‘El Faro,’ from ‘The Platform’ Co-Producers, Pounced On by FilmSharks (EXCLUSIVE)

Julia Garner has been offered the role of Madonna in a forthcoming biopic about the pop icon, sources familiar with the project told Variety.Garner has emerged the favorite from over a dozen candidates, one insider added, and has for months been speculated as a frontrunner for the part — a performance Madonna will shepherd herself as director. Garner’s team is considering and expected to accept the offer, said another source.The film is set up at Universal Pictures, and will follow the early days of the oft-controversial artist and queen of perpetual reinvention.

Emiliano De Pablos Celebrated Uruguayan producer Fernando Epstein, co-founder of Mutante Cine, one of Latin America’s key arthouse outfits, is entering into TV fiction creation with thriller drama series “La tinta invisible” (“The Invisible Link”).The show is a two-season series based on two novels by Uruguayan author Eduardo Mariani that go through part of the recent history of South America, linked to Europe through the exile of some of its characters.The project, at an early development stage, will be pitched at the Co-Pro Series session during the 6th edition of Conecta Fiction & Entertainment forum, which runs June 21-25 in Toledo, Spanish region Castilla-La Mancha’s capital city.Toledo will be “The Invisible Link’s” first participation in the international market. Epstein has been a film producer and editor since 2000, with more than 50 credits and several awards at A-class festivals, having produced and edited significant Latin American titles such as “Whisky” and “Gigante.”“After 20 years as a producer and editor of auteur films, I found in the series format the possibility of adapting the work of Eduardo Mariani, a Uruguayan author whose narrative force combines thriller with drama in a story that takes place over 40 years,” Epstein told Variety.Epstein has teamed with “Manny’s Garage Sale: A Hitchcock Knot” co-scribe Janine Zaruski to write “The Invisible Link.”Set up at Mutante Cine, the project tells the story of two opposite and complementary characters.

Emiliano De Pablos Top Spanish indie producer-distributor Vértice 360 is joining forces with U.K.-based Born Wild to co-produce YA drama series project “Motorway.”European sales company Eccho Rights is handling international distribution rights.“Motorway” has been created by Spanish writer-cartoonist Víctor Santos, the creator of graphic novel “Polar” whose film adaptation, starring “Hannibal” Mads Mikkelsen, was produced by comicbook-based media company Dark Horse Entertainment and Germany’s Constantin Film and released by Netflix.The new project is set up at Vértice 360, the ambitiously relaunched content division of Madrid-based conglom Squirrel Media, headed by Spanish entrepreneur Pablo Pereiro Lage. “Motorway” will be pitched during the upcoming 6th Conecta Fiction & Entertainment forum, as part of the High-End Series sidebar, a new section focused on higher-budget series and miniseries projects in search for co-production partners.Written by Santos and Born Wild founder Anthony Alleyne, the six-seg, one-hour TV drama tells a dark fairy tale set beside an apocalyptic highway in a world of endless pursuit.“Motorway” takes place in a near future, where young teenager Alice has spent her short life sketching and drawing the motorway and the towns at its side.

Emiliano De Pablos Two of Portugal’s most international production houses – SPi, producer of the country’s first Netflix Original series “Gloria,” and Caracol Protagonista – are teaming to co-produce police drama series project “O Último Lobo” (“The Last Wolf”).The show tells the true story of Franklim Lobo, one of the greatest European drug lords, exploring his rise, and the corruption in the Portuguese police in the late 1990s. Portuguese filmmaker Bruno Gascon, whose credits include “Carga” and “Shadow,” is the writer-director.The eight-episode series focuses on Castilho, an honest police investigator with a dark past, who sees it as his personal mission to capture Lobo.

Nadia Ferreira was born to succeed. She is a captivating and intelligent woman with an exemplary life journey. Nadia hails from Villarrica – a town located in the eastern region of the Guarani country.

What would you do to escape a miserable situation? A young woman discovers the possibilities — and ramifications — of pursuing an escape in “Murina.” Co-writer and director Antoneta Alamat Kusijanovic’s feature debut became a buzzed-about title after the 2021 Cannes Film Festival. The Directors’ Fortnight selection went on to win Caméra D’or (Best First Film) before showing at festivals around the world.

