Back in 2020, Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia made his feature directorial debut (after a couple decades of making short films) with the thriller The Platform, which was released through the Netflix streaming service. You can read my very positive review of that film at This Link, but the gist of it is that I was very impressed and was left eager to see what Gaztelu-Urrutia would make next. He was assembling a film called Rich Flu before the strikes last year, but it turns out that the next movie we’ll see from him is a sequel to his debut, The Platform 2. This one will also be making its way out into the world through Netflix, and today a pair of first look images have arrived online to give us a glimpse at what The Platform 2 has in store for us. You can take a look at those at the bottom of this article.
- 4/18/2024
- by Cody Hamman
- JoBlo.com
Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia’s The Platform was a massive hit for Netflix back in 2020, becoming one of the most watched original movies in the streaming service’s history.
Coming soon? The Platform 2! Netflix has shared two first look images from the upcoming sequel this morning, which will again be directed by Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia.
Milena Smit and Hovik Keuchkerian star in The Platform 2.
Netflix previews, “A mysterious figure has managed to establish a new law in The Platform, but can justice truly be enforced in hell? And who will enforce it?”
No word yet on a Netflix premiere date for The Platform 2. Stay tuned.
The first film is set inside a vertical prison system, where inmates are assigned to a level and forced to ration food from a platform that moves between the floors. Inmates on high floors eat better than those below, and one man tries to effect change so everyone gets enough.
Coming soon? The Platform 2! Netflix has shared two first look images from the upcoming sequel this morning, which will again be directed by Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia.
Milena Smit and Hovik Keuchkerian star in The Platform 2.
Netflix previews, “A mysterious figure has managed to establish a new law in The Platform, but can justice truly be enforced in hell? And who will enforce it?”
No word yet on a Netflix premiere date for The Platform 2. Stay tuned.
The first film is set inside a vertical prison system, where inmates are assigned to a level and forced to ration food from a platform that moves between the floors. Inmates on high floors eat better than those below, and one man tries to effect change so everyone gets enough.
- 4/18/2024
- by John Squires
- bloody-disgusting.com
Spain’s film and TV industries are in their second wave as standout content providers for global streamers. Some of the country’s most intriguing titles will take the international stage this weekend at MipTV in Cannes.
Built on a foundation of hits such as “The Red Band Society,” “Grand Hotel,” “Velvet” and “Locked Up,” a new era of internationally renowned content creation in Spain kicked off in 2018 with Alex Pina’s blockbuster series “Money Heist,” picked up by Netflix.
Since then, Spain has enjoyed a place among the steadiest content suppliers for major players worldwide, taking advantage of its often character-driven dramas, high-quality creators and producers, and a language spoken by more than 600 million people around the globe.
Although the market is continuously evolving, local industry has adapted to different new business models, entering bigger and more ambitious productions, often via co-production. Spanish fiction’s global popularity continues to grow to accommodate audience appetites.
Built on a foundation of hits such as “The Red Band Society,” “Grand Hotel,” “Velvet” and “Locked Up,” a new era of internationally renowned content creation in Spain kicked off in 2018 with Alex Pina’s blockbuster series “Money Heist,” picked up by Netflix.
Since then, Spain has enjoyed a place among the steadiest content suppliers for major players worldwide, taking advantage of its often character-driven dramas, high-quality creators and producers, and a language spoken by more than 600 million people around the globe.
Although the market is continuously evolving, local industry has adapted to different new business models, entering bigger and more ambitious productions, often via co-production. Spanish fiction’s global popularity continues to grow to accommodate audience appetites.
- 4/5/2024
- by Emiliano De Pablos
- Variety Film + TV
An idyllic getaway goes awry after a freak accident leaving teen Lidia and her father, Pablo to mourn the loss of the family matriarch by escaping to their isolated lighthouse where the paranormal flirts with their fragile dispositions while a troubled family friend stirs the pot on the periphery. The international trailer for Angeles Hernandez's spooker, Restless Waters, Shivering Lights, has arrived. The new horror flick was produced by Hernández and David Matamoros at Barcelona-based Mr. Miyagi Films. They are one of the banners that co-produced Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia's The Platform. Argentina’s Vista Sur (Dalia And The Red Book) is the other co-producer for this new horror flick. Our friends at Buenos Aires based sales outfit FilmSharks are handling intenational sales outside of the film's...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
- 12/21/2023
- Screen Anarchy
The Mill is a sci-fi mystery drama film directed by Sean King O’Grady from a screenplay by Jeffrey David Thomas. The Hulu film follows the story of a businessman who wakes up in an open-air prison cell with an old grist mill. He’s forced to work there but now he must find a way to escape before the birth of his child. The Mill stars Lil Rel Howrey in the lead role with Pat Healy and Karen Obilom starring in supporting roles. So, if you loved The Mill here are some similar movies you could watch next.
The Belko Experiment Credit – Orion Pictures
Synopsis: Welcome to Belko Industries, a normally calm workplace that’s about to devolve into a blood-soaked battle royale and a shocking case study of bone-crunching horror! When 80 Americans are suddenly locked in their office building in Bogotá, a mysterious voice on the intercom orders them...
The Belko Experiment Credit – Orion Pictures
Synopsis: Welcome to Belko Industries, a normally calm workplace that’s about to devolve into a blood-soaked battle royale and a shocking case study of bone-crunching horror! When 80 Americans are suddenly locked in their office building in Bogotá, a mysterious voice on the intercom orders them...
- 10/10/2023
- by Kulwant Singh
- Cinema Blind
Film is set to start shooting next week in Buenos Aires and to continue in Barcelona and Las Vegas.
Barcelona-based production company Mr. Miyagi has teamed with Uruguay’s Mother Superior and Argentina’s Sombracine to co-produce queer romantic comedy Astronaut, the feature directorial debut of producer-director David Matamoros.
Lead-produced by Mr. Miyagi’s Matamoros and Ángeles Hernández, Astronaut follows David, an inveterate romantic who has a travel agency specialising in trips linked to romantic comedies. His 15-year relationship with Quique is stagnant. So, David decides to give Quique a trip down Route 66 with a special stop in Las Vegas.
Barcelona-based production company Mr. Miyagi has teamed with Uruguay’s Mother Superior and Argentina’s Sombracine to co-produce queer romantic comedy Astronaut, the feature directorial debut of producer-director David Matamoros.
Lead-produced by Mr. Miyagi’s Matamoros and Ángeles Hernández, Astronaut follows David, an inveterate romantic who has a travel agency specialising in trips linked to romantic comedies. His 15-year relationship with Quique is stagnant. So, David decides to give Quique a trip down Route 66 with a special stop in Las Vegas.
- 8/2/2023
- by Emilio Mayorga
- ScreenDaily
Galder Gaztelu-Irrutia’s The Platform delighted and grossed out Netflix audiences in 2020, making for the streaming service’s most popular Spanish film in Netflix history. Today, Netflix unveiled via Twitter that a sequel is much closer than anticipated with a set of new images.
“The Platform is a twisted social allegory about mankind at its darkest and hungriest,” Netflix’s description of the original film reads, and it indeed backs up that particular promise.
The film is set inside a vertical prison system, where inmates are assigned to a level and forced to ration food from a platform that moves between the floors. Inmates on high floors eat better than those below, and one man tries to effect change so everyone gets enough. It makes for a thrilling and often gag-inducing horror satire.
While no plot details have been announced for The Platform 2 just yet, it’s a safe...
“The Platform is a twisted social allegory about mankind at its darkest and hungriest,” Netflix’s description of the original film reads, and it indeed backs up that particular promise.
The film is set inside a vertical prison system, where inmates are assigned to a level and forced to ration food from a platform that moves between the floors. Inmates on high floors eat better than those below, and one man tries to effect change so everyone gets enough. It makes for a thrilling and often gag-inducing horror satire.
While no plot details have been announced for The Platform 2 just yet, it’s a safe...
- 5/11/2023
- by Meagan Navarro
- bloody-disgusting.com
Madrid-based Latido Films is partnering with the organizers of the new genre-focused Fantastic Pavilion at the Cannes Film Festival’s Marché du Film on a new award that will offer international distribution to selected Spanish-language Iberoamerican films.
The prize will also provide theatrical release in Latin America for winning titles.
