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Mikey Madison as Ani and Mark Eydelshteyn as Ivan in ‘Anora’ (Courtesy of Neon)

Anora continues to pick up speed heading into the Oscars, scoring Critics Choice Awards and DGA wins and snagging a Best Feature win at the Film Independent Spirit Awards. Anora also captured Best Director (Sean Baker) and Best Lead Performance (Mikey Madison) wins. A Real Pain and Didi each earned two awards during the February 22, 2025 Spirit Awards ceremony hosted by Aidy Bryant.

On the television side, Baby Reindeer dominated with three wins. The critically acclaimed limited series took home the Best Lead Performance (Richard Gadd), Best Supporting Performance (Nava Mau), and Best Breakthrough Performance (Jessica Gunning) wins. Other television winners included Shogun and How to Die Alone.

2025 Film Independent Spirit Awards Nominees and Winners

Best Feature

Winner: Anora

Producers: Sean Baker, Alex Coco, Samantha Quan

I Saw the TV Glow

Producers: Ali Herting, Sam Intili, Dave McCary,...

The 2025 Film Independent Spirit Awards have wrapped! And now we know, as the full winners list for the Spirit Awards has been revealed, just how much momentum “Anora” has going into the Oscars: a lot. It already got the most Spirits nominations with six, and it ended up winning Best Feature, Best Director for Sean Baker, and Best Lead Performance for Mikey Madison.

Kieran Culkin won Best Supporting Performance for “A Real Pain,” which also won Best Screenplay. “No Other Land” won Best Documentary, and the extraordinary animated film “Flow” won Best International feature.

“Baby Reindeer” collected the most prizes on the TV side with Best Lead Performance in a New Scripted Series going to Richard Gadd, Jessica Gunning won Best Breakthrough Performance in a New Scripted Series, and Best Supporting Performance in a New Scripted Series went to Nava Rau. “Shogun” won Best New Scripted Series.

Host Aidy Bryant...

The best in independent film and new television shows were honored at the 2025 Independent Spirit Awards and we have the full winners list here.

Anora and I Saw the TV Glow led the film nominations with five nods each while Shogun led the television nominations with five nods as well.

In the end, Anora and Baby Reindeer led their respective categories with three wins each!

Make sure to check out the recap of every celeb who attended the event and take a look at our Best Dressed list as well.

Keep reading to find out more…

Scroll down for the full list of winners…

Best Feature

Anora – Winner

Producers: Sean Baker, Alex Coco, Samantha Quan

I Saw the TV Glow

Producers: Ali Herting, Sam Intili, Dave McCary, Emma Stone, Sarah Winshall

Nickel Boys

Producers: Joslyn Barnes, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, David Levine

Sing Sing

Producers: Clint Bentley, Greg Kwedar, Monique Walton...

Mikey Madison as Ani and Mark Eydelshteyn as Ivan in ‘Anora’ (Courtesy of Neon)

Sean Baker’s Anora and Jane Schoenbrun’s I Saw the TV Glow lead the Film Independent Spirit Awards 2025 film nominees, with Shōgun topping the list of television nominees. On the film side, Anora and I Saw the TV Glow collected six nominations, followed by Didi with four and Janet Planet, The Apprentice, and Sing Sing with three.

Shōgun scored five Spirit Awards TV nominations, with Baby Reindeer and English Teacher earning four nominations each.

“Since we held our first ceremony in 1985 at a restaurant on La Cienega to last year’s show when viewers around the world joined us at the Santa Monica Beach to celebrate the work of so many artists, Film Independent has continued to support independent filmmakers and enable them to achieve their vision at every stage of their career,” stated Josh Welsh,...

This morning saw the announcements of the 40th edition of the Film Independent Spirit Awards. The big picture nominees include titles like the film festival darling The Substance, as well as Anora, which is getting high accolades for Mikey Madison‘s performance and Sean Baker’s writing and direction. A24 would naturally snag a ton of nominations that total a whopping 19. This beats last year’s 11-nomination count.

