Notizie

“The Talent,” a glitzy party-set psychological thriller toplining Ester Expósito, one of the biggest breakouts of “Elite” stars, will be brought onto the market at Berlin by Spain’s Film Factory Entertainment.

Handling many of Spain’s biggest non-global streamer movies, Film Factory has acquired worldwide rights to “The Talent”outside Spain. It will present at next month’s European Film Market a first promo of the movie whose talent package is compounded by Fernando León de Aranoa, who co-writes and produces. Helmer of San Sebastian Film Festival Golden Shell winner “Mondays in the Sun,” one of the early big breakthroughs for Javier Bardem, León directed Bardem once more in the Oscar shortlisted “The Good Boss,” which also won six 2021 Goya Awards, Spain’s equivalent of the Oscars, including Best Film and Director, and the European Film Award for Best Comedy.

Produced by Leon’s Reposado PC and The Mediapro Studio,...

Encabezan el reparto Isabel Rocatti, Pepe Munné, Carlos Cuevas y Joaquín Climent.

© Revolutionary

El Parque Natural de La Tinença de Benifassà y las comarcas de El Maestrat y Els Ports se han convertido en el escenario del rodaje de Cowgirl, una comedia romántica rural dirigida por Cristina Fernández y Miguel Llorens (Cosas que hacer antes de morir).

Cowgirl sigue a Empar, una granjera de sesenta años que vive en una zona rural de Els Ports. Su granja depende de que su última vaca, Tona, quede preñada. Después de repetidos fracasos y en contra de su voluntad, se ve obligada a pedir ayuda a Bernat, el propietario de la mayor granja de la zona, para que su semental monte a Tona. Cuando la vaca se queda preñada la alegría de Empar dura poco cuando Martí, el veterinario, le dice que Tona tiene una gestación de riesgo y que cualquier sobresalto que...

Unspooling in Cadiz over Oct. 25-31, the South International Series Festival is a bellwether on trends and highlights for the current season. What could be some of its star performers? Following, 10 titles to track, which also often say something about the way the market is going.

“The Big Jump” (Atresmedia International Sales)

One of Atresmedia’s biggest bets at Mipcom, a biopic series about the rise to Olympic Gold Medals at Sydney and Athens of Spanish gymnast Gervasio Deferr and, in a second timeline, his descent into drugs and alcohol, incapable of accepting failure in competition and lost when retired. Oscar Casas plays Deferr, with “Gangs of Galicia” helmer Roger Gual directs. An Atresplayer Original Series, bowing on Nov. 17.

“La Favorita 1922” (Mediterraneo)

From “Grand Hotel” through “Velvet” and “Cable Girls,” Ramon Campos’ Studiocanal j.v. Bambu Producciones has carved out its international reputation, creating modern gender-agenda melodramas that make...

Some of Spain’s top industry players, alongside international figures, gathered at the San Sebastian on Sunday to chart a roadmap for Europe’s audiovisual future at a morning conference entitled Partnerships and Investments for the Consolidation of the European Audiovisual Ecosystem.

Oscar López, Spain’s Minister for Digital and Public Service Transformation, closed the event with an optimistic outlook on Spain’s booming industry, despite the growing challenges it faces. He emphasized that the sector is experiencing one of its best moments, with employment growing by 93% over the last three years and Spain now a leader in Europe in the production of original content.

Success, however, has it challenges. Some takeaways from the morning’s two sessions:

Public-Private Partnerships: A Virtuous Circle

Concepción Cascajosa Virino, acting president of Rtve, spoke to the importance of a “virtuous circle” between public and private initiatives in driving the industry forward. She cited...

Javier Bardem and Chloë Sevigny have joined “Monster” Season 2 at Netflix, Variety has learned.

The two A-listers join previously announced stars Cooper Koch and Nicholas Alexander Chavez in the upcoming season of the anthology series, which will focus on the Menéndez brothers. The season is officially titled “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menéndez Story” and is slated to debut later in 2024.