News of the prize comes as plans for the Fantastic Pavilion, one of the major innovation of this year’s Cannes Film Market, are beginning g to emerge, based on a undeniable market reality: Elevated genre films and thrillers, if they are shaped by an auteurist vision, are proving to be among the surest sellers on the international market and genre is embraced by a new generation of young filmmakers who are often creating artistically ambitious films of substance, sometimes dealing with urgent gender and social issues.
Conceived by Pablo Guisa Koestinger, Grupo Mórbido CEO, Bernardo Bergeret, Ventana Sur co-director,...
The prize will also provide theatrical release in Latin America for winning titles.
News of the prize comes as plans for the Fantastic Pavilion, one of the major innovation of this year’s Cannes Film Market, are beginning g to emerge, based on a undeniable market reality: Elevated genre films and thrillers, if they are shaped by an auteurist vision, are proving to be among the surest sellers on the international market and genre is embraced by a new generation of young filmmakers who are often creating artistically ambitious films of substance, sometimes dealing with urgent gender and social issues.
Conceived by Pablo Guisa Koestinger, Grupo Mórbido CEO, Bernardo Bergeret, Ventana Sur co-director,...
- 2/28/2023
- by Ed Meza
- Variety Film + TV
Mary Elizabeth Winstead is set to star opposite Ewan McGregor in Showtime and Paramount+’s upcoming limited series A Gentleman in Moscow, an adaptation of Amor Towles’ bestselling novel.
A Gentleman in Moscow follows Count Alexander Rostov (McGregor) who, in the aftermath of the Russian Revolution, finds that his gilded past places him on the wrong side of history. Spared immediate execution, he is banished by a Soviet tribunal to an attic room in the opulent Hotel Metropol, threatened with death if he ever sets foot outside again. As the years pass and some of the most tumultuous decades in Russian history unfold outside the hotel’s doors, Rostov’s reduced circumstances provide him entry into a much larger world of emotional discovery. As he builds a new life within the walls of the hotel, he discovers the true value of friendship, family and love.
Winstead will play Anna Urbanova,...
A Gentleman in Moscow follows Count Alexander Rostov (McGregor) who, in the aftermath of the Russian Revolution, finds that his gilded past places him on the wrong side of history. Spared immediate execution, he is banished by a Soviet tribunal to an attic room in the opulent Hotel Metropol, threatened with death if he ever sets foot outside again. As the years pass and some of the most tumultuous decades in Russian history unfold outside the hotel’s doors, Rostov’s reduced circumstances provide him entry into a much larger world of emotional discovery. As he builds a new life within the walls of the hotel, he discovers the true value of friendship, family and love.
Winstead will play Anna Urbanova,...
- 2/22/2023
- by Denise Petski
- Deadline Film + TV
Last year, we heard that Rosamund Pike (Gone Girl) would be starring in The Platform director Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia’s virus thriller Rich Flu, and would be joined in the cast by Daniel Brühl (The Falcon and the Winter Soldier) and Macaulay Culkin (American Horror Story). Pike, Brühl, and Culkin have since all had to depart the project due to scheduling issues – but Deadline reports that Rich Flu is now filming, with Mary Elizabeth Winstead (10 Cloverfield Lane) taking over the role that once belonged to Pike.
In the cast with Winstead are Rafe Spall (The Big Short), Lorraine Bracco (The Sopranos), Dixie Egerickx (The Secret Garden), Timothy Spall (Mr. Turner), Jonah Hauer-King (The Little Mermaid), Cesar Domboy (Outlander), Dayana Esebe (LA Star), and Richard Sammel (3 Days To Kill).
Spencer and Jackie director Pablo Larraín is producing Rich Flu with Juan de Dios Larraín, through their Fabula banner. Gaztelu-Urrutia is also producing the film,...
In the cast with Winstead are Rafe Spall (The Big Short), Lorraine Bracco (The Sopranos), Dixie Egerickx (The Secret Garden), Timothy Spall (Mr. Turner), Jonah Hauer-King (The Little Mermaid), Cesar Domboy (Outlander), Dayana Esebe (LA Star), and Richard Sammel (3 Days To Kill).
Spencer and Jackie director Pablo Larraín is producing Rich Flu with Juan de Dios Larraín, through their Fabula banner. Gaztelu-Urrutia is also producing the film,...
- 2/17/2023
- by Cody Hamman
- JoBlo.com
Exclusive: The cast of thriller Rich Flu has been set with Mary Elizabeth Winstead (Star Wars: Ahsoka), Rafe Spall (The Big Short), Lorraine Bracco (The Sopranos), Dixie Egerickx (The Secret Garden), Timothy Spall (Mr. Turner), Jonah Hauer-King (The Little Mermaid), Cesar Domboy (Outlander), Dayana Esebe (LA Star), and Richard Sammel (3 Days To Kill).
Filming has been taking place in Barcelona, Fuerteventura, and Senegal on the movie, which heralds from Pablo Larraín and Juan de Dios Larraín’s Fabula banner, producers of Spencer, Jackie and No.
Sierra/Affinity is handling international sales and has the project available to buyers at this week’s EFM in Berlin. CAA Media Finance and XYZ Films are co-repping domestic.
Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia (The Platform) is directing from a script written by Pedro Rivero, Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia, David Desola and Sam Steiner.
Also producing are Adrián Guerra and Núria Valls via their Nostromo Pictures banner; Carlos Juárez...
Filming has been taking place in Barcelona, Fuerteventura, and Senegal on the movie, which heralds from Pablo Larraín and Juan de Dios Larraín’s Fabula banner, producers of Spencer, Jackie and No.
Sierra/Affinity is handling international sales and has the project available to buyers at this week’s EFM in Berlin. CAA Media Finance and XYZ Films are co-repping domestic.
Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia (The Platform) is directing from a script written by Pedro Rivero, Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia, David Desola and Sam Steiner.
Also producing are Adrián Guerra and Núria Valls via their Nostromo Pictures banner; Carlos Juárez...
- 2/17/2023
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
Fresh from her critically acclaimed lead performance in Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody and having filmed major roles in Bong Joon-ho’s much-anticipated Mickey 7 and Zoe Kravitz’s directorial debut Pussy Island last year, Naomi Ackie has landed another starry feature.
The Hollywood Reporter has learned that the British actress — also a 2023 BAFTA rising star nominee and BAFTA TV award winner back in 2020 — has joined the A-list cast of Morning, the upcoming sci-fi feature from Justin Kurzel (Snowtown, Macbeth, Assassin’s Creed). Announced last year, the film will also star Oscar and BAFTA winner Laura Dern (Marriage Story, Little Women, Big Little Lies) and Noah Jupe (A Quiet Place I & II, Honey Boy), with Oscar nominee and BAFTA winner Benedict Cumberbatch (The Power of the Dog, Spider-Man: No Way Home, The Imitation Game) appearing in a supporting role. Cumberbatch and Dern also exec produce.
Morning is described as a story about “human connection,...
The Hollywood Reporter has learned that the British actress — also a 2023 BAFTA rising star nominee and BAFTA TV award winner back in 2020 — has joined the A-list cast of Morning, the upcoming sci-fi feature from Justin Kurzel (Snowtown, Macbeth, Assassin’s Creed). Announced last year, the film will also star Oscar and BAFTA winner Laura Dern (Marriage Story, Little Women, Big Little Lies) and Noah Jupe (A Quiet Place I & II, Honey Boy), with Oscar nominee and BAFTA winner Benedict Cumberbatch (The Power of the Dog, Spider-Man: No Way Home, The Imitation Game) appearing in a supporting role. Cumberbatch and Dern also exec produce.
Morning is described as a story about “human connection,...
- 2/13/2023
- by Alex Ritman
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Mario Casas, one of Spain’s biggest film and TV stars, and Goya Award winner actress Anna Castillo, will headline “Escape,” the new film by writer-director Rodrigo Cortés.
Produced by Adrián Guerra and Núria Valls at Barcelona-based Nostromo Pictures, “Escape” is a free adaptation of same-title novel penned by Spanish author Enrique Rubio.
Nostromo announced the new film project after completing an intense 2022, in which the company lensed seven films and released two more titles – Marçal Forés’ “Through My Window” and Oriol Paulo’s “God’s Crooked Lines” – both achieving a standout global reach.
“Escape’s” story turns on N., a young man who wants to live in prison and will do whatever it takes to get there, raising questions such as if those who care about him will get to stop him from committing increasingly serious crimes and how far will the judge go to not grant him his proposal.