The Independent Spirit Awards will be taking place on Saturday, February 22, 2025, and is set to be held at Santa Monica beach. Former Saturday Night Live cast member Aidy Bryant will return as the host. The in-person ceremony will be available to stream live on IMDb and Film Independent YouTube channels, and across other social platforms. You can find the full list of nominations, courtesy of Deadline, below.

Best Feature (Award given to the producer)

Anora

Producers: Sean Baker, Alex Coco, Samantha Quan...

Nominations for the 2025 Independent Spirit Awards are in!

The awards show celebrates films budgeted at less than $30 million to produce and must be considered “independent.” There are also TV categories!

For the films, Anora and I Saw the TV Glow got six nominations each. Shogun got the most TV nominations with five total.

The show will take place on Saturday, February 22, 2025, with Aidy Bryant hosting.

Keep reading to find out more…

Scroll down for the full list of nominees…

Best Feature

Anora

Producers: Sean Baker, Alex Coco, Samantha Quan

I Saw the TV Glow

Producers: Ali Herting, Sam Intili, Dave McCary, Emma Stone, Sarah Winshall

Nickel Boys

Producers: Joslyn Barnes, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, David Levine

Sing Sing

Producers: Clint Bentley, Greg Kwedar, Monique Walton

The Substance

Producers: Tim Bevan, Coralie Fargeat, Eric Fellner

Best First Feature

Dìdi

Director/Producer: Sean Wang

Producers: Valerie Bush, Carlos López Estrada, Josh Peters...

Wow… has it really been 40 years? It sure has, and that’s a reason to celebrate! From our first year at a restaurant on La Cienega Blvd. to a worldwide live stream, the Film Independent Spirit Awards have grown a lot.

That first year the awards, then called the Findie (Friends of Independents) Awards, awarded both Marty & Joel Coen the Best Director prize. Since then, we’ve celebrated artists like Spike Lee, Ryan Coogler, Whit Stillman, Robert Rodriguez and Kasi Lemmons, among many, many others. Next month on the blog, we’ll take deep dive into all the history of the awards, so make sure to check back with us to read all about the last 40 years of the Spirit Awards!

This year, we’re headed back to the beach in Santa Monica with returning host and Saturday Night Live alum Aidy Bryant. The show, which will be held at the beach in Santa Monica,...

“Anora,” the free-wheeling tale of a sex worker who becomes entangled with the family of a Russian oligarch, and “I Saw the TV Glow,” a horror film about two teenagers whose obsession with a show causes them to lose grip on reality, dominated the 2025 Independent Spirit Awards nominations on Wednesday, picking up six nods apiece. Both movies are up for best feature, competing against the body horror film, “The Substance,” as well as “Nickel Boys” and “Sing Sing,” dramas that deal with different aspects of the criminal justice system.

This year the Spirit Awards Film nominating committees said the movies it considered ranged in budget from $112,000 to $28 million. Those budgetary caps don’t apply to the shows that the Spirits recognized, such as “Shōgun,” a lavish historical epic that topped all series with five nominations, including one for best new scripted series. To be eligible, TV shows only have to...

Nominations have been revealed for the 2025 Film Independent Spirit Awards, which will take place in Los Angeles on February 22. The film nominations were led by “Anora” and “I Saw the TV Glow” with six each. In the television categories, “Shōgun” garnered the most nominations with five, followed closely by “Baby Reindeer” and “English Teacher” with four apiece. Watch the announcement here and see the full list below.

Julio Torres did well here with four nominations across his feature directorial debut “Problemista” and Max series “Fantasmas.” Indies like “Dídi,” “Janet Planet,” “Sing Sing,” “Ghostlight,” “The People’s Joker,” “In the Summers,” “The Substance,” and “Nickel Boys” also had a good day, racking up multiple nominations across the board. Netflix enjoys multiple nods, for “The Piano Lesson” and “His Three Daughters,” two movies poised to enter into the Oscar race.