Erik (Koch) and Lyle Menéndez (Chavez) were convicted of the murders of their parents, José (Bardem) and Mary Louise “Kitty” Menéndez (Sevigny), in 1996. Authorities argued the brothers committed the murders to inherit their father’s fortune, while the brothers maintained that they killed their parents after years of mental and physical abuse.

“Monster” was co-created by Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan. Both serve as executive producers along with Alexis Martin Woodall, Eric Kovtun, David McMillan, Louise Shore, and Carl Franklin. The first season focused on serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer.

Bardem's versatility shines through in his roles, from villains like Raoul Silva in Skyfall to heroes like Ramon Sampedro in The Sea Inside. Bardem's charm and magnetic charisma keep audiences engaged even in movies like Mondays in the Sun that could feel directionless. Bardem's exceptional performances and distinctive voice make him a standout in films like Before Night Falls, where he portrays the struggles of Cuban poet Reinaldo Arenas.

Javier Bardem has enjoyed a remarkable career in both Spanish and English-language films, and his best movies showcase many sides to his talent as an actor. Bardem is well-known as a villain in several movies. Bardem plays the villain in Skyfall, No Country for Old Men, Collateral, and many more movies. He is able to tap into a distinctly menacing presence in these roles, and his intimidating stare and deep voice are great advantages for him. But he is far more than just a villain-type,...

Inspired by the simmering one-man rebellion that kicked off a tremendous tide-change in Barcelona, writer-director Marcel Barrena (“Mediterraneo: The Law of the Sea”) and Spain’s The Mediapro Studio have begun filming “The 47.”

Tms has released first look images. The premise centers on social activist bus driver Manolo Vital, played by three-time Goya Award winner Eduardo Fernández (“Smoke & Mirrors”), as he grows increasingly outraged at the abject neglect faced by immigrant communities outside the city’s center, whose neighborhoods, peeled by immigrants from Extremadura and Andalusia, had only just achieved running water.

Stonewalled by the City Council, Vital seizes a bus used on Barcelona’s #47 line and extends its route to Torre Baró in an attempt to prove that the vehicle can safely service the outlying communities in need.

“What the film shows is that this good man tried to convince everyone that it was feasible. The contempt of...

Javier Bardem is the first recipient of San Sebastian’s prestigious Donostia Award for this year’s 71st edition.

He will accept the prize, San Sebastian’s highest accolade, granted for career achievement, at the festival’s opening gala on September 22. His image will also feature on the poster of this year’s edition, unveiled today in San Sebastian.

The only surprise about Bardem’s Donostia Award is that it hasn’t come earlier. A rugby player for Spain’s national team, Bardem first came to fame as a local village hulk playing opposite his now spouse Penélope Cruz in Bigas Luna’s 1992 flamboyant social critique “Jamón, Jamón.”

Bardem wanted, however, to be an actor, not a sex symbol. Refusing to be typecast, his full international breakthrough came in 2000 thanks to a tearaway performance as gay Cuban poet Reinaldo Arenas in Julian Schnabel’s “Before Night Falls,” and in Spain,...

You know he’s read all the best management books. He probably subscribes to the Harvard Business Review. And he has all the team-building buzzwords down: especially about how his employees are his “family.” But giving your management of your company such a personal touch can backfire spectacularly. That’s foreshadowed early on in Fernando León de Aranoa’s

Bardem’s Julio Blanco owns a factory that makes scales. He inherited it from his father. And in an all-staff town hall that opens the movie, he talks about how he sees his employees as his “children.” Then he goes on to say that, of course among one’s children there will be favorites. Not to mention, sometimes you have to make “difficult decisions for the good of the family.”

And, my, do Blanco’s “children” have problems. There’s Miralles (Manolo Solo), whose disintegrating marriage leads to him being distracted...

Quad Cinema has announced that “Boundless Bardem,” a retrospective on Javier Bardem’s acting career tied to the release of his upcoming film “The Good Boss,” will run at The Quad in New York City from August 19th – 25th.

