News

When a hostage negotiator on the brink of divorce is faced with rescuing both his abducted wife and the president of Mexico, his mediation skills may save lives … and, hopefully, his marriage. The Mexican comedy thriller Non Negotiable, starring Mauricio Ochmann, Leonardo Ortizgris, and Tato Alexander, was directed by Juan Taratuto (The Reconstruction). Based on an original idea by Alejandro De Grazia (Almost Happy), the film was written by Julieta Steinberg (Death’s Roulette), Joe Rendón (Harina), Daniel Cúparo (An Unexpected Love), and Marcelo Birmajer (Periodismo para Todos).

Stream it now.

Check it out at the top of this page.

Alan Bender (Ochmann), the best hostage negotiator in Mexico, is so committed to his job that he neglects his family — much to the dismay of his wife, Victoria (Alexander). The two begin couples therapy to work on their issues, but it may be too late: Bender finds out Victoria’s...

Amazon Studios, La Unión de los Ríos, Kenya Films and Infinity Hill have teamed to produce Argentina’s first Amazon Original film, Santiago Mitre’s “Argentina, 1985,” which looks set to become a banner Argentine big fest title and release in 2022.

Headlining arguably the foremost Argentine stars of their generations – Ricardo Darín and Peter Lanzani (“The Clan”) – the feature film has just started shooting in Argentina.

It focuses on an extraordinary but real life event of which Argentineans can feel proud: the true story of how a public prosector, Julio Strassera, a young lawyer, Luis Morena Ocampo, and their inexperienced legal team dared to prosecute the heads of Argentina’s bloody military dictatorship in a battle against odds and a race against time, braving bomb and death threats.

The so-called Trial of the Juntas is described as the biggest prosecution process for war crimes since the 1946 Nuremberg Trails after WWII.

“Argentina,...

Miami-based Btf Media, celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, is planning a series reboot for Fabián Bielinsky’s Argentine modern classic “Nine Queens” (“Nueve Reinas”), a feature film which 20 years ago introduced the world to one of Argentina’s most bankable actors in Ricardo Darín and film-tv crossover superstar Gastón Pauls.

It also established, just as the New Argentine Cinema was lifting off in the country, a crossover style of movie which could combine artistic ambition and genre heft to appeal to broad audiences at home and abroad, a filmic mode inherited by Juan José Campanella and Pablo Trapero among others.

The announcement is the latest in what could prove a trend for the company, as earlier this year Btf Media also secured the remake rights to Alejandro Amenabar’s Golden Globe-nominated “The Others,” starring Nicole Kidman, and are planning a Spanish-language series version of the horror classic.

Btf Media...

Kylie Minogue and Michael Hutchence in ‘Mystify: Michael Hutchence.’

Takings at Australian cinemas jumped last weekend thanks to the school holidays, Sony/Marvel’s Spider-Man sequel and Disney/Pixar’s Toy Story 4, while Richard Lowenstein’s Michael Hutchence documentary proved to be effective counter-programming.

Roadshow’s Us romantic drama After opened reasonably well considering its meagre Us results and Palace’s Argentinian rom-com An Unexpected Love appealed to upscale audiences.

The top 20 titles garnered $25.7 million, up 34 per cent on the previous frame, according to Numero.

Spider-Man: Far From Home captured $10.4 million in the first four days and $17.4 million since its launch last Monday. So the Jon Watts-directed sequel will surpass Spider-Man: Homecoming, which ended up with $25.6 million in 2017.

The superhero adventure starring Tom Holland, Zendaya, Samuel L. Jackson, Jake Gyllenhaal and Aussies Remy Hii and Angourie Rice has generated $580 million worldwide in just 10 days.

The 6-day domestic debut...

Exclusive: Ricardo Darin-starrer An Unexpected Love is one of a handful of films going global for Argentine outfit FilmSharks. Guido Rud’s label has sold remake rights for Juan Vera’s film to Recifilm for France and Btf for Mexico.