The 2024 Spirit Award winners were led by “Past Lives,” “The Holdovers,” and “American Fiction,...

The nominations for the 2025 Spirit Awards have been revealed.

Anora and I Saw the TV Glow lead with six nods each. On the TV side, Shogun dominates with five noms, followed by Baby Reindeer and English Teacher with four each.

Both Anora and I Saw the TV Glow are up for the top prize of best feature, where they’ll face off against three-time nominee Sing Sing (also up for best lead performance for Colman Domingo and supporting performance for Clarence “Divine Eye” Maclin) and double nominees Nickel Boys (also up for best cinematography for Jomo Fray) and The Substance (also up for best lead performance for star Demi Moore).

Anora and I Saw the TV Glow are also up for best director (Sean Baker for Anora and Jane Schoenbrun for I Saw the TV Glow), lead performance (Mikey Madison for Anora and Justice Smith for I Saw the TV Glow...

The 40th edition of the Film Independent Spirit Awards unveiled nominations this morning, nominating Neon’s Cannes Palme d’Or winner Anora, A24’s I Saw the TV Glow, Amazon MGM Studios’ Nickel Boys, A24’s Sing Sing and Mubi’s Demi Moore body-swap horror movie The Substance for Best Feature.

Anora and I Saw the TV Glow equally lead all noms with six apiece. The Sean Baker-directed Anora landed Best Feature, Best Lead Performance (Mikey Madison), two Best Supporting Performance noms (Yuri Borisov and Karren Karagulian), Best Director, and the Producers Award.

I Saw the TV Glow, which made its world premiere at Sundance earlier this year, is quite the shocker, busting into the Best Feature category as it arguably hasn’t been on the lips of any awards prognosticator this year. The Jane Schoenbrun-directed-and-written drama horror title follows a teenager who is just trying to make...

The 40th Annual Independent Spirit Awards nominations were announced live on Wednesday, Dec. 4, at 7:00am Pacific/10:00am Eastern on Film Independent’s YouTube channel. Scroll down for the full list of contenders, and find out who wins during a ceremony hosted by comedian Aidy Bryant on Feb. 22, 2025.

The Spirit Awards honor the best achievements in low-budget American filmmaking and and now breakthrough TV programs as well, as decided by the members of Film Independent. The nominating committees comprised writers, directors, producers, cinematographers, editors, actors, critics, casting directors, film festival programmers and other working film professionals. Winners are chosen by film industry insiders as well as everyday film lovers who pay their yearly dues to be part of Film Independent. Members have access to Film Independent’s exclusive nominee screening room online, as well as a number of awards season experiences including special screenings and Q&As.

Film Independent...

Awards season is chugging right along. Next up are the Film Independent Spirit Awards, which honor the best and brightest in indie cinema and television. To qualify, a film's budget must not exceed $30 million, which means major blockbusters like Wicked and Gladiator II are, obviously, out of the running.

This year,...

Argentina is backing Luis Ortega’s equestrian-themed surreal comedy-thriller Kill the Jockey for the 2025 Oscar race in the best international feature category.

The film, which premiered in Venice, features Bpm star Nahuel Pérez Biscayart as Remo Manfredini, a troubled jockey who begins to question his masculine identity shifts after a serious accident on the track. When he disappears from the hospital and wanders the streets of Buenos Aires, trying to discover who he is truly meant to be, he is pursued by mobster boss Sirena (Daniel Gimenez Cacho), to whom he is deep in debt, and who wants Remo found, dead or alive.

A mash-up of psychological thriller and comedy of manners, with a heavy dose of surrealist camp, the film will be a unique Academy Award entry this season.

Kill the Jockey was produced by Ortega and Esteban Perroud via their production label El Despacho together with Rei Pictures’ Benjamín Domenech,...

Argentina has selected Luis Ortega’s latest flick Kill The Jockey as its candidate for the Best International Feature Film category at the 97th Academy Awards.

The announcement was made yesterday by the Argentine Film Academy.