The films in the retrospective are Julian Schnabel’s “Before Night Falls“ (35mm); Bigas Luna’s “Golden Balls” (35mm) and “Jamón Jamón” (35mm); Pedro Almodóvar’s “Live Flesh” (35mm); Bond film “Skyfall” (4K); Asghar Farhadi’s “Everybody Knows”; Ethan and Joel Coen’s “No Country for Old Men,” Fernando León de Aranoa’s “Loving Pablo” and “Mondays in the Sun”; Álex de la Iglesia’s “Perdita Durango”, Darren Aronofsky’s “Mother!”; and Alejandro Amenábar’s “The Sea Inside.”

The screening series will be co-produced with the Consulate General of Spain in New York.

“One of the most exciting moments of my work as a Cultural Consul are the times when we...

The Miami Film Festival has announced its opening and closing titles for its upcoming 39th edition.

The festival, which showcases works from filmmaker’s in the Ibero-American diaspora, will premiere and end with two films listed on the Oscar shortlist for international feature film. “The Good Boss” (El Buen Patrón), a comedy written and directed by Spain’s Fernando León de Aranoa, will open the festival, which will close with “Plaza Catedral,” the sophomore narrative feature of Panamanian director Abner Benaim.

“The Good Boss” stars Javier Bardem as Blanco, the owner of a family business up for consideration for a local award for business excellence. Determined to win the award, Blanco begins meddling in the lives of his employees, setting off a chain of events that leads to shocking repercussions. In Spain, the film was nominated for a record-breaking 20 Goya Awards, which will be held on Feb. 12. León de Aranoa...

The Spanish Academy surprised some this year when it selected Fernando León de Aranoa’s Javier Bardem-starrer “The Good Boss” (“El buen patrón”) as the country’s submission for this year’s Best International Feature Oscar race. It’s main contender was Pedro Almodóvar’s “Parallel Mothers” which wowed at Venice – Penelope Cruz took the award for best actress, did well at the Spanish box office and has been an overwhelming critical success and has since been nominated for the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture – Non-English Language.

To many, particularly in Spain however, the decision was less of a shock. Bolstering “The Good Boss’” credentials as a true contender, the film is one of the Spain’s best-reviewed films in 2021 both at home and abroad – it currently boasts a 90% on Rotten Tomatoes – is the year’s highest-grossing domestic indie and recently broke a 30-year-old record for the most...

Already selected as this year’s Spanish Best International Feature Film submission for the Oscars, Fernando León de Aranoa’s dark workplace comedy “The Good Boss,” starring Javier Bardem, has set a new record for most Spanish Academy Goya Award nominations with 20, ahead of Icíar Bollaín’s standout Basque drama “Maixabel” with 14 and Pedro Almodóvar’s “Parallel Mothers,” which secured eight.

The 20 nominations include: Best picture, director, original screenplay, original music, lead actor, three nominations for supporting actor, supporting actress, two nominations for best new male actor and one for best new female actor, production design, cinematography, editing, art direction, costume design, makeup, sound design and special effects. It’s a total which breaks an almost 30-year-old record held by Imanol Uribe’s “Numbered Days,” which received 19 nominations in 1994.

León’s latest, produced by The Mediapro Studio and Reposado PC, is a return to a fruitful partnership between the director and his leading man.

New York-based Cohen Media Group has acquired all U.S. rights to Javier Bardem-starrer “The Good Boss” (“El Buen Patrón”), Spain’s submission to the international feature film Oscars race at the 2022 Academy Awards.

The deal was negotiated by Cmg senior VP Robert Aaronson and Fionnuala Jamison, managing director, MK2, which is handling international sales on the film.

Written and directed by Fernando León de Aranoa, “The Good Boss” world premiered at September’s San Sebastián Festival, where it was one of the best received of main competition films, critics especially highlighting Bardem’s central performance.

Released by Tripictures in Spain, it has grossed €1.64 million ($1.9 million) after its first three weekends, a resilient result in a still under-performing Spanish box office.

A workplace satire which says much about how corporate identity has eviscerated family and human relations in a modern world, “The Good Boss” stars a once more remarkably coiffured Bardem – here,...

