Pablo Berger Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

We don’t often see the release of an Oscar-nominated animated movie released in theaters after the Academy Awards ceremonies had aired (there are, of course, outliers), as most studios want to capitalize on the buzz of a nomination. But “Robot Dreams” is breaking with tradition as the Spanish/French animation pic is heading to the big screen next month.

Movistar Plus+ original film and the awaited next feature from Spain’s Iciar Bollaín (“Take My Eyes,” “Maixabel”), has closed its earliest pre-sales, struck by Film Factory Entertainment, including a bellwether deal in France. The deals come as “I’m Nevenka” has wrapped production, shooting in the Basque city of Bilbao before transferring to rural Zamora, western Spain.

Ed Meza @edmezavar Organizers of the Ibero-American Animation Quirino Awards on Friday presented 25 finalists as part of the Malaga Film Festival’s Mafiz-Spanish Screenings Content Animation Hub section. The 25 works from seven countries will compete in 10 categories at the seventh edition of the Ibero-American Animation Quirino Awards, taking place on May 11 in Tenerife.

The champagne may be flowing at the kickoff for the 27th Annual Sonoma International Film Festival – for more reasons than one.

Neon announced on Tuesday that it will bring Academy Award nominee Ava DuVernay‘s acclaimed drama Origin back to 500 U.S. theaters on February 28, for a one-night-only special screening event, featuring an exclusive pre-recorded introduction and post-screening Q&A with DuVernay.

Director Pablo Berger never thought he’d earn his first Oscar nomination for an animated feature, mostly because he never thought he’d direct animation. That is, until one morning, when he was looking through his vast library of books and decided to read Sara Varon’s 2007 graphic novel Robot Dreams, the bittersweet story of the friendship between a dog and a robot. As soon as he put down the book, the multiple Goya-winning Spaniard knew he’d found his next film. That chance reading led to a premiere at Cannes, multiple awards and an Oscar nomination — all for a movie that hasn’t even seen its main U.S. release yet.

It’s not every year that an animated feature premieres at the Cannes Film Festival to such universal acclaim. But that was the case with “Robot Dreams,” Pablo Berger‘s latest film about the misadventures of a dog and a robot in 1980s NYC.

Guy Lodge Film Critic Android or artificial intelligence isn’t the enemy in “Robot Dreams,” Pablo Berger‘s gently whimsical fantasy of a loner finding manufactured friendship in a scuzzy vision of 1980s New York City. Indeed, one takeaway from this portrait of a shabby-happy Big Apple populated solely with anthropomorphic animals and surprisingly sensitive automatons is that the world might be a better place without humans in it.

Jaden Thompson Animation Is Film has announced the 2023 winners of its annual film festival, with “Chicken for Linda!,” directed by Chiara Malta and Sébastien Laudenbach, winning the grand prize. The film also took home the audience award. The special jury prize went to Pablo Berger’s “Robot Dreams.” In the short categories, “Letter to a Pig,” directed by Tal Kantor, won the grand prize.

Gregg Goldstein When Hayao Miyazaki’s semi-autobiographical fantasy “The Boy and the Heron” has its international premiere Sept. 7, it won’t just be the first animated film to open TIFF, or the master director’s first in a decade. It will be part of an unexpected resurgence of animated work for cineastes at major international festivals.

Neon has expanded their marketing ranks by tapping A24 vets Alexandra Altschuler as VP Media and Don Wilcox as VP Marketing.

France’s Annecy International Animation Film Festival has unveiled the prize winners of its biggest edition to date, running from June 11 to 17.

Ben Croll Chiara Malta and Sébastien Laudenbach’s hand-painted marvel “Chicken for Linda!” took home dual honors at the Annecy Animation Festival on Saturday, scooping up the festival’s top prize, the Cristal Award for best feature, as well as the Gan Foundation award for distribution. A bittersweet childhood tale that finds screwball humor in mourning and melancholy, the French-language film premiered to some acclaim out of Cannes’ ACID sidebar last month, and was picked up for North American distribution by Gkids while competing in Annecy. “We wanted something both funny and affecting,” said co-director Chiara Malta. “The two elements were never in conflict, because we made the film for children, putting ourselves in their perspectives while adopting their language.”