Produced by Adrián Guerra and Núria Valls at Barcelona-based Nostromo Pictures, “Escape” is a free adaptation of same-title novel penned by Spanish author Enrique Rubio.
Nostromo announced the new film project after completing an intense 2022, in which the company lensed seven films and released two more titles – Marçal Forés’ “Through My Window” and Oriol Paulo’s “God’s Crooked Lines” – both achieving a standout global reach.
“Escape’s” story turns on N., a young man who wants to live in prison and will do whatever it takes to get there, raising questions such as if those who care about him will get to stop him from committing increasingly serious crimes and how far will the judge go to not grant him his proposal.
- 1/25/2023
- by Emiliano De Pablos
- Variety Film + TV
Readying Maite Alberdi’s “The Eternal Memory” and Christopher Murray’s “Sorcery” for world premieres at this year’s Sundance Festival, “Spencer” director and producer Pablo and Juan de Dios Larraín’s Fabula has promoted Constanza Muñoz to VP of film at its North American office. The move comes as Fabula continues to expand into the English-language market. Muñoz will report to Andrew Hevia, Fabula head of film & TV for North America.
Setting out as a boutique art film producer which first made a splash with Pablo Larraín’s “Tony Manero,” Chile’s 2009 Oscar submission, few Latin American production companies have seen such energetic growth as Fabula.
After Pablo Larrain had directed his English-language debut, 2016’s “Jackie” with Natalie Portman, Fabula opened an office in the U.S. in 2018. Its founding aim was to produce not only titles from Larraín himself but also offer itself as a production base for...
Setting out as a boutique art film producer which first made a splash with Pablo Larraín’s “Tony Manero,” Chile’s 2009 Oscar submission, few Latin American production companies have seen such energetic growth as Fabula.
After Pablo Larrain had directed his English-language debut, 2016’s “Jackie” with Natalie Portman, Fabula opened an office in the U.S. in 2018. Its founding aim was to produce not only titles from Larraín himself but also offer itself as a production base for...
- 1/21/2023
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Close to 100 years after Erich Maria Remarque’s novel “All Quiet on the Western Front” was published, Emmy nominee Edward Berger adapts the World War I epic for Netflix, premiering October 28.
“We have so much to say, and we shall never say it,” a quote from Remarque’s 1928 “literary masterpiece” is shown in the trailer. The film promises to “show the true face of World War I.”
The official logline reads, “A young German soldier’s terrifying experiences and distress on the western front during World War I.” Co-written and directed by Edward Berger (“Deutschland 83”), “All Quiet on the Western Front” stars Felix Kammerer as a hopeful soldier who faces head-on the horrors of war. Daniel Brühl, Sebastian Hülk, Albrecht Schuch, and Anton von Lucke also star.
Along with director Berger, Lesley Paterson and Ian Stokell co-wrote the script.
“All Quiet on the Western Front” was first adapted into...
“We have so much to say, and we shall never say it,” a quote from Remarque’s 1928 “literary masterpiece” is shown in the trailer. The film promises to “show the true face of World War I.”
The official logline reads, “A young German soldier’s terrifying experiences and distress on the western front during World War I.” Co-written and directed by Edward Berger (“Deutschland 83”), “All Quiet on the Western Front” stars Felix Kammerer as a hopeful soldier who faces head-on the horrors of war. Daniel Brühl, Sebastian Hülk, Albrecht Schuch, and Anton von Lucke also star.
Along with director Berger, Lesley Paterson and Ian Stokell co-wrote the script.
“All Quiet on the Western Front” was first adapted into...
- 10/20/2022
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
Click here to read the full article.
Oscar-winning French director Florian Zeller (The Father, The Son) has signed a multiyear deal with fast-growing European production company Mediawan (Call My Agent!) to develop and produce films and high-end TV series across an array of platforms.
Mediawan will finance and produce the films and series, co-producing with Blue Morning Pictures, the production outfit Zeller recently founded with former CAA agent Federica Sainte-Rose. Zeller won an Oscar for the screenplay to The Father, his feature debut as a director, and an adaptation of his own French play of the same name.
The Father, starring Anthony Hopkins and Olivia Colman, received six Oscar nominations, including best picture, and won both for Zeller’s adapted screenplay and the best actor honor for Hopkins.
As an agent in CAA’s Media Finance department, Sainte-Rose was involved in the packaging and sales of such films as Audrey Diwan...
Oscar-winning French director Florian Zeller (The Father, The Son) has signed a multiyear deal with fast-growing European production company Mediawan (Call My Agent!) to develop and produce films and high-end TV series across an array of platforms.
Mediawan will finance and produce the films and series, co-producing with Blue Morning Pictures, the production outfit Zeller recently founded with former CAA agent Federica Sainte-Rose. Zeller won an Oscar for the screenplay to The Father, his feature debut as a director, and an adaptation of his own French play of the same name.
The Father, starring Anthony Hopkins and Olivia Colman, received six Oscar nominations, including best picture, and won both for Zeller’s adapted screenplay and the best actor honor for Hopkins.
As an agent in CAA’s Media Finance department, Sainte-Rose was involved in the packaging and sales of such films as Audrey Diwan...
- 9/9/2022
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Oscar winner Florian Zeller (The Father), fresh off Venice Film Festival drama The Son, is launching production firm Blue Morning Pictures with backing from European studio Mediawan (Call My Agent).
Zeller will oversee the company out of Paris and LA with former CAA agent Federica Sainte-Rose. As part of the deal, Mediawan will finance and produce the slate of film and TV projects with Blue Morning Pictures.
After a career as a playwright, Zeller adapted and directed his first film, The Father, based on his play of the same name, starring Anthony Hopkins and Olivia Colman. The film received six Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, with Zeller co-winning Best Adapted Screenplay.
Sainte-Rose previously served as an agent in CAA’s Media Finance department, where she was involved in the packaging and sales of films including Christos Nikou’s Fingernails, Ninja Thyberg’s Pleasure, Audrey Diwan’s Happening, and Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia’s The Platform.
Zeller will oversee the company out of Paris and LA with former CAA agent Federica Sainte-Rose. As part of the deal, Mediawan will finance and produce the slate of film and TV projects with Blue Morning Pictures.
After a career as a playwright, Zeller adapted and directed his first film, The Father, based on his play of the same name, starring Anthony Hopkins and Olivia Colman. The film received six Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, with Zeller co-winning Best Adapted Screenplay.
Sainte-Rose previously served as an agent in CAA’s Media Finance department, where she was involved in the packaging and sales of films including Christos Nikou’s Fingernails, Ninja Thyberg’s Pleasure, Audrey Diwan’s Happening, and Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia’s The Platform.
- 9/9/2022
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
Lorcan Finnegan's "Vivarium" is a trippy, frightening, disorienting sci-fi film anchored by Imogen Poots and Jesse Eisenberg's stellar performances as Gemma and Tom, respectively. Gemma is a schoolteacher, and Tom is a handyman. "Vivarium" begins with the couple visiting a local real estate office to buy an affordable house. The agent takes them to Yonder, a new development housing complex made up of identical homes. Within moments of seeing unit nine, the agent disappears. Gemma and Tom try to leave. But no matter where they go or what they do, they end up back at unit nine.
Containing elements of every science fiction subgenre under the sun -- including body horror, alien invasion, and time loops -- "Vivarium" might appear to be a hodgepodge of better films. However, its distinct visual style and frightening exploitation of ennui elevate it. With a dynamite Imogen Poots, "Vivarium" engages audiences with its existential questions and ending.
Containing elements of every science fiction subgenre under the sun -- including body horror, alien invasion, and time loops -- "Vivarium" might appear to be a hodgepodge of better films. However, its distinct visual style and frightening exploitation of ennui elevate it. With a dynamite Imogen Poots, "Vivarium" engages audiences with its existential questions and ending.
- 8/16/2022
- by Chad Collins
- Slash Film
Exclusive: Daniel Brühl (Inglourious Basterds) has signed on to star alongside Paul Bettany and Jeremy Pope in the upcoming Warhol-Basquiat film The Collaboration, based on the acclaimed play by four-time Oscar nominee Anthony McCarten, which heads into production in Boston in September.
The Collaboration revolves around the relationship between the two iconic artists, starting in the summer of 1984. International superstar Andy Warhol (Bettany) and the art scene’s newest wunderkind, Jean-Michel Basquiat (Pope), agree to work together on what may be the most talked about exhibition in the history of modern art. But can these two creative giants co-exist with such opposing views of life and art?