When Spanish dictator Francisco Franco died in 1975, the horror of his regime was strewn across the country, in countless unmarked graves filled with citizens who opposed his rule. A young filmmaker named Pedro Almodóvar, giddy with the new freedoms of democracy, chose to ignore that dark side of history.

“I have to confess, I sort of forgot about my political leanings and dedicated myself to finally enjoying the things denied me,” the 72-year-old director said in an interview with IndieWire from New York, where his latest movie “Parallel Mothers” would soon close the New York Film Festival. He recalled the rambunctious hedonism of his early features, 1978’s “Fuck…Fuck…Fuck Me, Tim!” and 1980’s punk rock “Pepi, Luci, Bom,” which echoed the unruly underground sensibilities of John Waters and Andy Warhol.

“It was as though Franco never existed,” Almodóvar said. “We just sort of moved forward as if it hadn’t happened.

Closing out the New York Film Festival, Pedro Almodóvar’s newest venture, “Parallel Mothers,” debuted with an endearing and scintillating turn from Penélope Cruz and newcomer Milena Smit, both of whom will be angling for much-deserved awards attention. But can it go any further than that?

Fresh off winning the prestigious Volpi Cup at the Venice Film Festival, it’s easy to see why Cruz was a jury favorite. While it’s not the best work of her career, Cruz makes all of her acting interpretations and choices look effortless. The ability to drop tears, invoke an undeniable sex appeal, and command the camera lens is not something many actresses of her caliber can do. Her Oscar journey began in the hands of the Spanish auteur. She received her first nom for “Volver” (2006), though the film wasn’t nominated in the foreign-language category. This catapulted her into an awards magnet:...

Shortlist also inclued Pedro Almodóvar’s Parallel Mothers and Marcel Barrena’s Mediterraneo: The Law Of The Sea.

Fernando León de Aranoa’s black comedy The Good Boss, starring Javier Bardem, will represent Spain in the upcoming best international feature film Oscar race.

The Spanish Film Academy selected the film from a shortlist that also included Pedro Almodóvar’s Parallel Mothers and Marcel Barrena’s Mediterraneo: The Law Of The Sea.

Produced by The Mediapro Studio and Reposado P.C., The Good Boss premiered last month at the San Sebastián Film Festival, reuniting director Aranoa with Bardem 19 years after Mondays In The Sun,...

Say you’re hitching a ride at the side of a lonely highway, and two cars slow down at once. One is driven by Anton Chigurh, the taciturn, helmet-haired serial killer played to Oscar-winning effect by Javier Bardem in “No Country for Old Men.” At the wheel of the other is Blanco, the grayly respectable factory CEO essayed by the same actor in “The Good Boss.” Seems like an easy choice, though by the end of the latter film, you might be inclined to take your chances with the psychopath.

Blanco probably won’t kill you; not by his own hand, at least. But with each chaotic plot turn of Spanish director Fernando León de Aranoa’s anti-corporate comedy, it becomes clearer that Blanco is the blandest possible incarnation of pure evil: a man with nary a principle, much less a personality, to his name. Yet as played with an...

Fernando León de Aranoa’s Spanish-language dark comedy The Good Boss had its world premiere last night at the San Sebastian Film Festival in front of a raucous local crowd (albeit at half-capacity due to Covid measures).

The audience-friendly film sees Javier Bardem play Blanco, a charismatic but controlling factory boss who will go to extreme lengths to protect the world he has created for himself, and to stop his affairs with the interns being exposed to his wife.

The role is a demanding one for Bardem, but he carries the narrative by delivering a nuanced and engaging performance, filling virtually every frame with subtle charm – it’s a part that is already receiving rave write-ups following the premiere in San Sebastian.

This is the latest collaboration between Bardem and director Fernando León De Aranoa, following their movies Loving Pablo and Mondays In The Sun.

Deadline sat down with the...

Fernando León de Aranoa’s ‘The Good Boss’, Icíar Bollaín’s ‘Maixabel’ and ‘La Abuela’ from Paco Plaza are all in competition.

A total of 14 Spanish productions have been selected for the 69th San Sebastian Film Festival (September 17-25).

