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The sophomore edition of Spain’s South International Series Festival, unspooling in Cadiz from Oct. 25-30, will spotlight Andalusia’s burgeoning audiovisual sector.

More than twenty festival activities will focus on the Andalusian audiovisual sector, with industry panels, screenings and talks highlighting the strength of the region’s output.

While presenting this year’s festival poster, Sisf’s director Joan Alvarez declared that Andalusia is entering its “Hollywood moment.” The buzzy timing in the region sees not only increased production in the South but also greater support from local bodies such as Junta Andalusia and Andalusia’s public broadcaster Canal Sur, plus the creation of events like the South International Series Festival, which offers a gathering place for local industry heads.

“We believe it’s a great opportunity for European producers to focus on what is going on in Andalusia,” Head of Programming and Industry at Sisf Carles Montiel told...

Backed by some of Latin America’s best known independent production labels – Argentina Kapow, Non Stop Studios Tarea Fina, Chile’s Parox and Rizoma Producciones, Colombia’s Rhayuela and Mexico’s Caponeto, Iberseries & Platino Industria’s industry centerpiece Co-Production and Financing Forum delivers a snapshot of current TV and film production in Latin America and Spain.

Yes, a social focus still remains but it is laced by entertainment genres, led by crime and comedy, pushing titles into a cross-over territory.

Following, brief profiles of the 10 pic and 10 series lineup, which features stars – Alfredo Castro and Clara Lago in “Queen of the Woods,” and name directors such as Berlin Competition contender Natalia Smirnoff, helming “(Im)perfect Mom” and “Sleepwalkers’” Paula Hernández on “Duarte.”

Enjoy.

Series Projects

“El Abogado Mattos,” (Colombia, Mexico)

A true crime thriller turning on David Durán, lawyer to Colombian magnate Carlos Mattos, debating in jail whether to break...

Chile’s Fabula and Spain’s Alea Media have unveiled they are allying on development of “A Long Petal of the Sea,” based on a 2019 novel by Isabel Allende.

Alea Media founder Aitor Gabilondo will serve as showrunner on the series which is scheduled to go into production by the end of 2025.

The new title joins two of the biggest powerhouses of premium scripted drama in the Spanish-speaking world and powerful IP in a swing for broad audiences worldwide.

Founded by Pablo and Juan de Dios Larrain, Academy Award winners for “A Fantastic Woman,” Fabula’s production credits take in movies “Jackie,” “Spencer” and “Maria,” all directed by Pablo Larraín.

Headed by Aitor Gabilondo, Alea Media is behind HBO Spanish smash hit “Patria” and Mediaset España’s “Wrong Side of the Tracks,” whose latest third season topped Netflix global non-English TV series charts earlier this year.

“A Long Petal of...

Chicago-based, China-born writer, director, producer and visual artist Zhengfan Yang knows what it feels like to be a stranger in a strange land — but also back home. If there is such a thing as “home.” His episodic feature Stranger, which had its world premiere in the Proxima competition section of the 58th edition of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (Kviff), explores this along with such themes as loneliness and identity. Each episode is set in a different hotel room, “a place where everybody is a stranger.”

The result: seven scenes that, as Kviff organizers put it, tell “absurd, darkly humorous, poignant, and mysterious stories set in a seemingly confined space that nevertheless opens up new and surprising dimensions.”

After graduating from law school, Yang started making films with Shengze Zhu (Present. Perfect), establishing production company Burn the Film with her. Yang has made four feature-length films – Distant (2013, Locarno Film...

A version of this story about Jane Campion first appeared in the Down to the Wire issue of TheWrap’s awards magazine.

It has been nearly three decades since Jane Campion was nominated for an Oscar, an extraordinary span of time that evaporates instantly when the writer-director starts to talk about why she was drawn to the story of tortured masculinity in “The Power of the Dog” — and whether she was the right person to tell it.

Ultimately, she said, she felt “emboldened” by the #MeToo movement to take on the project that she admitted was “not a woman’s story.” And now she has Oscar nominations for Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Picture, along with four of her main actors — an impressive tribute to the impact the film has had.

“The Power of the Dog” has enjoyed near-universal praise, save for a recent jolt of vitriol from actor Sam Elliot,...

Bruce Springsteen made an appearance ahead of an exclusive screening of the film “The Legendary 1979 No Nukes Concerts” at the Basie Center Cinemas in Red Bank, New Jersey Friday night.

Springsteen was joined on stage by director Thom Zimny and Sirius Xm E Street Radio host Jim Rotolo and gave a few brief remarks about the film, which captures the E Street Band performing over the span of two nights. The September 1979 No Nukes benefit concerts were held at Madison Square Garden and raised money for the Musicians United for Safe Energy organization. Jackson Browne, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, Crosby, Stills & Nash, Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Browne, the Doobie Brothers and Carly Simon were also on the bill.

Asked by Rotolo if there was anything from those nights he remembered, Springsteen cracked: “I turned 30 during the show so that was memorable.”

That moment is captured in the documentary when Springsteen remarks...

Germany’s Beta Film has picked up world sales on two tales of Spanish power women: Movistar Plus’ originals “Supernormal” and “You Shall Not Lie,” the latter created and directed by “The Red Band Society” helmer Pau Freixas.

Written by Olatz Arroyo and Marta Sánchez, head writers on Atresmedia hit “Down There,” “Supernormal” is directed by Emilio Martínez Lazaro, whose credits take in “Spanish Affair,” the highest grossing Spanish film of all time in Spain. A six-part half-hour, it stars Miren Ibarguren as Patricia, a hyper over-achiever who has it all: a top job at an investment bank, a loving husband and three children, a lovely house in a leafy Madrid suburb. But she wants far more, especial when battling rival Mauro for promotion in the man-dominated high finance world.

