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In a clear move toward commercial fare, Spain’s boutique production house Señor y Señora, present this week at Madrid’s Ecam Forum with Pedro Hernando’s work in progress “A Whale,” is lining up its biggest slate ever. |

Heading the outfit’s scripted lineup is “Karateka,” Señor y Señora co-founder Aritz Moreno’s third feature after his Efa nominated breakthrough debut “Advantages of Travelling by Train” and dark thriller “Moscas” which bowed at Sitges and Rotterdam.

Budgeted at over €6 million ($6.5 million), “Karateka” tells the larger-than-life story of Spanish karate queen and Olympic gold medallist Sandra Sánchez.

“It’s the story of a woman’s extraordinary achievement, both on a sports and personal level,” says Moreno, currently location scouting in Japan where he resides.

“Sandra won Spain’s first-ever karate Olympic gold medal aged 39 in Japan, while her long-time Japanese rival Kiyou Shimizu was 27. On a personal level, when she was in her twenties,...

This year, Spain has more titles at the Berlinale’s two TV showcases, Co-Pro Series and Berlinale Market Selects, than any other country in the world— a total of four shows, beating the U.S. with one, and even Germany, which has three.

On top of that, running Feb. 19-20 at the fest’s CinemaxX screening hub, the Spanish showcase at the Berlinale

Market Series highlights three more shows and features a panel, in what may be the big- gest national TV showcase at 2024’s Berlin Festival.

What this bullish presence says about the state of the state of Spanish TV production is an- other matter. Seven key takes:

Second-Phase Boom

Spain’s Berlin bonanza is only natural. Netflix scored its first global TV blockbuster with Spain’s “Money Heist” in 2018, and now the country is now riding a second wave as a strong supplier of the global streamer. In...

Series from Atresmedia TV, Rtve, Movistar Plus+, Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi (“La Mesías”), Zeta Studios (“Elite”) and director Carlota Pereda and Morena Films (behind Sundance hit “Piggy”) will unspool or be unveiled at the Berlinale. They underscore the breadth and depth of Spanish TV output:

“Death to Love,”

Carlota Pereda dazzled at Sundance with first feature, “Piggy.” Now, Pereda’s at the Berlinale Co-Pro Series on Feb. 20 with her debut series, “Death to Love,” in which afemale vampire struggles over centuries to end a toxic relationship with her vampire female lover and culminates in a modern-day climax. “A visceral and romantic proposition,” Pereda says.

“Dressed in Blue: Veneno Season 2,”

The Sundance world premiere “La Mesías” sealed the standing of Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi as most probably the coolest creative duo in Spain. This time around, they produce, with Mikel Rueda, a director on “Veneno,” and Claudia Costafreda and Ian de la Rosa,...

Martin Scorsese is going down as one of the most consistent directors ever, for no matter how you receive a movie of his, he still maintains his vision and his passion for the craft. The director has cemented himself in film culture with movies like Taxi Driver, Goodfellas, Raging Bull, etc. At 81 years old, Scorsese is still garnering acclaim and accolades for his latest film, Killers of the Flower Moon, which is also featuring a breakout performance by Golden Globe-winner Lily Gladstone. Scorsese would recently receive a special Best Director Award from the National Board of Review, which would bring his former Gangs of New York star, Daniel Day-Lewis, into the public spotlight.

Variety is reporting that Scorsese is set to be honored at the Berlin Film Festival next month with a Golden Bear Award. His ceremony will also be screening his film The Departed. Interestingly, The Departed is also...

Audiovisual from Spain, an umbrella brand created to support Spanish content producers and distributors, is organizing the first Brand New Spanish Content Breakfast, an invitation-only sales event for international buyers,

It’s unclear what’s being served but if it’s a typical Spanish breakfast, then expect some pinchos de tortilla, café con leche and some bollos (buns), at least. What is guaranteed is a widely diverse range of shows, from period dramas to thrillers, romcoms and children’s fare.

The Oct 17 event at the Seaview Producers Hub in Cannes will showcase the latest content from the most prominent Spanish distributors, led by such heavy hitters as Rtve, Moviestar +, Filmax, Atresmedia, Plano a Plano and Onza.

Acquisition execs attending will have pre-scheduled meetings based on their selections.

Audiovisual from Spain’s Mipcom participation is coordinated by Spanish trade institute Icex, with the support of the Spain Audiovisual Hub of the...

In the Spanish comedy drama series “Zorras,” based on the Noemí Casquet best selling novel of the same name, Andrea Ros, Mirela Balic, and Tai Fei play Alicia, Emily, and Diana, three women from very different backgrounds. They find a commonality, however, in a desire for friendship and exploration of themselves through sexual experimentation and novelty.

“Zorras” might translate as “sluts” or “tramps.” The show flips such terms and acts such as bondage on their head.

“I really think it’s about empowering ourselves through those words that have been pejorative to us throughout our existence simply by living and doing with our lives what we want to do with our lives,” Casquet told Variety.

“The term ‘sluts’ has always been very derogatory regardless of how many times we slept with someone. What this series wants to do is to turn the term around. To stop hurting us and to...

Atresplayer Premium, the burgeoning Ott service behind HBO Max hit “Veneno,” has renewed “The Gypsy Bride” (“La novia gitana”), whose Season 1, from “Penny Dreadful” director Paco Cabezas, world premieres at the San Sebastian Film Festival.

Atresmedia Television will produce with Banijay Iberia’s Diagonal TV, producer of Netflix hit “Heirs to the Land.”Produced by Vis with the participation of Atresmedia Television and the collaboration of the Diagonal TV, the first season of “The Gypsy Bride” will bow on Atresplayer Premium on Sept. 25.

Directed in its totality by Cabezas, whose credits also include “American Gods,” Season 1 is set in a gypsy community on Madrid’s humble outskirts as homicide inspector Elena Blanco, is called in to investigate the torture and assassination of a young woman just before her wedding.

Channelling echoes of a Lorca tragedy, the series, shot with large visual ambition by Cabezas – mixing bold panoramics and hand-held camerawork...