Kill the Jockey debuted in competition at this year’s Venice Film Festival before going on to screen at TIFF.

Nahuel Pérez Biscayart stars in the absurdist comedy as a legendary jockey whose self-destructive behaviour is beginning to outshine his talent and threaten his relationship with his girlfriend Abril (Úrsula Corberó).

On the day of the most important race of his career that will clear him of his debts from mobster boss Sirena (Daniel Gimenez Cacho), he has a severe accident, disappears from the hospital and wanders the streets of Buenos Aires. Free from his identity, he starts to discover who he is truly meant to be. But Sirena wants him found, dead or alive.

Argentina’s National Academy has selected Kill The Jockey (El Jockey) as the country’s submission in the best international feature film Oscar category.

‘Kill The Jockey’: Venice Review

Luis Ortega’s comedy plays in San Sebastian’s Horizontes Latinos section dedicated to Latin American productions after premiering in Venice and received its North American premiere in Toronto.

Nahuel Perez Biscayart from Robin Campillo’s 120 Bpm stars in the tale of identity and reinvention as a gifted jockey who falls foul of a mobster.

The cast includes Ursula Corbero from Money Heist, Daniel Giménez Cacho, Mariana Di Girólamo, and Daniel Fanego,...

Luis Ortega’s “Kill the Jockey” gallops onscreen with a surreal drama of mob hit men, romance, and spiraling self-destruction.

The feature, which premiered at Venice and will screen at TIFF, is directed by Ortega from a script he co-wrote with Rodolfo Palacios and Fabián Casas. Nahuel Pérez Biscayart leads the film as a wayward jockey caught up in a mob-run racing syndicate while suffering from substance abuse. Oh, and he’s trying to outrun someone they’ve sent to kill him.

The official synopsis reads: “Remo Manfredini (Biscayart) is a legendary jockey, but his self-destructive behaviour is beginning to outshine his talent and threaten his relationship with his girlfriend Abril (Úrsula Corberó). On the day of the most important race of his career that will clear him of his debts from his mobster boss Sirena (Daniel Giménez Cacho), he has a severe accident, disappears from the hospital and wanders the streets of Buenos Aires.

Protagonist Pictures has acquired Luis Ortega’s absurdist comedy “Kill the Jockey” for worldwide sales. The film will make its world premiere in competition at the Venice Film Festival, and will make its North American premiere at the Toronto Film Festival in the Centrepiece section.

The story revolves around Remo Manfredini (Nahuel Pérez Biscayart), a legendary jockey whose self-destructive behavior is beginning to outshine his talent and threaten his relationship with his girlfriend Abril (Úrsula Corberó).

On the day of the most important race of his career that will clear him of his debts from his mobster boss Sirena (Daniel Gimenez Cacho), he has a severe accident, disappears from the hospital and wanders the streets of Buenos Aires. Free from his identity, he starts to discover who he is truly meant to be. But Sirena wants him found, dead or alive.

The film, co-written by Ortega with Rodolfo Palacios and Fabián Casas,...

Music Box Films has bought domestic rights to “In the Summers,” a coming-of-age tale from writer-director Alessandra Lacorazza Samudio which won Sundance’s grand jury prize and directing award in the U.S. dramatic competition.

A directorial debut, “In the Summers” tells the story of two daughters navigating a turbulent but loving father during yearly visits to his home in Las Cruces, New Mexico. The Latin-American family portrait is headlined by Grammy Award-winning Puerto Rican rapper, songwriter, and actor René Pérez Joglar (known in the music industry as Residente), who plays the divorced father, while the two siblings, Violeta and Eva, are played at different ages by several rising actors, including Sasha Calle (“The Flash”) and Lío Mehiel (“Mutt”). The cast is completed by Leslie Grace (“In the Heights”) and Emma Ramos (“New Amsterdam”).

The critically lauded movie will have its New York premiere in June at the Tribeca Film Festival,...

Upcoming film In The Summers starring Puerto Rican rapper René “Residente” Pérez Joglar, in his acting debut, and Leslie Grace has wrapped production in New Mexico, Deadline reports.