The film has to date been sold to more than 45 countries by sales outfit and remake rights specialist FilmSharks. A Chinese theatrical deal is said to be in advanced discussions. Mercedes Moran (El Angel) stars opposite Argentine superstar Darin (The Secret In Their Eyes) in the rom-com about a marriage tested by their son leaving home. The film opened last year’s San Sebastian Film Festival.

FilmSharks has also struck remake deals on swinger comedy 2+2 , which is from the same writer duo as An Unexpected Love. Pacts have been signed with Pirueta Films for Spain, Btf for Mexico, and with Brazilian producer-distributor Paris Entretenimento, owned by París Filmes. A U.

Latin American event ran April 4-10.

This year’s eighth Iff Panama ran from April 4-10 and kicked off with the well received Ricardo Darin drama An Unexpected Love (El Amor Menos Pensado).

Programmers scheduled industry talks, masterclasses, a Work in Progress section, and the announcement of a fund for women to launch this summer. Festival director Pituka Ortega reflects on the past few days.

Tell us about the women’s fund that you announced this week

Since we have become a platform for central American and Caribbean cinema and we have seen the calibre of work by women making films,...

Central American event ran April 4-10.

This year’s eighth Iff Panama ran from April 4-10 and kicked off with the well received Ricardo Darin drama An Unexpected Love (El Amor Menos Pensado).

Programmers scheduled industry talks, masterclasses, a Work in Progress section, and the announcement of a fund for women to launch this summer. Festival director Pituka Ortega reflects on the past few days.

Tell us about the women’s fund that you announced this week

Since we have become a platform for central American and Caribbean cinema and we have seen the calibre of work by women making films,...

Panama City — Argentine actor Ricardo Darin, currently attending the 8th Iff Panama for the fest’s opening film, “An Unexpected Love,” is prepping a new film, “Heroic Losers,” (La Odisea de los Giles) about an agricultural cooperative in Argentina in 2001, to be directed by Sebastián Borensztein, with whom Darin previously worked on “Koblic” (2016) and “Chinese Take-Out” (2011).

“Love” was the first production from Darin’s new production shingle, Kenya Films, founded in 2018 with his son, Chino Darin.

“Heroic Losers” is their second production. The film is about a group of people from a chic neighborhood of Buenos Aires, who have an idea to create an agricultural cooperative, in 2001, at a very difficult moment in Argentine history, with rampant inflation and banking controls.

Darin plays a retired ex-football player who lives in a small town near Buenos Aires, Villa Alsina, who has the original idea to create the cooperative. Darin explained at...

Panama City — Argentine actor Ricardo Darin (“Truman”) graced the red carpet at Panama City’s Teatro Balboa on Thursday night, in the company of leading international producers, directors and actors for the opening ceremony of the 8th Panama International Film Festival.

The 1,145 seater Teatro Balboa was packed for the occasion and as Darin took the stage he was greeted with enthusiastic applause and cries of admiration, to which he grinned, waved and replied in English: “I love you too.”

Fest director Pituka Ortega Heilbron thanked the national authorities, private institutions and local audiences for their support for Panamanian cinema and for the festival, which she said has now become an institution of national heritage.

Iff Panama Foundation’s president, Yasser Williams underlined the economic impact of cinema in Panama, citing data from the Inter-American Development Bank which suggests that for every $1 invested in cinema in Panama an additional $1.5 in revenues is generated.

The Cairo Film Festival, for its 40th edition, is reinventing itself.

With Egyptian producer Mohamed Hefzy at the helm who, at 43, is its youngest president, the oldest fest in the Arab and African worlds is undergoing a radical revamp in a major effort to get its mojo back after a decade of decline due to the country’s post-revolution turbulence.

Hefzy, who is known internationally for the steady stream of edgy top notch titles birthed by his Film Clinic shingle — most recently Cannes standout “Yomeddine,” which is Egypt’s current candidate for the foreign-language Oscar — is the first Cairo fest chief chosen from within the country’s film industry ranks. Since being appointed in March he has been working incessantly in tandem with respected critic and academic Youssef Sherif Rizkalla, who remains the fest’s artistic director.

Eight months later, the signs of renewal are visible. Starting from a reconfiguration...

