News

Leading Chilean producer Florencia Larrea (“My Tender Matador”), formerly with Forastero, has launched a new all-female company, 500 Cinema, based in the coastal town of Viña del Mar, where she and her partners are based. “Chile is too vast and beautiful a country for everything to be centered in Santiago,” Larrea remarked.

500 Cinema serves as the film production branch of 500 Nanómetros – an innovation-focused media agency founded by Antonia Valenzuela and Valentina Ripamonti.

“After leaving Forastero, I started as creative director at 500 Nanómetros, a company with a long history in new media and immersive projects that always seeks to challenge the limits of creativity. Antonia and Valentina also saw in the type of cinema I had been making, a space to continue developing innovative narrative projects. I saw in them great professionals and people with whom I could embark on a new adventure. So, naturally, I brought my catalog, and they brought...

Gia Coppola’s The Last Showgirl took home the Special Jury Prize at the 2024 San Sebastián Film Festival, held in Spain’s Basque Country from Sept. 20 through 28.

“For the high quality of its acting, packed with truth and nuances, which with great subtlety and restraint, brings us closer to the feelings of a group of people who must confront a disappearing profession, a world that is coming to an end,” the jury’s verdict read, per the fete’s press release.

About a veteran Las Vegas showgirl who must switch up her life’s routine following the unexpected closure of her three-decade-long show, the drama features a star-studded cast in Pamela Anderson, Kiernan Shipka, Brenda Song, Billie Lourd, Dave Bautista and Jamie Lee Curtis. As Deadline exclusively reported yesterday, The Last Showgirl was just acquired by Roadside Attractions for its North American release.

The Golden Shell for Best Film was...

Blue Marks by German filmmaker Sarah Miro Fischer and The Two Landscapes by Argentinian filmmaker (and recent Berlinale Golden Bear winner) Francisco Lezama have each won two awards in the industry competition sidebar at San Sebastian. Uruguayan-Argnetina based actor turned filmmaker Daniel Hendler picked up coin for A Loose End – his sophomore feature looks at Santiago, a low-ranking policeman, who arrives in Fray Bentos, a small town just across the Uruguay border from Argentina, escaping from the Argentine police force. Penniless but with enough cunning and using his threadbare uniform, he overcomes obstacles, receives the help of local characters, aims to erase all traces of his past and even dreams of finding the possible love of his life.…...

Daniel Hendler’s A Loose End, Sarah Miro Fischer’s Blue Marks, and Francisco Lezama’s The Two Landscapes have taken the main prizes in the 72nd San Sebastian International Film Festival (Ssiff) industry programme.

The awards were announced at an event on September 25.

A Loose End was presented as a project at the Europe-Latin America Co-Production Forum in 2023 and was offered this year to buyers and potential partners in its near-completion stage.

The film is a co-production between Uruguay’s Cordon Films and Argentina’s Wanka Cine. It follows a low-ranking police officer who arrives at the border between...

Argentine Francisco Lezama “The Two Landscapes,” Uruguayan Daniel Handler’s “A Loose End” and “Blue Marks,” from German director Sara Miro Fischer triumphed at the San Sebastián Festival’s Industry Awards ceremony Wednesday, unveiling awards for its most major competitions, the Europe-Latin America Co-Production Forum, and two pix-in-post strands, the Wip Latam and Wip Europa.

“Dear Bastiano,” from Spain’s Maria Elorza, took the Ikusmira Berriak Award, a best project prize at the prestigious San Sebastián development program.

Lezama two wins at the Forum marks his second prize scoop tis year after walking off with a a 2024 best short Berlin Golden Bear for “Un movimiento extraño.”

Produced by Argentina’s Pionera Cine, developing projects from Lezama and Ignacio Ceroi, the “melancholic comedy” about religious and family tensions, as Lezama puts it, is set during an institutional crisis within the Catholic Church due to Catholics converting to Evangelism. Mercedes, a devout sixty-year-old Catholic,...

Blue Marks by German filmmaker Sarah Miro Fischer and Argentinian director Francisco Lezama’s The Two Landscapes have both landed two prizes in San Sebastian’s industry competition sidebar.

The industry competition winners were announced this evening in San Sebastian.

Blue Marks landed the Wip Europa Industry Award and the Wip Europa Award. The film’s synopsis reads: After going through a breakup, Rose moves in with her older brother Sam to his tiny flat in Berlin. The siblings share a close bond. One day, Rose learns of rape allegations against Sam. At first, she is unable to see her brother as a possible perpetrator. When she finally understands that the accusations are true, she is caught in a loyalty conflict, torn between her role as a sister and her identity as a woman. In the end, she must find a way to deal with Sam’s guilt and its consequences.

Projects from Iván Fund, Daniel Hendler and Nayra Ilic are among the six titles selected for San Sebastian’s Wip Latam showcase, which supports Latin American films in their post-production stages.

The showcase runs from September 23 to 25, with films competing for the Wip Latam Industry award, which helps with post-production, and the Egeda Platino Industria award, worth €30,000 for the film’s main producer.

Argentinian Fund returns to San Sebastian with The Message which participated in the Europe-Latin America Co-Production Forum in 2023. The road movie follows a girl who has the ability to talk to animals, on a journey through the Argentinian countryside.

