Spain’s Atresmedia TV, Buendía Estudios Vizcaya to Adapt ‘Angela Black’ (EXCLUSIVE)

EXCLUSIVE: Venezuelan author Ariana Godoy’s Spanish-language webnovel Sigue Mi Voz is being adapted into a feature film.

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent A bevy of established auteurs – Joachim Lafosse, Cristi Puiu, Robin Campillo and Martín Rejtman – rub shoulders with the fast-rising figures of Maria Alche and Benjamín Naishtat and new U.S. discovery Raven Jackson among a first batch of directors contending in main competition at September’s San Sebastian Film Festival.  Also in the mix, announced Friday, is U.S. writer-director Noah Pritzker (“Quitters”) whose “Ex-Husbands” headlines “After Hours” co-stars Griffin Dunne and Rosanna Arquette.  Always open under director José Luis Rebordinos to a broader gamut of movies than many other “A” fests, the first features confirmed Friday include four comedies with notably a change of register to lighter comedy for both Naishtat and Alche, who triumphed at 2017’s San Sebastián with “Rojo” and “A Family Submerged,” best director and Horizontes winners respectively. 

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

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Vivendi has entered into exclusive negotiations with Figaro Group, the company behind one of France’s leading national newspapers, to sell its stake in Gala magazine. The sale of Gala is one of two antitrust requirements imposed by the European Commission to allow Vivendi to complete its acquisition of French media banner Lagardère Group, the parent company of Hachette Livres. The other antitrust commitment has led Vivendi to sell 100% of its publishing banner Editis to a subsidiary of Czech Media Invest (CMI) founded by Daniel Kretinsky. Editis is home to Robert Laffont, Plon and Julliard, among others. Gala magazine, a popular French title similar to People Magazine, boasts a daily edition during the Cannes Film Festival and belongs to Prisma Media, which is itself owned by Vivendi.

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 TOLEDO, Spain — Carmen Machi (“Piggy,” “30 Coins”), one of the foremost performers of her generation in Spain, is attached to play legendary Barcelona agent Carmen Balcells, prime architect of the Latin American Boom and a key figure in the break out of Gabriel García Márquez and Mario Vargas Llosa to worldwide renown.  Chile’s Invercine, producer of “News of a Kidnapping” which swept April’s Platino Awards, is teaming with Spain’s Abacus, Pausoka and Grupo Lavinia to develop and produce “Boom Agency” (“La Agencia del Boom”) which turns on Balcells extraordinary life, achievement and personality. The deal was confirmed to Variety at Conecta Fiction.

Manori Ravindran Executive Editor of International Gugu Mbatha-Raw will lead the voice cast of the animated short film “To My Daughter.” The “Surface” star will narrate the movie, which is an adaptation of “This Thread of Gold,” the debut book by actor, writer, filmmaker and UN gender advisor Catherine Joy White (“Black Mirror,” “Ten Percent”). “This Thread of Gold” is billed as a celebration of Black womanhood, weaving a story about resilience that connects Beyoncé, Nina Simone, Shirley Chisholm and Meghan Markle, as well as those throughout history “who resisted in secret through trusted networks.” The film is described as “part guidebook, part exuberant narrative and part poetry.”

Anna Marie de la Fuente Chile’s Daniela Ramirez, International Emmy-nominated for her performance in HBO Max’s three-part limited series “Isabel: The Intimate Story of Isabel Allende,” is attached to star in the upcoming sci-fi thriller series “La Isla.” The series will be directed by Claudia Huaiquimilla, among the pioneering Mapuche filmmakers emerging from Chile who made her international debut with her well-received pics, “Bad Influence” and “My Brothers Dream Awake,” the latter premiering at the 74th Locarno Film Festival. Among the stellar Chilean projects being presented at Conecta Fiction, the premier television event taking place in Toledo, Spain, “La Isla” received the highest grant given out by Chilean goverment org CNTV last year. Sales agent Esperanza Garay has also signed on to rep the film.

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent TOLEDO, Spain — Warner Bros. Discovery has announced the greenlight and start of production of its first new Spanish series for Max, crime thriller  “When Nobody Sees Us,” whose eight episodes will be directed by Spain’s Enrique Urbizu (“No Rest for the Wicked”). The produced by “Elite” producer Zeta Studios.   Based on the same title novel by Sergio Sarria, “When Nobody Sees Us” has been written by lead writer Daniel Corpas (“The Ministry of Time,” “Malaka”) heading a writing team with the collaboration of Arturo Ruiz and Isa Sánchez. Set against Spain’s 2023 Holy Week celebrations, “When Nobody Sees Us,” is set in Morón de la Frontera, south east of Seville in Andalusia’s deep Spain, next to a U.S. Army Air Force base. There, Lucía Gutiérrez,  a Spanish Civil Guard sergeant, investigates the bizarre suicide of a neighbour and strange events at the first Holy Week float processions.

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. 

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.”