Brühl has been tapped for the role of Bruno Bischofberger, the legendary art impresario who first suggested a series of collaborations between Basquiat and Warhol,...
The Collaboration revolves around the relationship between the two iconic artists, starting in the summer of 1984. International superstar Andy Warhol (Bettany) and the art scene’s newest wunderkind, Jean-Michel Basquiat (Pope), agree to work together on what may be the most talked about exhibition in the history of modern art. But can these two creative giants co-exist with such opposing views of life and art?
Brühl has been tapped for the role of Bruno Bischofberger, the legendary art impresario who first suggested a series of collaborations between Basquiat and Warhol,...
- 8/8/2022
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
Daniel Brühl, Macaulay Culkin and Rosamund Pike have joined the cast of the pandemic thriller “Rich Flu.”
The film will be directed by Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia from a script written by Pedro Rivero, Gaztelu-Urrutia. and David Desola, with revisions by Sam Steiner.
The synopsis for “Rich Flu” is as follows: a strange disease is killing off some of the richest and most influential people on the planet. First it was the billionaires, then the multi-millionaires and so on progressively…. Now it threatens to strike anyone with any sort of fortune, and no one knows where it might end. With the whole world panicking and our very way of life headed for collapse, people are trying to flood the market with assets the world no longer wants. How far would you go to save your skin when the wealth that made the world go round suddenly becomes its most dangerous commodity?
Also...
The film will be directed by Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia from a script written by Pedro Rivero, Gaztelu-Urrutia. and David Desola, with revisions by Sam Steiner.
The synopsis for “Rich Flu” is as follows: a strange disease is killing off some of the richest and most influential people on the planet. First it was the billionaires, then the multi-millionaires and so on progressively…. Now it threatens to strike anyone with any sort of fortune, and no one knows where it might end. With the whole world panicking and our very way of life headed for collapse, people are trying to flood the market with assets the world no longer wants. How far would you go to save your skin when the wealth that made the world go round suddenly becomes its most dangerous commodity?
Also...
- 5/27/2022
- by Umberto Gonzalez
- The Wrap
Daniel Brühl and Macaulay Culkin have joined the cast of Spanish director Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia’s pandemic themed thriller “Rich Flu.”
They will be starring opposite Rosamund Pike, who had previously been announced as the lead.
Cameras are now set to roll this fall on the high-concept social thriller in which a deadly disease starts killing off the richest people on the planet. At first it strikes the billionaires, then the multi-millionaires, and so on.
With the whole world panicking and headed for collapse, people are trying to flood the market with assets they no longer want, in hopes of saving their skin.
“Rich Flu” will be the second feature for Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia, whose 2019 directorial debut “The Platform” was awarded best film, and best F/X at the Sitges’ Intl. Fantastic Film Festival.
“The Platform” was first released theatrically in Spain in 2019 and subsequently dropped on Netflix globally in early 2020 and...
They will be starring opposite Rosamund Pike, who had previously been announced as the lead.
Cameras are now set to roll this fall on the high-concept social thriller in which a deadly disease starts killing off the richest people on the planet. At first it strikes the billionaires, then the multi-millionaires, and so on.
With the whole world panicking and headed for collapse, people are trying to flood the market with assets they no longer want, in hopes of saving their skin.
“Rich Flu” will be the second feature for Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia, whose 2019 directorial debut “The Platform” was awarded best film, and best F/X at the Sitges’ Intl. Fantastic Film Festival.
“The Platform” was first released theatrically in Spain in 2019 and subsequently dropped on Netflix globally in early 2020 and...
- 5/27/2022
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Daniel Brühl and Macaulay Culkin have joined the cast of the Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia directed thriller, Rich Flu, which we told you about back at EFM with Rosamund Pike attached to star. Production is expected to start in the fall.
In the film, a strange disease is killing off some of the richest and most influential people on the planet. First it was the billionaires, then the multi-millionaires and so on progressively. Now it threatens to strike anyone with any sort of fortune, and no one knows where it might end. With the whole world panicking and our very way of life headed for collapse, people are trying to flood the market with assets the world no longer wants.
Pedro Rivero, Gaztelu-Urrutia, and David Desola wrote the screenplay with revisions by Sam Steiner. Sierra/Affinity is handling foreign sales and has the project available to buyers at this year’s Cannes Film Market.
In the film, a strange disease is killing off some of the richest and most influential people on the planet. First it was the billionaires, then the multi-millionaires and so on progressively. Now it threatens to strike anyone with any sort of fortune, and no one knows where it might end. With the whole world panicking and our very way of life headed for collapse, people are trying to flood the market with assets the world no longer wants.
Pedro Rivero, Gaztelu-Urrutia, and David Desola wrote the screenplay with revisions by Sam Steiner. Sierra/Affinity is handling foreign sales and has the project available to buyers at this year’s Cannes Film Market.
- 5/27/2022
- by Anthony D'Alessandro
- Deadline Film + TV
Buenos Aires-based FilmSharks has picked up world sales rights to Ángeles Hernández’s supernatural horror film “El faro” (“The Lighthouse”), set up at Mr. Miyagi Films, co-producer of Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia’s multi-awarded Netflix smash hit “The Platform.”
“The Lighthouse” ended shooting in May; FilmSharks is showing first footage to buyers at Cannes.
Film toplines Spanish film and TV star Hugo Silva plus Irene Montalà (“Un asunto privado”), Zoe Arnao and Sergio Castellanos.
Produced by Hernández and David Matamoros at Barcelona-based Mr. Miyagi, “The Lighthouse” turns on Lidia and her father, Pablo, returning to the family lighthouse after her mother’s death.
Pablo, aware of Lidia’s fragile emotional balance, worries about a possible relapse after her suicide attempt. Lidia, annoyed by her father’s lack of trust, discovers that something’s not right at the lighthouse, and that dire danger awaits them if they do not find out the truth.
“The Lighthouse” ended shooting in May; FilmSharks is showing first footage to buyers at Cannes.
Film toplines Spanish film and TV star Hugo Silva plus Irene Montalà (“Un asunto privado”), Zoe Arnao and Sergio Castellanos.
Produced by Hernández and David Matamoros at Barcelona-based Mr. Miyagi, “The Lighthouse” turns on Lidia and her father, Pablo, returning to the family lighthouse after her mother’s death.
Pablo, aware of Lidia’s fragile emotional balance, worries about a possible relapse after her suicide attempt. Lidia, annoyed by her father’s lack of trust, discovers that something’s not right at the lighthouse, and that dire danger awaits them if they do not find out the truth.
- 5/20/2022
- by Emiliano De Pablos
- Variety Film + TV
Elisabeth Murdoch, Stacey Snider and Jane Featherstone’s indie studio Sister has entered a first-look deal with the new production company Wychwood Media, from Harry Potter filmmaker David Yates and his producing partner, Lewis Taylor. Under the pact, the pair will develop and produce both scripted and unscripted film, television and documentary content for Sister’s offices in both the U.S. and UK. Yates will also have the option to direct projects coming together through the deal.
The new pact strengthens Sister and Wychwood Media’s existing relationship, which includes a commitment to a feature film adaptation of New York Times bestselling author Rory Power’s contemporary horror-thriller, Burn Our Bodies Down, penned by Moira Walley-Beckett.
“David Yates is one of the most versatile filmmakers working today. His films are visually stunning and deeply human,” said Sister’s Co-Founder and CEO, Stacey Snider. “David and Lewis are passionately committed...
The new pact strengthens Sister and Wychwood Media’s existing relationship, which includes a commitment to a feature film adaptation of New York Times bestselling author Rory Power’s contemporary horror-thriller, Burn Our Bodies Down, penned by Moira Walley-Beckett.
“David Yates is one of the most versatile filmmakers working today. His films are visually stunning and deeply human,” said Sister’s Co-Founder and CEO, Stacey Snider. “David and Lewis are passionately committed...
- 5/3/2022
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
Buyers flock to genre slate starring Gerard Butler, Rosamund Pike, Julia Stiles.
Sierra/Affinity has reported a strong response to its EFM genre sales slate and has closed key territories on Rosamund Pike thriller Rich Flu, action thriller Den Of Thieves 2: Pantera starring Gerard Butler and Orphan: First Kill, the prequel to Dark Castle horror film Orphan.
