Isabel Coixet Talks Laia Costa-Fronted San Sebastian Competition Title ‘Un Amor’

EXCLUSIVE: The Bureau creator Eric Rochant is today formally unveiling his production banner, Maui Entertainment, which has quietly launched with backing from Federation Studios.

Naman Ramachandran Sri Lankan auteur Prasanna Vithanage is back at the Busan International Film Festival with thriller “Paradise,” which is in the Jiseok competition. The film follows Indian couple – streaming content producer Kesav (Roshan Mathew, Sundance 2023 series “Poacher”) and blogger Amritha (Darshana Rajendran, “Hridayam”) – who are on vacation in Sri Lanka during the country’s ongoing economic crisis. They are the victims of a robbery and find themselves in the thick of the agitations.

Jessica Kiang Rather than horns, they look like tiny black catkins clinging to the grains on swaying stalks of rye. These little clusters — actually a fungus known as ergot — are a disease that affects the ovaries of their host plants, but can be made into an infusion that induces abortion in women.

Naman Ramachandran A first trailer has been unveiled for Bangladeshi filmmakers Mostofa Sarwar Farooki and Nusrat Imrose Tisha‘s “Something Like an Autobiography.” The film has its world premiere at the Busan International Film Festival, where it is in the prestigious Jiseok competition. The film follows Dhaka-based married couple, the filmmaker Farhan (Farooki) and actor Tithi (Tisha), who are under societal pressure to have a baby. Tithi conceives and towards the end of her pregnancy term an incident occurs that throws into sharp relief some realities of contemporary Bangladeshi society.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Gael Garcia Bernal is set to preside over the jury of the upcoming Rome Film Festival. The Mexican actor, director and producer will be judging entries and bestowing prizes in the rebooted fest’s main section, which is now known as Progressive Cinema. Films competing for Rome prizes include Spanish director Isabel Coixet’s “Un Amor,” about a young woman socially and sexually exploited by a rural patriarchy; Iranian director Farhad Delaram, in which a former filmmaker turned medic decides to help a female political prisoner escape from a psych ward; and French director Mehdi Fikri’s “After The Fire,” which turns on a French woman of North African descent who seeks justice after her younger brother dies suspiciously after being stopped by the police.

The Evolution Mallorca International Film Festival, running from October 18 to 24 in the Spanish island’s capital of Palma, has unveiled its full line-up.

The San Sebastian Film Festival awarded O Corno (The Rye Horn) with the Golden Shell for Best Film. San Sebastián native Jaione Camborda took the top prize of the night for the feature she directed.

Plan B Entertainment partners Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner play their cards close to their chests when it comes to strategy and upcoming plans.

Jessica Chastain is making a glamorous arrival at the 2023 San Sebastian Film Festival.

Guy Lodge Film Critic The negotiations of adult sexual relationships, as well as the demands forced upon single women in society, are recurring fascinations in the work of Spanish writer-director Isabel Coixet, albeit to erratic effect: In recent years, particularly in such English-language efforts as “It Snows in Benidorm” and “The Bookshop,” her voice has felt unconfident, even a little stifled. But Coixet strikes with a renewed sense of conviction in “Un Amor,” an adaptation of Sara Mesa’s Spanish-language bestseller that plays to her unusual strengths as a full-blooded feminist filmmaker.

Holly Jones As it plays in competition at San Sebastian’s Works In Progress Latam strand, Buenos Aires-based sales agency Meikincine has swooped on international sales rights for mother-daughter relationship drama “Maybe It’s True What They Say About Us” (“Quizás Es Cierto Lo Que Dicen De Nosotras”). Produced by Storyboard Media (“Santiago, Italia” “El pacto de Fuga”), the film is directed by Chilean filmmaking duo Camilo Becerra (“El último sacramento”) and Sofía Paloma Gómez (“Quiero morirme dentro de un tiburón”).

Isabel Coixet recounts that she vowed to never to do another literary adaptation after her 2017 English-language feature The Bookshop based on Penelope Fitzgerald’s critically acclaimed 1978 novel of the same name.

Naman Ramachandran A first trailer has been unveiled for Indonesian filmmaker Yosep Anggi Noen’s “24 Hours With Gaspar.” The film will world premiere at the Busan Film Festival where it is in the prestigious Jiseok competition. Set in 2032 and based on the novel of the same name by Indonesian author Sabda Armandio, the film follows Gaspar, a private detective with 24 hours to live, who finds clues about the mysterious disappearance of Kirana, his childhood friend.

Holly Jones Frenetic and high-flying ‘90s rock emblem Mauricio Aznar trades his position as enigmatic frontman of Zaragoza’s Más Birras for a journey towards the soul of his craft in Spanish writer-director Javier Macipe’s highly-anticipated second feature, “The Blue Star” (“La Estrella Azul”) saw its world premiere in the New Directors strand of the San Sebastian Film Festival on Monday. Macipe’s (“Los inconvenientes de no ser dios”) short efforts, 2014 release “Children of the River” and 2019’s “Gastos incluídos,” earned Spanish Academy Goya nominations, placing him among Variety’s 10 Spanish talents to track in 2021.

Callum McLennan A salute to Basque cinema, the 71st edition of the San Sebastian Festival has once again unfurled its Zinemira section, a brainchild conceived in collaboration with the Basque government’s Department of Culture. Serving as more than just a showcase, Zinemira comes wrapped in the financial backing of sponsors Irizar and EiTB, with collaborative support from Urbil, the Basque Film Archive, EPE/APV, IBAIA, and Zineuskadi.

Anna Marie de la Fuente Not long after the Miami episode of Netflix’s hit show “’Street Food: USA” dropped, its Emmy-nominated director Mariano Carranza received an Instagram message. It was from Gastón Acurio, Peru’s preeminent chef-restaurateur of Astrid & Gastón fame, but Carranza thought it was a prank.

Callum McLennan Latido Films is venturing yet more into the inspiring world of e-sports and viral fame with Goya Award winning producer-helmer Alvaro Longoria’s new doc-feature, “La vida de Brianeitor.” The film serves as a spin-off from Javier Fesser’s Spanish box office smash hit, “Championext,” which Latido is also selling. The doc follows Brian Albacete, better known as Brianeitor2022. With millions of social media followers, an acting role in a top-charting Spanish film “Championext” and a spot on Team Heretics—one of Spain’s leading e-sport entities—Brian is redefining what it means to be a star.

LatAmCinema.com. Yet genre surfaces in disparate ways: the mix of coming of age, apocalypse and fantasy in “Mi Bestia”; the true-life horror of “Maybe It’s True What They Say About Us”; the sense of surreal in Colombia’s “Jungle.” As LatAmCinema.com notes, multiple titles are co-productions, a fact martín hazards, could be for the reduction in moneys from Argentina’s INCAA film institute, with Argentine titles dominating in the selection. This year, of the total six films at WIP Latam, four come from Argentina, one from Chile and one from Colombia.

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent Spain’s 71st San Sebastian Film Festival is tracking to welcome an even larger industry presence than 2022, currently up 10% in attendance on 2022’s already bullish figures, its status as the biggest movie event in the Spanish-speaking world remaining undiminished. Here are 10 key takes on potential highlights and trends which look likely to shape this year’s edition, running Sept.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor European pay TV platform Sky has released the trailer for Sky Original film “Dance First,” ahead of its world premiere at San Sebastian Film Festival on Sept. 30. The film is directed by BAFTA and Academy Award winner James Marsh (“The Theory of Everything”) and written by BAFTA winner Neil Forsyth (“Guilt”).