Emiliano De Pablos Spanish thesp Luis Tosar (“Miami Vice,” “Way Down”) has joined the cast of sci-fi comedy “Golem,” produced by Spain’s top indie house Aquí y Allí Films.Directed by Juan González and Fernando Martínez (a.k.a. Burnin’ Percebes), the project toplines Brays Efe, star of Netflix hit series “Paquita Salas,” Goya Award winner Bruna Cusí (“Summer 1993”) and Javier Botet (“It,” “Amigo”).Aquí y Allí Films’ Pedro Hernández and Elamedia’s Roberto Butragueño produce the film, scheduled to roll in Madrid from August.Elamedia will distribute in Spain.Aquí y Allí is one of the five Spanish companies selected by Spain’s trade promotion board ICEX and the ICAA film institute to pitch their production slates at Cannes’ Producers Network.

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentVeteran Hollywood multi-hyphenate George Gallo (“Bad Boys,” “The Comeback Trail”) is attached to direct “Gambino,” a high-end biopic about organized crime boss Carlo Gambino that Gallo is co-writing with two-time Oscar winner Nick Vallelonga (“Green Book”).The ambitious project, announced in Cannes, is being lead produced by Julius R. Nasso, also a Hollywood veteran, best known for his production partnership with Steven Seagal that went sour.

Sky Ferreira has finally returned...and there's a fire on her street.

EXCLUSIVE: Entering the second week of the Cannes Film Festival, Sony Pictures Television has snapped up multi-territory Latin American rights to FilmSharks’ Amor Bandido, with Raymond Murray’s CineNova Releasing taking U.S. rights.

Christopher Vourlias Riding the high of a production-servicing boom, Estonia’s domestic industry has likewise shown no signs of slowing down. Here’s a roundup of top local productions in the pipeline, from producers who are searching for international partners in Cannes:The Invisible Fight Director: Rainer Sarnet Producers: Katrin Kissa, Homeless Bob Production (Estonia), Alise Gelze, White Picture (Latvia), Amanda Livanou, Neda Film (Greece), Helen Vinogradov, Helsinki-filmi (Finland) Sarnet, whose fantasy-drama “November” played at Tribeca in 2017, returns with a ‘70s-set kung-fu comedy about a guard on the Soviet-Chinese border who, after surviving a deadly attack, decides to become a monk but must continually prove along the way that he’s capable of becoming the enlightened man he set out to be.

Emiliano De Pablos Vértice 360, one of Spain’s top indie production-distribution companies, is expanding operations to Latin America, Italy and Portugal, as fruit of its ambitious plan to become a reference on the international film distribution scene.Part of the Squirrel Media group, the Madrid-based distributor is backing a first stage of its international expansion with the investment of more than $100 million in film content for distribution in the 35 territories where it already operates. At the current Cannes Film Market, Vértice is looking for movie deals to expand its international line up.The distributor mainly looks for blockbusters going out to independent industry and prestige projects which are liable to win international awards, but also local productions in both Spanish and English. Vértice has already established business relationships with top independent content providers such as Millennium Media, FilmNation, A24, Studiocanal and Pathé. “We have with them a title-by-title relationship, with a maximum degree of collaboration.

Emiliano De Pablos Enrique Buleo’s “Still Life With Ghost,” Ana Asensio’s “The Goat Girl,” Gala Gracia’s “The Remnants of You” and Esteban Alenda Bros.’ “There Is Evil” are some of the film projects pitched at the spotlight event on Spanish cinema at Cannes’ Producers Network on Friday May 20.Five Spanish production companies– Un Capricho de Producciones, Quatre Films Audiovisuales, Potenza Producciones, Aquí y Allí Films and Solita Films – were selected by Spain’s trade promotion board ICEX and the ICAA film institute to pitch their production slates at the Marché du Film event.As part of the Production Day, which kicked off with the Producers Network, the five Spanish producers made a video pitch with their projects – the main part of them at development stage –  to encourage international partnerships with co-producers and sales agents.