A six-hour crime drama-thriller, “You Shall Not Lie” (“Todos Mienten”) is produced by Filmax, the Barcelona-based production-distribution-sales studio behind Freixas...

Netflix and Federation Spain, the Spanish division of Paris and L.A.-based Federation Entertainment, are teaming to produce “Las niñas de cristal,” a psychological drama set against the world of classical ballet that toplines “Money Heist” and “Elite” star Maria Pedraza.

The movie is one highlight in Netflix’s first announcement of a production-distribution slate focused entirely on Spanish original movies. The eight titles it profiles that are moving into production or set for release in 2021 and 2022 are a sign of Netflix ramping up its production of Spanish movies as part of its bet on Spanish scripted TV and movies, with Spain punching above its weight in the number of Netflix originals compared to Spanish subscribers. The Netflix slate highlights:

“Las niñas de cristal”

Alison Parker in “Money Heist” and Guzmán’s fated sister Marina in “Elite,” in “Las niñas de cristal” Pedraza plays Irene, a classical ballet dancer...

Víctor Amilibia (The Night of the Virgin and TV Series Allí Abajo and Acacias 38), Emma Caballero, Leire Ucha and Christian Stamm are the protagonists of “Bad Weed (Maleza)”, written and directed by Rubén Arnaiz. It is a thriller (or social terror) about …

The post Trailer, poster, frames and Press note from Maleza (Bad Weed) appeared first on Horror News | Hnn.

With a seemingly endless amount of streaming options—not only the titles at our disposal, but services themselves–each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit platforms. Check out this week’s selections below and an archive of past round-ups here.

Ad Astra (James Gray)

A testament to the immaculate scope that can be realized when a director with a specific vision is given the resources to convey it, Ad Astra is a masterclass in detail. In this Brad Pitt-led story of a space odyssey, one gets the sense that every miniscule touch was carefully considered, culminating in the most purely pleasurable time I had at a theater last year (a feeling invigorated by one of the biggest IMAX screens in the world). The nearly indescribable sensations Gray is able to conjure by going for more subdued grace notes make the awe-inspiring moments all the more sublime.

Founded in 2009 in Knoxville, Tennessee, Big Ears Festival is a renowned event bringing together, music, film, literature, art installations, and more. Year after year, their cinema-related section continues to showcase an eclectic mix of classic and contemporary voices, striving to explore boundary-pushing works in the field. Ahead of next month’s festival, we’re pleased to unveil the 2020 edition of the film lineup.

As part of their Standard Definition program, which explores the transition from celluloid to digital, the festival will present films from Agnès Varda, Chantal Akerman, Abbas Kiarostami, and Hal Hartley, along with U.S. theatrical premieres of Dominik Graf’s Friends of Friends and Franco Piavoli Affettuosa presenza and Paesaggi e figure. Also in the lineup is rarely screened works by Apichatpong Weerasethakul and Kevin Jerome Everson, along with Michael Snow’s 2002 film Corpus Callosum and his most recent project, Cityscape.

Argentine-British artist Jessica Sarah Rinland will also get the spotlight,...

ABC pickup to series “The Baker and the Beauty,” BBC One’s “Bloodlands,” Beta Film-sold “The Sea Beyond” and “Nasdrovia,” from Spanish powerhouses Movistar Plus and The Mediapro Studio, are all set for the 2020 MipTV Drama Buyers Summit.

Screening 15-minute excerpts from series – some complete, some works in progress – the 5th Summit, whose details were announced Thursday, will take place on March 29.

Based on the Israeli original, the highest-rated scripted series ever in Israeli, the re-versioned hourlong romantic comedy “The Baker and the Beauty” is now set in Miami, shownrun by “The Brave” creator Dean Georgaris and produced by Universal Television and ABC Studios, in association with Keshet Studios.

A first commission for “Bodyguard” creator Jed Mercurio’s Hat Trick Mercurio Television, with international distribution handled by Hat Trick Intl., Northern Ireland-set “Bloodlands” stars James Nesbitt as a detective hunting a legendary killer.

Otherwise, the lineup at this year’s...

While searching for showbiz anniversaries on this day, I came across the Tony Randall / Janet Leigh movie Hello, Down There which was released 50 years ago on this very day. But the tagline threw off the rest of my research so it's the only "today in showbiz history" factoid you get this morning. 

A combo of scuba dupes rock up a storm in a mad pad under the surf!

What Does That Even Mean? Is it in English? I recognize the individual words but can't comprehend their meaning as a sentence. Was it a mad-libs of  common late '60s vernacular?

If you've seen this movie or even if you haven't and would like to try, please decipher for us. ...

Okurr! According to Streeteasy, Real Housewives of New York City star Sonja Morgan just listed her Upper East Side house for rent at $32,000 a month — and to be honest, the hefty pricetag might actually be worth it. Watch the video above to see what the inside really looks like! Sonja and her then-husband, John Morgan, bought the townhouse in 1998 for $9.1 million. But after their divorce, Sonja went bankrupt and the massive mansion has been on the market since 2009. Originally, Sonja wanted $12 million for it, but that price has since come down and changed over the years. In 2013, she asked for $9.2 million and in 2015 it dropped even further to $7.2 million. A post shared by Sonja Morgan (@sonjatmorgan) on Mar 15, 2018 at 8:57am Pdt At one point, Sonja had it listed for rent at $25,000 per month, but now wants more. So, why can't it sell? Supposedly, Sonja doesn't give the house as...