Charades Boards J.-P. Valkeapaa’s Spain-Set Finnish Crime Film ‘Hit Big’ (EXCLUSIVE)

Jane Seymour on TV, with the actress starring in an all-new murder mystery on Acorn TV in addition to her recurring role on the CBS sitcom,. Ahead of ’s April debut, ET has the exclusive first trailer for the series, which sees Seymour’s character starting a detective agency after retirement. Created and co-written by David Logan, Harry Wild follows a woman named Harriet who finds herself at a crossroads after retiring from her long career as a university literature professor.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief“The Novelist’s Film,” which Wednesday earned Korean director Hong Sang-soo the Grand Jury Prize in Berlin, has scored multiple rights deals. With Seoul-based Finecut handling the rights sales, the film was licensed to Ama Films for Greece and Cyprus, Mimosa Films for Japan, L’Atalante Cinema for Spain, Arizona Films Distribution for France and to The Cinema Guild for the U.S.Finecut also did European Film Market business with “Contorted,” an unorthodox horror about a family tragedy.

EXCLUSIVE: Saban Films is continuing to expand its international footprint, having recently inked a deal with distribution partners in Switzerland and Benelux. The L.A.-based company has signed with WW Entertainment in Benelux (Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg) and Ascot Elite in Switzerland, which it will add to deals it already has in place in the UK and Ireland (Altitude), Germany and Austria (Splendid), France (ACE Entertainment), Spain (Key2Media), Scandinavia (Mis.Label) and Australia and New Zealand (Defiant Screen Entertainment).

EXCLUSIVE: Chris Weitz and Paul Weitz will co-write and co-direct Spanish Dracula, the true story about how silent film star and Mexican actress Lupita Tovar found a second wind starring in  Spanish language versions of Hollywood films like the Universal classic Dracula. The Weitz Brothers are her grandsons, and they will produce through Depth of Field, along with Pancho Kohner. He is their uncle and author of The Sweetheart of Mexico, a memoir he helped his mother write about her most fascinating life.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentLoco Films, the Paris-based world sales and production company, has unveiled the trailer for Yulia Trofimova’s feature debut “The Land of Sasha” which is premiering today at the Berlinale, in the Generation 14plus strand.“The Land of Sahsa” tells the story of an indecisive 18-year-old struggling to pursue his desire to become a painter as his mother urges him to choose a safer career path. The sudden appearance of the boy’s estranged father complicates things further. But when Sasha has an unexpected encounter with an unusual girl called Zhenia, he realizes he has no choice but to finally grow up.“The Land of Sasha” was produced by Katerina Mikhaylova and Konstantin Fam for Moscow-based Vega Film.

Emilio Mayorga Carla Simón’s first feature “Summer 1993” was a knockout; a Generation Kplus and Best First Feature award winner at the 2017 Berlinale and Spain’s 2018 Oscars submission, winning three Spanish Academy Goya Awards. The director has since become a reference within a new wave of Catalan women filmmakers that have broken out to considerable box office and festival success.Now, Simón competes in Berlin’s main competition with her sophomore effort “Alcarràs,” exploring her own roots through her adoptive mother’s family.Set in the so-called Catalan Far West, in a small village near Lleida, the film is shot entirely using non-professional actors.

Wayne Rooney and his wife Coleen had flashbulbs popping at the premiere of their explosive tell-all documentary film Rooney last week.

Javier Bardem at Saturday’s Goya prize ceremony. The prizes marked both Leon and Bardem’s seventh Goya wins. Produced by El Reposado and The Mediapro Studio, and a workplace dramedy skewering the abuse of power practised by a seemingly benign factory owner, “The Good Boss” also won best director and original screenplay for León, as well as best score and editing.Blanca Portillo beat out “Parallel Mothers’” Oscar-nominated Penélope Cruz, thanks to Portillo’s powerful performance as Maixabel Lasa, the real life widow of former Basque Country governor Juan Mari Jauregui who agreed in 2011 to meet one of his ETA killers. Her forgiveness, and Portillo’s portrait, has touched a large nerve in Spain.

EXCLUSIVE: Copenhagen-based REinvent International Sales has closed two significant deals on Omerta 6/12, a Finnish action thriller.