Bernardo Zupnik, one of the Argentine film industry’s most senior figures, has been voted in as the president of Argentina’s Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Cecilia Roth, famed for her performances in early Pedro Almodovar films, will serve as vice-president, and producer-turned-director Juan Vera, who has just debuted behind the camera with Ricardo Darín starrer “An Unexpected Love,” is the Academy’s new second vice-president.

The appointment marks the latest career turn for Zupnik, one of Argentina’s most famous independent distributors who headed for years, along with his daughter Paula Zupnik, Distribution Co., which released many of the largest U.S. independent and Argentine titles, such as 2009 Oscar winner “The Secret in Their Eyes,” which grossed $9.3 million domestically. He has also held public sector positions such as deputy director of the Argentine Film Institute (Incaa).

His appointment comes as Incaa is under increasing fiscal pressure,...

The Middle East premiere of U.S. director Peter Farrelly’s “Green Book” will open the revamped Cairo Film Festival, where Alfonso Cuaron’s “Roma” is also set to launch in the region and Ralph Fiennes will be feted with a career award.

Cairo’s upcoming 40th edition, which will run Nov. 20-29, bears the stamp of a big push by its new president, Egyptian producer Mohammed Hefzy, to give the oldest film fest in the region new luster following a period of decline partly due to the country’s post-revolution turbulence.

Hefzy and artistic director Youssef Cheriff Rizkallah have unveiled a large lineup mixing recent standout titles plucked from the international circuit with a rich assortment of fresh Arabic fare.

Kazakh writer-director Sergey Dvortsevoy and actress Samal Yeslyamova will be coming to Cairo for a gala screening of drama “Ayka,” which competed in Cannes; Argentine director will be making...

Mercedes Morán and Ricardo Darín in An Unexpected Love, which will open San Sebastian Photo: Courtesy of San Sebastian Film Festival San Sebastian Film Festival kicked off last night with an opening ceremony that aimed for a lighter and fresher feel than usual by adding a dose of humour courtesy of Spanish Affair writers Borja Cobeaga and Diego San José, working alongside Borja Echevarría. The shift from the normally more traditional opening tone, dovetails with the festival's keenness to embrace younger, newer voices.

Explaining the change, director José Luis Rebordinos said: “These are bad times for humour. You get the impression that we all feel as if we’re under attack when someone ridicules or laughs at our convictions. Humour has always been an essential part of artistic expression and serves as a catalyst, making us question ourselves and the topics which reappear time and again. In this case, we...

San Sebastian — Juan Vera’s “An Unexpected Love,” which opens the 66th San Sebastian Intl. Film Festival on Sept 21, has closed a new distribution deal with Palace Films for Australia and New Zealand.

The U.S., China, Italy and Germany are now under discussions, said Guido Rud, at its sales agent, FilmSharks Intl.

Starring Mercedes Moran and Ricardo Darin, and Darin’s first production credit at his new label Kenya Films, “An Unexpected Love” is distributed by Filmax in Spain. The latest distribution deal adds to other licensing accords with Eurozoom for France, Big Film for Russia and the Cis, Nachson Film for Israel, and Alpha Films for Brazil.

Wiesner Distribution has acquired rights to Central America, Cinecolor those for Peru, Colombia and Chile, Av Jet for Taiwan, and Feelgood for Greece.

In Argentina, where it was distributed by Disney’s Buena Vista International (Bvi), the first feature as a...

Santiago, Chile — At the Santiago Intl. Film Festival (Sanfic) to present Luis Ortega’s “El Angel,” Argentine actress Mercedes Morán also gave actor’s studio on Wednesday night for local industry professionals and aspiring filmmakers and actors. A long time pillar of Spanish-language cinema, Argentine actress Morán is having a year that most actors could only dream of. And she is fully aware of her good fortune.

“It’s like a fantasy, right?” she wondered. “Any actress who loves cinema wants to have films that are circulating. And what cinema allows us to do, unlike theater, is to travel, and one can go where the film goes. It makes me very happy when I can travel with the movies and meet the people who make movies.”

However, to chalk up her current wave of international recognition to good fortune is to do the actress a disservice. Morán has put in her time,...