Buyers on Rich Flu include Square One for Germany, Sun Distribution Group for Latin America, Originals Factory for France, Scanbox for Scandinavia, Watcha for South Korea, and Cai Chang for Taiwan.
In other deals the thriller has gone in Switzerland (Ascot...
Sierra/Affinity has reported a strong response to its EFM genre sales slate and has closed key territories on Rosamund Pike thriller Rich Flu, action thriller Den Of Thieves 2: Pantera starring Gerard Butler and Orphan: First Kill, the prequel to Dark Castle horror film Orphan.
Buyers on Rich Flu include Square One for Germany, Sun Distribution Group for Latin America, Originals Factory for France, Scanbox for Scandinavia, Watcha for South Korea, and Cai Chang for Taiwan.
In other deals the thriller has gone in Switzerland (Ascot...
- 4/5/2022
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
Netflix's "The Platform," directed by Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia, is a high-concept, single-location thriller with gross-out elements, yet it also manages to be a thought-provoking inquiry into the nature of social hierarchies, consumerism, and altruism. With a Spanish-language script by David Desola and Pedro Rivero based on Desola's story, "The Platform" stars Iván Massagué as Goreng, a man who wakes on Level 48 of a towering, prison-like facility where a platform floats hundreds of floors, offering the two occupants on each one two minutes to gorge themselves on food before it moves down to the next level.
They're in El hoyo, which translates as "the Hole" or "the Pit," and like the doughnut hole in...
The post The Platform Ending Explained: Are You Going to Eat That? appeared first on /Film.
They're in El hoyo, which translates as "the Hole" or "the Pit," and like the doughnut hole in...
The post The Platform Ending Explained: Are You Going to Eat That? appeared first on /Film.
- 4/4/2022
- by Joshua Meyer
- Slash Film
Barcelona-based mini studio Filmax has acquired the international rights to Spanish-Portuguese co-production “The Open Body,” a horror story set in the early 20th century and plumbing Galician folk lore. The film marks the feature debut of Spanish director Ángeles Huerta.
Co-produced by Spain’s Ollovivo and Fasten Films, producer of Jorge Dorado’s “Pastor,” and Portugal’s Cinemate, behind Norberto López-Amado’s “3 Caminos,” the film is currently in post-production.
Buyers will have the opportunity to watch a first promo at this year’s Malaga Festival Spanish Screenings, which run March 21-24.
A new genre movie at Malaga, whatever its phase of production, is near bound to be on many buyers radar after Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia’s “The Platform” (“El Hoyo”) was presented at Málaga’s Work In Progress in 2019, where it was acquired by Latido Films.
Sold to Netflix, it became the most watched non English language film in the U.
Co-produced by Spain’s Ollovivo and Fasten Films, producer of Jorge Dorado’s “Pastor,” and Portugal’s Cinemate, behind Norberto López-Amado’s “3 Caminos,” the film is currently in post-production.
Buyers will have the opportunity to watch a first promo at this year’s Malaga Festival Spanish Screenings, which run March 21-24.
A new genre movie at Malaga, whatever its phase of production, is near bound to be on many buyers radar after Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia’s “The Platform” (“El Hoyo”) was presented at Málaga’s Work In Progress in 2019, where it was acquired by Latido Films.
Sold to Netflix, it became the most watched non English language film in the U.
- 3/8/2022
- by Emilio Mayorga
- Variety Film + TV
Post-covid, Spanish sales companies look poised for a comeback to the global scene. Although, as Berlin’s EFM has gone virtual once again, their long-awaited physical reunion with the international industry will have to wait until Cannes… hopefully.
An argument for optimism: Spanish-language films continue gaining ground on the global market, especially as platforms boom. Standout examples include Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia’s “The Platform” and Lluís Quílez’s “Below Zero,” which both breach the top 10 most watched non-English language Netflix films of all time, per Variety’s estimations. Other Spanish films such as “The Paramedic,” “Sky High” and “Xtreme” have also performed well for the streamer.
Measuring with another analytic – Spain’s presence at landmark film events – the year kicked-off with good news from Berlin.
For the first time in the last quarter-century, two Spanish titles: “Alcarrás,” from “Summer 1993” director Carla Simon, and “One Year, One Night,” by two-time San...
An argument for optimism: Spanish-language films continue gaining ground on the global market, especially as platforms boom. Standout examples include Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia’s “The Platform” and Lluís Quílez’s “Below Zero,” which both breach the top 10 most watched non-English language Netflix films of all time, per Variety’s estimations. Other Spanish films such as “The Paramedic,” “Sky High” and “Xtreme” have also performed well for the streamer.
Measuring with another analytic – Spain’s presence at landmark film events – the year kicked-off with good news from Berlin.
For the first time in the last quarter-century, two Spanish titles: “Alcarrás,” from “Summer 1993” director Carla Simon, and “One Year, One Night,” by two-time San...
- 2/11/2022
- by Emiliano De Pablos
- Variety Film + TV
Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia makes feature follow-up to Toronto 2019 hit.
Rosamund Pike will star in and Fabula’s Pablo Larrain and Juan de Dios Larraín will produce Rich Flu, a high concept EFM sales title from The Platform director Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia which Sierra/Affinity is introducing to buyers.
Gaztelu-Urrutia will direct from a screenplay he co-wrote with Pedro Rivero about a strange disease that kills off billionaires, millionaires and anyone with some sort of fortune. The social commentary chimes with The Platform (El Hoya), the Spaniard’s TIFF 2019 selection which was snapped up by Netflix and takes place in a prison where...
Rosamund Pike will star in and Fabula’s Pablo Larrain and Juan de Dios Larraín will produce Rich Flu, a high concept EFM sales title from The Platform director Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia which Sierra/Affinity is introducing to buyers.
Gaztelu-Urrutia will direct from a screenplay he co-wrote with Pedro Rivero about a strange disease that kills off billionaires, millionaires and anyone with some sort of fortune. The social commentary chimes with The Platform (El Hoya), the Spaniard’s TIFF 2019 selection which was snapped up by Netflix and takes place in a prison where...
- 2/3/2022
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
Emmy and Golden Globe winner Rosamund Pike (Gone Girl) has been set to lead pandemic-themed thriller Rich Flu, we can reveal. Producers include Pablo Larraín and Juan de Dios Larraín’s Fabula banner which produced Spencer, Jackie and No.
Sierra/Affinity is handling international sales and launching to buyers for the first time at the virtual European Film Market. CAA Media Finance is representing domestic.
In Rich Flu, a strange disease kills off some of the richest and most influential people on the planet. First it was the billionaires, then the multi-millionaires and so on progressively….Then it threatens to strike anyone with any sort of fortune. With the whole world panicking, people try to flood the market with assets the world no longer wants. The movie asks how far people would go to save their skin when the wealth that made the world go round suddenly becomes its most dangerous commodity.
Sierra/Affinity is handling international sales and launching to buyers for the first time at the virtual European Film Market. CAA Media Finance is representing domestic.
In Rich Flu, a strange disease kills off some of the richest and most influential people on the planet. First it was the billionaires, then the multi-millionaires and so on progressively….Then it threatens to strike anyone with any sort of fortune. With the whole world panicking, people try to flood the market with assets the world no longer wants. The movie asks how far people would go to save their skin when the wealth that made the world go round suddenly becomes its most dangerous commodity.
- 2/3/2022
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
Laura Dern, Noah Jupe and Benedict Cumberbatch will star together in a futuristic drama called “Morning” from Australian director Justin Kurzel.
Dern and Jupe star in “Morning” as a mother and son living in a world in which a pill does away the need for sleep and an artificial sun makes it so that there’s no end to the morning daylight of living and work. Cumberbatch also stars in a supporting role. Here’s the full synopsis:
Ambitious and driven Cathy (Dern) was an early advocate of a sleepless world, but as she and her son Danny (Jupe) pick up the pieces of their lives following the death of her husband Frank (Cumberbatch), she finds the universe she helped to build is starting to crumble around her, whilst memories she fought so hard to repress are bleeding into her waking life. As Danny is further drawn into a subversive underworld of dreamers,...
Dern and Jupe star in “Morning” as a mother and son living in a world in which a pill does away the need for sleep and an artificial sun makes it so that there’s no end to the morning daylight of living and work. Cumberbatch also stars in a supporting role. Here’s the full synopsis:
Ambitious and driven Cathy (Dern) was an early advocate of a sleepless world, but as she and her son Danny (Jupe) pick up the pieces of their lives following the death of her husband Frank (Cumberbatch), she finds the universe she helped to build is starting to crumble around her, whilst memories she fought so hard to repress are bleeding into her waking life. As Danny is further drawn into a subversive underworld of dreamers,...
