‘Sigue Mi Voz’: Ariana Godoy Webnovel Gets Film Adaptation With Wattpad Webtoon, Beta & Zeta Studios On Board

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Beta Film has sold more than 100 hours of drama series to PBS Distribution-backed Walter Presents for the U.S., and Channel 4-backed Walter Presents for the U.K. Five seasons of Italy’s gritty crime series “Rocco Schiavone” as well as Canadian mystery dramas “The Wall – The Chateau Murder” and “The Wall – The Orchard” will be available in both territories.

EXCLUSIVE: The Lives of Others star Sebastian Koch and The Death of My Mother‘s Elsie de Brauw have joined Máxima, RTL’s upcoming drama about the Argentine-born Queen of the Netherlands. Germany’s Beta Film has also joined the Millstreet Films production.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Sound of Freedom, the indie action-drama film that has already earned over $125 million at the North American box office, will begin to move into international distribution from next month.Angel Studios, the crowd-funded, Utah-based production and distribution firm behind the picture, says it has set releases in territories including the U.K., Australia and Latin America. The company explained that it has arranged direct-to-theater distribution deals in Latin America, the U.K, and Ireland. In other territories it will take the more conventional route of partnering with distributors.

Angel Studios is launching its unexpected summer hit Sound of Freedom in a bunch of international markets after it made $127M during its first three weeks in U.S. theaters. 

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent The 80th Venice Film Festival is announcing its lineup on Tuesday from the Italian city, where artistic director Alberto Barbera and La Biennale president Roberto Cicutto are holding a press conference. The Lido’s only previously announced titles in the main selection are the opener, Italian director Edoardo De Angelis’ “Comandante” — a lavish anti-war epic featuring local star Pierfrancesco Favino as a heroic Sicilian World War II naval officer — and the closer, Netflix’s survival thriller “Society of the Snow” by Spanish filmmaker J.A. Bayona. “Comandante” replaced Luca Guadagnino’s sexy sports comedy “Challengers,” starring Zendaya, which had previously been set as the fest’s buzzy opener but was pulled due to promotional complications prompted by the SAG-AFTRA strike.

The Venice Film Festival will announce the lineup for its 80th edition Tuesday at 11 a.m. European time (3 a.m. PT/6 a.m. ET). Venice Artistic Director Alberto Barbera will be joined by Biennale President Roberto Cicutto to reveal this year’s titles.

Venice International Film Festival has announced which film will be closing the event in September.

The Venice Film Festival will close with the world premiere of J. A. Bayona’s Netflix survival thriller La Sociedad De La Nieve (Society Of The Snow).

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Spanish director J.A. Bayona’s “Society of the Snow,” a reconstruction of a 1972 plane crash in the Andes that forced survivors to take extreme measures, including cannibalism, has been set as the Venice Film Festival’s closing film. The deeply immersive Spanish-language saga is a Netflix original film shot in Andalusia’s Sierra Nevada, mainland Spain’s highest mountain range, using a 300-person crew. “Society of the Snow” will world premiere on the Lido out-of-competition on Sept. 9th. Its official screening will be held in the Palazzo del Cinema after the awards ceremony. In 1972 Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571, which had been chartered to bring Montevideo’s Old Christians Rugby Club team to Chile, crashed at an altitude of 11,712 feet in the Andes.  Of its 45 passengers – which consisted mostly of the rugby team, friends and family – 29 survived. Without food, the survivors, who belonged to Uruguay’s elite, were forced to eat the flesh of the deceased to stay alive. 19 survived an avalanche. 72 days after the crash, 16 finally made it out alive. 

EXCLUSIVE: Anonymous Content has partnered with New Europe Film Sales to handle North American rights for animated feature The Peasants, directed by Oscar-nominated Loving Vincent filmmakers D.K. Welchman and Hugh Welchman. 

Wimbledon was the place to be for celebrities this weekend, and Kate Middleton and the royal family were the stars of the show. The Princess of Wales wore a green Roland Mouret dress, according to People, for the event.  The outlet also noted she accessorized with a bow pin in dark green and purple, the color of the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, a royal patronage she received from Queen Elizabeth II in 2016.

EXCLUSIVE: A significant shakeup in the European indie film space is underway with the formation of new studio Vuelta Group, Deadline can reveal.

Atresplayer, which ambitiously re-launches July 5.  Just until a few years ago, European TV giants treated their streaming operations to bedrock linear lineups. Those days have gone. At Annecy, BBC and France Télévisions were talking up their streaming services as their future. ITV and Germany’s RTL are bowing their biggest plays on OTT operations, ITVX and RTL+, respectively, powering up strong subscriptions’ hikes.  Belgium’s VRT currently estimates “almost a 50/50 split” in its acquisitions budget as it focusing on “finding unique series that viewers wouldn’t expect from a public broadcaster for its streaming service,” Sven Van Lokeren, head of international fiction series acquisition at Belgium’s VRT told Variety at February’s London TV Screenings. 

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.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music Puerto Rican superstar singer Ozuna has signed with Scooter Braun’s SB Projects, in partnership with his longtime manager Edgar Andino, CEO of Andino Marketing Group, the companies announced on Thursday. Ozuna, one of Latin music’s most popular artists, joins a roster that includes Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande, Demi Lovato, The Kid Laroi and others. Colombian singer J Balvin signed with the company in 2020 but left recently. “We’ve been following Ozuna’s career for years and we’re excited to be bringing him into the family to work with him and Edgar. Ozuna’s music is unmatched.  His ability to work across genres including reggaeton, Latin pop, and more, is phenomenal. With unique songs offering fresh perspective and beautiful sounds, We’re thrilled to amplify his artistry with this partnership,” offered Jennifer McDaniels, President of Management, SB Projects.

Holly Jones Inspired by the simmering one-man rebellion that kicked off a tremendous tide-change in Barcelona, writer-director Marcel Barrena (“Mediterraneo: The Law of the Sea”) and Spain’s The Mediapro Studio have begun filming “The 47.” TMS has released first look images. The premise centers on social activist bus driver Manolo Vital, played by three-time Goya Award winner Eduardo Fernández (“Smoke & Mirrors”), as he grows increasingly outraged at the abject neglect faced by immigrant communities outside the city’s center, whose neighborhoods, peeled by immigrants from Extremadura and Andalusia, had only just achieved running water.

‘Liaison’ Producer Ringside Studios Hires ‘Industry’ Exec

Holly Jones LaLiga Studios, created by Banijay Iberia and Spain’s LaLiga soccer league, is expanding its management team as it has created a new doc co-production, “The Power of Our Fútbol.” Paz Pérez Sanz, Marta Ruiz and Anabel López Antolín are set to join the company as art director, director of new projects, and director of production respectively.  Sanz comes on board after four years at Real Madrid TV, having created assets for multiple TV companies including Movistar Plus+, Cuatro, Telecinco and Canal+ and worked on campaigns for Disney, AXN, Discovery Max, Turner (TNT and Boing), Comedy Central, MTV and Ondas.

Shakira is in her mermaid era. The singer has been having fun in the water all summer, with the avid surfer moving on to another water activity- wakeboarding! Last week the Colombian spent the afternoon wakeboarding with her sons, Sasha and Milan, in Miami.