Writer-director Hirokazu Kore-eda was previously announced as a 2018 Donostia award recipient.

Actor, director and producer Danny DeVito will receive the Donostia award at the 66th San Sebastian Film Festival (September 21-29).

DeVito will receive his award on Saturday September 22 in the Kursaal. The following day he will present a screening of 2018 animation Smallfoot, of which he is part of a voice cast that includes Channing Tatum, James Corden and Zendaya.

With acting credits including One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, Terms Of Endearment and Twins, DeVito is also known for his recurring roles in TV series Taxi and It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia.

The major domestic box office successes of films such as “The Clan” and “Wild Tales” have established August as the month to release a big domestic film in Argentina. This year, Luiz Ortega’s “El Angel” not only joins those ranks, but tops them with the country’s largest ever first four-day box office trail of 56 million Argentine Pesos ($1.9million), from an Aug. 9 bow.

That number is slightly misleading when considering both inflation in Argentine and the devaluation of the Argentine peso when calculated U.S. dollar earnings, but the film’s almost 453,000 admissions is still the fifth best ever for a domestic release in Argentina.

Also worth consideration is that “El Angél,” opening Chile’s Sanfic Festival on Sunday, faces stiff box office competition this year, as the Ricardo Darín vehicle “An Unexpected Love,” set to open this year’s San Sebastián festival, also hit cinemas earlier this month...

Brillante Mendoza’s “Alpha, the Right to Kill,” Felix Van Groeningen’s Brad Pitt-produced “Beautiful Boy,” Louis Garrel’s “A Faithful Man” and Peter Strickland’s “In Fabric” will compete for San Sebastian’s Golden Seashell, the Basque festival announced Friday.

Further new main competition titles unveiled take in Liu Jie’s “Baby” and Tuva Novotny’s debut “Blind Spot.”

The six titles join 12 already-announced competition contenders. San Sebastian has yet to unveil its closing film.

Festival’s official selection – which takes in competition and out-of-competition titles – opens Sept. 21 with Ricardo Darín and Mercedes Morán-starrer “An Unexpected Love.” Playing in competition, the film represents the directorial debut by Juan Vera, Argentine producer of titles by Pablo Trapero and Lucrecia Martel.

Felix Van Groeningen won the Panorama audience award at the 2013 Berlinale with “Alabama Monroe,” Oscar-nominated for best foreign language film. In “Beautiful Boy,” his English language debut, toplining Steve Carell and Timothée Chamalet,...

Nadine Labaki’s ’Capharnaüm’ and Jacques Audiard’s ’The Sisters Brothers’ are also screening.

San Sebastian Film Festival’s Pearls section has announced 10 further titles including Damien Chazelle’s First Man and Alfonso Cuarón’s Roma.

Pearls will close with Bradley Cooper’s directorial debut A Star Is Born, in which he stars with Lady Gaga.

Further new additions include several titles that premiered at Cannes earlier this year, including Nadine Labaki’s Capharnaüm, Spike Lee’s BlacKkKlansman and Lukas Dhont’s Girl.

This marks the first time Lee will compete for an award at San Sebastian; he has previously...

Nadine Labaki’s ’Capharnaüm’ and Jacques Audiard’s ’The Sisters Brothers’ are also screening.

San Sebastian Film Festival’s Pearls section has announced 10 further titles including Damien Chazelle’s First Man and Alfonso Cuarón’s Roma.

Pearls will close with Bradley Cooper’s directorial debut A Star Is Born, in which he stars with Lady Gaga.

Further new additions include several titles that premiered at Cannes earlier this year, including Nadine Labaki’s Capharnaüm, Spike Lee’s BlacKkKlansman and Lukas Dhont’s Girl.

This marks the first time Lee will compete for an award at San Sebastian; he has previously...

Madrid — Carlos Reygadas’ “Our Time,” Alvaro Brechner’s “A Twelve-Year Night” and Ana Katz’s “Sueño Florianópolis” feature in San Sebastian’s Latin America-focused Horizontes Latinos, the biggest section at the Spanish festival after its main competition and New Directors’ strand.