Holly Jones Folding the intricacies of the human condition into everyday life in Jordan, director Cynthia Madanat Sharaiha (“Noor”) bows her feature debut “Saleem” in competition at the Annecy Animation Festival. The film marks the first Jordanian selection for the festival and was selected as part of this year’s Contrechamp strand which includes Pablo Berger’s offbeat friendship study “Robot Dreams,” a Cannes Festival standout, alongside 10 additional titles. Aiming to dismantle preconceived notions, Madanat Sharaiha calls on the tradition of storytelling prevalent in her culture to ensure a fuller perspective, parlaying the region’s quotidian routines into vivid, wide-eyed renderings of rambunctious and endearing children, their parents and the captivating provincial terrain.

EXCLUSIVE: Neon is nearing a deal for North American rights to Cannes competition entry Perfect Days from The Match Factory in a deal pegged in the mid-to-high six figures.

Holly Jones Validated at Cannes by a U.S. sale to Neon for Pablo Berger’s “Robot Dreams,” Catalan animation is on a roll – thanks to ambitious creatives muscular state funding, cutting edge talent and diverse stories that captivate global audiences. “Catalonia’s long had a strong tradition of important animation production companies, which developed ambitious projects,” Edgar Garcia, general director of Catalan cultural company agency ICEC, told Variety. “Over the years, this resulted in the creation of smaller studios with highly qualified professionals on the creative and technical sides. Those studios and professionals are now working for productions all over the world,” he added.

Neon has acquired North American rights to Justine Triet’s Cannes Competition feature Anatomy of a Fall.

There is no dialogue. There are no humans.

NEON announced today that they have taken the North American rights to Spanish filmmaker Pablo Berger’s first animated feature film “Robot Dreams,” based on the award-winning graphic novel of the same name by Sara Varon. The movie will be screened for the first time in Cannes this coming Saturday, May 20 in the Special Screenings section of the festival.

Pat Saperstein Deputy Editor In its first acquisition at the Cannes Film Festival, Neon has picked up North American rights to director Pablo Berger’s animated feature “Robot Dreams” ahead of its world premiere in Cannes on Saturday. The Spanish filmmaker of “Blancanieves” based his first animated feature on the award-winning graphic novel by Sara Varon. “Robot Dreams” screens Saturday in the Special Screenings section of the festival. Neon previously scored three consecutive Palme d’Or wins with “Parasite,” “Titane” and “Triangle of Sadness.” “Robot Dreams” is described as a “universal exploration of the importance and fragility of friendship.” It follows DOG, a New York canine who decides to build himself a robot companion. They become inseparable, to the rhythm of 1980s New York city, until the sad summer night when DOG is forced to abandon ROBOT at the beach.

Neon has acquired North American rights to Robot Dreams, the first animated feature from Spanish filmmaker Pablo Berger (Blancanieves), which is poised to premiere in the Special Screenings section of the Cannes Film Festival this Saturday, May 20th.

Catalonia has become one of Europe’s most vibrant regional audiovisual forces. The proof can be found at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. More than 50 Catalan companies — some 100 executives and creatives — are expected to attend. Five films, four by new directors, have made the official cut at Cannes; six projects play in Marché du Film showcases. The three biggest Catalan movies at the festival, Elena Martin’s “Creature,” Pham Thiên An’s “Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell,” both in Directors’ Fortnight, and Pablo Berger’s “Robot Dreams,” playing out of competition, also underscore strong trends coursing through current Catalan cinema, including international co-production and an exploding animation scene.

Spain trails only France in the number of animated projects set to pitch in March at Bordeaux’s 2022 Cartoon Movie, a key international event for the artform.Spanish producers will bring 10 feature projects to the event, including two from Lorena Ares and Carlos Fernández de Vigo in “Moonbeam” and “DinoGames,” María Trenor’s “Rock Bottom,” Lorenzo Degl’Innocenti and Xosé Zapata’s “Draw” and Carmen Córdoba’s “A World of Their Own.”From the slate, four are international co-productions, two boast budgets more than €8 million ($9.04 million) and seven of the 10 projects are aimed at adult audiences, mirroring a recent global trend. With a glut of projects currently in the works from Spain, several other possible gems include Pablo Berger’s Elle Driver-sold “Robot Dreams,” Warner Bros. España and 4 Cats Pictures’ co-production “Mummies,” Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal’s “They Shot the Piano Player” – sold by Film Constellation – Salvador Simó’s SC Films Intl.-sold “Dragonkeeper,” and the third release from the popular “Tadeo Jones” franchise.Spain has a long and solid tradition in animation, particularly in developing talent.