The San Sebastian International Film Festival continues its commitment to championing emerging talent from Central and South American cinema with its annual Wip Latam program. Running September 23-25, the high-profile industry event will feature six works in progress transitioning to completion, showcasing the diverse range of genres and stories the region has to offer.

Topping this year’s selection is Iván Fund’s “The Message,” billed as a Spielberg-ian adventure with the gritty soul of Cassavetes. In the Argentine road movie, a young girl and her guardians rely on her unique ability to communicate with animals to survive. Fund, coming off his 2021 Venice and San Sebastian hit “Dusk Stone,” blends sci-fi and character elements.

Also generating buzz is Daniel Hendler’s “A Loose End,” which sees the acclaimed actor make his third turn in the director’s chair. Hendler’s Uruguayan drama follows a low-level cop who flees the...

The 72nd San Sebastian Film Festival has rolled out the Latin American features in its Work in Progress (Wip) Latam section. This year’s selection, announced Wednesday, features stories from Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, Colombia, and Costa Rica, with four of the six entries being directorial debuts or sophomore efforts.

Among the notable entries is The Message by Argentinian filmmaker Iván Fund, who returns to San Sebastian after his previous success with Dusk Stone (2021). The film, a road movie set in the Argentinian countryside, stars Marcelo Subiotto, who won the Silver Shell for best lead performance in San Sebastian last year with Puan.

Uruguayan actor-turned-director Daniel Hendler will return to the festival for the fifth time with the border drama A Loose End. Chilean director Nayra Ilic’s coming-of-age story Cuerpo Celeste, and Argentinian Paula Morel Kristof’s debut feature Muña Muña also join the lineup.

Rounding out the selection are...

San Sebastian will host its annual Wip Latam program this Sept. 23-25. The program will feature six of the hottest upcoming titles from across Central and South America.

A frequent stop for titles between San Sebastian’s Europe-Latin America Co-Production Forum and one of the event’s finished film sidebars, Wip Latam has hosted several standout titles over the years, including Yennifer Uribe Alzate’s “Skin in Spring” and Lola Arias’ “Reas,” which premiered in the Berlinale Forum earlier this year. Other past participants include Sofía Paloma Gómez and Camilo Becerra’s “Maybe It’s True What They Say About Us” and “Most People Die on Sundays,” which will screen in this year’s Horizontes Latinos lineup at San Sebastian.

Awards available to this year’s titles include the Wip Latam Industry Award, which includes the post-production services and Spanish distribution, and the Egeda Platino Industria Award of €30,000.

Below, a...

Netflix Argentina executives have been promoting the upcoming slate featuring new work from Ricardo Darin, Santiago Mitre, and Juan José Campanella including series adaptations of two of the most iconic graphic novels and comic strips in Latin America.

Leading the new productions at the Made In Argentina showcase unveiled to industry members in Buenos Aires on Monday night was 27 Nights (27 Noches), Daniel Hendler’s adaptation of the family drama novel by Natalia Zito inspired by actual events.

Mitre, who wrote and directed the 2023 Oscar-nominated Argentina, 1985, will serve as producer on 27 Nights.

Campanella, the writer-director of The Secret In Their Eyes...

Exclusive: Coming off two-time Oscar nominee and Netflix hit Society Of The Snow, J.A. Bayona is producing and presenting psychological horror Crazy Old Lady (Vieja Loca), which will star Goya, Cesar and Cannes best actress winner Carmen Maura (Volver) and Berlinale Silver Bear winner Daniel Hendler (Lost Embrace).

Bayona is producing the Spanish-language psychological horror-thriller with Studiocanal, Peliculas La Trini, Primo Content, Bambu Producciones and La Union De Los Rios.

The project is written and directed by Martín Mauregui (Carancho), who is directing his first solo feature after a successful career as a screenwriter working with directors such as Pablo Trapero, Santiago Mitre and most recently as dialogue writer on Bayona’s Society Of The Snow.

Currently filming in Buenos Aires, the Spanish-Argentinian co-production “focuses on Pedro, a man who receives a desperate message from an ex-girlfriend asking him to look after her senile mother, Alicia. What seems like a...

Chile’s Bf Distribution, among the leading distributors in Latin America, has picked up Latin American and Spanish distribution rights to “El Silencio de Marcos Tremmer” with Bf Distribution partners Carlos Hansen and Matias Cardone of Invercine Chile boarding the pic as executive producers.

Shot in the Dominican Republic, Uruguay and Madrid, it was helmed by Spanish director Miguel García de la Calera and is currently in post.

The film stars Benjamín Vicuña, Adriana Ugarte (Pedro Almodovar’s “Julieta”), Daniel Hendler (a Berlin best actor winner for “Lost Embrace”) and Felix Gomez (“La caza”).

“Given its A-list cast of Latin American and Spanish talent, we plan to release it next year in Chile, Argentina and Spain to start,” said Cardone.

Vicuña plays Marcos Tremmer, a prosperous Uruguayan ad executive residing in Madrid, who is madly in love with his wife, Lucía (Ugarte). However, one day, Marcos uncovers a grim truth...

The Europe-Latin American Co-Production Forum and Wip Latam industry events are showcasing a wealth of new projects.