- 1/31/2022
- by Brian Welk
- The Wrap
Laura Dern, Noah Jupe, Benedict Cumberbatch to star.
HanWay Films has boarded sales on Justin Kurzel’s upcoming feature Morning, which it is launching to buyers at next month’s online European Film Market.
HanWay is handling international sales, with CAA Media Finance and UTA Independent Film Group co-representing the US sale.
Shooting dates are yet to be confirmed. The film will be set in a near future where a pill exists that removes the need to sleep. A woman who previously advocated for such living sees her world begin to crumble, as she and her son pick up the...
HanWay Films has boarded sales on Justin Kurzel’s upcoming feature Morning, which it is launching to buyers at next month’s online European Film Market.
HanWay is handling international sales, with CAA Media Finance and UTA Independent Film Group co-representing the US sale.
Shooting dates are yet to be confirmed. The film will be set in a near future where a pill exists that removes the need to sleep. A woman who previously advocated for such living sees her world begin to crumble, as she and her son pick up the...
- 1/31/2022
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
Exclusive: Here’s a strong one for the virtual EFM market. Oscar and BAFTA winner Laura Dern (Big Little Lies), A Quiet Place star Noah Jupe and Oscar nominee Benedict Cumberbatch (The Imitation Game) have been set to star in new Justin Kurzel (Nitram) project Morning, which HanWay is launching.
The film is set in a near future where society has a pill that does away with the need to sleep. With the added help of an artificial sun, there is no end to morning daylight, living and work. However, as a young generation grows up deprived of the world of sleep, they consider rebelling to reclaim their dreams.
HanWay is handling international sales. CAA Media Finance and UTA Independent Film Group are co-repping the U.S. sale.
Morning was written by Manchester-born writer Sam Steiner. The screenplay was picked up by Cumberbatch and Adam Ackland’s SunnyMarch. SunnyMarch’s Head of Film,...
The film is set in a near future where society has a pill that does away with the need to sleep. With the added help of an artificial sun, there is no end to morning daylight, living and work. However, as a young generation grows up deprived of the world of sleep, they consider rebelling to reclaim their dreams.
HanWay is handling international sales. CAA Media Finance and UTA Independent Film Group are co-repping the U.S. sale.
Morning was written by Manchester-born writer Sam Steiner. The screenplay was picked up by Cumberbatch and Adam Ackland’s SunnyMarch. SunnyMarch’s Head of Film,...
- 1/31/2022
- by Tom Grater and Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
Feature comedies “El Cover,” the directorial debut of actor Secun de la Rosa, and Ana Murugarren’s “García y García,” will respectively open and close Spain’s 24th Malaga Film Festival, the country’s biggest event dedicated exclusively to films and TV in Spain and Latin America.
Running June 3-13, the festival focus will fall on its usefulness for the region’s film and TV industries, prioritizing cinema exhibition over social events.
The main competition, a faithful reflection of the most recent cinema produced both in Spain and Latin America, combines highly experienced filmmakers with up-and-coming talents. In total, it will highlight 23 features, 15 Spanish and eight Latin American.
Sold by Latido Films, Benidorm-set musical comedy “El Cover” is produced by Kiko Martínez at Madrid’s Nadie Es Perfecto (“Perfectos desconocidos”) in collaboration with Amazon Prime Video and Gts Entertainment.
Toplining Spanish comedians Pepe Viyuela and José Mota (“Padre no hay...
Running June 3-13, the festival focus will fall on its usefulness for the region’s film and TV industries, prioritizing cinema exhibition over social events.
The main competition, a faithful reflection of the most recent cinema produced both in Spain and Latin America, combines highly experienced filmmakers with up-and-coming talents. In total, it will highlight 23 features, 15 Spanish and eight Latin American.
Sold by Latido Films, Benidorm-set musical comedy “El Cover” is produced by Kiko Martínez at Madrid’s Nadie Es Perfecto (“Perfectos desconocidos”) in collaboration with Amazon Prime Video and Gts Entertainment.
Toplining Spanish comedians Pepe Viyuela and José Mota (“Padre no hay...
- 6/2/2021
- by Emiliano De Pablos
- Variety Film + TV
Madrid — A new order of global streamers is powering the biggest revolution in film-tv business models in the last 100 years. Covid-19 merely accelerated that seismic change, which cannot but wreak a disruptive effect on sales agents’ traditional business.
Spain’s top sales companies are adapting their strategies to a more competitive and complex market, in which a massive closure of theaters, a consequent bottleneck in film releases and the reformulation of festivals have multiplied challenges.
In the best of cases, indie distributors are cherry picking, waiting for larger visibility on a post-pandemic landscape.
For some Spanish agents, standout deals with global streamers takes up much of the slack. “We’ve sold many important titles to Netflix, which has given us a certain peace of mind,” attests Vicente Canales, CEO of Film Factory Entertainment.
Released on Jan. 29, Lluís Quílez’s action thriller “Below Zero,” a Morena Films and Amorós production, participated by Rtve,...
Spain’s top sales companies are adapting their strategies to a more competitive and complex market, in which a massive closure of theaters, a consequent bottleneck in film releases and the reformulation of festivals have multiplied challenges.
In the best of cases, indie distributors are cherry picking, waiting for larger visibility on a post-pandemic landscape.
For some Spanish agents, standout deals with global streamers takes up much of the slack. “We’ve sold many important titles to Netflix, which has given us a certain peace of mind,” attests Vicente Canales, CEO of Film Factory Entertainment.
Released on Jan. 29, Lluís Quílez’s action thriller “Below Zero,” a Morena Films and Amorós production, participated by Rtve,...
- 3/2/2021
- by Emiliano De Pablos
- Variety Film + TV
Polish director Agnieszka Holland also named new European Film Academy president.
Italian drama Hidden Away has won two of the first European Film Awards of 2020, which are being staggered across four nights of virtual ceremonies due to the virus crisis.
Further winners in the first ceremony, which focussed on the technical categories, included The Personal History Of David Copperfield, Berlin Alexanderplatz and The Platform.
Hidden Away, Giorgio Diritti’s portrait of Italian painter Antonio Ligabue, won best cinematography for the work of Matteo Cocco and best costume design, for Ursula Patzak. The film premiered at the Berlinale where Elio Germano...
Italian drama Hidden Away has won two of the first European Film Awards of 2020, which are being staggered across four nights of virtual ceremonies due to the virus crisis.
Further winners in the first ceremony, which focussed on the technical categories, included The Personal History Of David Copperfield, Berlin Alexanderplatz and The Platform.
Hidden Away, Giorgio Diritti’s portrait of Italian painter Antonio Ligabue, won best cinematography for the work of Matteo Cocco and best costume design, for Ursula Patzak. The film premiered at the Berlinale where Elio Germano...
- 12/10/2020
- by Michael Rosser
- ScreenDaily
Launched in 1998 to promote Spanish cinema, the Malaga Festival once promised a fantastic shot of Spring sunshine, a competition whose winners were maybe unlucky not to get to Cannes, an annual state of the business pronouncement from Spain’s producer association Fapae, and screaming fans around the red carpet, proving Spain had a new, TV-based star system.
That in itself was an achievement. Under Juan Antonio Vigar, Malaga Festival director from 2013, the event, however, has built, broadened and added large industry heft, as the importance of Spanish language fiction has skyrocketed in a streaming platform age, to become a not-to-be-ignored event on the international circuit.
Evidence suggests the Malaga Festival is not done yet but will add new initiatives and allies as Spain thrashes out new distribution models in a post-platform investment quota digital age, whose parameters are only now being set.
One key to growth, says Vigar, was opening...
That in itself was an achievement. Under Juan Antonio Vigar, Malaga Festival director from 2013, the event, however, has built, broadened and added large industry heft, as the importance of Spanish language fiction has skyrocketed in a streaming platform age, to become a not-to-be-ignored event on the international circuit.
Evidence suggests the Malaga Festival is not done yet but will add new initiatives and allies as Spain thrashes out new distribution models in a post-platform investment quota digital age, whose parameters are only now being set.
One key to growth, says Vigar, was opening...
