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Three years ago, we heard that genre regular Álex de la Iglesia – whose credits include creating the HBO horror series 30 Coins – had signed a deal with Amazon Prime Video and Sony Pictures International Productions to produce a series of feature-length horror films under the banner of The Fear Collection. It was said that de la Iglesia would be directing part of the collection and the entries not directed by him would still be “made under his creative influence”. The collection has turned out to consist of de la Iglesia’s own Veneciafrenia, Jaume Balaguero’s Venus, and Paco Plaza’s La Abuela – and all three films are now available on VOD, including on Amazon’s Prime Video!

De la Iglesia, who made his feature directorial debut with Accion Mutante in 1993, directed Veneciafrenia (watch it Here) from a screenplay he wrote with Jorge Guerricaechevarría. This one explores the profound connection...

"You are not welcome." Sony Pictures has debuted a US trailer for the Spanish horror film Veneciafrenia, set in the iconic Italian town of Venice.

Italian actor Caterina Murino, best known globally for playing Solange in James Bond movie “Casino Royale,” will be the master of ceremonies at the upcoming Venice Film Festival.

Born in Cagliari, Sardegna, Murino made her big screen debut in 2002 in late Chilean writer/director Luis Sepulveda’s political drama “Nowhere” which played well in France. She returned to French film screens in 2004 in “L’Enquete Corse” opposite actors Christian Clavier and Jean Reno.

In 2006 Murino gained global visibility as the new 007 Bond Girl alongside Daniel Craig with her role as the shady seductive Solange Dimitrios in “Casino Royale.”

She subsequently starred in British comedy “St.Trinian’s” and in 2008 attended Venice as protagonist of Italian Director Pappi Corsicato’s “The Seed of Discord.”

In 2017 Murino starred in U.S. supernatural thriller “The Voice in Stone” and in 2021 appeared in Alex de la Iglesia’s “Veneciafrenia” and in Netflix family dramedy “My Brother, My Sister,...

In a further expansive move, London-based Protagonist Pictures is teaming with Madrid’s Mogambo, executive producers on “1917,” for a multi-year, multi-title strategic financing and production partnership.

Announced on the cusp of the Cannes Festival, the deal sees the two companies allying to finance, co-produce and sell up to five films a year, Protagonist CEO Dave Bishop and Cco George Hamilton, announced alongside Mogambo founders Ignacio Salazar-Simpson and Ricardo Marco Budé.

They added in a statement that the partnership will focus on jointly green-lighting prestige third party filmmaker-driven titles with budget ranges of 5 million-25 million, as well as strategic co-productions and development.

Negotiated by Mogambo’s legal director Carlos Segovia and Protagonist’s COO James Pugh, Hamilton and Head of Acquisitions Luane Gauer, the alliance is another building brick for both companies as they seek to leverage co-production to create bigger and more ambitious movie productions.

They can also bring...

Álex de la Iglesia is back with brand new movie Veneciafrenia, part of the feature film series “The Fear Collection,“ and the final official trailer has arrived this afternoon. Watch the Veneciafrenia trailer below and read on for more info. Sony Pictures International Productions and Amazon Prime Video joined forces with Álex de la Iglesia (The Day of the Beast, The […]

The post ‘Veneciafrenia’ Trailer – Álex de la Iglesia’s New Movie Brings Real Fear to the Streets of Venice appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Spain’s top independent sales agents are prepped and ready for this year’s online American Film Market; however, most are eagerly awaiting the return of in-person events, seen as a more productive platform for selling independent cinema abroad. The optimism is cautious, though, with theatrical prospects for international independent films in a post-covid world still hard to predict.

Traditionally, AFM has been a popular launchpad for Spanish films to find distribution in the non-Spanish-speaking world but, while most of the regular faces will be attending digitally, many are holding back their bigger titles for Berlin, where they can be pitched in-person and meetings can be held face-to-face.

“Online markets have been really important for us over the past year, but now we need in-person events. The success of Mia in Rome is proof of that,” said Latido Films general director Antonio Saura, who hosted three market premieres at the...

Valdimar Jóhannsson’s Icelandic-Swedish-Polish drama “Lamb,” starring Noomi Rapace was awarded best film and actress for Rapace at the 54th edition of Sitges’ International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia, which wrapped Sunday.

