News

Lionsgate has debuted the first official trailer for Joe Carnahan's Shadow Force, an upcoming actioner starring Primetime Emmy-winner Kerry Washington and Omar Sy in the lead roles as a pair of former special forces operatives that are being hunted by their former agency.

As per the synopsis, the film follows Kyrah (Kerry Washington) and Isaac (Omar Sy), who "were once the leaders of a multinational special forces group called Shadow Force. They broke the rules by falling in love, and in order to protect their son, they go underground. With a large bounty on their heads, and the vengeful Shadow Force hot on their trail, one family’s fight becomes all-out war."

The spy action thriller stars Kerry Washington (Scandal; Django Unchained; Little Fires Everywhere) and Omar Sy (Lupin; The Intouchables; Jurassic World) in the lead roles, with a supporting cast consisting of Da'Vine Joy Randolph (The Holdovers; Dolemite Is My Name...

Today, Prime Video released the official trailer and poster for the Colombian Original movie Pimpinero: Blood and Oil, which will premiere on Prime Video later this year.

Set in the desert bordering Colombia and Venezuela, where gasoline smugglers known as “pimpineros” risk their lives transporting illegal fuel from one country to another, the film follows Juan (Alejandro Speitzer). He is the youngest in a clan of three brothers entangled in this perilous trade, as he’s forced to work for a sinister rival.

Determined to uncover the gruesome secrets that shroud this no-man’s-land, Juan’s girlfriend Diana (Laura Osma) embarks on a quest for the truth. Packed with action, drama, and romance, Pimpinero: Blood and Oil touches on universal themes around geographical, ethical, and family borders.

Directed by acclaimed filmmaker Andrés Baiz, the movie stars Alberto Guerra (Griselda), Alejandro Speitzer (La Cabeza de Joaquin Murrieta), Laura Osma (Goles en...

Colombian rock star Juanes, winner of 26 Latin Grammys and three Grammy awards to date, is making his big screen debut in Prime Video drama “Pimpinero: Blood and Oil,” by Andrés Baiz, which bows its trailer exclusively in Variety ahead of its Toronto Film Festival (TIFF) world premiere.

Juanes stars alongside Alberto Guerra, Alejandro Speitzer (“The Head of Joaquin Murrieta”) and Laura Osma (“Goles en contra”) in the dramatic fact-based thriller set along the border of Colombia and Venezuela.

Set to a pounding soundtrack, the trailer shows quick cuts of mounting intensity. The story co-penned by Baiz and Maria Camila Arias (“Birds of Passage”) takes place in the unforgiving desert between these two countries where gasoline smugglers known as “pimpineros” risk their lives transporting illegal fuel across the border. Among them is Juan, the youngest of three brothers deeply involved in this dangerous trade. When he’s coerced into working for a menacing rival,...

Prime Video today revealed the first photos and cast members for Pimpinero: Blood and Oil, directed by acclaimed filmmaker Andrés Baiz. The film marks Baiz’s return to the big screen after a successful career directing global series.

Pimpinero: Blood and Oil explores the powerful and universal themes of borders and family bonds. The cast includes Alberto Guerra (Griselda), Alejandro Speitzer (La Cabeza de Joaquin Murrieta), Laura Osma (Goles en contra), and multi-award-winning Grammy artist Juanes.

The announcement comes as Pimpinero: Blood and Oil was officially selected to screen at the Toronto International Film Festival, with its World Premiere on September 9th. The movie is part of the international Centerpiece program lineup at TIFF and is set to launch on Prime Video later this year.

Pimpinero: Blood and Oil is set in the desert bordering Colombia and Venezuela, where gasoline smugglers known as “pimpineros” risk their lives transporting illegal fuel from one country to another.

Bhutan’s official Oscar entry “The Monk and the Gun,” Pawo Choyning Dorji‘s follow-up to “Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom,” has been acquired by more distributors in key territories.

Rolling off premieres at Telluride, Toronto, Rome and Busan, the crowdpleaser has been acquired by Mfa+ Distribution, Edko Films (Hong Kong, Macau), Officine Ubu (Italy) and Maxam Inc. (Japan). The film is represented by Films Boutique in international markets. The movie was also acquired by Roadside Attraction for the U.S. in a deal negotiated with UTA, which is repping the film in North America.

