MoreThan Films Swoops on Shanghai Winner ‘Muyeres,’ Drops Trailer (EXCLUSIVE)

erotic and shocking, the five-episode collaboration among Levinson, music superstar Tesfaye and Reza Fahim is one of the worst shows ever made.One’s degree of disdain for it, however, might depend on their awareness of its behind-the-scenes backstory. Anyone going in cold can recognize that Tesfaye, who plays a supposedly irresistible nightclub owner and talent manager, is far less compelling when acting than when performing as The Weeknd. But his meme-able lack of acting chops does not make you mad, per se.

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent Money talks. On Jan.1, Bizkaia, the Basque Country province, introduced new tax breaks with one of – if not the – highest deduction rate in the world: up to 70%. No other rate registered in Olswang-SPI’s Global Incentives Index 2023 reaches such heights. Also on Jan. 1, mainland Spain raised rebate caps on TV dramas to €10 million ($10.9 million) per episode, which climbs to €18 million ($19.6 million) per episode in the Canary Islands. Very few territories in the world can hold a candle to this relief. Introduced in 2015, and raised in 2016 and 2020, Spain’s mainland rates come in at 30% for a first €1 million spend, 25% afterwards. Even so, tax break deductions for film, TV and live entertainment for the whole of Spain rose from €19.5 million ($21.3 million) in 2019 to an estimated €153 million ($166.8 million) for 2022, Natalia Jaquotot Garre, a deputy director general at Spain’s Treasury, said at a Spain AVS Hub panel in March’s Málaga Festival.

Marta Balaga Spanish actress Itsaso Arana proves that “Girls Are Alright” with her directorial debut, vying for the Crystal Globe at Karlovy Vary Film Festival. Known to the festival’s audience thanks to Jonás Trueba’s “August Virgin,” which she also co-wrote, she is currently readying their next project, set to shoot in the autumn. “That experience, as well as his other films I starred in, have been profoundly significant in my life. Jonás is a great inspiration,” says Arana. But after years of collaborations, however satisfying, she is ready to venture out on her own.

Carmen Sevilla, the Spanish-born actor who starred in the Oscar-nominated 1958 film Vengeance and played Mary Magdalene in Nicholas Ray’s 1961 Biblical epic King of Kings, died Tuesday of Alzheimer’s disease and pneumonia at a hospital in Madrid. She was 92.

Sideshow and Janus Films have snapped up all US rights to Wim Wenders’ Cannes title Anselm, a 3D documentary about the celebrated contemporary artist Anselm Kiefer.

Peter Debruge A relatable, realistic fable about the unbreakable friendship between an Italian city boy and the small-town kid he meets one summer in the Alps, this quietly profound portrait spans almost four decades in the lives of its two protagonists, who stay in touch, even as their paths veer in very different directions. One feels a wanderlust that calls him to the far corners of the world — including the heights of Tibet at one point — while the other stays close to home, finding solace in the familiar.

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent TOLEDO, Spain — Global producer-distributor Fremantle has dropped an international trailer for “Negotiator,” a sleek, slick and chic eight-part  São Paulo crime thriller produced by two prominent players on the Latino and Latin-American TV scene – Miami-based Spiral International and Brazil’s Boutique Filmes.  Acquiring world rights outside Latin America and Portugal, Fremantle will use Conecta Fiction in Toledo, Spain to introduce “Negotiator,” which underscores building market trends coursing through the international TV scene. The busy trailer begins with a desperate kidnapper bursting through big church doors, revolver in hand pointing to a victim’s head. “I’m going to kill him,” he shouts hysterically. 

Emiliano Granada Ensconsed in Tribeca’s Midnight section, Spain’s “One Night With Adela” the feature debut of Hugo Ruiz, came pretty much from nowhere to walk off with the festival’s best new narrative director award, won in the past by Michelle Garza Cervera for “Huesera.”  Produced by Spain’s Muertos de Envidia Company and FTFCam, the film follows Adela, a deeply wounded and disturbed night sweeper that is hellbent on retaliating against those who she believes have wronged her.  Over the course of one night, we accompany Adela, slowly putting together the pieces of who she truly is. Shot on a variety of one shot sequences that find a style and aesthetic in the bleak night universe that Adela traverses, the film is driven by Laura Galán who proves once again – after Sundance hit “Piggy” (2022) – that she has the acting strength to carry an entire film by herself.  #ConUnPack will handle international sales and distribution in Spain.

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent High-flying Madrid-based Caballo Films, behind Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s “The Beasts” and “Riot Police” and Borja Soler’s “The Route,” has put into development a fiction series adaptation of Mabel Lozano’s prized same-titled non-fiction work. Shaping up as a deep drill-down into the growth of prostitution in Spain into large-scale organized crime, “El Proxeneta” packs a powerful talent package of creator-writers Isabel Peña, co-writer of Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s “As Bestas” and “Riot Police,” and Eduardo Villanueva, a co-scribe on “Riot Police” and producer on “Stockholm.”  Pilar Palomero, a Spanish Academy Goya best picture winner for “Schoolgirls,” will direct the series, her first TV work beyond one episode of “Venga Juan.”

Amber Heard has been easing back into official public life gently at Italy’s Taormina Film Festival over the past few days, accompanying the world premiere of her new film In The Fire by Conor Allyn.

