Tag Archives: Pedro Almodóvar

Guillermo del Toro Selected as Guest Artistic Director for American Film Institute’s AFI Fest in October

Posted on by
Reply

Guillermo del Toro is leading the creative charge at this year’s AFI Fest.

The American Film Institute has announced that the 60-year-old Mexican Oscar-winning director, producer, screenwriter, author and former special effects makeup artist has been selected as the guest artistic director for AFI Fest, the organization’s annual fest that will run this year from October 22–26 at the TCL Chinese Theatres in Hollywood.

Guillermo del ToroThe news comes as del Toro preps his latest film, Frankenstein, which is having its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival on Saturday.

Netflix will release the film in select theaters October 17 before dropping it on the streamer November 7.

“Guillermo del Toro is one of the great champions of the art form — a visionary filmmaker, a passionate cinephile, and a tireless advocate for bold, original storytelling,” AFI president and CEO Bob Gazzale said today in a press release announcing the appointment. “As Guest Artistic Director of AFI Fest, he brings a singular perspective that will inspire audiences of all generations.”

Del Toro joins a roster of guest ADs that already includes Pedro Almodóvar, Bernardo Bertolucci, Ava DuVernay, Greta Gerwig, David Lynch and Agnès Varda.

This year’s AFI Fest will kick off October 22 with 20th Century Studios’ Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere, the snapshot biopic of the rock icon starring Jeremy Allen White.

It will be coming hot off its world premiere at the New York Film Festival on September 28, and just before its theatrical release on October 24.

Pedro Pascal In Talks to Star in Tony Gilroy’s Next Film “Behemoth!”

Posted on by
Reply

Pedro Pascal is circling a monstrous role…

The 50-year-ol Chilean actor is in talks to star in the Searchlight Pictures film Behemoth! from writer-director Tony Gilroy.

Pedro PascalGilroy will write and direct the film.

While the deal isn’t yet closed, sources say Pascal wants to do it and things are headed in the right direction.

Plot details are vague at this time but Gilroy has said in interviews that the film revolves around a cellist.

Gilroy would also produce with Sanne Wohlenberg.

The film is set to begin principal photography this fall in Los Angeles, with release plans to be announced at a later date.

Pascal is coming off a hugely successful summer, with A24 and Celine Song’s Materialists, A24 and Ari Aster’s Eddington and Marvel’s Fantastic Four: First Steps. All three projects premiered to widespread critical acclaim, with Materialists being A24’s third highest grossing opening ever, and Fantastic Four: First Steps being Marvel’s highest grossing opening of 2025.

Fantastic Four kicked off the next phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and Pascal recently wrapped production on the next Avengers movie, Avengers: Doomsday, which will premiere in 2026.

Also in 2026, Pedro will reprise his role as Din Djarin in Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu.

On the television side, Pascal most recently earned a Lead Actor Emmy nomination for his performance in season two of HBO’s The Last of Us. Pascal garnered Lead Actor Emmy and Golden Globe Award nominations and won a Screen Actors Guild Award for his performance in season 1.

Other recent credits include Ridley Scott’s Gladiator II, Freaky Tales and Pedro Almodovar’s A Strange Way Of Life.

Esther García to Receive Donostia Award at San Sebastian Film Festival

Posted on by
Reply

Esther García is being feted for her storied career…

The Spanish veteran producer, a longtime collaborator of Pedro Almodóvar, will be handed a Donostia Award for career achievement at this year’s San Sebastian Film Festival. 

Esther García,

The festival has said the award was timed to celebrate the 40th anniversary of El Deseo, the production company Pedro Almodóvar launched with his brother, Agustín, which García joined in 1986.

García has been a secretary, production assistant, and producer at the company.

She has worked on every film directed by Almodóvar since Matador (1986).

Her enormous body of work also includes Pim, pam, pum… ¡Fuego! (Pedro Olea), El año de las luces (Fernando Trueba, 1986), El juego más divertido (Emilio Martínez Lázaro, 1988), and, more recently, Olive Laxe’s 2025 Cannes title Sirat. 

Amongst the myriad awards received by García are the National Cinematography Award, which she received in San Sebastián in 2018, the Silver Fotogramas in 2019, and six

Manu Ríos to Star in the Horror Film “Rapture”

Posted on by
Reply

Manu Ríos is awating the rapture…

The 26-year-old Spanish actor and singer will star in the buzzy horror Rapture, which HanWay Films will be launching for the Cannes market.

Manu RiosRios, best known for his work in Elite, will star opposite Will Poulter and Kit Connor in the film.

An intriguing premise, the film is set in Medieval England in the year 1348.

