News

Principal photography is set to begin in April on “The Captive” (“El Cautivo”), the period adventure epic from Alejandro Amenábar, whose “The Sea Inside” won an Oscar for best foreign language film. Film Constellation has boarded worldwide sales, and will introduce the project to buyers at the European Film Market.

The film centers on the origin story of Miguel de Cervantes, the author of the iconic novel “Don Quixote.” At the age of 28, Cervantes was taken captive by the Moors in Algiers, leading to his creative birth.

The $15 million production will shoot at locations in Spain including Valencia, Alicante and Seville.

Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures is on board to release the film in Spain next year.

The film is set in Algiers in 1575 when Cervantes, a wounded 28-year-old Spanish Navy soldier, is held prisoner by Ottoman corsairs. Faced with a ticking clock, a cruel death awaits him should his...

Production, finance and sales company Film Constellation has boarded sales on the upcoming romantic thriller “Haunted Heart” by Academy Award winning director Fernando Trueba.

The film stars Academy Award nominee Matt Dillon (“The House That Jack Built”), Goya-nominated Aida Folch (“The Artist and the Model”), and Juan Pablo Urrego (“Memoria”). The English-language film is set to start shooting in Greece in September.

The film is set on a beautiful remote island in Greece, where young and spirited Alex joins the team of a boutique seaside restaurant as their new waitress. Despite her femme-fatale charm quickly winning the heart of the charismatic Enrico, she instead falls for the enigmatic restaurant manager Max, a reclusive American, who settled on the island decades ago.

As the seasons pass, sexual tensions rise, and tourists come and go, Enrico begins to unearth disturbing clues about Max’s dark and mysterious past. Blinded by her feelings,...

Festival scheduled to run from March 4-13.

Penélope Cruz, Oscar-nominated for Parallel Mothers, will receive receive the 39th Miami Film Festival’s Precious Gem Icon Award on March 12.

Cruz will take part in a virtual award tribute and conversation as part of the Awards Ceremony programme that includes the closing night screening of Panamanian shortlisted international feature Plaza Catedral. The festival is scheduled to run from March 4-13.

The Spanish star and longtime Pedro Almodovar collaborator earned a best lead actress Goya Award nomination for Parallel Mothers, in which she plays a photographer involved in a maternity ward mix-up who...

Mandy Patinkin and Lena Dunham are set to star in “Iron Box,” the next film from the director of “And Tomorrow the Entire World,” Julia von Heinz.

Von Heinz’s “And Tomorrow the Entire World” is Germany’s submission to the Best International Feature race for the Oscars and was just acquired by Netflix.

“Iron Box” tells the story of a New York businesswoman, who takes her aging father back to his homeland in Poland and hopes to discover her own Jewish roots in the process. The film is set in 1990 shortly after the fall of the Berlin Wall and grapples with the father’s reluctance to return to his homeland after escaping from the region during the Holocaust.

It will be the third part of von Heinz’s “Aftermath Trilogy,” which includes “And Tomorrow the Entire World” and 2013’s “Hanna’s Journey,” both of which explore the legacy of the Nazis on post-war Germany.

Mandy Patinkin and Lena Dunham have joined German filmmaker Julia von Heinz’s next film, “Iron Box,” about a New York businesswoman who decides to take her aging father back to his native Poland, where she hopes to explore her Jewish roots.

In an interview with Variety during last year’s Venice Film Festival following the premiere of her latest pic, “And Tomorrow the Entire World,” von Heinz said she planned to send Patinkin and Dunham the script and expressed hope that they would do the film, an adaption of Australian writer Lily Brett’s bestselling novel “Too Many Men.”

The article led to meetings between von Heinz and Patinkin and Dunham.

Von Heinz also shared her current film with the actors. The critically acclaimed pic, about an idealistic student who joins an Antifa collective to fight the fascist menace of neo-Nazism spreading across Germany, has been selected to represent...

Welcome to Career Watch, a vocational checkup of top actors and directors, and those who hope to get there. In this edition we take on global star Penélope Cruz, who’s delivering lauded performances on multiple platforms, in English and her native Spanish.