The newly rebooted Taormina Film Festival kicked off on Friday night in the Sicilian city’s landmark Teatro Antico amphitheatre in an unusual but magnificent style with benefit event “Pavarotti Forever”.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The 28th edition of the Shanghai TV Festival wrapped up on Friday with its Magnolia Awards presented to a range of TV drama series, documentaries and animation programs. The drama awards were dominated by two shows “A Lifelong Journey” and “Bright Future.” “A Lifelong Journey,” adapted from a novel of the same name by Liang Xiaosheng, tells the story of three generations of one family in China’s Northeast as time moves from the late Cultural Revolution period through to the country’s reform and opening up. With a starry cast and broadcasters including CCTV-1 and Jiangsu Satellite TV, the show is reported to have attracted 310 million viewers at the beginning of 2022. In mainland China, it ran for 58 episodes, while in Hong Kong it played in 35 parts.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The technical aspects of China’s embrace of smart broadcasting were given a thorough workout this week as part of the ongoing Shanghai Television Festival. Topics covered by keynote speakers included: future broadcasting planning; AI content generation’ big data construction; and the development of ultra-high definition broadcasting. Sun Suchuan, deputy Director-General of the Science and Technology Department of the National Radio & Television Authority explained that the national government has iterated a strategic development plan for the TV sector running until 2035 as well as medium- and long-term technological strategies.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The members of the international juries that will decide the Magnolia prizes at the ongoing Shanghai Television Festival were Thursday made to do double duty as speakers in public masterclasses that were open to a generation of aspiring documentary and animation makers. David Stephan, jury president in the animation category, along with fellow judges Spencer Ooi and Jia Fou, spoke at length about getting their starts in the business and finding inspiration. “When I studied animation, I didn’t have a textbook available. I saw extremely limited things, so I did further research to make myself understand what I was doing in such a career,” said Jia.

Asteroid City from director Wes Anderson boasts another impressive ensemble cast.Set during a junior stargazer convention in 1950s America, the film stars a mix of new and frequent collaborators from Anderson’s past works, including Jason Schwartzman, Scarlett Johansson, Tom Hanks, Jeffrey Wright, Tilda Swinton, Bryan Cranston and Edward Norton.The comedy-drama had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2023, where it competed for the Palme d’Or prize. It was later released in cinemas on June 23.Despite being set in western America, Asteroid City was filmed between two small towns outside of Madrid, Spain.

Anna Marie de la Fuente L.A.-based Campanario Entertainment and Mexico City shingle Addiction House have forged a strategic partnership in the wake of their successful Prime Video series “How to Survive Being Single” (“Como Sobrevivir Soltero”). The pact calls for the joint development and production of five scripted and unscripted projects in English and Spanish, starting with a TV series and a film, both fiction. Campanario Entertainment co-founder and president Jaime Dávila and senior VP Diana Mejia-Jones will work in tandem with Addiction House co-founders/brothers Sebastian and Emiliano Zurita and their partner Ricardo Gaspar to make shows that will hopefully appeal beyond its natural markets, the U.S. and Latin America.

Veneno” writer-director-creators Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo – popularly known as Los Javis – have dropped an international trailer for its sequel, “Vestida de Azul” (“Veneno 2: Dressed in Blue”)  sharing it in exclusivity with Variety. Sold to HBO Max for the U.S., where it aired to acclaim, “Veneno” was picked as one of Variety’s best international series in 2020.  This time round, Los Javis produce through Suma Content, the Madrid-based label they launched in 2021, where they also serve as its creative directors. The series is its fourth production after “Una navidad con Samantha Hudson,” a Christmas special, “Cardo,” and “Cardo 2.” An Atresplayer original series, “Vestidas de Azul” is produced for Atresmedia Television in collaboration with Suma Content. Atresmedia TV International Sales handles international distribution.  

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Asia Satellite Telecommunications (AsiaSat), a leading operator of satellites, has moved into content distribution with the acquisition of Hong Kong- and U.K.-based TV distributor Lightning International. The diversification was described by AsiaSat as “a strategic move to expand the company’s services and extend its clients’ reach to global audiences through traditional and new distribution platforms including OTT and FAST.” AsiaSat is known to be acquiring 100% of Lightning International, but other deal terms were not disclosed.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Barbarian Invasion” director Tan Chi Mui from Malaysia scored a top result from the SIFF Project Market. The market is a component event of the Shanghai International Film Festival, which wrapped up over the weekend. Tan’s “All About Yuyu” was named as the “recommended project for creativity” at the project market’s closing event. The project, which is already being structured as a Malaysia-China coproduction, is a story that combines contemporary wuxia (heroic martial arts) with youth elements. “I want to make a modern wuxia film to recapture the magical feeling I had when watching films during my childhood,” she told local media.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief After a golden age in the 1980s, Chinese filmmakers were quietly discouraged from dabbling in the sci-fi genre – it isn’t real science and authorities did not want youngsters to get confused. That stance changed during the last decade and the Shanghai International Film Festival has just hosted its first sci-fi week, comprising nearly a dozen film screenings and a trio of panel discussions featuring the new luminaries in the sector. Reasons for the revised position of China’s authorities are not hard to understand. Not only was Hollywood getting away with dominating a genre that was popular with Chinese audiences, China in the 21st century has become a global technology powerhouse. Its space program, in particular, is now among the most advanced, capable of a normalized rocket launch schedule, international co-operation and lunar and interplanetary missions.