The story alights on Lansley Abbey, a remote stone monastery in Yorkshire, which houses ten monks bound by a life of strict routine and devotion. Their fragile peace is disrupted by the arrival of a messenger – a man with haunting news from the outside world who rapidly shows symptoms of a mystery illness. A virulent plague is spreading through the land: marked initially by a hemorrhagic fever, it turns its victims into “revenants” — restless, undead beings. As the contagion closes in, Lansley Abbey becomes a battleground: desperate outsiders beg for refuge while the infected threaten to overrun its walls. The monks are torn apart by a moral rift — between those who believe they must care for the sick and those who want to protect the centuries of knowledge safe-guarded by the monastery. As death is fully unleashed, so too is the brothers’ capacity for extraordinary acts of altruism and ruthless betrayal, forcing them to confront the ultimate question: what does it mean to be human?

The film marks the debut feature for playwright and director Jordan Tannahill.

Filming is due to begin later this year in Hungary. Producers are Elevation Pictures, 2AM and Brookstreet Pictures. Eli Arenson is attached as director of photography.

Ríos also appeared in Pedro Almodovar’s Strange Way Of Life.

Pedro Almodóvar to Receive Chaplin Award from Film at Lincoln Center

Posted on by
Reply

Pedro Almodóvar has been selected to receive a special award…

The 75-year-old Spanish two-time Oscar-winning film director, screenwriter and author, who has had a decades-long relationship with the New York Film Festival, will receive a lifetime honor from its presenting organization next month.

Pedro AlmodóvarThe 50th annual Chaplin Award will be presented to the filmmaker on April 28 at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall.

Presenters who will pay tribute to him at the gala event include performer and artistic director Mikhail Baryshnikov; actress Rossy de Palma (the honoree’s longtime muse); pop star Dua Lipa; actor John Turturro; and filmmaker John Waters.

The Chaplin Award Gala is Film at Lincoln Center’s primary annual fundraising event. Proceeds benefit the nonprofit’s programs, including film series, educational initiatives, and marquee events like the New York Film Festival and New Directors/New Films.

The list of previous Chaplin recipients includes Jeff Bridges, Viola Davis, Robert De Niro, Barbara Streisand, Sidney Poitier, Michael Caine, Audrey Hepburn, Robert Altman, Billy Wilder and Elizabeth Taylor.

Almodóvar has had 15 films selected to screen at the New York Film Festival, including Oscar winners All About My Mother and Talk to Her.

His relationship with FLC began with when New Directors/New Films (a spring fest, on the opposite end of the calendar from NYFF in the fall) featured What Have I Done to Deserve This? in 1985 and Law of Desire in 1987.

He made his NYFF debut in 1988 with Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, which was that year’s Opening Night selection.

Other selections include Centerpiece films Bad Education, Volver and The Room Next Door; and Closing Night films Live Flesh, Talk to Her, Broken Embraces, and Parallel Mothers.

Pedro Almodóvar Earns Three European Film Awards Nominations for “The Room Next Door”

Posted on by
Reply

Pedro Almodóvar is this year’s European Film Awards darling…

The European Film Academy has announced the nominees for the 37th European Film Awards, which will take place in the Swiss lakeside city of Lucerne on December 7, with the 75-year-old Spanish Oscar-winning filmmaker earning three nods.

Pedro AlmodovarAlmodovar earned a nod in the Best European Film category for his first English-language film The Room Next Door, which stars Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore.

He’s also nominated for European Director and Best Screenplay for the film.

Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal are up for two awards.

The 69-year-old Spanish filmmaker and the 74-year-old Spanish Spanish artist and designer are nominated for Best European Film and Best European Animated Film for They Shot the Piano Player.

Isabel Herguera is up for two awards…

The 63-year-old Spanish artist, filmmaker, cultural manager, professor and critic is nominated for Best European Film and Best European Animated Film for Sultana’s Dream.

Karla Sofía Gascón has earned her first European Film Awards nod.

The 52-year-old Spanish actress, who became the first openly trans actor to win a major prize at the Cannes Film Festival when she shared the Best Actress Award with her co-stars from Emilia Pérez, is up for Best Actress for Emilia Perez.

For the first time this year, under new rules announced last summer, films nominated for Best European Documentary and Best Animated Feature Film are also eligible in the Best European Film category.

The awards, which are voted on by the Berlin-based European Film Academy’s some 5,000 members based across Europe, are also seen as a bellwether for which European films are likely to pick up steam in the U.S. awards season.

This year’s ceremony in Lucerne will mark the last time it takes place in December with the dates shifting to mid-January, starting with the 38th edition in 2026, as part of a strategy to position the prizes within the wider awards season conversation on both sides of the Atlantic.

