‘Goya, Carriere and the Ghost of Bunuel,’ Broken Down by Director Jose Luis Lopez Linares (EXCLUSIVE)

Warner Bros. Discovery has officially laid out its senior EMEA leadership team under President and Managing for the region (excl Poland) Priya Dogra.

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent“Black Sands” producer Glassriver, one of Scandinavia’s fastest-growing production powerhouses, is teaming with a powerful writing duo, Ragnar Bragason and Snjolaug Ludviksdottir, to create “Magaluf.”Currently in development, “Magaluf” marks a high-profile projects at late June’s Conecta Fiction in Spain, where it  competes in the forum’s CoPro Series section.One of Iceland’s most consistently prized top writers and directors and creator and head writer on “Magaluf,” Bragason’s credits include movie 2013’s “Metalhead,” which wonbest Nordic film at Göteborg, and in series, “The Night Shift,” part of a larger hit dramedy franchise, and the admired international sales hit “Prisoners.” A stand-up comedian, Ludviksdottir co-writes. “She is a wonderful writer and writes three of the six episodes and on top of that ensuring that the female characters really come to life in a meaningful way,” said Glassriver co-owner Hörður Rúnarsson, a producer on the show with Arnbjorg Haflidadottir (“Black Sands”).Ludviksdottir’s credits include penning Season 2 of international hit crime series “Stella Blomqvist,” Viaplay’s first Icelandic original.Commercials and music video director Magnus Leifsson, whose debut short film “Dovetail” won Short Film of the Year at the 2019 Icelandic Film and TV awards, is attached to direct.

“I don’t know the lines,” utters a nervous and sweat-drenched diner in the new trailer for the 4K restoration of surrealist master Luis Buñuel’s 1972 “The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie.” With a screenplay co-written by French novelist, screenwriter, and actor Jean-Claude Carrière, Buñuel’s film plays out like a blistering bad dream, featuring continuously interrupted dinners, interconnected dream sequences, and left-wing terrorists, and that’s not even the half of it.

Caitlin Quinlan Premiering as a Special Screening at Cannes was a documentary co-directed by Houda Benyamina, Anne Cissé and subject Melanie Diam’s, the former French rapper and music sensation who stepped away from public life in the early 2010s after converting to Islam. “Salam,” meaning “peace” in Arabic, follows Diam’s new life as a philanthropist and mother, far from the chaos and fame of her past career.Her new religious path in life was met with vast shock and criticism from the French media at the time, and pushed Diam’s further toward the realization that she needed to abandon her music for good.Benyamina was reluctant to share the direction of the film at first because of a need to “have my own projects and my own voice,” she says. “But when Melanie asked me to direct her movie by myself, I told her no.

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.

Pablo Sandoval World premiering at the Cannes ACID showcase, “Polaris” explores the intimate relationship between two sisters, Hayat and Leila. The film, set between the isolated Northern Sea and warm, well-connected France, aims to bring a human perspective to this tale of sisterhood set against dramatic land- and seascapes.“Polaris” marks the doc feature debut of Spain’s director Ainara Vera whose experience includes workings a first AD and co-editor on several of Victor Kossakovsky’s productions, including the Berlinale 2020-selected  “Gunda.”Vera and Hayat met on the shoot of another Kossakovsky movie, “Aquarela,” during which the two fostered a bond, with Hayat serving on Kossakovsky and Vera’s sailors crew.

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentSpecialty U.S. distributors Uncork’d Entertainment and Dark Star Pictures have acquired Italian director Pasquale Marrazzo’s LGBTQ drama “The Neighbor” for release in North America from Rome-based Coccinelle Film Sales.“The Neighbor” (which is titled “Hotel Milano” in Italy) is about two young men who are in love but get bullied by a gang of neo-Nazi skinheads that makes their life impossible as hatred and intolerance seeps into the rapport between their respective families.It’s the fifth feature written and directed by Marrazzo whose debut “South of the Sun” launched from Toronto’s Discovery section in 2001.

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.

exercice de style as the French would put it, “EO” has plenty on its mind and nothing much to say, idling through a series of vignettes than more often not end with a punch-line of a forbidden kiss or a sudden act of violence, capturing them all with a flashy and urgent style of a music video or Super Bowl car commercial. One need not look far to see in this tale of a lonely beast of burden traipsing across the countryside a condemnation of modern Polish society, especially in sequences when the titular donkey first witnesses and then succumbs to a bout of skinhead hooligan violence, or when it clops across a forest bed we soon learn was once a Jewish burial site. At the same time, Skolimowski – who shot this project over a two-year period – seems more interested in simply making his camera swoop and soar and generally perform its series of stupid pet tricks. In many ways, this rather silly (if quite entertaining) trifle makes for a fitting entry for Cannes’ 75th edition. Skolimowski approaches the material with the hunger and zeal of a young film student, lifting a framework from Robert Bresson and filtering through references to recent festival provocateurs like Lars von Trier, Refn, and Michael Haneke.

Holly Jones Focusing on female protagonists, Spanish director Elena López Riera shies away from old tropes of promiscuity, desire, and the sealed fates they typically dictate in her first feature film, “El Agua.”Sold by Adeline Fontan-Tessau-headed Elle Driver for international and distributed in Spain by Filmin (“Lucas”) and producer Maria Zamora and distributor Enrique Costa’s Elastica Films (“Alcarrès”), the film keeps one foot planted firmly in reality, using found and documentary-style footage dispersed throughout to highlight a raw narrative. The other foot loosely traces the boundaries of ominous lore that’s woven through the narrative like fine thread, ever-beneath the surface of scenes dealing with young love, strong feminine bonds, and the urge to escape it all and begin anew.

Luis Fonsi appreciates his privacy when it comes to his personal life, but he recently opened up about his divorce from Adamari López. The couple was married for four years from, 2006 to 2010 and the split happened during a sensitive time, as Adamari was overcoming breast cancer, and the press and public wanted answers.“The golden couple” of Puerto Rico seemed like the perfect couple, and the media and fans were obsessed with their relationship. The singer spoke to Martín Cárcamo on the Chilean program De tú a tú, and he opened up about personal hardships.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief“Jack Magic,” a biographical series about Jack Ma, the colorful co-founder of Chinese tech giant Alibaba, is in development at French production house Oble. The series is adapted from Duncan Clark’s best-selling book “Alibaba: The House That Jack Ma Built.”Details of the series such as start date, director and eventual distributor, broadcaster or streamer have not been revealed.

The Cannes Film Festival officially kicks off tomorrow. One of the big films to be screened there is David Cronenberg‘s body horror “Crimes of The Future,” which stars Lea Seydoux (“No Time To Die“) alongside the filmmaker’s longtime muse Viggo Mortensen.

All in the family! Singer Marc Anthony has an accomplished career as an award-winning musician — and he’s also a father of six.

Luis Fonsi and the Alzheimer’s Association are joining forces to raise awareness of Alzheimer’s and its significant impact on the Latino community. For the multi-platinum-selling global artist, the disease is close to home; therefore, using his platform to help Music Moments expand its reach to a bilingual audience was a no-brainer.The Puerto Rican star is now the first Latin artist featured in the digital storytelling series, recording a powerful rendition of his song “Girasoles” in Spanish and English.“I’m excited to be the first Latin artist to join the Alzheimer’s Association Music Moments campaign.