- 11/17/2020
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
An emerging generation of new Basque filmmakers is making its mark in the San Sebastian Festival, building on the foundations of now consolidated creative and industrial infrastructures.
Only time will tell if the Basque Country can follow in the footsteps of Catalonia, another richer region of Spain, and launch a modern day new wave. Expectations however, remain high.
The new generation is widely represented at this year’s San Sebastian.
A prominent member of the group is David Pérez Sañudo, whose highly anticipated feature debut, mother-daughter social drama “Ane,” plays at the festival’s New Directors sidebar. Handled by Latido Films, “Ane” was developed at the Madrid Film School Ecam Incubator, then won three prizes at Málaga’s Wip in April.
Imanol Rayo, winner of the Zinemira Award with “Bi anai” in 2011, presents in New Directors his rural tale “Hil Kanpaiak” (“Death Knell”), produced by Bilbao-based Abra Prod.
Six of the 11 features at Zinemira,...
Only time will tell if the Basque Country can follow in the footsteps of Catalonia, another richer region of Spain, and launch a modern day new wave. Expectations however, remain high.
The new generation is widely represented at this year’s San Sebastian.
A prominent member of the group is David Pérez Sañudo, whose highly anticipated feature debut, mother-daughter social drama “Ane,” plays at the festival’s New Directors sidebar. Handled by Latido Films, “Ane” was developed at the Madrid Film School Ecam Incubator, then won three prizes at Málaga’s Wip in April.
Imanol Rayo, winner of the Zinemira Award with “Bi anai” in 2011, presents in New Directors his rural tale “Hil Kanpaiak” (“Death Knell”), produced by Bilbao-based Abra Prod.
Six of the 11 features at Zinemira,...
- 9/22/2020
- by Emiliano De Pablos
- Variety Film + TV
New Netflix action movie The Old Guard continues to ride a wave of success. It’s only been out for a week, but the Charlize Theron flick is already hitting several benchmarks. It topped Netflix’s Top 10 chart after only 48 hours and now the streaming platform is reporting that it’s on track to be seen by 72 million accounts in its first four weeks of release.
Of course, take any announcement by a successful company with a grain of salt. Netflix is notoriously secretive about sharing ratings figures and when they do, we don’t have much context for the numbers. Having said that, there are a few other notable Netflix movies to compare The Old Guard to. The Adam Sandler/Jennifer Aniston comedy Murder Mystery was seen by 31 million accounts in its first two days of release, for instance. Not bad considering that Sandler’s theatrical prowess has taken a hit in recent memory.
Of course, take any announcement by a successful company with a grain of salt. Netflix is notoriously secretive about sharing ratings figures and when they do, we don’t have much context for the numbers. Having said that, there are a few other notable Netflix movies to compare The Old Guard to. The Adam Sandler/Jennifer Aniston comedy Murder Mystery was seen by 31 million accounts in its first two days of release, for instance. Not bad considering that Sandler’s theatrical prowess has taken a hit in recent memory.
- 7/18/2020
- by Ryan Beltram
- We Got This Covered
Netflix has posted on social media that the Charlize Theron Gina Prince-Bythewood Skydance movie The Old Guard could easily become one of the streamer’s top 10 original movies. With no small amount of fortune-telling, the streamer is estimating that the pic will be seen by 72M households withing four weeks.
Should those numbers bear out, Prince-Bythewood will become the first Black female director on that list.
The movie, based on Greg Rucka’s graphic novel, who also wrote the screenplay, follows a covert team of immortal mercenaries who are suddenly exposed and must fight to keep their identity a secret just as an unexpected new member is discovered.
Theron, who also produced the movie, teased about a sequel on Seth Meyers recently, saying, “There’s obviously a relationship there (between Van Veronica Ngo’s Quynh and Theron’s Andy) that we didn’t really explore in this film…so I...
Should those numbers bear out, Prince-Bythewood will become the first Black female director on that list.
The movie, based on Greg Rucka’s graphic novel, who also wrote the screenplay, follows a covert team of immortal mercenaries who are suddenly exposed and must fight to keep their identity a secret just as an unexpected new member is discovered.
Theron, who also produced the movie, teased about a sequel on Seth Meyers recently, saying, “There’s obviously a relationship there (between Van Veronica Ngo’s Quynh and Theron’s Andy) that we didn’t really explore in this film…so I...
- 7/18/2020
- by Anthony D'Alessandro
- Deadline Film + TV
London and Tblisi-based Alief has picked up worldwide rights for Ángeles Hernández and David Matamorros’ Spanish relationship drama “Isaac.” Variety has obtained exclusive access to the trailer.
The film is based on the Spanish play “El día que nació Isaac” by Antonio Hernández Centeno, who is also known for his work on such Spanish series as Amazon’s “Caronte” and Netflix’s “Unauthorized Living.”
Described as “a quirky Dogma 95-style story of love and gender fluidity,” “Isaac” focuses on two old friends, Denis and Nacho, who meet again years after having had an intense relationship as teenagers. Now in relationships with their respective partners, the two couples grow close and end up fulfilling each other’s needs.
Hernández and Matamorros co-directed the pic and produced via their Barcelona-based Mr. Miyagi Films.
Toplining the cast are Ivan Sanchez and Pepe Ocio, both of whom currently star in hit Netflix shows “You Cannot Hide” and “High Seas,...
The film is based on the Spanish play “El día que nació Isaac” by Antonio Hernández Centeno, who is also known for his work on such Spanish series as Amazon’s “Caronte” and Netflix’s “Unauthorized Living.”
Described as “a quirky Dogma 95-style story of love and gender fluidity,” “Isaac” focuses on two old friends, Denis and Nacho, who meet again years after having had an intense relationship as teenagers. Now in relationships with their respective partners, the two couples grow close and end up fulfilling each other’s needs.
Hernández and Matamorros co-directed the pic and produced via their Barcelona-based Mr. Miyagi Films.
Toplining the cast are Ivan Sanchez and Pepe Ocio, both of whom currently star in hit Netflix shows “You Cannot Hide” and “High Seas,...
- 6/17/2020
- by Ed Meza
- Variety Film + TV
We’re appalled when those ‘above’ us don’t share - but there’s always somebody below, too, says director Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia
Coronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverage
When Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia began shooting his latest film in Bilbao almost two years ago, the Spanish director felt the themes of his low-budget, dystopian horror feature would be sufficiently universal to resonate with audiences around the world. Today, however, many are claiming that El Hoyo – known in English as The Platform – is the perfect parable for life in the time of the coronavirus and a visceral investigation of how a crisis can expose not only the stratification of human society but also the immutable strands of selfishness coded into our DNA.
The parallels are certainly not hard to find. The Platform is set in a forbidding “vertical self-management centre” – a soaring series of concrete cells stacked one on top of the other,...
Coronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverage
When Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia began shooting his latest film in Bilbao almost two years ago, the Spanish director felt the themes of his low-budget, dystopian horror feature would be sufficiently universal to resonate with audiences around the world. Today, however, many are claiming that El Hoyo – known in English as The Platform – is the perfect parable for life in the time of the coronavirus and a visceral investigation of how a crisis can expose not only the stratification of human society but also the immutable strands of selfishness coded into our DNA.
The parallels are certainly not hard to find. The Platform is set in a forbidding “vertical self-management centre” – a soaring series of concrete cells stacked one on top of the other,...
- 4/16/2020
- by Sam Jones in Madrid
- The Guardian - Film News
“The strategy is bandwidth expansion.”
Faced with industry-wide disruption amid the coronavirus pandemic, Los Angeles-based producer-financier-sales agent Xyz Films has quickly shifted its focus to building an expanded sales roster for buyers whose pipelines have taken a hit and are urgently in need of product.
Partners Nate Bolotin, Nick Spicer and Aram Tertzakian, head of international acquisitions Todd Brown, and president of international sales and distribution Tatyana Joffe are supplementing sales on the existing slate by sourcing completed films or projects in post from their extensive network of global content creators.
It is an evolving ecosystem that has helped cement...
Faced with industry-wide disruption amid the coronavirus pandemic, Los Angeles-based producer-financier-sales agent Xyz Films has quickly shifted its focus to building an expanded sales roster for buyers whose pipelines have taken a hit and are urgently in need of product.
Partners Nate Bolotin, Nick Spicer and Aram Tertzakian, head of international acquisitions Todd Brown, and president of international sales and distribution Tatyana Joffe are supplementing sales on the existing slate by sourcing completed films or projects in post from their extensive network of global content creators.
