‘The August Virgin’ Star Itsaso Arana’s Directorial Debut Swooped on by Bendita Film Sales (EXCLUSIVE)

Shakira has celebrated a string of Guinness World Record wins with a performance of ‘Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 53’ on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.The diss track, aimed at Shakira’s former partner Gerard Piqué, was released in January and quickly became the most watched Latin song on Youtube.As it stands, ‘Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Italian sales company True Colours has closed a raft of sales following Berlin’s European Film Market. Italy’s box office hit “La Stranezza” (“Strangeness”) got picked up for a dozen territories and queer romantic drama “Norwegian Dream” also sold widely, including to North America. Directed by Roberto Andò, “Strangeness” (pictured) toplines Toni Servillo (“The Great Beauty”) as Nobel-prize-winning playwright Luigi Pirandello. This tragicomic period piece about how Pirandello found inspiration to write his masterpiece “Six Characters in Search of an Author” has been a sleeper hit at the Italian box office, coming from nowhere to pull more than €5.5 million ($5.8 million) and becoming the local 2022 box office champ.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Mk2 films has enlisted leading distributors around the world for “Reality,” Tina Satter’s feature debut starring Sydney Sweeney, on the heels of its buzzy world premiere at the Berlinale. The movie, which bowed in the Panorama section, stars Sweeney (“White Lotus,” “Euphoria”) as Reality Winner, a 25 year-old whistleblower who spent five years in prison during the Trump administration. A former U.S. Air Force member and National Security Agency translator, Winner was convicted for leaking a confidential report on Russian election interference to the media. The film is based on Satter’s 2019 stage play “Is This a Room” and contains verbatim dialogue from the unedited transcript of a FBI audio recording. “Reality” captures the tense and surreal 90 minutes of FBI’s interrogation with Winner at her home in 2017.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Autlook Filmsales has sold “Smoke Sauna Sisterhood,” which won the directing award for Anna Hints in the World Cinema Documentary section at Sundance, to more than 20 territories in North America, Europe and Australia. Deals are confirmed with Neue Visionen in Germany, Trigon in Switzerland, Against Gravity in Poland, Fidalgo in Norway, Ost For Paradise in Denmark, Vedetta in Benelux, Filmtrade in Greece and Cyprus, FilmIn in Spain, Alambique in Portugal, Filmladen in Austria, Pasaka Films in Lithuania, Artcam in Czech Rep. and Slovak Rep., Best Film in Latvia, Mozinet in Hungary, and Madman in Australia and New Zealand. The rights in U.S. have been picked up by Greenwich Entertainment and in Canada by Sherry Media Group. The theatrical release in Estonia is by ACME Film.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Sideshow and Janus Films have bought North American rights for “Orlando, My Political Biography,” Paul B. Preciado’s film which won four awards at the Berlinale. In “Orlando, My Political Biography,” Preciado sheds light on Virginia Woolf’s “Orlando,” the first novel in which the main character changes sex in the middle of the story.  A century later, Preciado, who is a trans writer and activist, decides to send a film letter to Woolf, telling her that Orlando has come out of her fiction and is living a life she could have never imagined. Preciado organizes a casting and gathers 26 contemporary trans and non-binary people, from 8 to 70 years old, who embody Orlando.

Jenna Ortega, Camila Mendes, and Danny Ramirez. The ‘Wednesday’ star continues to showcase her talent following the worldwide success of the Netflix series, while the ‘Riverdale’ actress has been enjoying the recognition of her latest rom-com ‘Do Revenge.’Ramirez has had some incredible roles, most recently with the success of ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ and ‘The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.’ This time the three Hollywood stars will be directed by acclaimed filmmaker Francisca Alegria, for the film adaptation of the play ‘the House of Bernarda Alba’ by Federico García Lorca.The original story follows the story of women in rural Spain, and focuses on the tragedy of 60-year-old Bernarda Alba, after losing her husband.

K.J. Yossman Freida Pinto is lending her voice to a new animated film project in honor of International Women’s Day. She Creates Change is a new nonprofit-led animation and live action film project from global education organization Room to Read produced by Nexus Studios. The multi-media initiative, which spans a six-episode film series as well as books and audio stories, aims to promote gender equality through telling the stories of young women across the planet. It will initially be available in English, Hindi and Spanish with plans to translate it into dozens more languages and will be distributed across the world via Room to Read and educational partnerships. The project will also be released to general audiences in October.

Former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has congratulated goalkeeper David de Gea after he registered a record-breaking 181st clean sheet for the club during Sunday's 2-0 Carabao Cup final triumph over Newcastle United at Wembley.