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent Marking its first corporate step in international expansion outside Spain, Madrid-based Zeta Studios, producer of “Elite” and “García!” has named Marcelo Tamburri, one of Latin America’s preeminent TV execs, to the newly-created position of director of international content. Spun off from the sale of publishing house Grupo Zeta to Prensa Ibérica in 2019, and rebranded from Zeta Audiovisual, when it comes to individual titles., Zeta Studios boasts one of the biggest international reaches of any production house in Spain.   The appointment comes as Netflix preps the bow of “Elite” Season 7 on Oct. 20, making “Elite” one of the longest-running of streamer series and one of the most successful from outside the U.S., its Seasons 3 and 4 ranking in Netflix’s Top 10 of most-viewed non-English series ever on the OTT service with 334.8 million and 302.2 million hours viewed.   

Tenoch Huerta will no longer star in Netflix’s Fiesta en la Madriguera in light of his sexual misconduct scandal.

Tenoch Huerta, who gained mainstream fame last year playing Namor in “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”, is exiting production on the forthcoming Netflix film, “Fiesta en la Madriguera”, amid allegations of sexual assault.

Emiliano De Pablos French-Argentinian actress Anais Weill (“Emily in Paris,” “Black Box”) and Spain’s Dariam Coco (“Money Heist,” “Welcome to Eden”) are set to star in Spanish-U.K. sci-fi thriller series “Border Station.” Top Spanish indie producer-distributor Vertice 360 is teaming with Madrid’s Anacaona Productions and London-based Born Wild to co-produce the project, which is at development stage. The six-episode, one hour TV drama was created by Born Wild founder Anthony Alleyne (“Sunburn”). Anacaona’s Vianessa Castaños has been tapped to serve as showrunner and lead writer, alongside France-based author Geoff Dupuy-Holder (“Dark Sense”). 

Emiliano De Pablos Story House Pictures co-founder Andreas Gutzeit, head writer-showrunner on Beta/RTL smash hit series “Sisi,” is prepping “Disgrace,” a fast-paced thriller mini-series set during Argentina’s 1978 Soccer World Cup. Gutzeit will serve as “Disgrace’s” showrunner and head writer, re-teaming with Swantje Oppermann and Florian Puchert, part of the German writing team with Gutzeit behind “Dignity,” the critically lauded and pioneering Story House’s Chile-Germany co-production. At a development and scriptwriting stage, with a pilot script available, “Disgrace” features among the 10 projects playing at the Pitch Copro Series sidebar in Conecta Fiction 2023, which takes place June 26-29 in Toledo, the capital of Spain’s Castilla-La Mancha.

Tenoch Huerta, who gained mainstream fame last year playing Namor in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, is exiting production on the forthcoming Netflix film, , amid allegations of sexual assault.Huerta announced the news of his departure in a statement to on Wednesday.«Given the impact of the recent false statements by María Elena Ríos and the damage they have caused, I have no choice but to withdraw from participating in the film ,» Huerta claimed in his statement. «It is with great sadness that I do this, but I cannot allow her actions to harm not only me, but also the work of dozens of talented and hard-working people involved in the project.»«My focus now is simple: continue the process of restoring my reputation,» Huerta concluded.Netflix first announced the project in May, with director Manolo Caro helming production on a screenplay from Oscar-winning scribe Nicolás Giacobone.On June 10, musician María Elena Ríos accused Huerta of being a «sexual predator» — a claim he denied and said was a «false and completely unsubstantiated accusation.»Ríos leveled her allegations on Twitter, writing in Spanish, «It's very difficult to talk about the emotional abuse and the abuse of power of a sexual predator who is loved around the world for playing a character in a movie such as Tenoch Huerta.»«Charming in appearance, the great hallmark of a narcissist + a good helping of victimization,» she added of Huerta, who is also known for his roles in and As for why she didn't report the alleged assault, Ríos explained, «They say those who live in a macho country, where justice is unattainable, where they almost kill you — and even still they don't believe you and justice isn't served.

Black Mirror returned with five new episodes in 2023.Created by Charlie Brooker, the dystopian anthology series is known for its satirical swipes at society’s relationship with technology. The show originally began on Channel 4 in 2011, before shifting over to Netflix from season three onwards in 2016.In the show’s sixth season, an episode titled Beyond The Sea follows two astronauts Cliff (Aaron Paul) and David (Josh Hartnett) on a deep space mission, who catch up with their life back home through replica androids.Directed by John Crowley, the episode also stars Kate Mara, Rory Culkin and Auden Thornton.As confirmed to NME, the countryside manor where Cliff and Lana live with their son Henry was filmed in the seaside town of Whitstable, Kent during last summer’s heatwave.

Emiliano De Pablos The Larraín brothers’ indie company Fábula, producer of Oscar winning “A Fantastic Woman,” is preparing tragi-comic docudrama “Los guardaespaldas de Superman” (“Superman’s Bodyguards”). The four-episode, half-hour crime-adventure series, directed by Sebastián Radic (“Instrucciones para Mi Funeral”) and scripted by Rodrigo Bastidas and Rodrigo Muñoz, focuses on a trip Christopher Reeve’s made to Chile in 1987, under Pinochet’s dictatorship, to save the lives of 78 people under death threat. “Superman’s Bodyguards” is one of the five projects selected to form part of Pitch Docudrama, a showcase at Conecta Fiction 2023 edition, which takes place June 26-29 in Toledo, the capital of Spain’s Castilla-La Mancha, just south of Madrid.

Tourists have been handed a serious warning about pollution issues on 48 beaches across the Spanish coast.