Awards for the craft categories of Best European Cinematography, Editing, Production Design, Costume Design, Make-up and Hair, Original Score, Sound and Visual Effects are decided by a specialized a jury and selected from the films in core Academy selection.

Here’s a look at the 2024 nominations:

Best European Film
BYE BYE TIBERIAS (BYE BYE TIBERIADE) (France, Belgium, Palestine, Qatar) – documentary film, directed by Lina Soualem, produced by Jean-Marie Nizan, Guillaume Malandrin & Ossama Bawardi

DAHOMEY (France, Senegal) – documentary film, directed by Mati Diop, produced by Eve Robin, Judith Lou-Lévy & Mati Diop

EMILIA PÉREZ (France) – feature film, directed by Jacques Audiard, produced by Pascal Caucheteux, Jacques Audiard, Valérie Schermann & Anthony Vaccarello

FLOW (STRAUME) (Latvia, France, Belgium) – animated feature film, directed by Gints Zilbalodis, produced by Matīss Kaža, Gints Zilbalodis, Ron Dyens & Gregory Zalcman

IN LIMBO (W ZAWIESZENIU) (Poland) – documentary film, directed by Alina Maksimenko, produced by Filip Marczewski

LIVING LARGE (ŽIVOT K SEŽRÁNÍ) (Czech Republic, France, Slovakia) – animated feature film, directed by Kristina Dufková, produced by Matej Chlupacek, Agata Novinski & Marc Faye

NO OTHER LAND (Palestine, Norway) – documentary film, directed by Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Basel Adra & Hamdan Ballal, produced by Fabien Greenberg, Bård Kjøge Rønning, Yuval Abraham, Basel Adra, Rachel Szor & Hamdan Ballal

SAVAGES (SAUVAGES) (Switzerland, France, Belgium) – animated feature film, directed by Claude Barras, produced by Nicolas Burlet, Laurence Petit, Barbara Letellier, Carole Scotta, Vincent Tavier, Hugo Deghilage, Annemie Degryse & Olivier Glassey

SOUNDTRACK TO A COUP D’ETAT (France, Belgium, Netherlands) – documentary film, directed by Johan Grimonprez, produced by Daan Milius & Rémi Grellety

SULTANA’S DREAM (EL SUEÑO DE LA SULTANA) (Spain, Germany, India) – animated feature film, directed by Isabel Herguera, produced by Chelo Loureiro, Diego Herguera, Fabian Driehorst, Mariano Baratech & Iván Miñambres

THE ROOM NEXT DOOR (Spain) – feature film, directed by Pedro Almodóvar, produced by Agustín Almodóvar & Esther García

THE SEED OF THE SACRED FIG (DANAYE ANJIR-E MOABAD) (Germany, France) – feature film, directed by Mohammad Rasoulof, produced by Mohammad Rasoulof, Amin Sadraei, Jean-Christophe Simon, Mani Tilgner & Rozita Hendijanian

THE SUBSTANCE (UK, United States, France) – feature film, directed by Coralie Fargeat, produced by Coralie Fargeat, Tim Bevan & Eric Fellner

THEY SHOT THE PIANO PLAYER (Spain, France, Netherlands, Portugal, Peru) – animated feature film, directed by Fernando Trueba, Javier Mariscal, produced by Cristina Huete, Serge Lalou, Sophie Cabon, Bruno Felix, Janneke van de Kerkhoff, Femke Wolting & Humberto Santana

VERMIGLIO (Italy, France, Belgium) – feature film, directed by Maura Delpero, produced by Francesca Andreoli, Leonardo Guerra Seràgnoli, Santiago Fondevila Sancet & Maura Delpero

Best European Documentary
BYE BYE TIBERIAS (BYE BYE TIBERIADE) (France, Belgium, Palestine, Qatar), directed by Lina Soualem, produced by Jean-Marie Nizan, Guillaume Malandrin & Ossama Bawardi

DAHOMEY (France, Senegal), directed by Mati Diop, produced by Eve Robin, Judith Lou-Lévy & Mati Diop

IN LIMBO (W ZAWIESZENIU) (Poland), directed by Alina Maksimenko, produced by Filip Marczewski

NO OTHER LAND (Palestine, Norway), directed by Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Basel Adra & Hamdan Ballal, produced by Fabien Greenberg, Bård Kjøge Rønning, Yuval Abraham, Basel Adra, Rachel Szor & Hamdan Ballal

SOUNDTRACK TO A COUP D’ETAT (France, Belgium, Netherlands), directed by Johan Grimonprez, produced by Daan Milius & Rémi Grellety