Exile Content Studio, a Candle Media Company, worked with Lexicon Development, 1868 Studios and Luz Films to produce the indie feature. Along with Residente and Grace, Sasha Calle and Lío Mehiel will star in director Alessandra Lacorazza’s feature debut.

The film tells the story of two sisters, Violeta (Mehiel) and Eva (Calle), who visit their father Vicente (Residente) during the summer,...

Exclusive: The indie feature In The Summers has wrapped production in New Mexico and Deadline has your first look at stars René “Residente” Pérez Joglar, in his acting debut, Sasha Calle (The Flash), Lío Mehiel (Mutt) and Leslie Grace (In The Heights) below.

Exile Content Studio, a Candle Media Company produced the project in association with Lexicon Development, alongside 1868 Studios and Luz Films.

From writer and director Alessandra Lacorazza in her feature debut, In The Summers tells the story of Latine sisters, Violeta (Lío) and Eva (Calle), who visit their loving but reckless father Vicente (Pérez Joglar) every summer. He creates a world of wonder but under the fun facade, he battles addiction which gradually erodes the magic, culminating in a devastating tragedy. Vicente tries to make up for the past, but wounds aren’t easily healed.

Grace portrays the character of Yenny. The character of Violeta will also...

Exclusive: Candle Media’s Exile Content Studio is partnering with acclaimed Colombian journalist Daniel Coronell and director Gaz Alazraki (Father Of The Bride) to produce a scripted feature about the incredible recent news story of the four children, including a baby, that survived a plane crash and 40 days in the Amazon Rainforest before being rescued by Colombian special forces.

A story this remarkable was unlikely to go unnoticed by the industry for long, but this is a quick turnaround even for Hollywood.

Earlier this month, world media was captivated by the story of the four children – Lesly, 13; Soleiny, 9; Tien Noriel, 4; and Cristin, 1 – who were found alive in the Amazon after a rescue operation that searched more than 1,600 miles of dense forest.

The children survived the plane crash that killed their mother, the pilot and the only other adult on board, and then got through the dense jungle, alive with jaguars,...

Exclusive: Vix has begun production on 7 new original titles during the second quarter of the year including 6 series and one film. They include the Sofia Vergara-led Koati: Animated Series and the Benicio del Toro-produced film Matar Al Jockey (Kill The Jockey).

“With these 7 new productions we continue to increase our original content offerings on Vix, with stories that appeal to the diverse tastes of our audiences,” said Rodrigo Mazón, Chief Content Officer ViX for TelevisaUnivision, in a statement. “Since the launch, we have been working on a path of constant development and production that we know today strongly reflects and resonates with the audience’s preferences and generates great successes in our service,” he added.

Matar Al Jockey (Kill The Jockey) follows Remo Manfredini, a legend in the world of turf racing whose self-destructive behavior overshadows his great talent. Abril, an up-and-coming jockey, is pregnant by Remo and...

A Blue Demon Jr. Lucha Libre Universe is in the works. Candle Media’s Exile Content Studio and L.A.-based film company Moxie 88 have joined forces to produce a range of content based on Mexican wrestling icon, Blue Demon Jr.

The new 360-degree pact aims to expand the use of Blue Demon Jr.’s likeness in the areas of film, television, animation and merchandising on a worldwide scale.

As the adopted son of Blue Demon, the legendary 1950s Mexican wrestling (Lucha Libre) icon who inspired hundreds of comic books and nearly 30 feature films, Blue Demon Jr. has continued the noble tradition, stamping his own style on the wildly popular sport. He became the first Mexican and second masked wrestler to claim the prestigious Nwa World Heavyweight Championship and has sold out shows at Madison Square Garden.

Not unlike a superhero, Blue Demon Jr.’s mask represents justice and an unwavering pursuit of righteousness.

LA Screenings Independents hosted a panel of leading U.S.-based Latino producers who held forth on the challenges of creating Latino projects from the heart of Hollywood.