These include four titles which will compete for the Golden Shell, including The Good Boss, starring Javier Bardem, which marks the third time in official selection for Fernando León de Aranoa. The Madrid filmmaker won the Golden Shell for best film with Mondays In the Sun back in 2002. The Good Boss is a black comedy and is set in an industrial sales manufacturing business.

Fernando León de Aranoa’s “The Good Boss,” starring Javier Bardem, Alejandro Amenábar’s first drama series “La Fortuna,” and Carlos Saura’s “Rosa Rosae. A Civil War Elegy” head a robust Spanish presence at September’s San Sebastian Film Festival.

Also in the mix are new films from Jonás Trueba, Iciar Bollaín and Paco Plaza, all playing in main competition, plus Daniel Monzón’s Warner Bros.-distributed “Las leyes de la frontera,” selected as San Sebastián’s closing night film, and “The Daughter,” from Manuel Martín Cuenca. “Rosa Rosae” will screen at the San Sebastian’s opening night ceremony on Sept. 17.

World premiering at Venice, Penelope Cruz and Antonio Banderas movie shoot comedy “Official Competition” will open San Sebastian’s best of fests section Perlak.

Spanish cinema’s socio-political traditions remain strong: “The Good Boss” is a study of company management machinations. In a highly polarized Spain, Bollaín’s “Maixabel,...

The winners of the 2020 Irish Film & Television Academy Awards were announced last night, with Lesley Manville and Liam Neeson pic Ordinary Love winning Best Film, presented by Martin Scoresese. Tom Vaughan-Lawlor won Best Actor in Film for Rialto, which also scooped the Scriptwriter prize for Mark O’Halloran. Paddy Breathnach took Best Director for Rosie. Jessie Buckley won two awards: Best Actress In Film for Wild Rose as well as Supporting Actress Drama for Chernobyl. Niamh Algar also took two prizes: Supporting Actress Film for Calm With Horses and Leading Actress Drama for The Virtues. Also on the TV side, Blood won Best Drama, Andrew Scott took Best Actor Drama for Black Mirror: Smithereens, Mark O’Halloran won Supporting Actor Drama for The Virtues, Dearbhla Walsh won Director Drama for The Handmaid’s Tale, and Mark O’Rowe won Scriptwriter Drama for Temple. Aisling Franciosi Won the Screen Ireland Rising Star prize.

Javier Bardem is set to return to his native Spain to star in new feature “The Good Boss,” reuniting with director Fernando León de Aranoa, The Mediapro Studio and many of the social themes of 2002’s “Mondays in the Sun,” a movie that sealed a young Bardem’s acting reputation.

France’s MK2 Films, the Paris-based production, sales and exhibition company, has acquired international sales rights to the film, described as an offbeat satire with darkly comedic elements.

Produced by Fernando León de Aranoa’s own label, Reposado P.C., and The Mediapro Studio, the film will begin shooting this October.

Announced on the eve of 2020’s Toronto Film Festival, the ironic dramedy has Bardem in the lead role as the titular good boss, a charismatic and seemingly benevolent owner of a family factory who thinks he could be up for another local award for business excellence.

In order to...

April 1994 As Spanish TV stations increasingly out-house services, Jaume Roures and Gerard Romy found Mediapro, with Taxto Benet’s encouragement, renting an office in Barcelona’s Sarria-district Riu de l’Or to organize the Andorra Intl. Jazz Festival.

Oct. 1994: From the near get-go, Medaipro begins handling sport event production and rights, starting with boxing, tennis and especially basketball.

Oct. 1997: Mediapro pacts with Telefonica to provide satellite uplink services.

Dec. 1997: Company’s first TV show, Andalucia Directo, a daily magazine on Canal Sur.

Dec. 1998: Mediapro’s pact with Audiovisual Sport to handle international rights to Spanish league soccer matches.

July 1999: Canal Barca and Real Madrid TV, dedicated soccer club channels, launch with Mediapro backing.

Oct. 1999: Mediapro buys its first mobile units.

June 2000: A former head of Audiovisual Sports, an Atresmedia, Tvc co-venture, Tatxo Benet creates his own company which now merges with Mediapro.