Anna Marie de la Fuente Netflix has recently released Spain’s first film using LED volume technology, teen romantic drama “Through My Window” (“A Través de mi Ventana”).Produced by Adrian Guerra’s Nostromo Pictures alongside sister company Orca Studios, the Spanish-language film features real-time rendered CG scenes shot in-camera as part of its production.Its LED volume technology is the same ground-breaking virtual production process utilized by Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) on Disney Plus’ hit series “The Mandalorian” and is considered by many as the most significant technological advance since green screen.LED wall volumes replace static backgrounds in virtual studios with exterior or interior images that adjust in sync with camera movement, powered by video game PC engines, such as Unreal for “The Mandalorian.” “We selected three scenes — the heliport, the penthouse interior and the elevator — as they had different challenges and needs,” said Guerra, adding: “We also shot some car sequences directly in the LED volume, with driving plates from Barcelona projected on the LED screens and backgrounds in different sets.”Based on the YA novel by Ariana Godoy, a bestseller on online social reading platform Wattpad, “Through My Window” follows high schooler Raquel who has a been harboring a crush on her gorgeous neighbor, Ares, whom she spies on from her window. He’s also the scion of a wealthy family, so she feels he’s way out of her league.

Naman Ramachandran Protagonist Pictures has closed multiple deals for several key territories on Sundance selection and Berlin Film Festival competition title “Call Jane.”Territories sold include DCM for Germany, Austria and Switzerland, Umbrella Entertainment for Australia and New Zealand, Mis.label for Scandinavia, Eagle for Italy, Shaw for Singapore and Empire for South Africa.Directed by Phyllis Nagy, the Oscar nominated writer of “Carol,” the film stars Elizabeth Banks, Sigourney Weaver, Kate Mara and Chris Messina. The film follows Joy (Banks), a traditional 1960s housewife who unexpectedly falls pregnant and finds the Janes, an underground abortion movement led by Virginia (Weaver).

K.J. Yossman “The Crown” producers Left Bank Pictures are making “Palomino – a new female-led series – for Netflix.The eight-part series revolves around Erin Collantes, a British teacher in Spain who gets caught up in a “brutal” supermarket robbery.

EXCLUSIVE: Netflix has set female-led action adventure series Palomino from Sony-backed The Crown producer Left Bank Pictures, with filming set to get underway later this year in Barcelona.

Emiliano De Pablos International distribution house Pink Parrot Media has taken worldwide sales rights outside Spain and Portugal to 3D/2D animated musical film “Valentina,” the feature debut of Spanish producer-turned director Chelo Loureiro of Galicia’s Ábano Producións.Based out of Montreal and Madrid, Pink Parrot will introduce the toon feature to international buyers at Berlin’s European Film Market “Valentina” had its theatrical premiere in December on 160 screens in Spain, handled by Super8.Written, directed and produced by Loureiro and co-written by Lúa Testa, “Valentina” tells the story of a girl who dreams of becoming a trapeze artist but struggles to believe it is possible because she has Down’s syndrome.

Wyatte Grantham-Philips editorThe Spanish Film Academy announced on Friday that its first-ever International Goya Award will be received by Cate Blanchett.Currently presided by Mariano Barroso, the Spanish Film Academy created the award to “honor artists that have contributed to cinema as a medium that brings together different cultures and people.” In Friday’s announcement, Blanchett was recognized for her impactful work both on and off the screen worldwide — as an award-winning actor, producer, artistic director and humanitarian. She will receive the award at a gala ceremony on Feb.

Jamie Lang On-the-rise Spanish boutique sales company Feel Content has acquired a pair of features ahead of this month’s European Film Market: Finnish-Danish drama “Yellow Sulphur” – recently premiered at the Göteborg Film Festival – and French-Colombian co-production “The Rust,” a competition player at last year’s San Sebastian.From Finnish director-writer-producer Claes Olsson, “Yellow Sulphur Sky” is adapted from Kjell Westö’s eponymous novel and produced by Solar Films, Nordic Film Pool and Smile Entertainment. The book and now film tell the story of Frej, a writer who revisits his own youth as a source of inspiration, forcing the author to face long-forgotten memories.

Emilio Mayorga Barcelona-based Nanouk Films and Funicular Films and Spanish pubcaster TVE are partnering to produce “This is Not Sweden,” a dark comedy half hour which marks the first Spanish show to be presented at the Göteborg’s Festival’s TV Drama Vision.Set in the idyllic Vallvidrera, a suburb in the foothills of the Collserola mountains surrounding Barcelona, the six-part series explores parenting and other family-related issues by focusing on a young couple ­– Mariana and Samuel – who has just moved there and wants to raise their children in contact with nature.“This is Not Sweden” is created by actor-director Aina Clotet, a Malaga Fest best actress winner for “Someone’s Daughter” and by producer Sergi Cameron. Clotet will direct along with Coll, who won a best new director Goya for “Three Days with the Family.” “‘This is Not Sweden’s’ international appeal has always been a key objective for Aina, Marta and myself.

EXCLUSIVE: Ernie Hudson (Grace and Frankie, Ghostbusters: Afterlife) is the final addition to the cast of Champions, the recently-wrapped Special Olympics film that Bobby Farrelly (Dumb and Dumber, There’s Something About Mary) directed for Focus Features and Gold Circle Entertainment.