It is an evolving ecosystem that has helped cement...
- 4/9/2020
- by 36¦Jeremy Kay¦54¦
- ScreenDaily
"There are three kinds of people: the ones above, the ones below, and the ones who fall." On this episode of The First Word podcast we reconnect for a discussion about two small scale, contained sci-fi films now available to watch: Vivarium, directed by Lorcan Finnegan, starring Jesse Eisenberg & Imogen Poots; and also The Platform (aka El Hoyo in Spanish), directed by Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia, starring Ivan Massagué & Zorion Eguileor. Both worth watching. Friends Alex Billington (@firstshowing) and Mike Eisenberg (@Eisentower30) team up to bring you a podcast providing in-depth discussion, analysis, and interviews about the latest movies, and some old ones too. For this chat, we're joined by film writer John Bleasdale as our guest (he also joined us for our episode on James Gray's Ad Astra last year). Listen to our discussion. Download or listen to The First Word podcast episode #32 below - hosted by Podbean. Subscribe to...
- 4/7/2020
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Watching The Platform on Netflix might just fill the Parasite-shaped hole in your heart, especially as you seek a smart distraction these days. Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia's gritty Spanish social thriller invites us into a facility where a food spread on a platform descends a tower. Cellmates at the top get first dibs on the menu while those below sustain on their scraps. The film is a mind twister for sure, especially towards its wildly metaphorical conclusion. Here's a breakdown of Goreng's revolution in The Platform's ending, no panna cotta guaranteed.
The Platform's Premise
Much like Parasite, the visual hierarchy of capitalism is obvious here: those at the top of the tower get more access to food. They eat with abandon, not thinking about how feasting would affect those below. This environment pits the poor against each other. The impoverished either starve or become violent, some even eating their fellow inmates Donner Party style.
The Platform's Premise
Much like Parasite, the visual hierarchy of capitalism is obvious here: those at the top of the tower get more access to food. They eat with abandon, not thinking about how feasting would affect those below. This environment pits the poor against each other. The impoverished either starve or become violent, some even eating their fellow inmates Donner Party style.
- 4/7/2020
- by Stacey Nguyen
- Popsugar.com
Debut director Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia’s The Platform (El Hoyo) makes no apology for its anti-capitalist stance, stark visuals and social metaphors, which in today’s coronavirus era make for very sober and self-reflective viewing. It highlights people’s greed and selfishness in desperate and restrictive circumstances and ironically revolves around food. Indeed it is highly topical, with food stockpiling from stores set against messages on social media about “being kind” and thoughtful.
Much like a cross between Peter Greenaway’s The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover with its lavish cooking scenes at the start that have a whiff of malaise about them with their ominous carcasses on display, the decadent and destructive nature of Ben Wheatley’s High-Rise, and the slow-burn dawning of eternal entrapment within four walls like Lenny Abrahamson’s Room and Vincenzo Natali’s Cube, The Platform is instantly designed to unsettle, before the characters have fathomed their situation.
Much like a cross between Peter Greenaway’s The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover with its lavish cooking scenes at the start that have a whiff of malaise about them with their ominous carcasses on display, the decadent and destructive nature of Ben Wheatley’s High-Rise, and the slow-burn dawning of eternal entrapment within four walls like Lenny Abrahamson’s Room and Vincenzo Natali’s Cube, The Platform is instantly designed to unsettle, before the characters have fathomed their situation.
- 4/4/2020
- by Lisa Giles-Keddie
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
The innate beauty of Netflix lies in its vast online archives of binge-worthy entertainment. Just sit back, click a few buttons and boom, your next viewing experience is ready and waiting.
And in this digitized world of online streaming, it doesn’t take long for something to become an overnight success. Think of the Netflix phenom Stranger Things or Sex Education – two remarkably well-crafted TV shows that blew up thanks, in part, to word of mouth.
Fast forward to March 2020, and it seems we may have our next viral hit in the form of The Platform, a Spanish horror-thriller set in a dark, dystopian future where the world’s criminals are locked away in vertical prisons. In our review, we awarded Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia’s grim and gory picture with four stars, deeming it to be a “multi-tiered assembly of tension, terror and terrible imaginings that, in cake form, would be...
And in this digitized world of online streaming, it doesn’t take long for something to become an overnight success. Think of the Netflix phenom Stranger Things or Sex Education – two remarkably well-crafted TV shows that blew up thanks, in part, to word of mouth.
Fast forward to March 2020, and it seems we may have our next viral hit in the form of The Platform, a Spanish horror-thriller set in a dark, dystopian future where the world’s criminals are locked away in vertical prisons. In our review, we awarded Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia’s grim and gory picture with four stars, deeming it to be a “multi-tiered assembly of tension, terror and terrible imaginings that, in cake form, would be...
- 3/25/2020
- by Michael Briers
- We Got This Covered
You can add Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia’s The Platform to the universe’s ever-growing list of directorial debuts that showcase anything but novice skill sets. As Bong Joon-ho’s Snowpiercer and Ben Wheatley’s High-Rise so exquisitely pull the curtain back on humanity’s cruelest impulses, Urrutia embraces dystopian monstrosity through elementary necessities. Homo sapiens are courteous beings when benefits are personal and stakes are lowest, but thrust into survival desperation? Writers David Desola and Pedro Rivero obscure mealtime fulfillment with selfishness, vulgarity, brutality, and – most importantly – a suggestion that your neighbors would rip one’s heart out if it meant another day alive. Urrutia, fiercely, is an architect of horrific immorality with the calmest demeanor.
In an alternate future, everyman Goreng (Ivan Massagué) enrolls himself in a research project with vague descriptions. Isolation is promised, he’s allowed one item (a Don Quixote novel), and he’ll be sharing quarters with an unnamed companion.
In an alternate future, everyman Goreng (Ivan Massagué) enrolls himself in a research project with vague descriptions. Isolation is promised, he’s allowed one item (a Don Quixote novel), and he’ll be sharing quarters with an unnamed companion.
- 3/21/2020
- by Matt Donato
- We Got This Covered
. Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia’s “The Platform” is not a subtle film. But these are unsubtle times, with unsubtle problems, and the most alarming thing about this grimly affecting Spanish allegory — which literalizes capitalism’s dehumanizing verticality with twice the gross-out terror of “Parasite,” and almost half of that masterpiece’s furious grace — is that it sometimes doesn’t seem like an allegory at all.
Like “Cube,” “Saw,” and even “The Exterminating Angel” before it, “The Platform” is the sort of (largely) single-location horror movie that’s defined by its premise. Somewhere in the not-so-distant-future — or perhaps a Camus-esque alternate version of now — hundreds of people are trapped in a narrow cement skyscraper that has more levels than any of the prisoners housed there could ever hope to count. The company that owns the place has branded it a “Vertical Self-Management Center,” but its occupants refer to it only as “The Pit,...
Like “Cube,” “Saw,” and even “The Exterminating Angel” before it, “The Platform” is the sort of (largely) single-location horror movie that’s defined by its premise. Somewhere in the not-so-distant-future — or perhaps a Camus-esque alternate version of now — hundreds of people are trapped in a narrow cement skyscraper that has more levels than any of the prisoners housed there could ever hope to count. The company that owns the place has branded it a “Vertical Self-Management Center,” but its occupants refer to it only as “The Pit,...
- 3/17/2020
- by David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
If you were looking for a bit more of a genre bite with High-Rise, look no further than Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia’s acclaimed debut horror feature The Platform. The People’s Choice winner at Tiff Midnight Madness last year, the film is set in a future dystopia as prisoners are housed in stacked cells as food descends from the upper tiers of life. Netflix picked up the film for their, ahem, platform and now will give it a release in less than two weeks.
Ed Frankl said in our Sitges review, ‘There are three types of people, according to the opening lines of The Platform: those at the top, those at the bottom, and those who fall between them. That class-structure conceit forms the backbone of this ingenious Spanish horror that won the Midnight Madness sidebar at this year’s Toronto Film Festival, a twisted fantasy that aims high with socio-political...
Ed Frankl said in our Sitges review, ‘There are three types of people, according to the opening lines of The Platform: those at the top, those at the bottom, and those who fall between them. That class-structure conceit forms the backbone of this ingenious Spanish horror that won the Midnight Madness sidebar at this year’s Toronto Film Festival, a twisted fantasy that aims high with socio-political...
- 3/8/2020
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
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