The Europe-Latin American Co-Production Forum and Wip Latam industry events are showcasing a selection of upcoming projects from Latin America to potential international partners at San Sebastian this month. Regional trends and financing models will also be in the spotlight.

Fifteen titles are in the Forum - from 222 submissions - and six films will showing a first cut in the Wip section. Both sections will take place from September 25-27.

There is a strong showing from Argentina in the Forum, despite the country’s long-running instability,...

Argentina’s Tarea Fina, a producer on Cannes Camera d’Or winner “Las Acacias,” International Oscar entry “The Sleepwalkers” and Ventana Sur hit “Sublime,” has boarded “A Loose End,” the third feature as a director from Uruguay’s Daniel Hendler, a Berlin Silver Bear winner for Best Actor in Daniel Burman’s 2004 international breakout “The Lost Embrace.”

Set up at Montevideo’s Cordon Films, founded in 2007 by producer-tv director Micaela Solé and Hendler, “A Loose End” (“Un cabo suelto”) is one of the highest-profile projects announced on Monday by the San Sebastián Festival as part of its Europe-Latin America Co-Production Forum, its industry centerpiece.

Written by Hendler, his third directorial outing returns to a central theme in his first two features as a writer-director: Identity. In his 2011 debut, “Norberto’s Deadline,” a loser real estate agent discovers his true calling and more confidence as an actor.

2017’s “The Candidate,” a Miami Festival best director winner,...

Fifteen projects have been selected for the forum, seven from first or second-time directors.

Juan Pablo González and Sergio Castro San Martín are among the filmmakers returning for San Sebastian’s Europe-Latin America Co-Production forum, which runs from September 25-27.

Mexican filmmaker González is back with Agua Caliente after his first work Dos Estaciones went on to win the best acting award for lead actor Teresa Sánchez in the world cinema dramatic competition at Sundance, following its participation in the forum in 2019 and Wip Latam in 2022. Agua Caliente is co-directed with Ana Isabel Fernández de Alba.

Scroll down for the...

Multi-prized Latin American directors Federico Veiroj, Theo Court, Alicia Scherson and Daniel Hendler head a muscular project lineup at September’s San Sebastian Europe-Latin America Co-Production Forum, the Spanish festival’s industry centerpiece which underscores this year a welling sea-change in the region’s filmmaking.

“The Moneychanger,” the latest film from Uruguay’s Veiroj, was selected for Toronto’s 2019 Platform; “White on White,” from Chile’s Court, won a best director Silver Lion at 2019’s Venice Horizons; Chile’s Alicia Scherson’s debut “Play” snagged new narrative director at Tribeca in 2005: multi-hyphenate Hendler, from Uruguay, scooped best director at Miami for “The Candidate” in 2017.

Also making the cut are Mexico’s Juan Pablo González and Ana Isabel Fernández, director and co-writer of 2022 Sundance Special Jury Prize winner “Dos Estaciones.” Ezequiel Yanco’s “La vida en común” took best documentary at the Biarritz Latin American Festival in 2019.

Mixing top cineasts...

Production has kicked off on “A Better Place,” which is produced by Komplizen Serien and Studiocanal Series in Germany.

Komplizen Serien, headed by David Keitsch, is the TV arm of leading movie production company Komplizen Film, whose credits include “Spencer,” for which Kristen Stewart was Oscar-nominated, and “Toni Erdmann,” which was Oscar-nominated in the foreign language film category.

“A Better Place” is the first German TV show to be produced by Studiocanal Series, the German TV arm of the French production powerhouse. Studiocanal Series is headed by Nicolas Loock.

The series will be shown on German streaming platform Ard Mediathek and broadcast channel Das Erste at the end of 2024. Studiocanal is handling international distribution.

It is shooting in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany from August to December. Alexander Lindh is the showrunner. Anne Zohra Berrached and Konstantin Bock (the editor on Oscar-nominated “Capernaum”) are directing.

The show poses the question: What if...

Gustavo Hernandez’s zombie-horror Virus- 32 is a Spanish-language film that was released today and stars Paula Silva and Daniel Hendler in the lead roles. When a deadly virus breaks out in a city and starts turning people horrifyingly violent, Iris needs to protect her daughter Tata inside a massive club as more and more infected barge in. As zombie flicks go, this is somewhere in the middle tier because of the poor plot, but if you’re in a mood for some recent Z-horror, this one might be for you. Here’s what happens in Virus- 32.

Spoilers Ahead

Who Are Iris And Tata?

You couldn’t tell by looking at Iris that she had a little daughter from her carefree attitude and the way she carried herself. Probably, Iris didn’t feel like a mother herself, with her self-destructive habits like drinking rum during the day and smoking multiple cigarettes with her friend.

This article contains spoilers for Transatlantic.

Netflix’s new period drama Transatlantic tells the story of Journalist Varian Fry (Cory Michael Smith), and American expatriate and heiress Mary Jayne Gold (Gillian Jacobs) who founded the Emergency Rescue Committee (Erc) that helped over 2,000 people flee the Nazis during World War II, without government support.

The series, created by Anna Winger and Daniel Hendler, is a fictional representation of true events in which people did whatever was necessary to save those in danger. So how much of Transatlantic is the real story and what did the creators leave out?