Callum McLennan Laura Ferrés’ “The Permanent Picture” has been acquired by Be For Films. The deal is announced a fortnight before the film screens at Malaga WIP where it ranks as the most buzzed of the section’s titles.  The debut follows Ferrés success with short “The Disinherited,” which won the 2017 Cannes Critics’ Week Leica Cine Discovery Prize, in addition to grabbing Goya and Gaudi gongs. It depicts the director’s own father reluctantly facing the end of the family business. “The Permanent Picture” is produced by Spain’s Fasten Films, in co-production with Le Bureau (France), and Volta Production (Spain).

Supermarket giant Lidl has implemented a strict nationwide rule in all supermarkets that will affect anyone who shops there. It comes after Tesco, Sainsbury's, Aldi and Morrisons all implemented similar policies across stores.

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent Former top VIS exec Laura Abril has been appointed EVP of scripted and global business development at Buendía Estudios, producer of “Veneno,” “Cardo” Season 1 and “Offworld,” in a move which signals the large international ambitions of one of Spain’s key production powerhouses. Abril will report to Ignacio Corrales, Buendía Estudios CEO.  Rising through the ranks at Viacom from 2009, Abril crowned her career at the studio as the highest-ranking international TV executive in Spain named in 2019 as head of ViacomCBS International Studios (VIS) for Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia. 

EXCLUSIVE: Cleopatra Entertainment has acquired North American rights to Argentinian director and producer Nicolas Onetti’s slasher picture What The Waters Left Behind: Scars.

David de Gea thinks Fred 'deserved' his goal in Manchester United's win against Barcelona because of his team mentality.

Due to a 'perfect storm' of bad weather and the rising cost of living, tomatoes have become nigh on impossible to find in the supermarkets. Shoppers across the country have been sharing their frustration on social media after being unable get hold of the fruit and veg at their local stores.

Liza Foreman ZDF Studios has signed a deal to distribute the second season of the remake of the iconic Spanish horror series “Stories to Stay Awake” (“Historias Para No Dormir”). The series is a reboot of the classic series created by Spain’s Chicho Ibáñez Serrador in the 1960s which proved a milestone in Spanish horror, introducing Spain to classic tales from Ray Bradbury, Edgar Allen Poe,   The deal sees ZDF Studios taking distribution rights to “Stories” in all territories outside Spain, Portugal, Italy and Latin America, which will be handled by Paramount Global Content Distribution. ZDF operated in the same capacity for the first season.

Peter Schmeichel congratulated David de Gea after the Spaniard equalled his tally for the most clean sheets for Manchester United.

Marta Balaga DR Sales has closed a deal with Walter Presents on the popular drama series “Carmen Curlers.” The company has picked up the show for the U.K. and Ireland, as well as taking North American rights for PBS Masterpiece. Based on true events and kick-starting in the 1960s, the show chronicles the invention of the electric curler in Denmark. It also focuses on its female workers, making their own money for the first time in their lives, and societal changes, already lurking around the corner. “I am absolutely delighted to welcome ‘Carmen Curlers’ in the Walter Presents collection of the very best international drama,” says executive director Walter Luzzolino, calling it “a warm, incisive, emotionally absorbing piece with a gorgeous vintage aesthetic and a truly remarkable script.” 

David de Gea's clean sheet in the victory over Leicester City on Sunday means that the goalkeeper has now recorded the joint-highest clean sheets for Manchester United.

Pablo Sandoval “Los pequeños amores,” the latest film from Celia Rico who made a splash at the 2018 San Sebastian Festival with “Journey to a Mother’s Room,” has been acquired for international sales by Spain-based Latido Films. Produced by Barcelona-based Arcadia Motion Pictures, which co-produced Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s 2023 Goya winner and box office breakout “The Beasts, and France’s Noodles Production (“One Year, One Night”), Rico’s second feature is set in a bucolic countryside. It weighs in as a mother-daughter two-hander sparked after strongly independent mother Ani falls over walking the dog and is forced to use a wheelchair to get around. 

Emiliano De Pablos Prolific Andalusian production company La Claqueta has tapped award-winning screenwriter-producer Alberto Marini (“La Unidad,” “Apagón”) to direct rural thriller “Últimos días de caza” (“Last Days of Hunting.”) Penned by José Cabeza, co-scribe on 2016’s “7 Years,” Netflix first Spanish original movie, “Last Days of Hunting” has a completed screenplay and has initiated financing.  The aim is to close the financing phase during this year and begin shooting second quarter 2024, probably in northern Spain. “Last Days of Hunting” leads a growth-period for Seville-based La Claqueta, which is raising the ante in terms of film production ambitions.