Bottom Line: Cruz is a Goya and Oscar-winner (“Vicky Cristina Barcelona”) who chases challenging material around the globe. This year she and husband Javier Bardem not only opened Cannes with Asghar Farhadi’s Spanish mystery drama “Everybody Knows” (Focus Features) — which went on to rack up over $6.5 million in France — but Cruz transformed herself into blonde Italian fashion icon Donatella Versace for her first-ever foray into television. Ryan Murphy’s “The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story” (FX) scored 18 Emmy nominations last week including Supporting Actress in a Limited series for Cruz. Next, she’ll play her sixth role with mentor Pedro Almodovar, playing his mother...

Welcome to Career Watch, a vocational checkup of top actors and directors, and those who hope to get there. In this edition we take on global star Penélope Cruz, who’s delivering lauded performances on multiple platforms, in English and her native Spanish.

Bottom Line: Cruz is a Goya and Oscar-winner (“Vicky Cristina Barcelona”) who chases challenging material around the globe. This year she and husband Javier Bardem not only opened Cannes with Asghar Farhadi’s Spanish mystery drama “Everybody Knows” (Focus Features) — which went on to rack up over $6.5 million in France — but Cruz transformed herself into blonde Italian fashion icon Donatella Versace for her first-ever foray into television. Ryan Murphy’s “The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story” (FX) scored 18 Emmy nominations last week including Supporting Actress in a Limited series for Cruz. Next, she’ll play her sixth role with mentor Pedro Almodovar, playing his mother...

Exclusive: A week before the Sundance film fest kicks off, Xyz Films has bolstered its sales, content, and operations arms with the addition of Stacy Glassgold as VP International Sales and Pip Ngo as Director of Acquisitions and Sales. Glassgold previously was VP Sales and Distribution at Myriad Pictures, where handled titles like Penelope Cruz’s The Queen of Spain and The Last Word with Amanda Seyfried and Shirley MacLaine. Her resume also includes a stint at Qed…...

It’s a good thing that Netflix already has the “Gilmore Girls” for all of those sweet Thanksgiving vibes, because the streaming giant is coming down from that Halloween sugar high in a bad way and following last month’s blockbuster slate with a relatively unremarkable roster of new additions. Proving that there isn’t much rhyme or reason behind when they’re able to upload new movies (it’s hard to curate around contract rights), the platform’s latest batch of titles is heavy on horror movies and light on seasonal fare.

Still, it’s not all bad news for those of you who might be looking for something to stream while you’re home for the holidays. Comfort watches like “Casper” and “Field of Dreams” are perfect things to put on when you’re immobilized by a stomach full of turkey, and you can even go for an...

November is here and Netflix has released a list of all the films and TV shows coming out this month! There's a lot of great content to look forward to seeing this month. We'll even get a few new horror films even though Halloween has come to an end.

Some of the things that I'm looking forward to seeing this month include Silent Hill, Oculus, Chappie, Men in Black, Field of Dreams, The Punisher, Mudbound, Godless, and Casper!

You can check out the full list for yourself below and I even included a previously released promo spot highlighting what's to come. What are you most looking forward to watching this month?

Nov. 1

42

Casper

Chappie

Charlotte’s Web

Field of Dreams

Men in Black

Michael Clayton

Oculus

Scary Movie

Silent Hill

Stranger : Season 1

The Bittersweet

The Pursuit of Happyness

The Reader

The Whole Nine Yards

To Rome with Love

Where the Day Takes You

Nov.

Fall is upon us, and with it a fresh new crop of Netflix movies to curl up with when the weather starts to turn. Next month’s most exciting addition to the streaming service is “Mudbound,” the Southern World Ward II epic from up-and-comer-turned-force-to-be-reckoned-with Dee Rees. Netflix sealed the biggest deal of this year’s Sundance Film Festival when it paid a whopping $12.5 million for “Mudbound,” setting a high bar for the drama. Balancing out the heavier fare are classic comedies like “Men In Black” and “Scary Movie,” as well as “Field of Dreams” and “42” for the baseball lovers.