K.J. Yossman David Harewood’s upcoming boxing feature “Benn/Eubank” has found its fighters.David Jonsson (“Industry”) will play British boxing legend Chris Eubank while Joshua Maynard (“That Dirty Black Bag”) is set to star as his longtime rival Nigel Benn.

Nadia Ferreira is hoping for a greener future. Following her exciting engagement to Marc Anthony, the 23-year-old announced that she is an ambassador for the United Nations Development Program and PNUD Paraguay, aiming to bring awareness about sustainable development in her home country.On Thursday, she shared a gallery of photos from her visit to her home country, Paraguay, where she met with locals and other United Nations and PNUD Paraguay officials, at the Ecological Reserve Banco San Miguel and Bahía de Asunción.

Emiliano De Pablos Paco León, one of Spain’s most prominent talents, is attached to star in thriller “Líbranos del mal” (“There Is Evil”), directed and produced by brothers José and César Esteban Alenda at their Madrid-based outfit Solita Films.Currently in development, “There Is Evil” is planned to shoot for six weeks in Madrid from January 2024.Solita Films is one of the five Spanish companies selected by Spain’s trade promotion board ICEX and its ICAA film institute to pitch their production slates at Cannes’ Producers Network, on Friday 20.In “There Is Evil,” after another girl is found dead, a former police officer decides to hunt down a child serial killer with the help of his six-year-old daughter.  “We want to make an impulsive, hypnotic thriller, but with the emotional texture of a family drama where the anguish and fear are born from perfectly real, recognizable and close circumstances,” José and César Esteban Alenda said.The Alenda brothers’ 2018 feature debut “Sin Fin” earned a Goya Award nomination for best new director, and won a Silver Biznaga at the Málaga Film Festival.A celebrated film and TV multi-hyphenate, Spain’s Paco León is well-known in Latin America, starring in Mexico’s “House of Flowers” and Colombia’s “Capital Noise.” He co-created, wrote and directed Rose d’Or winner “Arde Madrid,” one of Movistar Plus’ best reviewed series.“Rainbow,” León’s feature adaptation of “The Wizard of Oz,” a Netflix and Telecinco Cinema production, will be released this year on the streamer. 

Fyre Festival founder Billy McFarland has been released early from prison.McFarland was serving a six-year sentence after pleading guilty to multiple counts of fraud, including for the disastrous festival in the Bahamas in 2017.He spent six months of his sentence alone in solitary confinement after taking part in the recording of a podcast.According to TMZ, McFarland has now been released from the Milan Federal Correctional Institution in Milan, Michigan, where he was being held.He is now under the management of Residential Reentry Management New York – the administrative office overseeing halfway houses located in southern New York, eastern New York and New Jersey, according to The Hollywood Reporter.McFarland’s release date from the halfway house is currently set for August 30.Back in 2020, he requested an early release from his six-year prison sentence due to concerns over the coronavirus pandemic, but his request was turned down.McFarland’s release comes after Martin Shkreli, the disgraced “pharma bro” who famously bought Wu-Tang Clan‘s ‘Once Upon A Time In Shaolin’ for $2million (£1.4m), was also released early from prison. Shkreli was serving a seven-year sentence after being found guilty of securities fraud following claims he defrauded investors in former hedge funds in 2017.

Sky Ferreira has announced that a new song titled ‘Don’t Forget’ will arrive next week.The release date was confirmed by the singer-songwriter’s label, Capitol, who tweeted that the single will be available next Wednesday (May 25). ‘Don’t Forget’ will mark Ferreira’s first single in over three years, following on from ‘Downhill Lullaby’ back in March of 2019.While not confirmed, both tracks will likely appear on Ferreira’s long-awaited second album, ‘Masochism’.

Rita Ferra, president of ad sales for Disney, said the forthcoming ad-supported tier of Disney+ will have a less “robust” amount of ads compared with Hulu. That disparity, at least initially, will mainly be because about 65% of viewing on the streaming service is for movies, which don’t lend themselves to commercial interruption.