The Inspiration Behind Netflix’s Transatlantic

In both the series and real life, Gold and Fry helped prominent European figures such as political philosopher Hannah Arendt, painter Max Ernst and German novelist Heinrich Mann escape to the United States, away from the Nazis persecuting Jews across Europe.

While the real story inspired Transatlantic,...

Anna Winger, an American writer, producer and showrunner who has spent more than 20 years, and her entire TV career, in Berlin, specializes in stories that combine a very specific European, usually German, history filtered through very American sensibilities.

Deutschland ’83, and its sequels Deutschland ’86 and Deutschland ’89, which aired on Amazon Prime stateside, told the story of the decline of East Germany and the fall of the Berlin Wall from the perspective of an East German spy, but told in the style of a slick Hollywood thriller.

Similarly, her Emmy-winning Netflix limited series Unorthodox, the story of a woman who flees her life in an ultra-Orthodox community in Brooklyn to find liberation in modern-day Berlin — based on Deborah Feldman’s best-selling memoir — borrows heavily from genre conventions to package a spiritual character study in the guise of more mainstream entertainment.

That combination of European history and U.S. entertainment is also part of Transatlantic,...

Community Squad (División Palermo) is an Argentine series starring Santiago Korovsky, Ignacio Gaggero, Martín Garabal and Martina López Robol.

Community Squad is a “stupid” comedy of insignificant characters, urban and without a future that somehow find their place in a lightweight and entertaining proposal.

This is a series that only wishes to be entertaining and fun.

And it does that precisely!

About the Series Community Squad

If you like this Argentinian humor of situations that are rather absurd and “street” characters… a little like Full Monty, with that blend of social realism and an ironic tendency to laugh at their own existence… you will find this entertaining.

This is a likeable series because of the characters that is deeply Argentinian and laughs about that precisely for that reason.

Well acted, very good lines and the creation of the characters.

If you want to simplyi have a fun time with no other pretensions,...

First Looks

Netflix has released first look images for at its upcoming limited series “Transatlantic,” the latest series from “Unorthodox” creator, Anna Winger. The seven-part series is set to premiere on April 7.

“Transatlantic” follows an international group as they risk their lives to help refugees escape occupied France, including many on the Nazis’ most-wanted list. As the group continues to risk their lives, the “threat of mortal danger gives way to unexpected collaborations and intense love affairs,” according to the series’ logline.

Inspired by both the true story of Varian Fry and Julie Orringer’s novel about the Emergency Rescue Committee, “The Flight Portfolio,” the new series stars Cory Michael Smith, Gillian Jacobs, Lucas Englander, Corey Stoll, Gregory Montel, Ralph Amoussou, Deleila Piasko, Amit Rahav, Moritz Bleibtreu, Alexander Fehling, Jonas Nay, Lolita Chammah, Luke Thompson, Jodhi May, Rafaela Nicolay and Henriette Confurius.

The series was directed by Stéphanie Chuat, Véronique Reymond and Mia Meyer,...

The brief distance between life and death finds purchase in the genre most equipped to express it in "Virus :32," a zombie thriller from director and co-writer Gustavo Hernandez. These zeds sprint, leap, and don't necessarily need brain death to be put down, making life hell on earth — in this microcosm, Montevideo — for the uninfected. Among them are the aimless Iris (Paula Silva), daughter Tata (Pilar Garcia), and estranged husband Luis (Daniel Hendler). Unaware that people are tearing each other apart across the city, Iris brings her daughter along to her job following a schedule mix-up. She's...

The post Virus :32 Review: The Zombie Genre is Still Kicking in the Latest From Gustavo Hernandez appeared first on /Film.

Stars: Paula Silva, Franco Rilla, Pilar Garcia, Daniel Hendler, Malena Sanchez | Written by Juma Fodde | Directed by Gustavo Hernández

Virus: 32 is the latest in the seemingly neverending stream of zombie, or zombie adjacent, films that have come our way since George Romero rebooted the genre with 1968’s Night of the Living Dead. This time it’s a plague of the kind of viral zombies such as we’ve seen in everything from 28 Day Later to Strain 100 and The Sadness being unleashed on Uruguay’s capital city of Montevideo by director Gustavo Hernández and writer Juma Fodde (You Shall Not Sleep).

Iris (Paula Silva; In the Quarry) works as a security guard at an athletic facility. She’s estranged from her husband Javi (Franco Rilla) and has a young daughter Tata (Pilar Garcia) whom the opening dialogue suggests she rarely sees. And now he’s dropping her off and Iris forgot she agreed to take her,...

An unknown virus has spread through Montevideo, causing a zombie-like apocalypse. No one knows what it is or where it came from, but signs of aggression leading up to the all-out carnage were there for anyone looking. Iris (Paula Silva) wasn’t. Her existence of late has epitomized not paying attention as a means of survival. She’s retreated from loved ones (Franco Rilla as her husband Javi and Pilar Garcia as their daughter Tata) in order to numb her pain with alcohol and revel in zero-responsibility living. So if Iris can’t remember a promise to watch Tata while Javi takes an exam, there’s no way she has noticed her city gradually falling apart. Unfortunately for everyone, however, the day has arrived when ignoring it has become impossible.

