Sunny Side of the Doc, the world’s biggest documentary-focused marketplace in the world, wrapped its 35th edition Thursday, after gathering 2,100 participants over four days in La Rochelle, France.
27.06.2024 - 21:09 / variety.com
Anna Marie de la Fuente The Mediapro Studio’s “El 47,” the rousing true story of “a man, a bus and a neighborhood’s fate,” bows its official international teaser in Variety. Helmed by multi-Goya award-winner Marcel Barrena (“Mediterraneo”), it follows bus driver Manolo Vital who is frustrated with the Barcelona City Council’s claim that public transport cannot reach the Torre Baró district due to narrow and unsafe roads. He seizes control of the route 47 bus to prove them wrong.
Many Torre Baró residents participated as extras, having witnessed or been related to those who experienced Vital’s 1978 challenge, showcasing the neighborhood’s unity and pride. Shot in sepia tones, the drama, co-penned by Barrena and Alberto Marini (“The Stranger”), features a stellar cast led by Eduard Fernández, winner of three Goya awards, a San Sebastian Silver Shell and three Malaga Festival Silver Biznagas, along with Clara Segura, a Goya nominee for “Creatura.” The rest of the cast include Zoe Bonafonte (“Escándalo”), Salva Reina (“Iron Reign”), Carlos Cuevas (“Merlí: Sapere aude”), Oscar de la Fuente (“The Good Boss”), Vicente Romero (Intemperie, Express), Betsy Túrnez (“The One-Eyed King”) and Aimar Vega (“Los pequeños amores”).
It also features a special appearance by David Verdaguer, winner of Goya awards for “Summer 1993” and “Jokes & Cigarettes.” Verdaguer will star in the upcoming eight-part series “El Mal” (“Quiet”) that the Spanish film & TV giant presented at MipTV. Mediapro announced at the TV confab that it had joined forces with Catalan pubcaster 3Cat and its online platform to co-produce the thriller series, also based on a true story, about a serial killer terrorizing the streets of locked-down Barcelona during the height
.Sunny Side of the Doc, the world’s biggest documentary-focused marketplace in the world, wrapped its 35th edition Thursday, after gathering 2,100 participants over four days in La Rochelle, France.
Naman Ramachandran The 32nd Raindance Film Festival (June 19-28) has revealed its jury award winners, reflecting a renewed focus on emerging filmmakers. Korean thriller “Sleep,” directed by Jason Yu and starring Lee Sun-kyun and Jung Yu-mi, took home the Discovery Award for best debut feature. The film marks Lee’s final role before his passing.
Disney/Pixar’s Inside Out 2 keeps on soaring, reaching $799.7M globally through Tuesday. Within that, its international box office crossed the four-century mark at a running cume of $411.9M from 44 overseas markets through Tuesday. In North America, Inside Out 2 rose to $387.8M, moving well up the domestic animated chart.
Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Peruvian director Paolo Tizón‘s documentary “Night Has Come,” which has its world premiere Sunday in the Proxima competition section at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival, has debuted its trailer (below). The film centers on a group of young men, many of them teenagers, who sign up for one of the most challenging military training courses in Latin America. The objective is to turn them into fearsome fighters operating in the dangerous VRAEM region, an area plagued by various armed groups, guarding their coca plants and engaged in narcotics trafficking.
Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Bridgerton” star Florence Hunt, Jim Sturgess and Australia’s Teresa Palmer (“The Clearing,” “The Fall Guy”) have joined the cast of “Mix Tape,” a music-themed drama series. The Australian-Irish co-production shot in Sydney in May and is now underway in Dublin. The series is adapted by Irish writer Jo Spain (“Taken Down,” “Sanditon”) from the popular and critically-acclaimed novel of the same title by Jane Sanderson.
Manchester United are reportedly preparing a second bid for Jarrad Branthwaite.
Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor The Palm Springs International ShortFest has announced the juried and audience award winners for its 2024 edition, which took place June 18-24. Over $25,000 in cash prizes and five Academy Award-qualifying honors were presented to the winning films, which included Esteban Pedraza’s “Bogotá Story” and Jadwiga Kowalska’s animated film “The Car That Came Back from the Sea.” See a full list of winners below.
John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent Making further inroads into markets in Central and Eastern Europe and beyond, Studiocanal, one of Europe’s top production-distribution-international sales powerhouses, has clinched further sales on premium daily drama “The Vow” (“La Promesa”), closing Poland and two Baltic States, as well as France. Produced by Spain’s Bambú Producciones (“Velvet,” “Cable Girls”), a Studiocanal company, Studiocanal and national Spanish public broadcaster RTVE, “The Vow” has been acquired by Polish pubcaster TVP Poland, state-backed network ERR Estonia and state-owned LTV Latvia. In additional new sales, Dubai TV has closed rights to MENA territories.
Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Karla Sofía Gascón, who delivered a breakthrough performance as a ruthless narco gangster transitioning in Jacques Audiard’s crime musical “Emilia Pérez,” has revealed how she fought to get the part. “At the beginning, (Audiard) did not consider me for the role (of Juan “Manitas” Del Monte), he only wanted me to play the female role after the transition,” the Spanish actress said during a masterclass at the Biarritz’ Nouvelles Vagues Festival, speaking in a packed theater.
Refresh for latest…: Wednesday was yet another joyous day for Disney/Pixar’s Inside Out 2 as the sequel set opening benchmarks in new overseas releasing markets. The full offshore day was $29M (22% of the weekend), lifting the international box office cume to $203.3M in 42 markets, and global to $438.7M. The half a billion worldwide mark is around the corner.
The owners of one of Manchester’s oldest pubs has issued an update into its legal battle with brewing giant Heineken.
John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent TOLEDO, Spain — Launched in November, Banijay Branded Entertainment (BBE), has closed strategic partnerships aligned with software, insights and data company, Launchmetrics, and Banijay Iberia’s creative agency IMA, in order to enhance the expertise and appeal to clients of BBE’s 360° production, marketing and measurement services. Made at Spain’s Conecta Fiction, the announcement comes hours before Carlotta Rossi Spencer, head of branded entertainment business development, Banijay Entertainment, will talk on a panel at the forum, as producers and companies look for ever more engaging ways to promote their content and brands – and measure the results of their campaigns.
John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent TOLEDO, Spain — Delivering a masterclass on the first full day of Conecta Fiction in Spain’s Toledo, Javiera Balmaceda – Amazon Studios’ head of international originals, Latin America – underscored one of the perils of frequent air travel, in her case around South America: a voice reduced at times to a near gasp. All credit to her; she soldiered on, and her ideas came over loud and clear. Takeaways from her masterclass, one of the highlights of early Conecta Fiction.
John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent TOLEDO, Spain — Brazil’s Ventre Studio is readying a powerful slate of scripted series mining the rapidly growing Portugal-Brazil co-production axis, which Ventre itself has helped forge with “Godless John,” produced by Ventre Studio and Canal Brasil as well as Coral Europa and TVI in Portugal. First up in titles is dramedic mini-series “Coligay,” directed by Oscar-nominated Paulo Machline (“A Soccer Story”) and Rafael Gomes, helmer of LGBTQ romantic drama “45 Days Away From You.” Canal Brasil has boarded “Coligay” licensing Brazilian first window TV rights.
Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent “Flow,” a director-driven animated feature which world premiered at Cannes’ Un Certain Regard and just swept three awards at Annecy Film Festival, has been embraced by a raft of major distributors in key territories, including the U.K., Japan, South Korea, Germany, Spain and Italy. The movie is represented internationally by Charades.
John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent Teresa Azcona, a driving force behind the build of the Spain Film Commission’s emergence as one of the key institutional players on Southern Europe’s locations scene, has been named general manager of the Madrid Audiovisual Cluster. While Barcelona has a thriving new generation of auteurist movie directors and producers and a building animation scene, Madrid has reaped the largest benefit of Spain’s building, decade-long TV boom. Spain’s Mediaset, Atresmedia, Movistar Plus+, The Mediapro Studio, Secuoya Group and Netflix’s European Production Hub are all located in a golden triangle stretching from northern Madrid to satellite town Tres Cantos, a 25-minute drive north of the Spanish capital.
Anna Marie de la Fuente Now on its 8th edition, the international TV forum Conecta Fiction & Entertainment (CF&E), held in the ancient Spanish city of Toledo from June 18 to 21, is turning its focus to Brazil and Portugal. The South American country is haltingly reactivating its audiovisual industry under President Lula de Silva’s new government, which earmarked nearly $1 billion for the sector last year.
The Grand Jury Prize for International Competition at Sheffield DocFest has gone to At the Door of the House, Who Will Come Knocking, the feature directorial debut of Maja Novaković, a filmmaker from Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Jack Grealish won't be gracing the pitch in Germany this summer as Gareth Southgate omitted him from the England squad for Euro 2024 – with injury troubles throughout the season being a contributing factor.
Marta Balaga Spanish Animation is ready for more international collaborations in the near future, but there is one stipulation: “Passion is mandatory,” said Hampa Studio’s Álvaro García González. Behind “The Treasure of Barracuda,” the company is currently eyeing Latin America. “Anybody who makes animation needs passion.