The fresh crop also includes a bevy of critically acclaimed documentaries, such as “Eventual Salvation,” “Chasing Trane: The John Coltrane Documentary,” and “Cuba and the Cameraman.” Jim Carrey’s creative process gets a deep dive in “Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond,” which includes never-before-seen behind the scenes footage from Milos Forman...

Queen Letizia put on her mommy hat (hmm, crown?) now that back-to-school season is in full swing. The Spanish queen took a break from being one of the chicest royals to drive her oldest daughter, Princess Leonor, to her first day of sixth grade at the Santa María de los Rosales school in Madrid. The princess, and future queen of Spain, attends the same school her father did as a child, but unlike last year, King Felipe VI didn't accompany them on the drive, leaving Letizia to handle drop-off like a champ. The Queen of Spain smiled for photographers while driving and even stepped out of the car to talk to other parents at school. RelatedThe Cutest Pictures of Princess Leonor and Infanta Sofía of Spain...

The Queen of Spain...

Penélope Cruz as Macarena Granada in Fernando Trueba's The Queen Of Spain is presented an Oscar by Cary Grant

In my conversation with Fernando Trueba at the W Hotel Union Square in New York, he paid tribute to Emilio Ruiz del Río, who also worked with Stanley Kubrick (Spartacus), David Lean (Lawrence Of Arabia and Doctor Zhivago), Nicholas Ray (King Of Kings), John Milius (Conan The Barbarian), and Guillermo del Toro (Pan's Labyrinth). Fernando's latest, The Queen Of Spain (La Reina De España) stars Penélope Cruz who was also his The Girl Of Your Dreams (La Niña De Tus Ojos) with Antonio Resines, Santiago Segura, Rosa Maria Sardà, Jorge Sanz, Jesús Bonilla, and Loles León, who all return here.

Penélope Cruz as Queen Isabella of Castile with John Scott (Clive Revill): "He is not John Ford but he is inspired by him."

In The Queen Of Spain, Mandy Patinkin,...

Title: The Queen of Spain Director: Fernando Trueba Starring: Penélope Cruz, Cary Elwes and Mandy Patinkin Openly sharing their opinions without fearing the repercussions is a powerful stance for anyone to take. But utilizing that freedom can lead to even bigger repercussions for anyone whose livelihood is readily accessible to the public. In writer-director Fernando […]

The post The Queen of Spain Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.

Myriad Pictures handles international sales on Penelope Cruz drama.

Samuel Goldwyn Films has acquired Us rights to Fernando Trueba’s The Queen Of Spain starring Penelope Cruz.

The story centres as film star Macarena Granada who flees Hollywood in the 1950s and returns to her roots in Spain where she signs on to star in an epic film as Queen Isabella of Spain.

The Queen Of Spain premiered at the Berlinale as a special gala screening and also stars Chino Darín, Cary Elwes, Mandy Patinkin, Clive Revill and Antonio Resines. Universal distributed theatrically in Spain.

Cristina Huete and Anne Deluz produced, while A3 Media, Mikel LeJarza, Mercedes Gamero, Rosa Perez, and Kirk D’Amico served as executive producers.

The film follows up on Trueba’s 1998 drama The Girl Of Your Dreams starring Cruz as a younger Granada.

Samuel Goldwyn Films president Peter Goldwyn brokered the deal with Kirk D’Amico, whose [link=co...

Samuel Goldwyn Films has acquired U.S. rights to The Queen Of Spain, the drama starring Penélope Cruz and directed by Fernando Trueba. It had its world premiere earlier this year at the Berlin Film Festival. The pic will bow on demand August 29 after Universal released it theatrically in Spain. Cruz stars as famous movie star Macarena Granada, who flees the glitz and glamour of 1950s Hollywood to return to her roots in Spain where she has signed on to star in an epic film…...

Exclusive: Us outfit Myriad strikes deal for feature starring Shirley MacLaine and Amanda Seyfried.

Vertigo Releasing has nabbed UK rights to Sundance comedy-drama The Last Word, starring Shirley MacLaine and Amanda Seyfried.