Director Gustavo Hernandez Ibañez and screenwriter Juma Fodde Roma’s Virus :32 is thus very similar to most zombie films of its ilk.

Today, Shudder has unveiled the trailer for Virus :32, due out on the streaming platform on April 21st!

"Shudder, AMC Networks’ premium streaming service for horror, thrillers and the supernatural, unveils today first look stills and new key art for the upcoming Shudder Original zombie thriller Virus :32 ahead of the film’s exclusive world premiere debut on the platform on Thursday, April 21. The film is the latest feature from Latin American horror maestro Gustavo Hernandez, whose feature debut The Silent House (La casa muda) premiered out of Cannes’ Directors Fortnight in 2010 to international acclaim, and was followed by the 2014 Fantastic Fest premiere Local God (Dios Local) and 2018 Tribeca premiere You Shall Not Sleep (No dormirás).

In Virus :32, a virus breaks out and a chilling massacre rages through the streets. The sick become hunters, and only calm their fever by unscrupulously killing all those not yet infected. Unaware of this,...

"Today is not a day to be scared of madness." Shudder has revealed the trailer for a Uruguayan horror film called Virus:32, the latest film made by filmmaker Gustavo Hernández (The Silent House). This hasn't hit any festivals but will be streaming on Shudder later in April. A rapid spreading virus which transforms people into intelligent, ultra-violent, extra-fast zombie hunters. After each wave of attack by the monsters, they discover the monsters are left incapacitated for 32 seconds while they recover strength. That's all the time there is. "With Virus:32, director Gustavo Hernandez builds a lean, mean and terrifying thrill ride of a mother desperately trying to save her daughter from a zombie apocalypse. Combined with a stunning visual aesthetic, we know the film will delight genre fans everywhere," Shudder states. The film stars Paula Silva and Daniel Hendler, with Sofía González, plus a whole bunch of flesh-hungry zombies. Yeah this looks damn good!

“Translatlantic,” the first project from “Deutschland 83” and “Unorthodox” creator Anna Winger and Airlift Productions’ creative partnership with Netflix, is underway in Marseille, with casting details announced Monday.

“Billions” star Corey Stoll, “Community” alum Gillian Jacobs and “Gotham’s” Cory Michael Smith are among the just-announced cast. The series also stars Lucas Englander, Gregory Montel, Ralph Amoussou, Deleila Piasko and Amit Rahav.

“Transatlantic” is inspired by the true story of Varian Fry, Mary Jayne Gold and the Emergency Rescue Committee, and based on Julie Orringer’s novel, “The Flight Portfolio.”

“Risking their lives to help more than 2000 refugees escape occupied France, including many artists on the Nazis’ most-wanted list, an international gang of young superheroes and their famous charges occupy a villa at the edge of the city, where the threat of mortal danger gives way to unexpected collaborations and intense love affairs,” reads a logline from Netflix.

Winger and...

Gotham alum Cory Michael Smith, Gillian Jacobs (Community) and Corey Stoll (Billions) are set as the leads of Netflix’s Transatlantic, a limited series set during the 1940 refugee crisis in Marseille, France. Call My Agent star Grégory Montel, Lucas Englander (Bridge of Spies), Ralph Amoussou (Missions) Deleila Piasko (Boys Are Us) and Amit Rahhav (Unorthodox) round out the international cast of the series, from Unorthodox creator Anna Winger and her Airlift Productions.

This marks the first project under Winger’s multi-year deal with Netflix announced last year, under which Winger and Airlift develop and produce international drama series for the streamer. Production on Transatlantic, which will be shot in English, German and French, is underway in Marseille, for release in 2023.

Created by Winger and Daniel Hendler, Transatlantic, set in 1940-1941 Marseille, is inspired by the true story of Varian Fry, Mary Jayne Gold and the Emergency Rescue Committee, and Julie Orringer’s 2019 novel,...

AMC Networks’ genre-focused streaming platform Shudder has acquired the rights to horror maestro Gustavo Hernández’s “Virus: 32” in the U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the U.K.

The deal was closed between Shudder and Pip Ngo from XYZ, CAA Media Finance and Juan Torres from Latido Films. Spanish sales powerhouse Latido is selling the film and has been showing it to buyers at this year’s European Film Market.

A high-profile title to track since it was first unveiled at the virtual Cannes Market in 2020, “Virus: 32” stars Paula Silva (“In the Quarry”) and former Berlin Silver Bear winner Daniel Hendler (“Lost Embrace”) in a story about a rapidly spreading virus which transforms people into intelligent, ultra-violent, extra-fast zombie hunters. However, after each wave of attack by the monsters, they’re left incapacitated for 32 seconds while they recover their strength, hence the name of the virus and the film’s title.

Director Natalie Meta takes an abstract approach to her second feature film The Intruder (El Prófugo). Based on a book of the same name by C.E. Feiling, Meta walks a fine line between the psychological and the spiritual but because the film doesn’t elaborate on either view, the movie lingers in a limbo while the audience tries to get to the bottom of what’s happening without losing interest.