European Director
Andrea Arnold for BIRD
Jacques Audiard for EMILIA PÉREZ
Pedro Almodóvar for THE ROOM NEXT DOOR
Mohammad Rasoulof for THE SEED OF THE SACRED FIG
Maura Delpero for VERMIGLIO

Best Actress
Renate Reinsve in ARMAND
Karla Sofía Gascón in EMILIA PÉREZ
Trine Dyrholm in THE GIRL WITH THE NEEDLE
Vic Carmen Sonne in THE GIRL WITH THE NEEDLE
Tilda Swinton in THE ROOM NEXT DOOR

Best Actor
Franz Rogowski in BIRD
Ralph Fiennes in CONCLAVE
Lars Eidinger in DYING
Daniel Craig in QUEER
Abou Sangare in SOULEYMANE’S STORY 

Best Screenplay
Jacques Audiard for EMILIA PÉREZ
Magnus von Horn & Line Langebek for THE GIRL WITH THE NEEDLE
Pedro Almodóvar for THE ROOM NEXT DOOR
Mohammad Rasoulof for THE SEED OF THE SACRED FIG
Coralie Fargeat for THE SUBSTANCE

European Discovery – Prix FIPRESCI
ARMAND (Norway, Netherlands, Germany, Sweden), directed by Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel, produced by Andrea Berentsen Ottmar

HOARD (UK), directed by Luna Carmoon, produced by Loran Dunn, Helen Simmons & Andrew Starke

KNEECAP (Ireland, UK), directed by Rich Peppiatt, produced by Patrick O’Neill, Trevor Birney & Jack Tarling

SANTOSH (UK, France, Germany), directed by Sandhya Suri, produced by Mike Goodridge, James Bowsher, Roman Paul, Gerhard Meixner, Carole Scotta & Eliott Khayat

THE NEW YEAR THAT NEVER CAME (ANUL NOU CARE N-A FOST) (Romania, Serbia), directed and produced by Bogdan Mureșanu

TOXIC (AKIPLĖŠA) (Lithuania) directed by Saulė Bliuvaitė, produced by Giedre Burokaite

European Young Audience Award
LARS IS LOL (Norway, Denmark), directed by Eirik Sæter Stordahl, produced by Caroline Hitland & Matilda Appelin
THE REMARKABLE LIFE OF IBELIN (Norway), directed by Benjamin Ree, produced by Ingvil Giske
WINNERS (Germany), directed by Soleen Yusef, produced by Sonja Schmitt, Marc Schmidheiny & Christoph Daniel

Best European Animated Film
FLOW directed by Gints Zilbalodis (Latvia, France, Belgium)
LIVING LARGE directed by Kristina Dufková (Czech Republic, France, Slovakia)
SAVAGES directed by Claude Barras (Switzerland, France, Belgium)
SULTANA’S DREAM directed by Isabel Herguera (Spain, Germany, India)
THEY SHOT THE PIANO PLAYER directed by Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal (Spain, France, Netherlands, Portugal, Peru)  

Best European Short Film
2720 directed by Basil da Cunha (Portugal, Switzerland)
CLAMOR directed by Salomé Da Souza (France)
THE EXPLODING GIRL directed by Caroline Poggi and Jonathan Vinel (France)
THE MAN WHO COULD NOT REMAIN SILENT directed by Nebojša Slijepčević (Croatia, France, Bulgaria, Slovenia)
WANDER TO WONDER directed by Nina Gantz (The Netherlands, France, Belgium, United Kingdom)

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

Posted on by
Reply

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.

Pedro AlmodóvarWritten 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.

Javier Bardem to Star in Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s Next Film “El ser querido”

Posted on by
Reply

Javier Bardem has lined up his next project…

The 55-year-old Spanish Oscar-winning actor has signed on to star in the next film from Spanish filmmaker Rodrigo Sorogoyen.

Javier BardemTitled El ser querido, the film will be directed by Sorogoyen from a screenplay he penned with Isabel Peña.

The film will also star Victoria Luengo.

The official synopsis reads: In ‘El ser querido’, an acclaimed film director and his daughter, an unsuccessful actress, shoot a film together after years of estrangement and a difficult past that none of them want to talk about.

The project is a Movistar Plus+ original film in co-production with Caballo Films, El Ser Querido AIE and Le Pacte (France), financed by ICAA with the support of the Creative Europe Media Program.

The film will be released in cinemas, distributed by A Contracorriente Films, and will later be available exclusively on Movistar Plus+. International sales will be handled by Goodfellas.

