Disney+ Teams With Beta Film And Moreno Films On Young Adult Drama Adaptation ‘The Invisible Girl’

Spanish director Isabel Coixet will preside over the international jury of the Venice Film Festival’s Orizzonti competition at the upcoming edition running from August 31 to September 10.

John Hopewell Chief International CorrespondentLionsgate-owned Starzplay, Starz’s premium international streaming service, and Spain’s Bambú Producciones, producer of “Cable Girls,” are wrapping production on “Nacho,” one of Starzplay highest-profile productions as it builds its burgeoning international originals portfolio.Premium U.S. Spanish-language SVOD service Pantaya – already a partner with Starzplay on Lucia Puenzo’s “Señorita 89,” Pablo Fendrik’s “El Refugio” and Sofía Auza and Silviana Aguirre’s “Yellow” – will release “Nacho” in the U.S.

Julianne Moore will head up the International Jury of Competition this year at the 79th Venice International Film Festival. Moore was put up for consideration by the festival’s director, Alberto Barbera, and will be joined by six other names in film.

American actress Julianne Moore has been announced as the president of the international jury of the competition at the 79th Venice International Film Festival, running from August 31 to September 10.

Leo Barraclough International Features EditorProduction companies ConradFilm and Bavaria Fiction are following their German ratings and international sales hit “Dark Woods” with new high-octane police drama franchise “Sonderlage,” which has been ordered by German broadcaster RTL.Crime drama “Dark Woods” was the most-watched program on German broadcaster ARD’s streaming service in 2020, and was sold last year to numerous territories, including North America, the U.K., France, Spain, the Nordic region, Japan and India.Filming of the first two 90-minute “Sonderlage” films has just begun in Hamburg and Berlin. Inspired by true events, “Sonderlage” (a working title whose literal translation is “special situation”) focuses on police work in exceptional situations such as terrorist attacks, hostage taking and high-scale extortion.

Elle Macpherson enjoyed a glamorous day out with a special plus one. The Australian supermodel model and her oldest son Flynn Busson recently attended the Christian Dior Haute Couture 2022/2023 fashion show in Paris, France. The 58-year-old and the 24-year-old wore complimentary Dior designs.

EXCLUSIVE: Joel M. Gonzales, the current board president and executive director of Latino arts advocacy group Nosotros, has joined with philanthropist and entrepreneur Amber Butaud to launch Untold Content Group. The production company will develop, finance and produce film, TV, documentary and podcast projects that the company says will be “diverse, authentic and culturally reflective of today’s global audience.”

Leo Barraclough International Features EditorBeta Film has partnered with Morena Films and Disney + Spain, picking up international distribution rights to the young-adult mystery drama “The Invisible Girl,” based on the best-selling book trilogy of the same name by Blue Jeans, a leading figure in YA literature. The eight-hour series is being shot in Carmona, Southern Spain, and in various locations across the province of Seville, among them El Viso del Alcor and Gerena.The thriller series, produced by Morena Films, stars Daniel Grao (“Hit,” “Julieta,” “Gigantes”) and Zoe Stein (“Mantícora,” “Merlí.Sapere Aude”), playing father and daughter involved in the investigation of a murder of a teenage girl in the picturesque fictional town of Cárdena, set in Andalusia.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentAlbert Serra’s “Pacifiction” has lured major distributors around the world following its critically acclaimed world premiere in competition at the Cannes Film Festival. Berlin-based Films Boutique (“Lunana, a Yak in the Classroom,” “Charlatan”) is representing the film in international markets.“Pacifiction” stars Cesar-winning French actor Benoit Magimel (“Peaceful”) as a calculating French government official working in the French Polynesian island of Tahiti.

EXCLUSIVE: The creators of Movistar+’s La Unidad (The Unit) are considering a spin-off of the Spanish counter-terrorism drama series, and are working on a female-led thriller for Atresmedia Cine.

Anna Marie de la Fuente Manolo Cardona, one of Colombia’s top actors who has starred in such Netflix hits as “Narcos” and “Who Killed Sara?,” is now filming his directorial debut, “One Must Die,” for Paramount+.Cardona also stars in the suspense thriller and is joined by Spain’s Maribel Verdu, who starred in “Pan’s Labyrinth,” “Belle Epoque” and “Y Tu Mamá Tambien,” and is soon featured in the upcoming DC film “The Flash.” The rest of the cast includes Carla Adell, Juan Carlos Remolina, Dagoberto Gama, Fernando Becerril and Adriana Paz.In the story written by Julieta Steimberg and Gavo Amiel, seven people are kidnapped and find themselves unwilling participants in a deadly game. In order to survive, the captives must choose one of them to die, but this person will have to agree to be sacrificed.

John Hopewell Chief International CorrespondentMoving waves on Spain’s film-TV scene when it launched in early May, Beta Fiction Spain has unveiled its first project as a producer, “Dolores,” a portrait of Spain’s Dolores Ibarruri, a worldwide icon of the workers’ movement and struggle against fascism.The feature film is inspired by “Pasionaria. La vida inesperada de Dolores Ibárruri,” a question-posing non-fiction book by Spanish historian Diego Díaz Alonso published in 2020.Underscoring Beta Fiction Spain’s ability to attach best-of-class Spanish talent, the screenplay for “Pasionaria” is being penned by two of Spain’s foremost film-TV scribes, Alejandro Hernández, co-writer of Alejandro Amenábar’s “While at War” and Mariano Barroso’s “What the Future Holds,” and Michel Gaztambide, a writer on Julio Medem’s milestone 1992 debut “Cows,” Enrique Urbizu’s best picture Goya winner “No Rest for the Wicked” and Freddy Highmore heist thriller  “The Vault,” the second highest-grossing Spanish movie of 2021.

Premiership side St Mirren have pulled the plug on their pursuit of Declan Gallagher and will now turn their focus to another defensive option.

John Hopewell Chief International CorrespondentPortugal’s “The Last Wolf,” Lebanon’s “Status Quo” and Uruguay’s “The Invisible Ink” proved big winners at the 6th Conecta Fiction & Entertainment, which will wrap Friday in Toledo, Spain.A potential part of a burgeoning production axis between Spain and Portugal, “The Last Wolf” won the largest prize of the night, a development deal at Spanish public broadcaster RTVE, worth an estimated €50,000 ($52,500) and a virtual invitation to set the project up as a co-production with Spain.The prize is a sign of the times. Battling financial straights, RTVE is turning to co-production or license deals – with its peers in Europe (Germany’s ZDF Studios on Simon West Magellan epic “Boundless”) or go-ahead and more flexible U.S.

John Hopewell Chief International CorrespondentFurther expanding its already robust talent roster in Spain, Latin America and the U.S. Latino market, VIS, Paramount’s international studio, has signed an exclusive first-look deal with Madrid and Los Angeles-based Morena Films to develop and produce films and series for the company’s portfolio.The titles will have a strong focus on Latin America, Spain, and U.S.