Previous deals were scored with Pyramide Distribution (France), September Films (Benelux), Rialto Distribution (Australia), Future Films (Scandinavia), A Contracorriente (Spain), Lev Films (Israel), Aurora Films (Poland), Trigon (Switzerland), Alambique Films (Portugal) and Impact Films (India and Indian Subcontinent).

“The Monk and the Gun” is set in the Kingdom of Bhutan in 2006. Modernization has finally...

Bhutan’s official Oscar entry “The Monk And The Gun,” Pawo Choyning Dorji’s follow-up to “Lunana: A Yak in The Classroom,” has been bought by a raft of well-established international theatrical distributors.

Following its festival premieres at Telluride, Toronto, Rome and Busan, “The Monk and the Gun” has been sold by Films Boutique to Pyramide Distribution (France), September Films (Benelux), Rialto Distribution (Australia), Future Films (Scandinavia), A Contracorriente (Spain), Lev Films (Israel), Aurora Films (Poland), Trigon (Switzerland), Alambique Films (Portugal) and Impact Films (India and Indian Subcontinent).

Earlier this week, the crowdpleaser was also acquired by Roadside Attraction for the U.S. in a deal negotiated with UTA, which is repping the film in North America. Films Boutique is currently negotiating deals in other territories.

Choyning Dorji’s feature debut, “Lunana, a Yak in the Classroom,” was the second film ever submitted by Bhutan for the Oscar race and...

In perhaps one of her meatiest roles since Alfonso Cuaron’s “Roma,” Oscar-nominated thesp Yalitza Aparicio stars in Prime Video’s upcoming series “Cometierra,” created by its showrunner Daniel Burman, The Mediapro Studio’s head of content for the U.S., Mexico and Central America.

Principal photography is underway, predominantly in Mexico, with some scenes shot in Uruguay.

Inspired by the bestselling debut novel of Argentine writer-activist Dolores Reyes, “Cometierra,” meaning Eartheater in English, is a supernatural drama steeped in magical realism that follows Aylín, a young girl from the rough outskirts of Mexico City.

She unexpectedly gains the extraordinary ability to commune with the earth beneath her feet, a gift that propels her into a world of crime-solving and clashes with malevolent forces lurking in her past. With the help of her fellow misfits, Aylín finds her true identity while navigating a community plagued by violence and grappling with...

Exclusive: Roadside Attractions has acquired U.S. rights to Bhutan’s official selection for Best International Feature at the 96th Academy Awards, The Monk and the Gun, a spiritual fable written, directed, and co-produced by the Oscar-nominated director of 2019’s Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom, Pawo Choyning Dorj. Contending for Best International Film, Lunana became the first Bhutanese film ever nominated for an Oscar. The Monk and the Gun premiered at the Telluride Film Festival and later the Toronto International Film Festival where it won critical and audience acclaim, currently holding a 100% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

In my Deadline review of the film after its Telluride premiere I said, “If I were a betting man — which I am — I would venture to say that with his second film The Monk and the Gun, which just had its world premiere at the Telluride Film Festival this weekend and goes on to Toronto next week,...

Noah Pritzker’s bittersweet father and sons tale Ex-Husbands (aka Men Of Divorce) world premieres in Competition at the San Sebastian Film Festival on Sunday as one of the few U.S. productions to be accompanied by its cast this year thanks to its SAG-AFTRA interim agreement.

Griffin Dunne co-stars as a New York dentist who is reeling from his wife’s demand for a divorce after 35 years of marriage, opposite James Norton and Miles Heizer as his sons.

In search of some respite, he unwittingly travels to the Mexican resort of Tulum the same weekend as his oldest son’s bachelor party, where it emerges that he is not the only one suffering a life crisis.

The mainly Spanish press gave the warm-hearted picture – exploring family bonds and questions about love, life and death – an enthusiastic reception at a packed 8.30 am screening on Sunday morning ahead of a gala screening this evening.

Some of Colombia’s most prominent producers have banded together to form Pi, a new association of independent producers led by Cristina Gallego, behind Oscar-nominated “Embrace of the Serpent” and “Birds of Passage,” who is an official jury member at this year’s 71st San Sebastian Film Festival.

“Colombia has become a production destination for major companies due to its tax benefits, which has led to growth, experience, and job opportunities within the sector,” Gallego told Variety.