The deal was negotiated by Ed Caffrey from Vertigo and Kirk D’Amico from Myriad Pictures.

Director Mark Pellington’s (Arlington Road) feature follows a retired businesswoman (MacLaine) who tries to control everything around her. When she decides to write her own obituary, a young journalist (Seyfried) takes up the task of finding out the truth resulting in a life-altering friendship.

The film is likely to get a June or July 2017 release.

Caffrey said: “We’re very excited to be working with Kirk and the whole team behind The Last Word on the UK release. Shirley MacLaine is Hollywood royalty and delivers a fantastic performance that we’re confident will really travel.”

Said Myriad president and CEO D’Amico: “I am delighted that Vertigo will release...

Author: Stefan Pape

Poking fun Hollywood, and the golden age of movie-making in particular, Fernando Trueba’s The Queen of Spain laughs at the industry with the same affection and romanticism that Hail, Caesar! carried, to find that compatible balance between ridicule and adulation. Given this meta endeavour is set within the business it allows the filmmaker a licence to be overstated, and he uses that freedom in quite remarkable fashion, with an aesthetic almost as vibrant as that of which we saw in his enchanting, Oscar-nominated animation Chico & Rita.

Blas Fontiveros (Antonio Resines) has been presumed dead, but makes a shocking return to world of make believe by turning up on the set of the Hollywood blockbuster set in Spain and starring their most famous export, the fictional creation of Macarena Granada (Penélope Cruz) – a character who first graced the screen in Trueba’s The Girl of Your Dreams...

Exclusive: Here's a clip from Fernando Trueba's The Queen of Spain, starring Penélope Cruz, which premieres February 13 as part of the Berlinale Special Series. Ricardo Mario Darin Bas and Antonio Fernandez Resines also star in this pic about Spanish actress Macarena Granada, who returns home to Spain in the mid-1950s having enjoyed a successful career in Hollywood. She is to play Queen Isabella the First of Castille in a prestigious period drama. At the studio she meets…...

Stanley Tucci, Catherine Deneuve dramas join competition; TV dramas and Oleg Sentsov doc set to get world premiere.

The Berlin International Film Festival has finalised its competition and Berlinale Special strands.

Joining the festival in Out Of Competition berths are Stanley Tucci-directed Final Portrait and Catherine Deneuve drama Sage Femme.

James Gray’s The Lost City Of Z will have its interntional premiere while documentary The Trial: The State of Russia vs Oleg Sentsov will have its world premiere.

Among TV world premieres are Amazon’s Patriot and BBC One’s SS-gb.

In total, 18 of the 24 films selected for Competitionwill be competing for the Golden and the Silver Bears. 22 of the films will have their world premieres at the festival.

For the third time, Berlinale Special Series will present a selection of TV series in the official programme. Six German and international productions will have their world premieres at the Haus der Berliner Festspiele this year...

Stanley Tucci, Catherine Deneuve dramas join competition; TV dramas and Oleg Sentsov doc set to get world premiere.

The Berlin International Film Festival has finalised its competition and Berlinale Special strands.

Joining the competition are

18 of the 24 films selected for Competition will be competing for the Golden and the Silver Bears. 22 of the films will have their world premieres at the festival.

The Berlinale Special will present recent works by contemporary filmmakers, documentaries, and extraordinary formats, as well as brand new series from around the world.

Berlinale Special Galas will be held at the Friedrichstadt-Palast and Zoo Palast. Other Special premieres will take place at the Kino International. Moderated discussions will follow the screenings at the Haus der Berliner Festspiele.

For the third time, Berlinale Special Series will present a selection of TV series in the official programme. Six German and international productions will have their world premieres at the Haus der Berliner Festspiele this year. Audiences...

The Girl of Your Dreams (1998) was an engaging if unmemorable historical dramedy about the cinematic struggles of a troupe of actors in which Penelope Cruz’s talents stood out. And you could say much the same about The Queen of Spain, Fernando Trueba’s 18-years-later follow-up. Though the setting has changed from Nazi Germany to 1950s Spain, at the height of Franco’s power, this second, altogether less winsome iteration features many of the same actors, a similar range of characters and caricatures and indeed a not dissimilar spring-the-prisoner storyline, but all at the service of a lazy script which is anything...