Sept.

Award-winning Spanish writer-director Fernando Leon de Aranoa is in talks to direct a bio-series about celebrated Spanish artist Joaquin Sabina.

Endemol Shine Boomdog, Btf Media and Sony Music Spain will jointly produce the scripted series as well as a documentary on Sabina, the latter with Leon de Aranoa’s Reposado Prods. Both projects are slated for release in 2020.

“It is great to have such an acclaimed director, producer and screenwriter as Fernando joining us on this journey,” said Endemol Shine Boomdog CEO Alejandro Rincon, adding: “Fernando’s extraordinary experience and his close relationship with Joaquin make him the perfect choice to lead these productions.”

Sabina, who is not only known as a world class singer-songwriter, but also as a poet and a painter, is considered one of the most influential artists in modern Spanish history. Born in Ubeda, Spain, in 1949, he was exiled to London in 1970 for his opposition to...

Madrid — Ran Tellem, Daniel Burman and Javier Olivares will tutor or lecture at this year’s first Master’s Degree in Creative Writing and Screenplays, launched by Spain’s Mediapro Group and Madrid’s Complutense University.

Steered by one of Europe’s biggest international fiction creation forces with offices in 35 countries around the world, the initiative will be echoed in one form or another by many of the most forward-looking companies in a new high-end drama series age. That’s because it gives a longterm structural answer to the era’s greatest challenge: Accessing extraordinary writing talent.

Olivares, Tellem and Burman, all of whom hold positions at the Mediapro Group, will be joined by other key showrunners and writers such as Ivan Escobar and Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrosia which have helped establish Spain as one of the major international production hubs for high-end drama series productions watched over the globe.

Javier Bardem struggles manfully with a prosthetic belly while Penélope Cruz is sidelined in this confused film

Until recently, any biopic of drug lord Pablo Escobar starring Javier Bardem and Penélope Cruz – especially one directed by the well-regarded social-realist Fernando León de Aranoa (Mondays in the Sun) – would have been presented as a major event. Perhaps Netflix’s Narcos has reduced any such project’s thunder. After lukewarm responses at last year’s Venice and Toronto festivals (where it premiered as Loving Pablo), the biopic we’ve ended up with has had to assume an alias, a development that might have brought a crooked smile to its elusive subject’s face. The film sneaking on to UK screens this weekend as the bluntly no-nonsense Escobar is not without interest, sweep or colour, but bears signs of high-level, edit-suite indecision over what sort of movie it wants to be. It’s an alluring product,...

Given recent international events, a comedy about aid workers in a conflict zone would appear to be a tricky prospect. And yet if this first glimpse is anything to go by, Tim Robbins, Benicio del Toro, Olga Kurylenko and director Fernando León de Aranoa have nailed it with A Perfect Day. Check out the trailer and see if you agree.The film finds Robbins, del Toro and their team in the Balkans. The farcical plot involves the various hindrances they encounter while attempting to purify a water supply by removing a corpse from a well.The Spanish de Aranoa (Los Lunes Al Sol, Princesas) makes his English-language debut with the film, which he also wrote. It was shot in his home country and will be in theatres there on April 28. There are no other release dates for the rest of the world so far, but deals are currently being done...

A brilliant actor with piercing eyes, Javier Bardem received his third Academy Award nomination for "Biutiful," in recognition of his role as Uxbal, a single, struggling father with cancer who decides to take the path to redemption before he dies.

Bardem took home an Oscar in 2007 as Best Supporting Actor in "No Country for Old Men" and was nominated for Best Actor in 2000 for "Before Night Falls." Javier is also a five-time Goya winner, Spain's version of the Academy Award.

