Spanish tale of threatened family farm wins Berlinale's Golden Bear

Anna Marie de la Fuente Barcelona-based Scenic Rights, the leading literary rights broker for Spanish-language film and TV series, has officially opened its Mexico City office as it continues to expand its purview across key territories, including Madrid, Los Angeles and most recently, Prague.The Mexico City office opening, delayed twice by the pandemic, kicks off operations on Monday March 7. According to Scenic Rights CEO, Sydney Borjas, the company’s Mexican branch will oversee more than 30 book to film-TV project adaptations, mostly into series.Ana Karen Larios, previously a foreign rights manager at VF Literary Agency, has been tapped as Scenic Rights’ content manager in Mexico and will report to the agency’s Chief Operating Officer Ignacio Diaz.

Megan Mullally and Nick Offerman took aim at Vladimir Putin during their opening monologue at the Spirit Awards.

complained that the war in Ukraine could impact her planned vacation to Italy. Meanwhile, last month, Behar told audiences that she would be wearing masks in public indefinitely, before she was busted sitting mask-less in a New York City restaurant just days later.

Joy Behar took a tumble at the start of Thursday’s “The View”.

EXCLUSIVE: Euro distributor and producer Ascot Elite Entertainment has secured remake rights to successful Spanish comedy Sentimental for Switzerland and all German-speaking parts of Europe from Filmax and is producing a Swiss remake called The People Upstairs (Die Nachbarn Von Oben).

Joy Behar called out former President Donald Trump for complimenting Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying that the Russian leader was “smart,” during a Hot Topics discussion on The View on Monday February 28. The comedian was responding to a speech that Trump gave at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on Saturday February 26, where he doubled down on comments where he said that Putin was “smart.”

Joy Behar has come under fire for her tone deaf comments about the Russia’s invasion and attack in Ukraine.

Joy Behar is being called out after offensive comments she made about the Russian invasion of Ukraine on Thursday’s edition of “The View”.

Conservative news organizations and social media have pounced on comments made yesterday by The View‘s Joy Behar in which the liberal co-host seemed to bemoan vacation plans ruined by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Premio Lo Nuestro debut.The iconic rock star premiered his new Spanish song, «Por Su Amor,» during the 34th edition of the awards show in Miami, Florida Thursday night.Surrounded by a host of dimly lit candles, Sting, accompanied by just his guitar, sat solo on a stage outside of the venue, as he performed the melodic tune to a captivated, intimate audience.«Por Su Amor» is the Spanish-language adaptation of his song, «For Her Love,» off his latest album, Por Su Amor… ✨

Joy Behar torched Republicans, who have seemingly showed support for Russian President Vladimir Putin. During an interview with ABC News global affairs correspondent Martha Raddatz, The View co-host turned her attention to Republicans who have gone easy on Putin ahead of the attacks in Ukraine on Thursday February 24. Joy asked if the journalist expected there to be any changes in light of the attacks.

Salma Hayek Pinault just cemented a huge partnership with TelevisaUnivision. The actress and producer’s company, called Ventanarosa Productions, struck a two-year first-look pact with the TV giant, in which Ventanarosa will make Spanish speaking films for TelevisaUnivision’s ViX Plus, their soon to be released streaming platform. There’s already a project lined up for production.

BERLIN -- The Catalan family drama “Alcarràs” won the Golden Bear award for best movie at the Berlin International Film Festival on Wednesday.Director Carla Simón's film was picked from a field of 18 by a seven-member jury under American filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan.He said the movie was honored “for its extraordinary performances, from the child actors to the actors in their 80s, for the ability to show the tenderness and comedy of family and struggle, and for the betrayal of our connection and dependence on the land around us.”The film depicts a family that spends its summers picking peaches in an orchard in a village in Spain's Catalonia region, but faces new owners who plan to replace the peach trees with solar panels.Meltem Kaptan took the best leading performance honor for the title role in German director Andreas Dresen's “Rabiye Kurnaz vs.

Emilio Mayorga Spain’s trendiest twosome, Claudia Costafreda and Ana Rujas, are co-creators of “Cardo,” the series on everyone’s lips since launching last fall on Atresplayer, the OTT platform run by Spanish media conglom Atresmedia, last fall and one of Variety’s best international TV shows of 2021.Rujas stars in the furious tirade against external, bogus beauty standards and Costafreda directs with Lluís Sellarès also heading two episodes. “Cardo” is co-produced by Atresmedia’s production arm Buendía Estudios and Suma Content (formerly Suma Latina), the outfit setup by iconic multi-hyphenate partners Los Javis (“Veneno”), selected by Variety as talents to track, as was Costafreda.

EXCLUSIVE: Chris Weitz and Paul Weitz will co-write and co-direct Spanish Dracula, the true story about how silent film star and Mexican actress Lupita Tovar found a second wind starring in  Spanish language versions of Hollywood films like the Universal classic Dracula. The Weitz Brothers are her grandsons, and they will produce through Depth of Field, along with Pancho Kohner. He is their uncle and author of The Sweetheart of Mexico, a memoir he helped his mother write about her most fascinating life.

Emiliano De Pablos Spanish media giant Atresmedia is joining forces with Portocabo, the production outfit behind Movistar Plus hit series “Hierro,” for a remake of Showtime drama “Your Honor,” starring Bryan Cranston.The Spanish redo is currently at the script stage and initiating casting.With an undisclosed number of episodes, the project production is scheduled to kick off this year.The TV series release date is still unknown. But it would be logical for it to launch on platform Atresplayer Premium before airing on Atresmedia’s free-to-air channel Antena 3 primetime, a windowing strategy usually followed by the group with its new fiction releases since Atresplayer Premium bowed in 2019.

Premio Lo Nuestro debut.The iconic rock star will premiere his new Spanish song, «Por Su Amor,» during the 34th edition of the awards show taking place in Miami, Florida, on Feb. 24.

Sasha Urban editorIsabel Torres, the Spanish actor known for portraying the transgender icon Cristina “La Veneno” Ortiz on HBO’s “Veneno,” died Friday, according to a post originally written in Spanish on her official Instagram. She was 52.“Although her family and friends feel her loss deeply, we know that wherever she goes, she will have fun as only she knows how,” the post reads in English. “Thank you for all the messages of affection and concern.