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Middle-class incomers to a remote village in Spain’s ‘wild west’ expose fear, resentment and nationalism in Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s disturbing true-crime drama

Here is a fierce, bitter tale with a flinty sharpness: partly a social-realist drama of class and xenophobia, and partly a rural noir horror, a Euro-arthouse twist on Straw Dogs or Deliverance. It’s inspired by the true story from 2010 of a middle-class hippy idealist Dutch couple who attempted to settle in the Spanish village of Santoalla in Galicia’s remote “wild west” and fell out badly with their neighbours over their gentrification plans: a row that escalated into a nightmare. It has in fact already been the subject of a documentary, Andrew Becker and Daniel Mehrer’s Santoalla, and has now been fictionalised by film-maker Rodrigo Sorogoyen.

Denis Ménochet and Marina Foïs play Antoine and Olga, an educated French couple who have moved into the area...

"And what do you think happened?" Oscilloscope Labs has debuted an official trailer for the acclaimed documentary Santoalla, described as a "a true crime film as gripping as Making a Murderer or Serial." The intimate documentary tells the story of a Dutch couple, Martin and Margo Verfondern, who moved to a remote Spanish village on the island of Santoalla to start a new life living off of the land. Things seemed to be great at first but eventually they had some conflicts with the local Spanish residents, and then one day Martin disappeared. This doc tries to investigate what happened and looks back at the story of this couple and their desire for a good life. "As this once forgotten landscape is thrust into the center of controversy, Margo finds herself searching not only for answers, but for the strength to persevere." This looks a bit scary. Here's the trailer...

When Martin Verfondern and Margo Pool moved to a tiny Spanish town, they were looking for a fresh start. Then Martin disappeared.

The strange — and true — story of what happened to Martin is the basis of Andrew Becker and Daniel Mehrer’s new documentary “Santoalla,” the pair’s debut film which they directed, shot, and produced (additionally, Becker edited and scored). The award-winning film premiered at the 2016 Edinburgh International Film Festival and has enjoyed a healthy festival run over the past year.

The film follows “progressive Dutch couple, Martin Verfondern and Margo Pool, had only one dream – to live off the land, far from the constraints and complications of the city. But, when they arrive in the crumbling, Spanish village of Santoalla, the foreigners challenge the traditions of the town’s sole remaining family, igniting a decade-long conflict that culminates in Martin’s mysterious disappearance. As this once forgotten landscape...

Breaking Glass, O-Scope, Big World Pictures, Factory 25 also cut deals.

Grasshopper has pounced on Us rights to Feras Fayyad’s documentary and recent Sundance world premiere Last Men In Aleppo.

The film, co-directed by Steen Johannesen, won the World Documentary Grand Jury Prize in Park City and went on to open Cph:dox, where it won the Dox: Award.

The filmmakers followed rescue workers The White Helmets from September 2015 to autumn 2016 as they help citizens during the Battle of Aleppo.

Larm Film and the Aleppo Media Center produced in co-production with Kloos & Co Medien with support from the Danish Film Institute & Dr and Imr.

Grasshopper plans to release the film theatrically in May followed by VOD release. Pov holds Us broadcast rights. Cinetic represented the filmmakers.

Breaking Glass Pictures has acquired North American rights to the historical drama The Long Night Of Francisco Sanctis by Argentinian directors Francisco Márquez and Andrea Test and plans a limited theatrical release...

Distribution Round-up: Breaking Glass, O-Scope, Big World Pictures, Factory 25 also in action.

Grasshopper has pounced on Us rights to Feras Fayyad’s documentary and recent Sundance world premiere Last Men In Aleppo.

The film, co-directed by Steen Johannesen, won the World Documentary Grand Jury Prize in Park City and went on to open Cph:dox, where it won the Dox: Award.

The filmmakers followed rescue workers The White Helmets from September 2015 to autumn 2016 as they help citizens during the Battle of Aleppo.

Larm Film and the Aleppo Media Center produced in co-production with Kloos & Co Medien with support from the Danish Film Institute & Dr and Imr.

Grasshopper plans to release the film theatrically in May followed by VOD release. Pov holds Us broadcast rights. Cinetic represented the filmmakers.

Breaking Glass Pictures has acquired North American rights to the historical drama The Long Night Of Francisco Sanctis by Argentinian directors Francisco Márquez and Andrea Test and plans a limited...

Oscilloscope Laboratories has rounded out their ever-growing documentary slate with the recent purchase of Andrew Cohn’s “Night School” and Andrew Becker and Daniel Mehrer’s “Santoalla,” and the indie distributor is planning summer releases for both features.

Cohn’s latest documentary outing premiered at the 2016 Tribeca Film Festival. Set in Indianapolis, which has one of the lowest high school graduation rates in the country, the doc follows “victims of circumstance and a broken system, Greg, Melissa, and Shynika are optimistic that they don’t need to be on the wrong side of statistics.” The film “observes their individual pursuits, fraught with the challenges of daily life and the broader systemic roadblocks faced by many Americans as they strive to improve their lives in the face of adversity.”

Oscilloscope will open the film theatrically on June 9 at the IFC Center in New York, with national expansion in the following weeks.

New York City’s annual Doc NYC festival kicks off this week, including a full-to-bursting slate of some of this year’s most remarkable documentaries. If you’ve been looking to beef up on your documentary consumption, Doc NYC is the perfect chance to check out a wide variety of some of the year’s best fact-based features.

Ahead, we pick out 13 of our most anticipated films from the fest, including some awards contenders, a handful of buzzy debuts and a number of festival favorites. Take a look and start filling up your schedule now.

“Cameraperson”

Kirsten Johnson’s “visual memoir” has already completed a starry trot around the festival circuit, kicking off with a lauded debut at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, but it still demands to be seen by a wider audience. Johnson made her bones as a cinematographer on a number of well-known (and well-loved) documentaries,...