Organized by C21 Media, the panel kicked off with Axel Kuschevatzky, director-owner of Infinity Hill, a producer of the Oscar-shortlisted “Argentina 1985,” who pointed out the asymmetry of the Latino experience in the U.S. entertainment biz, a persistent conundrum where 19% of the U.S. population is Latino, contributing an estimated $3.2 trillion to the economy, but where its representation on TV, streaming and theatrical hovers between 3%.and 5%.

“We’re earning a lot of money for a lot of people but we’re not reclaiming the business that comes along with it,” Kuschevatzky asserted.

They all acknowledged that Hollywood was undergoing a significant transition, given the writers’ strike and the reset among the streaming services, among other factors.

“The business is undergoing a kind of existential crisis,...

Luis Ortega has wrapped production in Argentina on “Kill the Jockey,” starring Úrsula Corberó, “Money Heist’s” Tokyo, and Nahuel Pérez Biscayart (“120 Bpm”), which is shaping up as one of the biggest upcoming movies from Latin America.

Ortega’s follow-up to 2018 Un Certain Regard hit “El Angel,” which sold worldwide and set a box office record in Argentina, “Kill the Jockey” has been snapped up for overseas sales by Vicente Canales’ Film Factory Entertainment, which also sold “El Angel.”

TelevisaUnivision VOD service ViX will roll out “Kill the Jockey” in the U.S. and Latin America. Scanbox handles distribution in Scandinavia.

“Kill the Jockey’s” top-notch cast also features Daniel Giménez Cacho, Mariana Di Girólamo, Daniel Fanego (“El Ángel”) and Roly Serrano (“Youth”).

It turns on Remo (Pérez Biscayart), the best jockey of his generation, whose addictions, however, have gradually cast a shadow over his glory. Like Abril (Corberó), another jockey,...

“Floyd,” an original action feature centered around a Latino veteran described as “John Wick” meets “The Big Lebowski,” is currently in development.

Erik Olsen is writing the script and will produce the project with Navid Mcllhargey. Story Kitchen, a media company focused on world-building and untapped intellectual property rights, is on board to produce the project with Exile Content Studio.

The Los Angeles-set story will follow a former marine given the nickname Floyd by his corps. Marine vet William Brownlee will serve as a co-producer and consultant.

“From apprenticing for Erik and Navid 16-plus years ago at Silver Pictures/Dark Castle to becoming their creative partner, ‘Floyd’ is a dream come true,” said Mike Goldberg, co-founder of Story Kitchen. He is joined in the venture by prolific screenwriter and partner Derek Kolstad, creator of the “John Wick” franchise, and Dmitri M. Johnson, the film and TV producer who secured adaptive...

Exile Content Studio has acquired the film rights to the 2007 sci-fi novel Hunter’s Run, which Game of Thrones creator George R.R. Martin wrote with Gardner Dozois and Daniel Abraham, and Variety reports that Mark Raso (Kodachrome) will be directing the cinematic adaptation. Raso has also written the screenplay with his brother Joseph. The Rasos previously collaborated on the script for the 2021 Netflix release Awake, which Mark Raso also directed.

Hunter’s Run has the following description: Running from poverty and hopelessness, Ramón Espejo boarded one of the great starships of the mysterious, repulsive Enye. But the new life he found on the far-off planet of São Paulo was no better than the one he abandoned. Then one night his rage and too much alcohol get the better of him. Deadly violence ensues, forcing Ramón to flee into the wilderness. Mercifully, almost happily alone—far from the loud, bustling hive...

Exile Content Studio has pounced on the film rights to “Hunter’s Run” by “Game of Thrones” and “House of the Dragon” creator, George R.R. Martin.

The sci-fi tale is the only one among Martin’s body of work that features a Latino lead, making it a natural fit for Exile Content which has produced a slew of content in Spanish and English.

