Italy’s TVCO Picks Up Argentine Comedy ‘El Padre de Mis Hijos’ (EXCLUSIVE)

Italians will not be able to attend midnight Mass on Christmas Eve, with top health officials cracking down on any conditions that could lead to a potential resurgence in coronavirus cases -- a step that Catholic clergy has supported.  Italy managed to reduce a fall resurgence of cases but is currently suffering record fatalities from COVID-19, reporting 993 deaths on Thursday alone.  Premier Giuseppe Conte announced, then, that the country will enforce strong restrictions over the holiday

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentItaly’s storied Titanus studio, producers of myriad golden era works from Cinema Italiano, has inked a global distribution deal with pubcaster RAI’s sales unit RAI Com for its entire library of roughly 400 titles.The landmark agreement, besides distribution, entails a collaboration to restore and preserve the Titanus library, which is a treasure trove comprising early works by Italo masters such as Federico Fellini and Francesco Rosi, and Luchino

Anna Marie de la Fuente In deals forged during Ventana Sur, Chile’s Naira Films has secured the backing of Italy’s Keep Digging Prod. and Chile’s “Perro Bomba” producer Infractor Films to complete the financing of their Chilean independence war film “The Wealth of the World” (“La Riqueza del mundo”).

John Hopewell Chief International CorrespondentIn a now firmly established Ventana Sur tradition, Film Factory Ent., one of the Spanish world’s premiere sales agents, has announced a new sales rights pick-up on the market’s final day: Italian-Argentine psychological horror movie “El Nido” (“Nest”).With “Nest” now in post-production, Film Factory will present a first promo at 2021’s Cannes Film Market.The feature debut of Italy’s Mattia Temponi, and produced by Rome-based Alba Produzioni and

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentLate Chilean author Luis Sepulveda‘s short novel “Diary of a Sentimental Killer,” about a globetrotting hitman with a broken heart, is being developed into a TV series that will be sold by Latin America’s EO Media Distribution, the company that recently handled multi-window distribution of high-profile titles such as “Narcos” and Amazon’s “El Presidente.”London and Rome-based production company BlackBox Multimedia, EO Media and Italy’s Leader Produzioni

Jamie Lang Javier Krause, co-founder of Argentina’s Rispo Films and long one of the country’s key sales agents, has crossed the Atlantic and started Kafilms, a new Swiss production company where he is taking the reins to create new content for international audiences, including two new Italian co-productions which Krause has announced in exclusivity with Variety.Joined by Maurizio and Manuel Tedesco of Italy’s Baires Produzioni, backers of Filmax-sold “Tomorrow’s a New Day” from Simone Spada

It was such a heartwarming reunion for former Real Housewives of New Jersey star Joe Giudice to have two of his four daughters come visit him in Italy during November. Gia, 19, and Milania, 14, arrived on Nov.

Marta Balaga In 2015, desperate to get his favorite band, Foo Fighters, to play in Cesena, a small town near Rimini, Italian marine geologist Fabio Zaffagnini came up with a rather unorthodox solution.

Josh Hutcherson whispers into girlfriend Claudia Traisac‘s ear as they take a stroll together in Venice, Italy on Thanksgiving Day (Thursday, November 26).

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentIn 1968, idealistic Italian engineer Giorgio Rosa founded an independent micro nation on a tiny island he built on a platform supported by steel pylons off the coast of Rimini, Italy, outside Italian territorial waters.

Jamie Lang Arguably the greatest soccer player to ever live, Argentina’s Diego Maradona has died, his attorney confirmed to Reuters. He was 60.Several news outlets across Latin America are reporting that the former World Cup winner suffered a heart attack in his home, just two weeks after an urgent surgery to repair a brain bleed.Maradona’s club career included time at several of the world’s most famous clubs, including Boca Juniors in Argentina, Napoli in Italy and Barcelona in Spain.

Emiliano De Pablos London-based Taskovski Films has acquired worldwide rights outside Italy to Jacopo Quadri’s “Ultimina,” which world premieres on Saturday Nov. 21 at Amsterdam’s IDFA documentary festival.

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentNBCUniversal Global Distribution has closed a deal for all international rights outside Italy, Germany and the U.K. on Italian soccer icon doc “My Name Is Francesco Totti,” an intimate look at the life and career of long-time A.S.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentItaly-based sales outlet TVCO has acquired international rights to Jonas Kærup Hjort’s Danish black comedy “The Penultimate” ahead of its world premiere in competition at the Tallinn Black Night Film Festival.Described as a “Kafkaesque tale” by Tallinn festival, “The Penultimate” follows an insignificant clerk (Joen Højerslev), who gets trapped inside a secluded building facing an endless maze of obstacles.

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentMia Threapleton, who is the daughter Kate Winslet and British film director Jim Threapleton, makes her acting debut in Ireland-set chiller “Shadows,” directed by Italy’s Carlo Lavagna and mostly shot in an abandoned hotel in the woods near the village of Howth.“Shadows” premiered last month at the Rome Film Festival’s Alice in the City section.

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentEmmy-winning U.S. director and producer John Maggio is shooting “Milano,” a high-profile doc on the rise of the Italian fashion industry that is expected to feature many of Italy’s most iconic fashion designers.Maggio, who most recently directed HBO doc “The Perfect Weapon,” based on the best-selling book by David E.