Ines (Érica Rivas) and her annoying boyfriend Leopoldo (Daniel Hendler) are on their way to a resort for a vacation. She’s scared of flying, so her boyfriend gives her a pill to calm herself down. Ines has some strange and violent dreams on the flight but wakes up to reality which soon slaps her in the face. While in the hotel room, Leopoldo and Ines have an argument where he constantly pressures her into revealing what she said and...

Argentinian filmmaker aiming for start of production in second half of 2022.

Natalia Meta, director of Argentina’s international feature film Oscar submission The Intruder (El Profugo) is reteaming with stars Erica Rivas and Daniel Hendler on political drama The Spirit Of The Law.

Meta told Screen she hopes to commence production in the second half of 2022. Rivas will play a congresswoman fighting to pass a law for women’s rights when she is accused of sexual harassment.

The filmmaker is producing through her company Picnic Producciones and is in the process of putting together the financing. She said the title,...

After a multi-year hiatus, Pablo Stoll, who broke out with directing partner Juan Pablo Rebella on such hits as “25 Watts” and “Whisky,” is back in the director’s seat, albeit on his own, with “Summer Hit” (“El Tema del Verano”), a zombie pic now shooting on the beaches of Uruguay.

Presented at last year’s Cannes Producers Network, film is co-produced by Temperamento Films (Uruguay), Ice End Content (Chile) and La Unión de los Ríos (Argentina) in association with Nadador Cine (Uruguay).

Ice End Content is the new production shingle formed by Chile’s Florencia Larrea, producer of “My Tender Matador,” and Rodrigo Susarte, director of “The Monster Within,” who are pitching their dark comedy series, “Frankie,” at Sanfic Industria.

Stoll’s fifth feature film starts out as a post-pandemic summer romantic comedy but transforms into a scam film and finally one about the living dead. “Is it possible to...

Netflix and Unorthodox creator Anna Winger and her production company Airlift Productions have set a multi-year creative partnership. The overall deal will see Winger and Airlift develop and produce international drama series for the streamer.

The first project for the partnership will be Transatlantic (working title), a drama series set during the 1940 refugee crisis in Marseille, France. It’s inspired by the true adventures of the Emergency Rescue Committee and Julie Orringer’s 2019 novel, The Flight Portfolio. The series is created by Winger and Daniel Hendler and is currently in pre-production.

Winger is also working with Anne Mensah’s Netflix team in the UK on a contemporary original series set in the English countryside while Airlift has further expanded its team with the addition of Camille McCurry as partner. Based in Berlin, Airlift is working with writers from around the world on projects set in Europe, Africa and the UK.

Unorthodox and Deutschland franchise creator Anna Winger has sealed a multi-year overall deal with Netflix.

The Berlin-based American producer and her production company Airlift Productions will develop and produce international drama series for the streamer.

The pact’s first project, currently in pre-production, is a drama series set during the 1940 refugee crisis in Marseilles, France. The story is inspired by the true adventures of the Emergency Rescue Committee and Julie Orringer’s 2019 novel, The Flight Portfolio. Winger created the series with Daniel Hendler.

Winger is also working with Netflix’s U.K. team on a contemporary original series set in the English countryside, although no ...

Unorthodox and Deutschland franchise creator Anna Winger has sealed a multi-year overall deal with Netflix.

The Berlin-based American producer and her production company Airlift Productions will develop and produce international drama series for the streamer.

The pact’s first project, currently in pre-production, is a drama series set during the 1940 refugee crisis in Marseilles, France. The story is inspired by the true adventures of the Emergency Rescue Committee and Julie Orringer’s 2019 novel, The Flight Portfolio. Winger created the series with Daniel Hendler.

Winger is also working with Netflix’s U.K. team on a contemporary original series set in the English countryside, although no ...

Petite Fleur (15 Ways to Kill Your Neighbour)

Produced by Didar Domehri

Directed by Santiago Mitre

Written by Mariano Llinás, Santiago Mitre

Starring: Daniel Hendler, Vimala Pons, Sergi López, Melvil Poupaud, Françoise Lebrun, Éric Caravaca

Cinematographer: Javier Julia

Release Date/Prediction: A return to Cannes in the Un Certain Regard section might be in the cards.

…...

While the Academy has not yet released the full official list, these are the films Variety has learned have been submitted by various countries in the international film race. The shortlist will be announced Feb. 9 and the nominations on March 15. The Academy Awards ceremony takes place on April 25.

Albania Open Door

Director: Florenc Papas

Key Cast: Luli Bitri, Jonida Vokshi, Gulielm Radoja

Logline: Pregnant woman and her sister try to find a man to pretend to be the mom-to-be’s husband before visiting their traditional father.

Prodco: Bunker Film Plus

Algeria Héliopolis

Director: Djaâfar Gacem

Key cast: Souhila Mallem, Mehdi

Ramdani, Cesar Duminil

Logline: Algerians fight for independence punctuated by the 1945 massacre in the ancient city of Héliopolis.

Prodco: Centre Algérien de Développement du Cinéma

Argentina The Sleepwalkers

Director: Paula Hernández

Key Cast: Érica Rivas, Ornella D’elía, Marilu Marini, Daniel Hendler

Logline: A family drama encompasses the sexual awakening...

