Notizie

2010 was the weakest year at the Spanish box office in a decade – proof that the films with the most box office potential fell flat. Actually, very few have performed decently. Ironically the biggest flops and the most coldly received by critics films are the ones top lining the nominations for this year's Spanish Academy Awards, the Goyas. Alex de la Iglesia's “Balada Triste de Trompeta” gathered 15 nominations, including Best Film, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, Best Actor (Antonio De La Torre), Best Supporting Actress (Terele Pávez) and Best Newcomer Actress (Carolina Bang). “Pan Nere” follows with 14 nominations, the surprise hit by Agustí Villaronga will compete for Best Film, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor (Sergi López), Best Actress (Nora Navas), Best Newcomer Actor (Francesc Colomer) and Best Supporting Actress (Laia Marull). Following Agustí Villaronga's film we find “También la Lluvia” by Icíar Bollaín with 13 nominations fighting for Best Film,...

2010 gave us a unique batch of films in Emilio Aragón's Paper Birds (Pájaros de Papel), Achero Mañas's Anything You Want (Todo lo que tú quieras), Jordi Cadena & Judith Colell's Elisa K. and festival circuit favorites in Javier Mariscal & Fernando Trueba's Chico y Rita, Guillem Morales' Julia’s Eyes (Los ojos de Julia) , Icíar Bollaín's Even the Rain (También la lluvia), Andrucha Washington' Lope and Alex de la Iglesia's nutty concoction The Last Circus (Balada triste de trompeta), but 2011 will be one hell of a ride. It should be a strong year for films from Spain not only in its domestic cull but on the international scene as well, and the films featured on the list appear to be more "ambitious" batch in their form and shape. These are my Top 5 Most Anticipated Spanish Films for 2011. #5. Extraterrestial This sci-fi comedy set in a small...

Madrid -- Imagina International Sales in Berlin has picked up international rights to one of Spain's hottest titles for the coming season, "Paper Birds," written, directed and produced by Spain's consummate showman Emilio Aragon.

Aragon's $9 million directorial debut is produced by Madrid-based Versatil and Globomedia, with Hispano Fox handling Spanish theatrical and DVD rights. Antena 3 holds free-to-air rights, while Sogecable's Canal Plus holds pay-tv rights.

Written by Aragon with Argentine "Son of the Bride" scriptwriter Fernando Castets, the choral film pools some of Spain's blue-chip television talent in the cast, like Imanol Arias and Carmen Machi, in addition to "Broken Embraces'" Lluis Homar and "The Orphanage's" Fernando Cayo and Roger Princep.

"Birds" tells of a vaudeville troupe down on its luck in post-war Spain and is due for release March 12 in Spain.

Versatil is a film production label of content powerhouse Imagina, a joint-venture between Barcelona-based Mediapro and...