Bardem is one of Spain’s most famous exports. His most recent titles include Dune: Part Two and The Little Mermaid.

His last Spanish project was Fernando León de Aranoa’s The Good Boss, for which he won the Goya for Best Actor.

Luengo most recently starred in Pedro Almódovar’s English-language debut The Room Next Door. On the small screen, she starred in Riot Police, the Movistar Plus+ series directed by Sorogoyen, for which she won the Ondas Award for Best Actress.

Sorogoyen will be known to most for his 2022 feature The Beasts, which won nine Goya awards.

Pedro Almodóvar to Receive San Sebastian Film Festival’s Donostia Award

Posted on by
Reply

It’s another career honor for Pedro Almodóvar…

The San Sebastian Film Festival will fete the 74-year-old Spanish Oscar-winning filmmaker with its prestigious Donostia Award at its 72nd edition, running September 20-28.

Pedro AlmodóvarPresentation of the honorary award, which the festival said recognizes “extraordinary contributions to the world of cinema”, will take place in the Kursaal Auditorium before a screening of his latest movie, The Room Next Door.

The film is Almodóvar’s first in English and stars Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore.

The Room Next Door will debut at Venice. Swinton will present Almodóvar with the award in San Sebastian.

Almodóvar first screened at San Sebastian with his second feature, Pepi, Luci, Bom y otras chicas del montón / Pepi, Luci, Bom, competing in the New Filmmakers section.

He competed in the Official Selection with his next film, Laberinto de pasiones / Labyrinth of Passions (1982).

Almodóvar has also previously handed out Donostia Awards in San Sebastian. Over the years, he presented the honorary award to Al Pacino, Woody Allen and Antonio Banderas.

“My career began in San Sebastian in the year 1980 and since then I have returned to the festival often, with or without a film,” Almodóvar said.

“I have always immensely enjoyed myself. I have given the Donostia Award to Al Pacino, Woody Allen and Antonio Banderas. This year they are giving it to me, and I am delighted and grateful. I mean it, it’s an honor. San Sebastian is one of the cities where the cinema is celebrated with enormous enthusiasm. More than ever, at these times, we need the complicity of the spectators, and their presence in the film theatres. It is a dream to attend a festival like this, where the cinemas are always full.”

Last year, the Lifetime Achievement Award was handed to Javier Bardem. Other previous filmmakers to have received the Donostia Award include Francis Ford Coppola, Woody Allen, Oliver Stone, Agnès Varda, Hirokazu Koreeda and Costa-Gavras.

Movistar Plus+ Partners on Alauda Ruiz de Azúa’s New Film “Los domingos”

Posted on by
Reply

Alauda Ruiz de Azúa’s latest project has new support…

Movistar Plus+, Spain’s most-viewed pay television operator, is partnering on Los domingos, a new film from the 46-year-old Spanish filmmaker and Lullaby director and the producers of that critically acclaimed film.

Alauda Ruiz de AzúaA Movistar Plus+ Original, Los domingos is set in and will shoot in Ruiz de Azúa’s native Basque country, said Nahikari Ipiña at Sayaka Producciones.

Now in development, Los domingos is produced by Movistar Plus+ and Sayaka and Marisa Fernández Armenteros’ Buenapinta Media, Sandra Hermida at Think Studio and Colosé Producciones and Manu Calvo.

“Los domingos is a co-production between Movistar Plus+ and four producers and as independent producers for us that’s important,” Fernández Armenteros said at Cannes.

Los domingos, which shoots in the first half of 2025, is a drama, although plot details are under wraps.

“It is such luck to accompany Alauda in Los domingos after Lullaby success with audiences and critics. We are moved again by her talent in picturing the contradictions of her characters, and her unique visions when depicting life,” Los domingos’ producers said Friday in a joint statement.

Sold by Latido, and bowing in Berlin’s 2022 Panorama section, Lullaby swept Spain’s Malaga Festival, taking eight awards including best picture, a rare achievement.

Endorsed by Pedro Almodóvar as “undoubtedly the best debut in Spanish cinema for years,” Lullaby was distributed in Spain by BTeam Pictures. It over-performed notably in Spain, grossing €823, 933 ($880,847) at theaters, before scooping three Goya Awards, including best new director and gongs for both main actresses, Laia Costa and Susi Sánchez.

“Movistar Plus+ wants to bet on auteurs with a key vision but also the potential to reach a broad public, and ‘Los domingos’ is a case in point,” said Guillermo Farré, Movistar Plus+ head of original films & Spanish cinema.

Los domingos will be a Movistar Plus+ Original “but Movistar Plus+’s strategy when it produces films is to co-produce,” he added.