A strong local offering led to a excellent year at the Spanish box office.

In a stellar year for local films at the Spanish box office, Ja Bayona’s A Monster Calls, distributed by Universal Pictures International, stands out.

Released on October 7 following a world premiere at Toronto, the English-language film benefited from strong reviews and positive word of mouth and topped the Spanish box office chart with a cumulative gross of $27 million. Based on the children’s novel of the same name by Patrick Ness, the fantasy film stars Lewis MacDougall as a young boy who befriends a monster that helps him come to terms with his mother’s terminal illness.

Read more: Year-on-year slump at German box office in 2016

The top 25 films at the Spanish box office are below (correct to November 27).

Even before A Monster Calls was released, admissions had increased 7.5% and box office had grown 8% year-on-year by the end of September, according to Fapae...

The 2017 Berlin Film Festival has revealed its first slate of 14 films for the Competition and Berlinale Special sections, including new work from Aki Kaurismaki (“The Man Without a Past”), Oren Moverman (“Time Out of Mind”) and Sally Potter (“Ginger & Rosa”). The festival will also screen a restored version of Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s 1972 TV series “Eight Hours Don’t Make a Day.”

Read More: The 2016 Indiewire Berlin International Film Festival Bible: Every Review, Interview and News Item Posted During Run of Festival

So far, ten films have been invited to screen in Competition, and four films have been selected for Berlinale Special. These productions and co-productions are from the United State, the United Kingdom, Hungary, Belgium, Poland, Senegal and more.

The 67th Berlin International Film Festival will run from February 9 through 19. Further films will be revealed in the coming weeks. For more information, visit the official website.

Read More: The...

After Sundance Film Festival concludes in late January, the next big cinematic event on the globe is the Berlin International Film Festival. With Paul Verhoeven serving as jury president for the 67th edition of the festival, they’ve now announced their first line-up of titles, including Aki Kaurismäki‘s The Other Side of Hope (pictured above), Oren Moverman‘s Richard Gere-led The Dinner, Sally Potter‘s The Party (pictured below), and Agnieszka Holland‘s Spoor, as well as a restoration of a Rainer Werner Fassbinder TV show.

Check out the first titles below, and return for our coverage from the festival.

Competition

A teströl és a lélekröl (On Body and Soul)

Hungary

By Ildiko Enyedi (My 20th Century, Simon the Magician)

With Géza Morcsányi, Alexandra Borbély, Zoltán Schneider

World premiere

Ana, mon amour

Romania/Germany/France

By Călin Peter Netzer (Child‘s Pose, Maria)

With Mircea Postelnicu, Diana Cavallioti,...

Aki Kaurismäki, Oren Moverman, Agnieszka Holland, Sally Potter among Competition lineup.

The first 14 films have been announced for the Competition and Berlinale Special sections of the 67th Berlin International Film Festival.

Among directors with movies in competition are Aki Kaurismäki, Oren Moverman, Agnieszka Holland, Andres Veiel, Sebastián Lelio and Sally Potter.

Festival veteran Kaurismäki will debut new film The Other Side Of Hope about a Finnish travelling salesman who meets a Syrian refugee.

Moverman’s (The Messenger) mystery-drama The Dinner stars Richard Gere, Laura Linney, Steve Coogan, Rebecca Hall and Chloë Sevigny. Based on the novel by Herman Koch, the film looks at at how far parents will go to protect their children.

Oscar-nominated Holland, who was nominated for the Golden Bear in 1981, will be at the Berlinale with crime-drama Pokot.

Potter returns to Berlin with ensemble comedy-drama The Party starring Patricia Clarkson, Bruno Ganz, Cherry Jones, Emily Mortimer, Cillian Murphy, Kristin Scott Thomas and [link...

Aki Kaurismäki, Oren Moverman, Agnieszka Holland, Sally Potter among competition lineup.