Like many films at this year’s BFI London Film Festival, Natalia Meta’s The Intruder enjoys toying with what is real and what is supernatural in this Argentine psychological thriller. Reality becomes the dream and vice versa with apparent ease. Even lead character, Buenos Aires choir singer and a voice artist Ines (Erica Rivas from Wild Tales) becomes steadily confused and distressed by her experience of ‘something’ happening inside of her. This ‘something’ is the narrative’s mystery that we all hope to uncover in the end.

However, as curious as Ines’ investigation gets, the overplay of ambiguity favoured in filmmaker Meta’s second feature masks any truly satisfying resolutions – as fun as the film’s darkly playful and off-kilter nature is, even ending with a complete curve ball of something akin to Jonathan Glazer’s Under The Skin.

Whether alien invasion is the intended explanation, Meta’s muted...

“You are surrounded by intruders,” a strange, inexplicably knowing old woman tells a haunted voice actor and singer named Inés. “You have to get in the dream and kick them out before they take hold of you.” On paper, those lines from Natalia Meta’s The Intruder promise wicked, wild supernatural warfare. The reality is something far more disappointing––and sadly, rather dull. Still, this Argentina-set thriller has offbeat humor to spare, and some legitimately clever moments. It never coalesces into anything resonant, and lacks even a single scare. Yet there are far less interesting ways to spend 95 minutes.

One rather endearing quality is The Intruder’s obvious winks at many cinematic influences. Certain moments call to mind psychological horror entries like Berberian Sound Studio and filmmakers like Dario Argento. But the figure whose presence looms largest over The Intruder is unquestionably Brian De Palma. The influence of the bearded,...

Uruguay’s already expanding industry still has plenty of room to grow and looks primed to do so with its new financing pilot program about to be extended until 2025 and a host of companies who cut their teeth in international co-production.

Below, Variety highlights twelve Uruguayan companies with outstanding resumes in both domestic and international production likely to usher in a new era of film and TV prominence.

Cimarrón –

Cimarrón is a pan Latin-American alliance between established producers Hernán Musaluppi, Diego Robino and Santiago López. From their offices in Montevideo, Buenos Aires and São Paulo, the company has backed six films since 2017, including Argentine Academy Award and San Sebastian Horizons-winner “The Snatch Thief” and Miguel Cohan’s Netflix Original feature “Blood Will Tell.” Currently Cimarrón has two films in post-production, Martín Boulocq’s “El visitante” and Rafa Russo’s “El año de la furia.”

Coral Cine –

Coral Cine focuses on...

It looks like no coincidence that two of the biggest announcements concerning celebrated Argentine movie directors and producers this year were their moves into drama series creation. In February, Netflix announced that K & S, producers of “Wild Tales,” “The Clan” and “El Angel,” will produce a series adaptation of legendary Argentine sci-fi graphic novel “El Eternauta,” with Bruno Stagnaro directing.

In March, El Estudio announced two series with another founding father of the New Argentine Cinema, Pablo Trapero: a U.S. series remake

of his movie “Carancho” and bio-series “Galimberti.”

Appointed president of Argentina’s film agency Incaa in December, director Luis Puenzo does enjoy government backing, but he faces a perfect storm.

Even before Covid-19 struck, Argentina sustained crippling inflation: 50% last year and in 2018, plus a plunging peso, which lost 77% of its dollar value from April 2018 and studios’ lock on prime exhibition slots.

Last month, coronavirus had halted some 30 shoots,...

Four upcoming premium drama series from German production companies—“Deutschland89,” “Wild Republic,” “Algiers Confidential” and “MaPa”—have been selected for Coming Next, a section that forms part of Series Mania’s Forum program. German Films, an agency that promotes Teutonic film and TV productions, compiled the selection.

“Wild Republic” takes place at an institution at the foot of the Alps, where young offenders are undergoing an experiential educational program intended to re-socialize them. When a member of the program dies a violent death—although nobody knows exactly what happened—the youths face a difficult decision: Should they wait for the authorities to recover the body and investigate the crime, or escape and take their fate into their own hands?

The eight-part show, produced by Nils Dünker, was written by Jan Martin Scharf, Arne Nolting and Klaus Wolfertstetter, and directed by Markus Goller and Lennart Ruff.

Dünker tells Variety that the...

There may be no better metaphor for an identity crisis than the art of the voiceover. In “The Intruder,” the haunting and sophisticated psychological thriller from Argentine director Natalia Meta, the symbolic potential is clear early on. Inés (Érica Rives) watches a schlocky, violent movie as she dubs the screams into a microphone, her hands in front of her face and her eyes wide with embellished fear. As Inés hovers between her daily routine and the fictional worlds where she lends her voice, her reality grows more tenuous, as .

Channeling the psychological thrills of performance in “Black Swan” with a spooky audiovisual tapestry similar to Peter Strickland’s “Berberian Sound Studio,” Meta develops Inés’ conundrum through the accumulation of disturbing dreams that invade her everyday existence. Inés’ saga begins on a tropical vacation with her new lover Leopardo (Daniel Hendler), a romantic cheeseball who grows jealous when he overhears her muttering in her sleep.

