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It’s been a long time coming. Spain and Colombia, two territories offering some of the most enticing location incentives in their respective regions, have inked an historical co-production treaty.

Through this treaty, unveiled July 15 during the Bogota Audiovisual Market (Bam), producers from both countries will be joining forces, combining financial, technical and artistic resources to create joint audiovisual productions.

According to Diana Díaz, director of audiovisual, film & interactive media of Colombia’s Ministry of Culture, it indeed marks the first time Colombia has signed a bilateral co-production agreement with Spain. However, both countries are also signatories of the Ibero-American co-production agreement, alongside several other participating nations, which has already spawned scores of joint productions between the two nations.

“The signing of the Colombia–Spain co-production agreement presents a strategic opportunity for producers in both countries to collaborate on stories that enrich the cultural catalogs of each nation, while expanding...

During a presentation at the San Sebastian Film Festival this week, the Spanish community of Valencia made its intentions clear to become a leading global hub of audiovisual production.

Organized by the Valencian Audiovisual Cluster in collaboration with the Generalitat’s Department of Education, Culture, Universities and Employment, the event featured representatives from the public and private sectors, including Culture Secretary Pilar Tébar, General Manager of the Society for Digital Transformation Projects Fermín Crespo, and regional broadcaster A Punt Media general manager Alfred Costa, who participated in a roundtable discussion moderated by Miguel Molina, VP of the Valencian Audiovisual Production and Services Cluster.

The day’s discussion focused on the current state of the Valencian audiovisual sector in a global market context and how the region can continue to grow.

Cortés underscored the importance of innovation in setting the region’s industry apart in a crowded field, preferring it to...

Based on the graphic novel, the new 6-episode Spain-produced action-adventure spy series "Garcia!" is now streaming on HBO Max:

".... based on the graphic novel by Santiago García and Luis Bustos, published by Astiberri Ediciones, the action-adventure spy series 'Garcia!'...

"...follows 'Antonia' (Veki Velilla), a young reporter who quickly becomes embroiled in an elaborate political conspiracy after accidentally defrosting a cryogenically frozen secret agent from the 1960's.

"Now finding himself thrust into a fractured modern world, Garcia (Francisco Ortiz), a former pawn in Francisco Franco’s regime...

"...must rely on Antonia’s help to fit in – and decide where his loyalties lie amid a conspiracy to upend the Spanish government..."

Cast also includes Emilio Gutiérrez Caba, Francisco Reyes, Nico Romero, Helio Pedregal, Mario Pardo, Miki Molina, Marina Gatell, Pepe Ocio and Silvia Abascal.

Click the images to enlarge...

With all the different streaming services in operation these days, there’s an awful lot of TV out there, so much so that plenty of shows can easily slip your notice. If you’re hungry for a fast-paced, action series featuring cryogenically frozen secret agents, political conspiracies, and Spain’s fascist dictator Francisco Franco, then you should check out the trailer for Garcia!, a six-episode series streaming on HBO Max.

Garcia! is based on the graphic novel of the same name by Santiago García and Luis Bustos and spans six decades in Spain’s tumultuous political history, seamlessly blending satire and suspense for a genre-bending adventure of epic proportions. The series follows “Antonia (Veki Velilla), a young reporter who quickly becomes embroiled in an elaborate political conspiracy after accidentally defrosting a cryogenically frozen secret agent from the 1960s. Finding himself thrust into a fractured modern world, Garcia (Francisco Ortiz), a...

"The past is what it is, we can't change it." HBO Max has revealed a new US trailer for a streaming series from Spain titled ¡García!, or just Garcia! in the US. How is this for a pitch: what if someone decided to remake that 90s film Forever Young, but turn it into an action adventure thriller series set in Madrid, Spain instead?? Garcia is a Spanish mini-series for HBO Max about a cryogenically frozen super spy from the '60s who is thrust into modern-day Madrid when he is re-awakened. Set in a version of current-day Spain at the verge of societal collapse, the series follows Antonia, a reporter who accidentally unravels a decades-old plot concerning a super-agent created in the 1950s by the Francoist secret services. Starring Francisco Ortiz as Garcia and Veki Velilla as Atonia, with a series cast including Emilio Gutiérrez Caba, Francisco Reyes, Nico Romero,...

Participating at the Toronto Film Festival’s Spain-Canada co-production forum Do It the Spanish Way, dystopian animated feature “Desechable” (“Disposable”) is a blistering indictment of social injustice in Colombia.