The first 14 films have been announced for the Competition and Berlinale Special sections of the 67th Berlin International Film Festival.

Among directors with movies in competition are Aki Kaurismäki, Oren Moverman, Agnieszka Holland, Andres Veiel, Sebastián Lelio and Sally Potter.

Moverman’s (The Messenger) mystery-drama The Dinner stars Richard Gere, Laura Linney, Steve Coogan, Rebecca Hall and Chloë Sevigny.

Fernando Trueba’s comedy-drama The Queen of Spain, starring Penelope Cruz, will get its international premiere in the Berlinale Special strand.

More to follow…

Competition

A teströl és a lélekröl (On Body and Soul) (Hungary)

By Ildiko Enyedi (My 20th Century, Simon the Magician)

With Géza Morcsányi, Alexandra Borbély, Zoltán Schneider

World premiere

Ana, mon amour (Romania / Germany / France)

By Călin Peter Netzer (Child‘s Pose, Maria)

With Mircea Postelnicu, Diana Cavallioti, Carmen Tănase, Adrian Titieni, Vlad Ivanov

World premiere

Beuys - Documentary (Germany)

By Andres Veiel ([link...

The Santa Monica-based sales, production and financing company has boarded international rights to Mushroom Pictures’ coming-of-age horror film following its world premiere in Venice Horizons.

Toby Wallace, Gulliver McGrath and Mitzi Ruhlmann star in the Australian director Nicholas Verso’s debut about teenage friends who embark on a precarious all-night trek on Halloween.

Mushroom’s John Molloy produced Boys In The Trees and released the film theatrically in Australia. The company’s production credits include the iconic Australian drama Chopper.

“Nicholas Verso has made a stylish, smart and frightening film which perfectly captures the feat that lurks in our imagination,” said Myriad president Kirk D’Amico. “We are very proud to be able to bring this extraordinary film to international distributors.”

Myriad senior vice-president of marketing and acquisitions Audrey Delaney negotiated international sales rights with Mushroom’s Molloy and Bethany Jones.

The company’s slate roster includes Penelope Cruz in The Queen Of Spain directed by [link...

World premieres of the Noomi Rapace and Willem Dafoe sci-fi from Snd M6 Group and Gaumont’s animation featuring Elle Fanning will screen at the Santa Monica market next month.

Afm top brass said on Tuesday there will be 71 world premiere screenings and more than 250 market premiere screenings from November 2-9, with more likely to be confirmed in the weeks ahead.

Sc Films International’s Charming 3D featuring the voices of Demi Lovato, Ashley Tisdale and Avril Lavigne is also on the world premiere line-up with Vmi Worldwide’s Swing State with Taryn Manning, Billy Zane, Sean Astin and Angela Kinsey.

There are market debuts for: Protagonist Pictures’ recent Toronto hit Lady Macbeth starring Screen Star Of Tomorrow Florence Pugh; Little Film Company’s animation Ethel & Ernest voiced by Jim Broadbent, Brenda Blethyn and Luke Treadaway; Bleiberg Entertainment’s coming-of-age drama Coming Through The Rye with Alex Wolff and Chris Cooper; and HanWay Films’ Their Finest from Lone Scherfig...

World premieres of the Noomi Rapace and Willem Dafoe sci-fi from Snd M6 Group and The Exchange’s crime mystery starring Benjamin Walker, Stephanie Sigman, Wyatt Russell and Rainn Wilson will screen at the Santa Monica market next month.

Afm top brass said on Tuesday there will be 71 world premiere screenings and more than 250 market premiere screenings from November 2-9, with more likely to be confirmed in the weeks ahead.

Gaumont’s animation Ballerina featuring Elle Fanning is also on the world premiere line-up, with Sc Films International’s Charming 3D featuring the voices of Demi Lovato, Ashley Tisdale and Avril Lavigne, and Vmi Worldwide’s Swing State with Taryn Manning, Billy Zane, Sean Astin and Angela Kinsey.