The Berlinale lineup already includes films from Jia Zhangke, Matías Piñeiro, and more, but now the competition slate has arrived and it’s an incredibly promising selection. Headed by Carlo Chatrian, it includes many of our most-anticipated films of the year with Christian Petzold’s Undine, Hong Sang-soo’s The Woman Who Ran, Tsai Ming-Liang’s Days, Philippe Garrel’s The Salt of Tears, Abel Ferrara’s Siberia, and Caetano Gotardo & Marco Dutra’s All the Dead Ones, plus recent festival favorites: Kelly Reichardt’s First Cow and Eliza Hittman’s Never Rarely Sometimes Always.

Check out the lineup below and return for our coverage.

Competition

Berlin Alexanderplatz

Germany / Netherlands

by Burhan Qurbani

with Welket Bungué, Jella Haase, Albrecht Schuch, Joachim Król, Annabelle Mandeng, Nils Verkooijen, Richard Fouofié Djimeli

World premiere

Dau. Natasha

Germany / Ukraine / United Kingdom / Russian Federation

by Ilya Khrzhanovskiy, Jekaterina Oertel

with Natalia Berezhnaya, Olga Shkabarnya, Vladimir Azhippo,...

The Berlin International Film Festival on Wednesday morning revealed the main competition lineup and gala selections for festival’s 70th edition.

The festival, which begins February 20, will screen 18 films in competition, including movies from Sally Potter, Kelly Reichardt, and Eliza Hittman. Six are from female directors.

Among the gala presentations is Pixar’s” Onward.” The Dan Scanlon-helmed urban fantasy includes the voices of Tom Holland, Chris Pratt, Julia-Louis Dreyfus, Octavia Spencer, Mel Rodriguez, Kyle Bornheimer, Lena Waithe, and Ali Wong.

Here is the complete list:

Competition

“Berlin Alexanderplatz” (Germany/Netherlands)

Director: Burhan Qurbani

Cast: Welket Bungué, Jella Haase, Albrecht Schuch, Joachim Król, Annabelle Mandeng, Nils Verkooijen, and Richard Fouofié Djimeli

“Dau. Natasha” (Germany/Ukraine/United Kingdom/Russia)

Directors: Ilya Khrzhanovskiy and Jekaterina Oertel

Cast: Natalia Berezhnaya, Olga Shkabarnya, Vladimir Azhippo, Alexei Blinov, and Luc Bigé

“Domangchin yeoja” (“The Woman Who Ran”) (South Korea)

Director: Hong Sangsoo

Cast: Kim Minhee,...

Madrid — Just minutes after the Berlinale confirmed on Wednesday its selection in main competition, the pedigree producers of Argentine Natalia Meta’s “The Intruder” (“El Prófugo”) have dropped a first teaser-trailer for what has been described as a “pyscho-sexual fantastic thriller.”

They have also confirmed more details of one of the buzziest new titles from Latin America, announced with sales agent Film Factory Ent. in place at December’s Ventana Sur.

Film Factory has a strong record of crossover Argentine titles which roll off big fest berths to make a killing in Argentina and muscular theatrical takings abroad.

Can “The Intruder” go that way” Certainly, it has a potent South American cast: Erica Rivas as the neurotic protagonist, Nahuel Pérez Biscayart (“Bpm (Beats Per Minute), Berlin best actor winner Daniel Hendler (“The Lost Embrace”) and Almodovar regular Cecilia Roth (“Pain and Glory”).

Some key pointers to the title were made public by Variety in December.

The Berlin International Film Festival has unveiled its 2020 line-up, with 18 films playing in competition from directors such as Abel Ferrara, Sally Potter, Christian Petzold, Hong Sangsoo, Kelly Reichardt and Eliza Hittman.

Abel Ferrara’s Willem Dafoe starrer “Siberia” is a world premiere in competition, as is Sally Potter’s “The Roads Not Taken.”

Among the U.S. films at the Berlinale, Reichardt’s “First Cow” is an international premiere, and so too is Hittman’s “Never Rarely Sometimes Always.”

Pixar’s latest animation, “Onward”, also has its international premiere out of competition in the Special Galas section.

Previous Berlin Silver Bear winner Christian Petzold’s latest, “Undine”, world premieres, while Iranian director Mohammed Rasoulof, who is not allowed to travel outside his home country, world premieres his latest, “There is No Evil.”

Six out of the 18 films in competition are helmed by female directors.

The 70th edition of the festival...

The Berlin Film Festival revealed its main competition lineup and additional galas this morning at a press conference in the German capital.

The lineup includes new films by Sally Potter, Kelly Reichardt, Abel Ferrara, Christian Petzold, Hong Sangsoo and Iranian filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof (who is unable to leave Iran due to a travel ban). Scroll down for the lineup in full.

Artistic director Carlo Chatrian confirmed that all main cast and all directors – other than Rasoulof – are due to attend the festival. Guests are set to include Hillary Clinton, who is the subject of Nanette Burstein’s docu-series Hillary; Stateless star and producer Cate Blanchett; Willem Dafoe, star of Abel Ferrara’s Siberia; and Javier Bardem, Elle Fanning and Salma Hayek, the stars of Potter’s drama The Roads Not Taken.

The 18-strong competition lineup includes six films by women directors. Last year, 17 films were selected for the competition with seven helmed by women.