Based on the sci-fi novel co-penned by Martin, Gardner Dozois and Daniel Abraham (“The Expanse”), “Hunter’s Run” follows Ramón Espejo who ekes out a living as a day laborer on a distant planet where he finds his living conditions no better off than what he left on planet Earth. He escapes but finds himself on the run for the murder of an interplanetary diplomat.

While out wandering, he comes upon a highly sophisticated alien race who, like him, are trying to stay hidden. “Survival is his only goal,...

Exile Content Studio and My Cultura, iHeartMedia’s podcast network dedicated to elevating Latinx voices and stories, is launching a new 12-episode series, The Best Soccer Podcast in the World in English and Spanish. The podcast reunites executive producer and host, Exile's Head of Studio, Nando Vila, and producer and writer, Zac Lee Rigg, who together were responsible for Fusion’s weekly magazine show, “The Soccer Gods,” and the political sketch comedy show, “Happy Ending.” Ana Isabel Octavio also serves as the series producer, along with executive producers Rose Reid of Exile and Gisselle Bances and Arlene Santana of iHeartMedia’s My Cultura. The series will be available on the iHeartRadio app and everywhere podcasts are heard.

“The Best Soccer Podcast in the World,” timed to coincide with this year’s FIFA World Cup, will guide the listener through the most memorable moments and players of the 92-year-old competition,...

Candle Media’s Exile Content Studio has joined forces with Trojan Horse Media, the team behind the Emmy-nominated Netflix documentary, “Mucho Mucho Amor: The Legend of Walter Mercado,” to produce premium content with international appeal. This will include scripted, unscripted and audio content.

The new partners first collaborated on the podcast series “More Than a Movie: American Me,” which dropped on Sept. 15. The podcast series delves into the true story of Edward James Olmos’s 1992 cult film classic, “American Me,” and the legacy the polemical film left behind. The 12-episode audio-documentary is hosted by Trojan Media’s Alex Fumero.

Trojan Horse was founded earlier this year by Fumero and Kareem Tabsch after the success of “Mucho Mucho Amor: The Legend of Walter Mercado.” It has recently produced the critically acclaimed docuseries “Menudo: Forever Young” for HBO Max and is in production on the limited docuseries “Gigante” for Disney’s Onyx Collective.

Exclusive: Candle Media-backed Spanish-language powerhouse Exile Content Studio has promoted Nando Vila to succeed Daniel Eilemberg as Head of Studio.

Vila moves up from his Head of Audio and Unscripted Television post and will oversee the Latin-focused outfit’s film and TV content strategy. He is a former Vice President of Programming at Fusion TV where he exec produced, created and hosted the likes of political sketch comedy show Happy Ending, while he also exec produced Emmy-nominated documentary The Naked Truth: Trumpland.

Vila succeeds Eilemberg, who became CEO of the Lil’ Heroes Nft franchise last month when Exile took a majority stake in that franchise.

Founded in 2019 by former Univision and Televisa Chief Content Officer Isaac Lee, Exile creates films, TV series and non-scripted TV for the world’s 550M Spanish speakers, with recent projects including Todo Va A Estar Bien, co-produced with Diego Luna for Netflix, and docu-series Un Sueño Real,...

Exclusive: Actor James Cromwell is teaming up with Janek Ambros of Assembly Line Entertainment and Nando Vila of Pop Front Pictures to produce Nixon’s Nixon, a film based on Russell Lees’ play of the same name, which Ambros adapted for the screen and will direct.

Nixon’s Nixon marks the third collaboration between Ambros and Cromwell as director and producer, on the heels of the 2019 sci-fi comedy Mondo Hollywoodland and the 2015 war documentary Imminent Threat.

The film will be a dual portrait of former U.S. President Richard Nixon and his National Security Advisor and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger that watches as they scramble to sustain power on the eve of Nixon’s resignation. The play on which it’s based premiered to critical acclaim in 1996, playing Off-Broadway before traveling the globe through the mid-2000s. It came back to the stage in 2019, after finding...

