BTF Media, Spain’s AF Films to Produce Aislinn Derbez, Mauricio Ochmann Romantic Drama in Spain (EXCLUSIVE)

EXCLUSIVE: Golden Globe winner Emma Corrin (The Crown) and Cesar nominee Lucie Zhang (Paris, 13th District) are set to star in Jenny Suen’s English language feature debut Peaches, which Coco Francini (Fingernails) will produce and Oscar winner Cate Blanchett and Andrew Upton will executive-produce for Dirty Films.

Ava DuVernay‘s TV follow-up to her film “Origin” isn’t happening anymore. Deadline reports that the director’s romantic drama series for Starz with Joshua Jackson and Lauren Ridloff will fold as DuVernay’s overall deal with Warner Bros.

Ava DuVernay‘s romantic drama series, which landed a three-year script-to-series commitment in May 2022, is not moving forward at Starz, Deadline has confirmed.

EXCLUSIVE: Emmanuelle Chriqui and Hayes MacArthur have been set to star in A Love Like This, an indie romantic drama directed by John Asher based on an original screenplay by Jeffrey W. Ruggles. The project was recently granted a SAG-AFTRA interim agreement allowing it to move forward.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent WestEnd Films has scored multiple sales, including to North America, on British director Patrick Dickinson’s drama “Cottontail,” which stars Japan’s Lily Franky (“Shoplifters”) and Ciaran Hinds. The film, first announced at the AFM in 2019, won the prize for best first feature last week at the Rome Film Festival, where it had its world premiere.

Emiliano De Pablos In standout results that suggests the strength of select Spanish arthouse films on the current international market, Bendita Films Sales, the Santa Cruz de Tenerife-based boutique world sales agency, has closed a formidable raft of deals to Galician auteur Lois Patiño’s multisensory journey film “Samsara.” Winner of a Special Jury Award at Berlin’s 2023 major sidebar Encounters and the Audience Award at Mexico’s Ficunam festival, “Samsara” has just screened in main competition gathered “Samsara”(Oct. 20-28), running up more than a dozen international film festival selections. Bendita Film Sales has clinched commercial release pacts in the U.K.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Australia’s Rialto and the U.K’s Vertigo Releasing have joined forces to launch Galaxy Pictures, a new film distribution company in Australia and New Zealand. The company will focus on “broad-appeal, star-driven commercial pictures that cater to consumers attuned to an increasingly digital landscape.” The two companies have already been cooperating for the past three years and handle 120 titles.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Paul McCartney and Gaumont have assembled an all-star creative crew for “High in the Clouds,” the long-awaited feature adaptation of McCartney’s children’s adventure novel. Boasting six original songs by McCartney, the family adventure movie, which is budgeted at €28 million, will be directed by Toby Genkel (“The Amazing Maurice”), scored by Michael Giacchino (“Coco,” “Inside Out”) and penned by Jon Croker (“Paddington 2”), with Patrick Hanenberger (“The Croods,” “The Lego Movie 2”) tapped as production designer. McCartney will voice one of the main characters.

Anna Marie de la Fuente The infamous serial killer Jack the Ripper has been transplanted to America in ViX Original Series “El Dentista” (“The Dentist”) (working title) with Oscar-nominated Demián Bichir (“A Better Life”) in the titular role. Behind-the-scenes pics of the series, now shooting in Mexico, have been exclusively shared with Variety. Based on the novel by prominent Chilean scribe Julio Rojas, creator of podcast sensation “Caso 63” and a co-writer on Pablo Fendrik’s “El Refugio,” the period thriller series is produced by Oscar-winning brothers Pablo and Juan de Dios Larrain (“A Fantastic Woman,” “Jackie,” “Spencer”) and their powerhouse shingle, Fabula, along with the top Spanish pay TV/SVOD service Movistar Plus+, which will also handle international sales.

EXCLUSIVE: Mediawan Africa, the Republic of Benin and French-language international channel TV5 Monde are partnering to co-develop original daily fiction series The Best Is Yet To Come.

Emiliano De Pablos In times of dramatic change for the film-TV industry, Spanish auteur cinema is booming, goosed by multiple significant and high-quality titles, reaping prizes, critical praise and profile at international festivals. Beyond the preeminent interest in established auteurs such as Pedro Almodóvar, Alejandro Amenábar, J.A.

Anna Marie de la Fuente In a bid to bypass traditional distribution channels and open up new ones, Madrid-based 59 En Conserva has launched a newly expanded Les Films de la Résistance, its international sales agency for non-fiction and hybrid Spanish films. Among the first titles in its roster is the critically acclaimed feature debut of 59 En Conserva co-founder Irene M. Borrego, “The Visit and a Secret Garden” (“La visita y un jardín secreto”).

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Rome Film Fest opener “There’s Still Tomorrow,” a bold period dramedy that marks the directorial debut of popular Italian actor Paola Cortellesi, has scored a slew of international sales. The film, shot in black-and-white and set in post-World War II Rome, riffs on Italy’s neorealist past, albeit with a female empowerment element angle and a contemporary A-list Italian cast.

Geng Zihan has just won Best Director in the Fei Mu Awards of Pingyao International Film Festival for her debut feature, A Song Sung Blue, a coming-of-age tale set in Harbin in northeast China. 

EXCLUSIVE: Spanish-language star Mauricio Ochmann, whose credits include El Señor de los Cielos and its spinoff El Chema (Telemundo Network’s highest-rated show), has signed with WME for representation in all areas.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Germany’s RTL has acquired royal drama “Maxima” from Beta Film. The show follows the life of Argentinian born Maxima Zorreguieta, who later became Queen Maxima of the Netherlands. The first six-hour season of the show has just wrapped shooting.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Beta Film’s Channel4/Starz drama series “The Couple Next Door” is moving across European neighborhoods, being sold ahead of Mipcom to Movistar Plus+ in Spain and throughout the Nordics. Public broadcasters NRK for Norway, YLE for Finland, SVT for Sweden, DR for Denmark and RUV for Iceland snagged the thriller, starring Sam Heughan (“Outlander,” “Suspect”) and Eleonor Tomlinson (“Poldark,” “The War of the Worlds”). The show explores the stultifying claustrophobia of suburbia and the fallout of chasing one’s darkest desires.

Caroline Brew editor The Whole Spiel — the new company co-founded by former NBC Entertainment chairman Paul Telegdy — and Red Bull’s Terra Mater Studios have teamed up to develop a slate of drama series. The projects include a reimagined “Tarzan” series, wildlife crime investigation “Rogue,” geopolitical drama “A New King” and true history drama “The Executioner.” In collaboration with Shingle Media and Friendly Fire, the “Tarzan” series will reimagine Edgar Rice Burroughs’ iconic hero for a new generation.

Christopher Vourlias Beta Film has released a moving trailer for the Ukrainian war drama “In Her Car,” a gripping series about the ongoing crisis told through the eyes of those who are living it, the company announced ahead of Mipcom. “In Her Car” (10 x 30’) is produced by Starlight Media and Gaumont in co-production with France Télévisions, ZDF (Germany) and Swiss public broadcaster SRF. The show was also boarded in its early stages by Nordic public broadcasters SVT (Sweden), DR (Denmark), YLE (Finland), NRK TV (Norway) and RÚV (Iceland).

Matt Donnelly Senior Film Writer Netflix’s animation unit and the film slate in controls will undergo a restructure, resulting in job cuts and the shutdown of two films currently in pre-production. As a result of the reorg, the streamer is looking to recruit outside producers to keep its animated content volume consistent. Final headcounts on pink slips were not immediately clear but are expected to be handed down in the coming weeks.