Elena Trapé to Direct Coming Soon’s Series “Gwendolyne, Diario de Una Fan”

Elena Trapé is fan-girling

The Spanish filmmaker, whose character-driven ensemble pieces Blog and The Distances marked her as a talent to watch, is attached to direct Gwendolyne, Diario de Una Fan, one of two series being brought onto the market at Ventana Sur’s Spanish Screenings by Barcelona-based Coming Soon Films.

Elena Trape, The screenplay for Gwendolyne, Diario de Una Fan is by Marta Buisán, Jordi Casado and Miguel Ibánez Monroy.

Gwendolyne, Diario de Una Fan’s titular protagonist, now 30, had one of the times of her life – one of the only times of her life – when 15, she was chasing the Sexy Gods, her favorite boy band, around Barcelona, just as they dissolved. Now, however, they’re about to get together again; which she sees as a solution to all her life problems: Useless studies, a dead-end job; a d***head boyfriend, a flat share with her distant and conniving boss.

As her life plunges into life crisis, Gwendolyne thinks that everything will be solved if she gets back stage with the back-on-stage Sexy Gods. That, however, is a misconception.

“This is an absolutely necessary coming-of-age tale, with a protagonist whom we haven’t seen before,” commented Trapé.

“I’ve always been a big fan of scripted British TV,” she added, praising how it “moves between documentary and film, achieving a perfect balance  between veracity and cinematic aesthetics. I love how it risks with its cast, shoots on locations, the light, the hand-held camera, the narrative drive, and above all, how it gets us to identify with its characters, their pains, lives and emotions,” she added, citing Pure, I May Destroy You and Fleabag.

“‘Gwendolyne’ is a comedy of clear female leads, with a lot of music and in which sisterhood plays a key role,” added Coming Soon.

Trapé’s Blog won a Special Mention at San Sebastian Film Festival’s La Otra Mirada prize; The Distances swept Malaga’s Golden Biznaga for best picture as well as director and actress (Alexandra Jiménez) in 2018.

Produced by Coming Soon, Trapé’s next feature, Els encantats, with Laia Costa (Lullaby), shot this summer.

A BCN Showrunners alum, Buisán formed part of the production team on two series from Catalan public broadcaster TV3, El Gran Dictat and La Riera. A dramatist-actor-screenwriter, Casado wrote and directed theater plays Vivo and en-Cadena, and took part in collective creation a-Gig-a-Byte, staged at London’s Rose Theatre.

A graduate of Barcelona’s famed ESCAC film school, the alma mater of J.A. Bayona, Ibañez Monroy co-wrote TV3 series Cites (2016), and Trapé’s The Distances and Els Encantats, as well as Carlos Martín’s El año de la plaga and Laura Alvea’s La mujer dormida, now shooting for Coming Soon.

Julieth Restrepo to Star as Colombian Women’s Rights Pioneer & Politician Esmeralda Arboleda

Julieth Restrepo is taking on the old boy network

The 35-year-old Colombian actress and Loving Pablo star will portray Colombian politician and women’s rights pioneer Esmeralda Arboleda in the Spanish-language feature Estimados Señores.

Julieth RestrepoArboleda, was a Colombian politician and the first woman elected to the Senate of Colombia, serving from 1958-1961. A leader of the women’s suffrage movement in the country, she played an intrinsic role in achieving universal voting rights for women in the 1950s.

The new film will chart how Arboleda managed to convince 70 of the most powerful men in Colombia to approve the vote for women, despite the powerful influence of the country’s religious right.

Restrepo, also known for her work in the Amazon and AGC series Noticia de un Secuestro with Juan Pablo Raba and Netflix miniseries Griselda with Sofia Vergara, is due to star with Elkin Diaz and Claudio Cataño in the film.

Agora Films and El Circo Film are producing. Actress, producer and writer Patricia Castañeda will make her feature directorial debut based on her script.

Featured in the Ventana Sur works in progress market of 2020, the project is now lining up to shoot next month in Bogota.

Director Castañeda says the project has particular resonance right now given that Colombia earlier this year voted to decriminalize abortion during the first 24 weeks of pregnancy, marking a major victory for reproductive rights in the country. This follows a string of similar victories in other Latin American countries.

Luis Tellez’s “Inzomnia” to Become Mexico’s First Stop-Motion Animation Feature

Luis Tellez is inching towards Mexican cinematic history…

The Mexican director is the man behind Mexico’s first stop-motion animation feature, Inzomnia.

Luis Tellez

The film is in pre-production with former Mexican Cinematheque director Paula Astorga and producer Milko Luis on board as producers.

Budgeted at an initial $2 million, the animated film has participated in Venice’s Gap-Financing Market and will next be taken to Buenos Aires confab, Ventana Sur, to be pitched in its Animation! section.

Inzomnia tracks 10-year old Camila in her quest to rescue her parents and the rest of the city’s inhabitants from the yoke of a ruthless businessman who has converted them all into automatons via an insomnia pill. Camila is immune to the effects of the pill that keeps everyone else awake and at work.

Luis Tellez's Inzomnia

“We started shooting “Inzomnia” at a 7,535-sq. ft. gallery in Guadalajara’s Museo Trompo Mágico where we staged a live exhibit for our young visitors to witness the entire process in real time,” said Astorga, whose debut feature as a producer, Jimmy Cohen’s documentary Omar & Gloria, had its world premiere at Play-Doc, Spain last March.

While the characters are designed in Mexico, the puppets are being made in Poland’s Momakin, renowned for its technical know-how and experience. It will be a truly international production with key animators flying in from Poland, Brazil, Spain, Chile and Argentina, among others.

Production kicks off in January with the goal to debut the feature by 2020.

Animation is increasingly bigger business in predominantly youth-populated Mexico, which leads among the top three animation markets in the region.