“However, members of Pi view with particular concern the need for attention, updates, and the evolution of national and departmental policies that support the continued production of Colombian cinema, its voices, its artists, and its filmmakers,” said Gallego who will preside over the association along with director-producer Franco Lolli (“Gente de Bien”) as vice president while Diana María Bustamante and Manuel Ruiz Montealegre (“Amparo”) serve as legal representatives.

It has been some 20 years...

Hayao Miyazaki will receive a Donostia Award Photo: Courtesy of San Sebastian Film Festival French filmmaker Claire Denis will chair San Sebastian Film Festival's official during this year.

The 35 Shots Of Rum director will be joined by Chinese actress Fan Bingbing (The Lady In The Portrait), Colombian filmmaker and producer Cristina Gallego (Birds Of Passage), French photographer Brigitte Lacombe, Hungarian producer Robert Lantos (Eastern Promises), Spanish star Vicky Luengo (Cork) and German director Christian Petzold, whose Afire is screening in the festival's Pearls section.

The festival has also announced that Hayao Miyazaki, whose The Boy And The Heron is this year's opening film, will receive a Donostia Award for lifetie achievement in a virtual ceremony.

Among the other filmmakers in attendance will be Maite Alberdi, Ja Bayona, Robin Campillo, Isabel Coixet, Víctor Erice, Michel Franco, Matteo Garrone, Craig Gillespie, Jonathan Glazer, Kitty Green, Todd Haynes, Tran Anh Hung, Ladj Ly,...

For Laura Mora, whose visceral and poetic drama “The Kings of the World” represents Colombia at the Oscars, shooting in the region of Bajo de Cauca was an act of defiance.

“I was warned not to shoot there, that it was the most dangerous part of Colombia,” she recalls, adding: “Instead we only came across people who were open, generous and kind.”

“Making a fictional film protected us too as they probably would not have been so welcoming of documentary filmmakers or journalists,” she muses. The production took care to involve communities wherever they stopped, like a gypsy caravan, through villages and towns.

Winning the top awards at San Sebastian and Zurich in the space of just a few days and Mora’s second pic after her breakout hit “Killing Jesus,” “The Kings of the World” follows five homeless teens as they traverse the region to reclaim a plot of...

Thanks in part to a strong co-production drive, 13 Mexican-nationality movies play at San Sebastian this year, a major presence.

Perlak frames Alejandro G. Iñarritu Venice player “Bardo: False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths.” Much of the heat, in industry terms at least, will come from the the premieres and sneak peeks.

In one highlight, Natalia Beristáin will world premiere “Noise” (“Ruido”), before its Netflix November bow. In possibly another, Mexico’s Laura Pancarte (“Non-Western”) unveils “Sueño Mexicano” as a pic-in-post.

Eyes will also be turned to Mexico’s latest generation of auteurs. One director is suddenly very well known: Longtime editor Natalia López Gallardo, a Berlin Jury Prize winner for “Robe of Gems.”

Others are bubbling under: Juan Pablo González whose “Dos Estaciones” impressed at Sundance, Rodrigo Ruiz Patterson, director of “Summer White,” another Sundance title, and Bruno Santamaría, a Gold Hugo best doc winner at the 2020 Chicago Festival...

“Rebellion,” from José Luis Rugeles whose “Alias María” competed at Cannes Un Certain Regard and was Colombia’s Oscar entry, has been acquired for international sales by Latido Films.

Latido will be bringing the title onto the market at Toronto.

In the film, Rugeles takes a non-linear approach to the narrative drifting through moments in Arroyo’s life and psyche from childhood through to the end of his life. “Rebellion” explores memory, addiction and Arroyo’s deep connection to the composition of song.

It shows the birth of legendary melodies being recorded obsessively by Arroyo into multiple tape recorders as he layers ideas upon each other. These fragments infiltrate the soundtrack throughout, at times bursting into full band performances of Arroyo’s famous songs. The authenticity of the music is aided by some of the musicians involved having played with Arroyo.

Lead producer Federico Durán of Rhayuela said: “When we...

Exclusive: Mark Strong (TÁR), Jahleel Kamara (Nanny), Marvin “Krondon” Jones III (Black Lightning), Natalia Reyes (Terminator: Dark Fate), Yoson An (The Plane) and Ed Quinn (The Oval) have signed on for roles in Lionsgate’s action-thriller Shadow Force, from director Joe Carnahan, which has entered production in Colombia. The actors join an ensemble led by Kerry Washington and Omar Sy, which also includes Da’Vine Joy Randolph and Cliff “Method Man” Smith, as previously announced.