MADRID -- When Antonio Banderas announced he would produce and direct his second feature, Summer Rain, in Spain, Spanish production houses lined up to woo the actor-turned-Hollywood star. But it raised few eyebrows when Sogecine took the prize. The movie production wing of film and TV powerhouse Sogecable has forged a reputation as the co-production partner of choice for Spain's international directors. Alejandro Amenabar (The Others), Alex de la Iglesia (Ferpect Crime), Julio Medem (Sex and Lucia), Fernando Leon (Mondays in the Sun) and Isabel Coixet (The Secret Life of Words) are some of the top-drawer auteur directors who have opted to produce their films through Sogecine, now Spain's most prolific producer. Penelope Cruz, who launched her own production label, dubbed 88, in May, says she will also co-produce her first feature, Passion India, with the company. It's not surprising when you look at the company's 10-year track record that reads like a who's who in modern Spanish cinema, Pedro Almodovar being the one notable absentee.

MADRID -- When Antonio Banderas announced he would produce and direct his second feature, Summer Rain, in Spain, Spanish production houses lined up to woo the actor-turned-Hollywood star. But it raised few eyebrows when Sogecine took the prize. The movie production wing of film and TV powerhouse Sogecable has forged a reputation as the co-production partner of choice for Spain's international directors. Alejandro Amenabar (The Others), Alex de la Iglesia (Ferpect Crime), Julio Medem (Sex and Lucia), Fernando Leon (Mondays in the Sun) and Isabel Coixet (The Secret Life of Words) are some of the top-drawer auteur directors who have opted to produce their films through Sogecine, now Spain's most prolific producer. Penelope Cruz, who launched her own production label, dubbed 88, in May, says she will also co-produce her first feature, Passion India, with the company. It's not surprising when you look at the company's 10-year track record that reads like a who's who in modern Spanish cinema, Pedro Almodovar being the one notable absentee.

MADRID -- Spanish production house Continental announced Thursday the acquisition of a majority stake in Barcelona-based advertising producer Dream Team Concepts, designed to usher in a new stage in Continental's activities. The deal gives Continental -- headquartered in Spain's Galicia region -- a foothold and business address in Spain's northeast Catalan region, enabling it to access public funds offered by the Catalan regional government for its local film industry. Dream Team benefits by stepping into the feature film production arena and accessing the know-how of the producer of such successes as the Manuel Gutierrez Aragon's Your Next Life, Fernando Leon de Arnaoa's Mondays in the Sun and Gerardo Herrero's The Galindez File.

MADRID -- Woody Allen has signed on to shoot a film with Spanish production house Mediapro in 2007, the Barcelona-based producer said Monday. Allen will write and direct the English-language script that will use international and Spanish actors and is expected to shoot in the first half of 2007. No other details were immediately available. "I'm happy to be able to work with Mediapro and make a film in Spain," Allen said in a statement released by the production house. "I hope that I'll be able to enjoy my stay in Spain, a country that has become very special to me." In recent years, Mediapro produced Oliver Stone's Comandante, along with Isabel Coixet's The Secret Life of Words and Fernando Leon's Mondays in the Sun.

MADRID -- Woody Allen has signed on to shoot a film with Spanish production house Mediapro in 2007, the Barcelona-based producer said Monday. Allen will write and direct the English-language script that will use international and Spanish actors and is expected to shoot in the first half of 2007. No other details were immediately available. "I'm happy to be able to work with Mediapro and make a film in Spain," Allen said in a statement released by the production house. "I hope that I'll be able to enjoy my stay in Spain, a country that has become very special to me." In recent years, Mediapro produced Oliver Stone's Comandante, along with Isabel Coixet's The Secret Life of Words and Fernando Leon's Mondays in the Sun.

MADRID -- Spanish distribution house Sogepaq announced Friday the first sales of Fernando Leon de Aranoa's Princesses. The film was first presented to buyers at the American Film Market and will have its international premiere in the World Competition of the upcoming Sundance Film Festival. All-rights sales have been concluded with ARP (France and Belgium), Xenix (Switzerland), Audiovisual (Greece and Cyprus), Portugal (Atalanta Filmes), Cine Video y TV (Mexico), Alfa Films (Argentina, Chile, Uruguay and Paraguay) and Cines Unidos (Venezuela). The Sundance selection marks the fourth straight participation for director Fernando Leon de Aranoa, after Neighborhood, documentary Caminantes and Javier Bardem festival hit, Mondays in the Sun. He also was a member of the World Competition jury last year at the Park City shindig.