Exclusive: Exile Content Studio, the Latinx-led Hollywood production company, is launching true-crime podcast Sacred Scandal, about the investigation into the 2001 murder of Sister Michelle Lewis, a Miami nun, by Mykhaylo Kofel, a teenage monk.

Kofel had been recruited in Ukraine by a man posing as a Catholic priest and brought to Miami’s Holy Cross Academy, where he witnessed and endured four years of improper behavior and alleged sexual abuse.

After confessing to the nun’s murder, Kofel (who was 18 at the time) was convicted and sentenced to a 30-year-term at Martin Correctional Institution in Indiantown, Fl, while the bogus priest Father Wendt and his partner Father Damian were able to walk away without punishment when the investigation was abruptly closed.

Sacred Scandal is hosted and co-produced by Chilean-born comedian and voice actress Paula Barros and Chilean-born documentary filmmaker Melanie Bartley (Full Dress). Dennis Funk is also executive producer for the podcast,...

Exclusive: Joel David Moore and Rishi Bajaj’s Balcony 9 is teaming with Pop Front Pictures for Stefan vs. Isis, a feature film that has script from C.C. Kilpatrick and Zack Stentz.

The companies secured life rights to the story of Stefan Bertram-Lee, a British-born non-binary millennial who, tired of a life that is only lived online, flew to Syria and joined a group of Kurdish freedom fighters. Their story was recounted in “The Online Left Goes To War,” a 2019 Jacobian article penned by Kilpatrick, which documented Bertram-Lee’s struggle to adapt to surviving in the conflict-ravaged region before eventually finding a way to make an impact in the fight against Isis.

In writing the article, Kilpatrick said he “was amazed by their courage. But I quickly learned that it wasn’t just bravery that made Stefan special but a cutting wit and a wordliness well beyond their years. Here...

Brooklyn-based Gimlet Media, the company behind hit podcasts such as Reply All, Homecoming, The Nod and StartUp, has set its spring slate with three new original series. They are Sandra, a scripted fiction series starring Kristen Wiig and Alia Shawkat, simulated Mars mission docudrama The Habitat, and We Came to Win, the company’s first sports podcast.

Written by Kevin Moffett and Mathew Derby, Sandra follows Helen Perera (Shawkat), a new hire at Orbital Teledynamics– the company behind Sandra (Wiig), the world’s most intuitive virtual assistant. As one of thousands of Sandra operators, Helen spends her days peeking into the world of Sandra users, helping them navigate their questions and demands. One problem: the users don’t know she’s real. Christopher Abbott, Ethan Hawke and Avi Rothman also star. Mimi O’Donnell is Gimlet’s Executive Producer, Scripted Fiction.

Serialized nonfiction podcast The Habitat, hosted by Lynn Levy,...

Podcast media company Gimlet Media unveiled a slate of three original series to premiere later in April, including scripted serialized show “Sandra” starring Kristen Wiig and Alia Shawkat.

The Brooklyn-based company also renewed docu-series “StartUp” for a seventh season. The two new shows in its nonfiction lineup are: “The Habitat,” exploring the lives of six individuals isolated for one year inside a small dome in Hawaii on a simulated Mars mission; and “We Came to Win,” exploring some of the most famous World Cup soccer matches of all time.

In addition, Gimlet Media announced GimletFest, its first live festival featuring creators and talent from its original shows, will run June 16-17 at the Bric arts and media center in Brooklyn. Tickets for the festival, available at gimletfest.com starting April 25, will cost $25 for individual shows and $200 for an all-access pass.

“Sandra” stars Wiig as Sandra, billed as “the world’s most intuitive virtual assistant,...

Frequent Fusion producer and contributor Nando Vila will host and executive produce Happy Ending With Nando Vila, a new political sketch comedy series, set to premiere February 8 at 9 Pm on the cable network. The ten-part explainer series takes a step back and tries to figure out what's going on behind the headlines, spotlighting the absurdity of the world in silly and absurd ways. In the premiere episode "Killed by Capital," Nando sets out on a film noir detective hunt…...