Opening with Marcelo Martinessi’s “The Heiresses,” winner of the Sebastiane Latino Prize, Horizontes Latinos, as is its wont, mixes fest players, drawn from Sundance, Berlin, Cannes and Venice, with a brace of lesser-known movies – this year María Alche’s “A Family Submerged,” Eugenio Canevari’s “Figuras” and Ignacio Juricic’s “Enigma” – whose presence in such august company only serves to highlight their titles all the more.

Three titles are drawn from Cannes Directors’ Fortnight – an indirect tribute to the passion for Latin American movies of Edouard Waintrop, Directors’ Fortnight head from 2012 to this year’s edition.

The large theme which courses through the selection is, however, women. Only...

Mercedes Morán and Ricardo Darín in An Unexpected Love, which will open San Sebastian Photo: Courtesy of San Sebastian Film Festival

Argentinian film An Unexpected Love (El Amor Menos Pensado) has been announced as the opening film for this year's San Sebastian Film Festival. The film, which will vie for the Golden Shell in competition at the 66th edition of the festival, marks the directorial debut of Juan Vera, who has previously co-produced films including Zama and Carancho.

The film stars Mercedes Morán and Ricardo Darín as a couple who are facing a relationship crisis after 25 years of marriage.

Darín is a long-time attender of the festival and was awarded the Donostia for lifetime achievement last year. Morán also appears in The Angel, which screens in the festival's Pearls section.

The festival has also announced the full slate of the Muriel Box retrospective. It will feature all 28 films written and directed by the Surrey-born filmmaker,...

Long-time producer and debut director Juan Vera’s first feature “El amor menos pensado” (“An Unexpected Love”) will open the 66th edition of the San Sebastián Festival on Sept 19.

The film features Argentina’s most marketable leading man and 2017 Donostia Award winner Ricardo Darín, along-side 2018 Karlovy Vary best actress winner Mercedes Morán, who received the award for her role in Ana Katz’s “Sueño Florianopolis.” The actors previously appeared together in Juan José Campanella’s “Avellaneda’s Moon.”

Brought onto the American Film Market by Guido Rud’s FilmSharks Intl., the semi-serious comedy turns on the broken relationship of Marcos (Darín) and Ana (Morán) who have been married for twenty-five years. The two split after their son leaves Argentina to study abroad. But Ana finds single life monotonous, and Marcos can barely cope, so he asks her to go on a date.

Practically an institution on Argentina’s production scene,...

The film is the debut of screenwriter and producer Juan Vera.

The 66th San Sebastian International Film Festival (September 21-29) will open with An Unexpected Love (El Amor Menos Pensado), Juan Vera’s feature debut starring Argentina’s Ricardo Darín.

The Argentine film will play in the official selection, competing for the Golden Shell.

Darín, who also produces the film alongside his son Chino and Vera, stars opposite Mercedes Morán, winner of the best actress award at the recent Karlovy Vary Film Festival for Sueño Florianópolis.

An Unexpected Love is Vera’s directorial debut, and he co-wrote the film with Daniel Cúparo.

Argentine producer-scriptwriter Juan Vera’s directorial debut An Unexpected Love, featuring Ricardo Darin alongside his son Chino, will open the 66th edition of the San Sebastian Festival, running in competition for the top prize, the Golden Shell.

Co-produced by Zama, Elefante blanco and Carancho, Love stars Mercedes Moran and Donostia Award-winner Darin, who was also involved as a producer together with his son.

The story focuses on a couple who, after 25 years of marriage, is going through a crisis. It drives them to separation and prompts them to question themselves about love, desire and the passing ...

Argentine producer-scriptwriter Juan Vera’s directorial debut An Unexpected Love, featuring Ricardo Darin alongside his son Chino, will open the 66th edition of the San Sebastian Festival, running in competition for the top prize, the Golden Shell.

Co-produced by Zama, Elefante blanco and Carancho, Love stars Mercedes Moran and Donostia Award-winner Darin, who was also involved as a producer together with his son.

The story focuses on a couple who, after 25 years of marriage, is going through a crisis. It drives them to separation and prompts them to question themselves about love, desire and the passing ...