The film penned by Leon Chills and Carnahan follows Kyrah (Washington) and Isaac (Sy), who were once the leaders of a multinational special forces group called Shadow Force. They broke the rules by falling in love, and in order to protect their son, they go underground. With a large bounty on their heads, and the vengeful Shadow Force hot on their trail, one family’s fight becomes all-out war.

Details as to the roles the film...

Dda is making a series of key hires and promotions. Ryan Langrehr recently joined the entertainment communications company as U.S. head of awards, based out of Los Angeles. He joins from Block-Korenbrot Public Relations and will work alongside Dda partner Dana Archer and awards strategist Mj Peckos, who formed an exclusive partnership with Dda in 2021 and collaborated on a slate of films in the international and documentary category. These included Spain’s “The Good Boss” and Germany’s “I’m Your Man,” both of which were shortlisted for international feature Oscars.

The Dda L.A. awards offering is a complement to the company’s existing U.K. awards business, which it says will offer studios and filmmakers a “cohesive strategy across both sides of the Atlantic.” The U.K. offering is led by Sam Ross in his newly upped role of director of awards, and his team works closely with Dda partner Neil Bhatt.

“Kings of the World” (“Los Reyes del Mundo”), by Colombia’s Laura Mora has shared its trailer exclusively with Variety in advance of its world premiere in Spain’s San Sebastian festival and its Oct. 6 theatrical release in Colombia.

Said Mora: “We are very happy to finally be able to release the film! It has been a very long and demanding process…. And to premiere in the official competition of a festival like San Sebastián, surrounded by directors that we deeply admire, is an honor.”

Film Factory Entertainment handles international sales.

Played by non-pros, “Kings of the World” follows five teens ranging from ages 12 to 19 who roam aimlessly through the streets of Medellin, Colombia. When Rá, the oldest in the gang, receives a letter from the government about the restitution of land that was seized from his grandmother by the paramilitary, he and his friends decide to make the trip...

Sebastian Lelio’s “Wonder,” starring “Black Widow’s” Florence Pugh, “Winter Boy” with Juliette Binoche and directors Hong Sang-soo and Ulrich Seidl will compete in main competition at September’s San Sebastian Film Festival, the biggest film event in the Spanish-speaking world.

In “Wonder,” the latest from Academy Award winning director Lelio (“A Fantastic Woman”),Pugh plays an English nurse brought in to the Irish Midlands in 1862 to observe the alleged miracle of girls going months without food.

Binoche co-stars in “Winter Boy,” from resilient French auteur Christophe Honoré who won at Cannes Un Certain Regard with 2019’s “On a Magical Night.” Hong Sang-soo, the prolific South Korean director, will present “Walk Up,” a film which is billed as taking a gently delightful new perspective on themes dear to his poetics.

Seidl’s “Sparta” forms part of a diptych with 2022 Berlin competition contender “Rimini,” both movies turning on men who cannot escape their past.

If Larry Clark had ever found his way onto the Pine Ridge Reservation, he probably would have come away with a film like “War Pony,” which observes its young Native American characters hustling, skating and stealing drugs from otherwise distracted adults. Presenting such behavior without judgment, first-time directors Gina Gammell and Riley Keough developed this unvarnished portrait in collaboration with their actors, capturing something at once tragic and true about these kids, who are torn between Oglala Lakota traditions and the consumer culture around them.

A few years older than the hero of Chloé Zhao’s recent “The Rider” — a movie this one can’t help but resemble, at least superficially — Bill (Jojo Bapteise Whiting) is like the slacker version of that American dreamer. He siphons gas from strangers’ tanks and goes around asking people if they want to buy a stolen PlayStation. He already has two kids by two different women.

Variety has been given exclusive access to the first teaser for Norwegian drama “War Sailor,” which follows two Norwegian sailors whose merchant ship is attacked by German submarines at the outbreak of World War II. Beta Cinema will be selling the film at the Cannes Market.

The film centers on Alfred Garnes, a working-class sailor, who has recently become the father of a third child, and his childhood friend Sigbjørn Kvalen, known as Wally. The men are working on a merchant ship in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean when World War II breaks out. The two men struggle for survival in a spiral of violence and death, where at any moment German submarines may attack their vessel.

