinum for shipments of over 80,000 copies.
Bisbal is currently on a Latin American tour that culminates with December 14 concert in Madrid. He’ll take part in Televisa’s Canal de las Estrellas channel’s New Year’s Eve countdown, broadcast on December 31.
Antonio Banderas has earned an extra special prize…
The Spanish Film Academy will honor the 54-year-old Spanish actor with an honorary Goya Award for the organization calls a “stellar career on both sides of the Atlantic.”
The academy’s board of directors unanimously voted to honor Banderas for having “developed a versatile trajectory as an actor, have shown his own point of view as a director and having immersed himself in the role of producer to support national values.”
Calling him a hometown-Malaga boy “without borders,” the academy applauded his career punctuated by “risks and commitment.”
Banderas rose to acclaim in some of the most exemplary roles in Pedro Almodovar’s earlier works like Tie Me Up, Tie Me Down, Labyrinth of Passion, Matador, Law of Desire and Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown.
But he also forged a successful career in Hollywood with films like Zorro, Shrek,Philadelphia, Desperados and Interview with a Vampire.
Benicio del Toro is about to add another award to his collection…
The 48-year-old Puerto Rican actor and film producer and Oscar-winner will receive the Donostia Award for Lifetime Achievement at the San Sebastian International Film Festival.
del Toro’s latest film Escobar: Paradise Lostwill close the Pearls Selection at the festival, which runs September 19-27.
Escobar, written by Andrea di Stefano, tells the story of young surfer Nick who thinks he has landed in paradise when he falls in love with a Colombian girl on a visit to see his brother who is living in the South American country only to have it change when he meets her uncle, Pablo Escobar.
del Toro has confirmed that he’ll come to San Sebastian to present the film and receive the Donostia at the closing ceremony. Di Stefano, Josh Hutcherson and Carlos Bardem will also be present for the film’s Spanish premiere.
del Toro is a favorite at San Sebastian where he has accompanied films from his career.
del Toro won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in Steven Soderbergh’sTraffic as well as an Oscar nomination for his work in Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu’s21 Grams.
del Toro re-teamed with Soderbergh to star in the biography of Che GueveraChe. The performance won him the Best Actor award at the Palme D’Or Closing Ceremony at the Cannes Film Festival in 2008, and again the following year at the Goya Awards in Madrid, Spain.
He starred opposite Emily Blunt and Anthony Hopkins in Joe Johnston’sThe Wolfmanand as Lado in Oliver Stone’sSavages.
del Toro was starred as Jimmy, the lead in Jimmy P. The film was screened at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival. He was last seen in Guardians of the Galaxya sci-fi action film for Walt Disney Pictures/Marvel Enterprises, which was released in the beginning of August 2014.
Next year he’ll play Mambru in Fernando Leon’sA Perfect Day and Sauncho Smilax in Inherent Vice, directed by Paul Thomas Anderson.
The 35-year-old Spanish actor, screenwriter and director is directing his first full-length feature film, a crime thriller titled Anomalous, which he plans to release in 2015.
It’s “a dream come true,” the filmmaker told Efe in Barcelona during a break from filming the picture, whose cast includes Lluis Homar, who appeared in the Pedro Almodovar films La mala educacion and Los abrazos rotos.”
Stuven Casasnovas, the son of a Chilean television producer, first appeared in a film as the Baby Jesus in the program called Aplauso.
As a teenager he realized he enjoyed directing more than acting and has since won prizes for the short films El sotano, Hilo de melancolia, Stand By, Te mato and Tio Jess, a film that he co-directed with Victor Matellano. It earned a Goya Award nomination, Spain’s equivalent of the Oscar.
Anomalous is an English-language film with a $4.6-million budget that’s being filmed in Barcelona and New York and features different narrative styles.
It tells the story of a young schizophrenic who is found dead in his bathtub under strange circumstances.
A young female police officer tries to solve the case by analyzing the videos that the troubled patient recorded of himself at his psychiatrist’s recommendation.
Stuven, meanwhile, already has his sights set on another project, a science fiction thriller that he plans to begin shooting next year.
Juan Antonio Bayona’s Monster project will call on American audiences in October 2016…
Focus Features has announced plans to release A Monster Calls, the film directed bythe 37-year-old Spanish filmmaker, on October 14, 2016.
Based on the award-winning children’s fantasy novel by Patrick Ness, A Monster Calls centers on a young boy who attempts to deal with his mother’s illness and school bullies by escaping into a fantastical world of monsters and fairy tales.
Ness wrote the novel based on an original idea by the late Siobhan Dowd, and he and illustrator Jim Kay won Britain’s prestigious Carnegie Medal and Greenaway Medal in 2012, presented to the year’s best children’s literature in the United Kingdom.