The prizes add to an Originality Prize which the film received when competing at July’s Cannes Un Certain Regard.

“Lamb,” a horror-comedy combo, follows protagonist Maria, played by Rapace, a woman living with her husband in the total loneliness of the Icelandic countryside. According to a Variety review, “creepy-funny-weird-sad ‘Lamb’ proves just how far disbelief can be suspended if you’re in the hands of a director — and a cast, and a SFX/puppetry department — who really commit to the bit.” Lamb is produced by Go to Sheep, Black Spark Film & TV and Madants with New Europe Film Sales and A24 attached.

Rapace shared best actress honors with Susanne Jensen in Peter Brunner’s “Luzifer.” Justin Kurzel...

The Fear Collection, a new horror-based joint venture between Sony Pictures International, Amazon Prime Video and Alex de la Iglesia’s Pokeepsie Films, has announced its next feature production, “Venus” from Spanish genre legend Jaume Balagueró (“[Rec]” “Mientras duermes”) and starring one of the country’s most exciting young actors, Ester Expósito.

Balagueró’s new feature was announced at the genre-specialist Sitges Film Festival, where De la Iglesia was premiering his latest “Veneciafrenia,” the first production undertaken by The Fear Collection. Plot details are scant to nonexistent, but Balagueró will be joined by screenwriter Fernando Navarro (“Veronica”) and production will begin in November to facilitate a 2022 theatrical launch.

“When Álex called me to direct ‘Venus’ I immediately said yes,” said Balagueró in the announcement. “I thought about what would happen if we took the universe of cosmic terror created by Lovecraft and transferred it to today, in a miserable, dirty environment...

If we may, for a moment, turn our attention to Sitges over in Spain. The famed genre festival will celebrate it’s 54th edition this October. That is quite a lot. Earlier today the festival announced that Ana Lily Amirpour’s new film, Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon, will open this year’s festival. This marks the first time in the festival’s history that a film directed by a woman will kick off the festival. Spare some time to have a look at the announcement below and you will find that anticipated films like Lamb, The Deep House, Mad God, Halloween Kills, Neil Blomkamp’s Demonic, Edgar Wright’s Last Night in Soho, join the world premiere of Alex de la Iglesia’s slasher/giallo flick Veneciafrenia. There is also an...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

Exclusive: International production veterans Shebnem Askin and Michael Rifkin have been appointed Co-Heads of Sony Pictures International Productions. Reporting to Sanford Panitch, President, Sony Pictures Entertainment Motion Picture Group, the pair takes over from Laine Kline who stepped down earlier this year.

Spip is the local-language production arm of Sony Pictures Entertainment’s Motion Picture Group and is active in more than 13 markets around the world including France, the UK, Italy, Mexico, Brazil, India, Korea, China, Taiwan, Germany and Japan and is a market share leader in Spain and Russia.

Local-language pictures are an important aspect of the business, key to individual market box office and with the ability to make all boats rise. Some of Sony’s recent notable co-production releases include 2019’s Padre No Hay Mas Que Uno which grossed $15.9M in Spain to become the highest grossing Spanish film that year. The sequel, Padre No Hay Mas Que Uno 2,...

“Beautiful Youth’s” Ingrid García-Jonsson and “Instinto’s” Silvia Alonso head the ensemble cast of “Veneciafrenia,” the first feature from The Fear Collection, a horror film anthology backed by Sony Pictures Intl. Prods. (Spip) and Alex de la Iglesia’s Pokeepsie Films, in association with Amazon Prime Video.

Announced in May, The Fear Collection saw De la Iglesia, one of Spain’s most bankable directors whose remake “Perfectos Desconocidos” earned $25.8 million in Spain in 2018, commit to direct or produce The Fear Collection’s titles via his Madrid-based Abel Pokeepsie.

“Veneciafrenia” went into production on Oct. 5, shooting in Venice and Madrid, with De la Iglesia both directing and producing. Its ensemble cast also features Goize Blanco (“El Futuro”), Nicolás Lloro, Alberto Bang (“Spanish Shame”), Cosimo Fusco (“Angels & Demons”), Enrico Lo Verso (“The Falcon and the Dove”), Armando di Razza (Cavan in De La Iglesia’s breakout “The Day of the Beast...