There are market debuts for: Protagonist Pictures’ recent Toronto hit Lady Macbeth starring Screen Star Of Tomorrow Florence Pugh; Little Film Company’s animation Ethel & Ernest voiced by Jim Broadbent, Brenda Blethyn and Luke Treadaway; Bleiberg Entertainment’s coming-of-age...

World premieres of the Noomi Rapace and Willem Dafoe sci-fi from Snd M6 Group and The Exchange’s crime mystery starring Benjamin Walker, Stephanie Sigman, Wyatt Russell and Rainn Wilson will screen at the Santa Monica market next month.

Afm top brass said on Tuesday there will be 71 world premiere screenings and more than 250 market premiere screenings from November 2-9, with more likely to be confirmed in the weeks ahead.

Gaumont’s animation Ballerina featuring Elle Fanning is also on the world premiere line-up, with Sc Films International’s Charming 3D featuring the voices of Demi Lovato, Ashley Tisdale and Avril Lavigne, and Vmi Worldwide’s Swing State with Taryn Manning, Billy Zane, Sean Astin and Angela Kinsey.

There are market debuts for: Protagonist Pictures’ recent Toronto hit Lady Macbeth starring Screen Star Of Tomorrow Florence Pugh; Little Film Company’s animation Ethel & Ernest voiced by Jim Broadbent, Brenda Blethyn and Luke Treadaway; Bleiberg Entertainment’s coming-of-age...

Actor cites differences with board; Costume designer Yvonne Blake appointed as acting president until election can be held.

The actor Antonio Resines has resigned as president of the Spanish Film Academy.

He had been in the post since May 2015 after producer, distributor and exhibitor Enrique González Macho resigned during his second mandate at the head of the organisation.

Vice president Edmon Roch, producer of Capture The Flag, has also resigned.

Resines, who has shot the upcoming The Queen Of Spain with Fernando Trueba, described it as an “honour” to have held the position but also explained the reason for his departure in a statement released by the Academy: “This decision has been taken due to serious differences with part of the board of directors, differences that have made our task at the Spanish Film Academy presidency impossible.”

The board of directors is formed by two representatives of 14 different specialities in the Spanish film industry. Tensions escalated...

Penélope Cruz returns as the beloved movie star Macarena Granada in Fernando Trueba’s comedy-drama “The Queen of Spain.” The first teaser trailer for the Spanish-language film was released by Universal Spain’s Twitter account, showing the actress dressed in lavish period pieces and greeting fans as she disembarks a private plane.

“La Reina De España,” as it’s originally titled, follows Macarena, who flees from the glitz and glamour of 1950s Hollywood to return to Madrid, where she signs on to star in an epic Hollywood film.

Read More: Asghar Farhadi To Direct Penélope Cruz & Javier Bardem in Spanish-Language Thriller

The movie is a sequel to Trueba’s 1998 drama “The Girl Of Your Dreams,” also starring Cruz and set during the Spanish Civil War. The feature won Cruz her first Goya Award and took home seven Goyas total.

This is the third time that the director and Cruz work together.

2016 isn’t shaping up to be Penélope Cruz’s finest hour, with “Zoolander 2,” “The Brothers Grimsby” and last month’s ill-received “Ma Ma” all attached to her name. Hopefully, then, “The Queen of Spain,” the newest film from director Fernando Trueba (“Chico & Rita”), will change things for the better. After all, their first team-up, 1992’s […]

The post Watch The First Teaser Trailer For Penélope Cruz In Fernando Trueba’s ‘The Queen Of Spain’ appeared first on The Playlist.

Among the most anticipated Spanish productions of the year are a Paleolithic period drama, the new Almodovar and a regal role for Penelope Cruz.A Monster Calls

Dir Ja Bayona

A Monster Calls completes Bayona’s trilogy exploring motherhood, after The Orphanage and The Impossible. Patrick Ness has adapted his novel about a boy who seeks refuge in a fantasy world. The English-language film, which shot in Spain and the UK, stars Liam Neeson. It is a Spain-us co-production between Apaches Entertainment with Telecinco Cinema, Peliculas La Trini, Participant Media, River Road Entertainment and Lionsgate. Set for release in the autumn, it will be distributed in Spain by Universal Pictures International, in the Us by Focus and in the UK via eOne.

