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Un grupo de cocineros republicanos debe preparar la cena de Franco mientras planean huir. © A Contracorriente Films

Arranca el rodaje de La cena, una comedia dirigida por Manuel Gómez Pereira (Entre las piernas) y con guion de Joaquín Oristrell (El campeón), Yolanda García Serrano (Hit) y el mismo Gómez Pereira, que se desarrollará en Valencia, Madrid y Gran Canaria.

La cena nos sitúa en el 15 de abril de 1939, apenas dos semanas después del fin de la Guerra Civil Española. Con la victoria franquista consumada, el dictador decide celebrar el triunfo con una cena en el Hotel Palace, acompañado de sus generales. Lo que no saben, es que la cena la prepararán unos cocineros republicanos que están ante su última oportunidad de huir del país.

La película está protagonizada por Mario Casas (Escape) y Alberto San Juan (Casa en llamas) acompañados de un reparto coral con Asier Etxeandia (Citas Barcelona), Nora Hernández...

¡El caos está servido! © Sony Pictures

Sony Pictures ha compartido el primer tráiler de la película Un funeral de locos, una disparatada comedia dirigida por Manuel Gómez Pereira (Cuéntame cómo pasó), con guion de Yolanda García Serrano (Hit).

En Un funeral de locos, los miembros de una familia acuden a despedir al patriarca recientemente fallecido. Pero lo que debería ser un sentido velatorio se convierte en una reunión enloquecida cuando uno de los asistentes saca a la luz el secreto mejor guardado del difunto. Chantajes, alucinaciones y relaciones desquiciadas se dan cita en este alocado funeral, donde el caos está servido.

La película cuenta con un reparto coral de lujo: Quim Gutiérrez (La cara oculta), Ernesto Alterio (El otro lado de la cama), Gorka Otxoa (Machos alfa), Inma Cuesta (La novia), Hugo Silva (Buscando a Coque), Esmeralda Pimentel (El color de la pasión), Belén Rueda (El orfanato), Secun de la Rosa...

Editor’S Note: The following blog originally ran in June of 2020. We’re re-posting it here in honor Martin Luther King Jr. Day on January 15. The updated piece includes minor edits and, more importantly, updated info re: streaming availability.

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In the wake of international protests sparked by the murder of George Floyd by Derek Chauvin of the Minneapolis Police Department on May 25, 2020, practically every big-name streaming service quickly assembled, from their selection of available titles, their own specially curated collection of Black cinema. These collections have provided an invaluable resource for film fans of all racial demographics eager to learn more about the troubled history of American racial inequality.

Thankfully, there’s a lot of truly amazing stuff being spotlighted within these curated lists. We’ve plucked out a few (but definitely not all) of our favorite titles below. Whether based on a true story or totally invented, narrative or nonfiction,...

Two on-the-rise directors, Maria Perez Sanz (“Karen”) and Maddi Barber (“Land Underwater”), have signed on to direct episodes in “Present,” a singular exploration by Spain’s Garde of a new generation of women artists, both cineastes and writers, who broke out last decade.

Part of a broader literary-film project, “This Is Not a Poem” (“Esto no es una poesía”), “Present” (“Presentes”) is being introduced to potential co-producers and distributors by Garde founder Cristina Hergueta at Locarno’s Match Me, a networking forum which kicked off Aug. 6.

Perez Sanz will bring to the screen a text written by Cristina Morales, winner of Spain’s 2019 National Narrative Prize for “Lectura Facil.” Barber will create a film from a poem by Maria Sanchez, whose first book of poetry, “Cuaderno de campo,” was published in 2017, and has quickly run through multiple editions.

Both Perez Sanz and Barber’s films are conceived as part of...

Reinas / Queens (2005) Director: Manuel Gómez Pereira. Screenplay: Yolanda García Serrano, Joaquín Oristrell, and Manuel Gómez Pereira. Cast: Betiana Blum, Carmen Maura, Verónica Forqué, Marisa Paredes, Mercedes Sampietro, Gustavo Salmerón, Unax Ugalde, Hugo Silva, Daniel Hendler, Paco León, Raúl Jiménez, Tito Valverde, Lluís Homar Reinas / Queens is Manuel Gómez Pereira's dramatic comedy about five mothers (Verónica Forqué, Carmen Maura, Betiana Blum, Mercedes Sampietro, and Marisa Paredes) who must cope with their gay sons' (and their own) romantic problems as they all get ready for Spain's first mass gay wedding ceremony. The film, made by Warner Bros. Spain, has the look and feel of a glossy Hollywood flick — or of a non-English-language film begging for an American remake. But cheesy commercialism and sentimentality aside, Reinas boasts a couple of first-rate performances — Forqué as a nymphomaniac, Blum as a sweet-as-overripe-apple-pie Mom — and delivers more than a few good laughs. Additionally, the climactic big-wedding finale is quite touching.

I can’t claim to know very much about upcoming Spanish thriller El Juego Del Ahorcado and, honestly, I think this is a case where that is a good thing, indeed. Writer-director Manuel Gómez Pereira has put together a raw, moody piece of work here, one that seems to drift in a sort of waking-dream and it’s best to simply drop in and go where it takes you. Story? The only English information I can find on this one says that it revolves around a woman dealing with the suicide of her lover but there is clearly much, much more going on here. Intrigued? You bet. Check the trailer below the break.

MADRID -- Spain's Grupo Pi said Thursday that it has picked up international sales on two Spanish films: Manuel Gomez Pereira's bittersweet comedy Things That Make Life Worthwhile and Vicente Penarrocha's thriller Out of Body. Both films will debut at the Festival de Cannes market.