Spanish producer Miguel Molina of Jaibo Films, whose credits include Locarno 2021 standout “Sacred Spirit,” is presenting what is billed as one of the more ambitious and prized animation features from the Spanish-speaking world which has just passed through Spains Ecam Incubator.

The superhero saga seems to have anticipated, when written, the maelstrom of social protests which rocked Colombia last year.

The co-production between Jaibo Films and Colombian art & animation studio Nocroma follows a biochemist who is nabbed by a Colombian paramilitary unit to make cocaine for them. He creates a synthetic drug that allows him to kill his captors and escape. But the drug he was forced to ingest also turns him into a junkie.

Calling himself Disposable, he wanders homeless...

Alauda Ruiz de Azúa’s “Lullaby” was described by Pedro Almodóvar as “undoubtedly the best debut in Spanish cinema for years.” Chema García Ibarra’s “The Sacred Spirit” was hailed by Variety as “one of the standouts of the 2021 Locarno Film Festival.” David Pérez Sañudo’s “Ane is Missing” won three Spanish Academy Goya Awards last year.

What these three Spanish movies, all first features, have in common is that they have passed through the Ecam Madrid Film School’s Incubator, a six-month producer mentorship initiative.

As its fifth edition rounds a final bend, Variety analyzes what its projects say about the state of cutting-edge young Spanish cinema and what the talent behind it says about the state of contemporary filmmaking.

Filmmakers With Attitude

On the face of it, the five projects developed this year could not be more different, in genre, tone and issues tackled. Gabriel Azorín’s “Last...

Streaming

HBO Max has revealed the first teaser for Max original “García!” (6 x 60′), which will have its world premiere at Austin’s Fantastic Fest in September and European premiere at Sitges.

Based on the graphic novel of the same name by Santiago García and Luis Bustos, the series is set in a present-day Spain, which is divided and on the brink of political chaos. It follows an inquisitive millennial investigative reporter Antonia (Veki Velilla) who stumbles on a decades-old conspiracy: the existence of a cryogenically frozen super-agent, García (Francisco Ortiz), created in a laboratory in the 1950s by General Franco’s fascist secret services. After sixty years in deep sleep, this perfect soldier with incredible physical strength, programmed to obey orders without question, is woken by Antonia. García finds himself disoriented and confused in a Spain that has changed beyond recognition. The old-world collides with the new as García and...

Sales agency Heretic has picked-up worldwide sales rights to “The Sacred Spirit,” Spaniard Chema García Ibarra’s feature debut, which world premieres in the International Competition at the Locarno Film Festival.

Its teaser trailer is launching exclusively in Variety.

García Ibarra’s awaited feature debut, “Sacred Spirit” blends local detail and dystopian surrealism, following José Manuel and the other members of a Spanish Ufology association -UFO-Levante- who meet weekly to exchange information about extra-terrestrial messages and alien abductions.

Julio, their leader, dies unexpectedly, leaving José Manuel as the only person who knows about the cosmic secret that could change the future of humankind. Meanwhile, Spain searches for a girl who disappeared weeks ago.

“We are thrilled to be representing the debut of Chema García Ibarra, a fresh and talented voice, who will undoubtedly stand out in the new wave of films coming from Spain,” said Ioanna Stais, head of sales and acquisitions at Athens-based Heretic.

Gepe, Chilean pop’s resident mad scientist, released his new album Folclor Imaginario early Friday, honoring the late Chilean singer-songwriter Margot Loyola Palacios on the eve of what would have been her 100th birthday. For the album, Gepe recruited his fellow countrymen — Miguel Molina, Claudio Constanzo and Claudia Mena — to cook up a genre-spanning compilation of original songs and covers sourced from Palacios’ vibrant catalog.

“The album started [as] an idea that Pablo Flores and I had 18 years ago,” Gepe told Rolling Stone via email. “We invited underground bands from Santiago...

Up until last year, film festivals had always been a bit of a mystery to me. I had gone to a few conventions before and been shown advanced screenings of films, but to actually go to an event where all you did was watch films seemed a bit beyond my reach. Didn’t help either that I had never really lived in areas with affordable or frequent festivals. That is, up until last year when I was introduced to AFI Fest. They hooked me in with free tickets and the promise of engaging cinema from around the world. To say I had fun is a bit of an understatement. As the credits to the last film rolled, I decided that I would come back next year in a more professional manner and write about it.

Which brings us to now. AFI Fest 2011 Presented by Audi is a little over a...