Contact Lionsgate International: www.lionsgate.com

Abracadabra

Dir Pablo Berger

Berger’s follow-up to Blancanieves again stars Maribel Verdu, this time as a housewife determined to fight the spirit possessing her husband. Set to shoot...

Mainstream Spanish films are thriving as TV broadcasters fill the gap in public funding. But at what cost to auteur film-making? Could a new Pedro Almodovar emerge now?Spain territory focusSpain focus: new talent, the magnificent sevenSpain focus: hot projects, big name draws

The Spanish film industry has started 2016 on an optimistic note. Emilio Martinez-Lazaro’s broad comedy Spanish Affair 2 (Ocho Apellidos Catalanes), the sequel to the all-time local hit Spanish Affair, was the top grossing film of 2015, taking $34.7m (€32m), and Fernando Gonzalez Molina’s romantic period drama Palm Trees In The Snow, released on December 25, out-performed Star Wars: The Force Awakens on its second weekend on release and has garnered more than $17m to date.

The label ‘made in Spain’ on a commercial, locally produced film is now a positive note for local audiences. “As in France, we’re learning to make films that work for a big audience,” says [link=nm...

The two directors have joined the cast of Fernando Trueba’s film, which is now shooting in Budapest.

Directors Arturo Ripstein (La Calle De La Amargura) and Juan Antonio Bayona [pictured] (The Impossible) will step in front of the camera for Fernando Trueba’s The Queen Of Spain, his Penelope Cruz-starring sequel to The Girl Of Your Dreams.

It’s an acting first for Bayona, having accepted a brief cameo in the shoot that is now taking place in Budapest. Veteran Mexican director Ripstein will play the more sizable role of a fictional film producer, Sam Spiegelman, who wants to shoot a film in 1950s Spain.

Given that The Queen Of Spain is a comedy, but also a love letter to film history, it’s only fitting that two auteurs as diverse as Bayona and Ripstein have joined Trueba’s cast.

The action is set in 1956, 18 years later in the life of Macarena Granada, the Spanish...

The two directors have joined the cast of Fernando Trueba’s film, which is now shooting in Budapest.

Directors Arturo Ripstein (La Calle De La Amargura) and Juan Antonio Bayona [pictured] (The Impossible) will step in front of the camera for Fernando Trueba’s The Queen Of Spain, his Penelope Cruz-starring sequel to The Girl Of Your Dreams.

It’s an acting first for Bayona, having accepted a brief cameo in the shoot that is now taking place in Budapest. Veteran Mexican director Ripstein will play the more sizable role of a fictional film producer, Sam Spiegelman, who wants to shoot a film in 1950s Spain.

Given that The Queen Of Spain is a comedy, but also a love letter to film history, it’s only fitting that two auteurs as diverse as Bayona and Ripstein have joined Trueba’s cast.

The action is set in 1956, 18 years later in the life of Macarena Granada, the Spanish...

Spain and Hungary shoot readied for sequel to The Girl Of Your Dreams; additional cast includes Clive Revill (Avanti!).

Director Fernando Trueba (Chico & Rita) is readying Spanish comedy-drama The Queen Of Spain (La Reina De España) for a February shoot.

Produced by Trueba’s Fernando Trueba PC and Atresmedia Cine, shoot is due to get underway in Hungary at the end of February and carry on in Spain in April. Post-production is due to be finalised late 2016 or early 2017.

The feature marks the third collaboration between Oscar-winning writer-director Trueba (Belle Époque) and Oscar-winner Cruz (Vicky Cristina Barcelona), following their work together on Belle Epoque and 1998 film The Girl Of Your Dreams, the latter serving as a prequel to The Queen Of Spain.

In The Girl Of Your Dreams Cruz played Macarena Granada, an imaginary Spanish actress of the 1930’s who goes to Nazi Germany to shoot a coproduction. At the end of the film she flees the country...