Meanwhile, Alfred’s wife Cecilia struggles through the war alone in Bergen. When British aircrafts attempt to bomb the German submarine bunker in Bergen, they instead hit the elementary school at Laksevåg and civilian homes at Nøstet,...

In the fourth episode of the second season, two artists talk about cinema as a link between the present and the past, a way of confronting and rewriting the official history.Cristina Gallego is a film producer and director. Her career is characterized by a long and close collaboration with director Ciro Guerra. The Wind Journeys, Birds of Passage, and Embrace of the Serpent are all films that take account of Colombia's complex geography and portray other faces of its history and culture. Jayro Bustamante is a screenwriter, director and producer from Guatemala. His film Ixcanul won the Best First Film Award at Berlinale. His filmography has been characterized by a frontal approach to Guatemala's most acute social problems: racism, homophobia, and the most recalcitrant conservatism.Cristina and Jayro talk about cinema with a clear political commitment.Listen to the fourth episode of the new season below or in your favorite podcast app.

Los Reyes del Mundo

Among the bright spots in contemporary Colombian cinema, Laura Mora moved into her third feature film this past autumn. With a rather fruitful filmography to date comprised of television and docu films, Los Reyes del Mundo (Kings of the World) sees Mora work with a significant alumni folks who mounted Birds of Passage. Inspired by Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s Mobile Men, co-written by María Camila Arias, produced by Cristina Gallego (Birds of Passage) and Mirlanda Torres with some Euro co-production coin from Luxembourg and France, this sees the filmmaker return to a street youth portrait and once again working with non-professional actors – a tale about five young men from Medellín.…...

Co-producers on the recently finished dystopian thriller “Tomorrow Before After,” Apollo Pictures and Sivela Pictures are teaming on an entire slate of genre feature films with top Colombian producers 64-a Films, starting with a Spanish-language remake of Apollo founder Chad Barager’s most recent directorial feature “The Inheritance.”

The new joint venture was established with long-form, feature content in mind for both the English and Spanish-language markets, with production to be carried out exclusively in Colombia. In the Colombian update of Barager’s latest, a woman will return to Bogota to claim her grandfather’s estate, only to have supernatural forces intervene.

Next up in the pipeline will be the trio’s first English-language project, “On a Night Like Tonight.” In the film, an American living in Colombia learns that what goes around comes around when karma bites him back years after hiring a witch to solve his teenage problems.

Keep track of all the submissions for best international feature at the 2022 Academy Awards.

Entries for the 2022 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each one on this page.

Scroll down for profiles of each Oscar entry

The 94th Academy Awards will take place on March 27, 2022 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. This is the first time since 2018 that the ceremony will take place in March, having moved to avoid conflicting with the Winter Olympics.

An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture produced outside the US with a predominantly non-English dialogue...

AVOD

International factual distributor and channel owner Quintus Studios has closed a raft of deals for more than 100 hours of high-end factual content from major distributors which will be added to its portfolio of AVOD channels.

Quintus Studios hosts several digital AVOD channels, its largest being Free Documentary which boasts more than 3 million subscribers on YouTube alone. Others include Fd Real, Fd History, Fd Nature and Endevr, pulling in more than 1 million more subscribers.

Major historical titles secured from Wag Entertainment include Season 1 of “War Factories” “The Great War in Numbers” and “World War II in Numbers.” From 3Dd, Quntis picked up “The Monuments Men,” “Hitler’s Olympics” and “Shakespeare: The Legacy.” Hat Trick International’s “Mega Air, “Mega Shippers,” “The Insider: Reggie Yates” and “The Enforcers” were acquired for Quintus’ Free Documentary and Fd Real channels. From Drive, Quintus picked up “Lost Home Movies of Nazi Germany,” “Should we Bomb Auschwitz?...

Keep track of all the submissions for best international feature at the 2022 Academy Awards.

Entries for the 2022 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each one on this page.

Scroll down for profiles of each Oscar entry

The 94th Academy Awards will take place on March 27, 2022 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. This is the first time since 2018 that the ceremony will take place in March, having moved to avoid conflicting with the Winter Olympics.

An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture produced outside the US with a predominantly non-English dialogue...

The Guadalajara Film Festival (Ficg) will close this October’s rescheduled in-person festival with the first two episodes of Netflix’s animated event series “Maya and the Three” from daytime Emmy-winning director Jorge Gutierrez.

“Having ‘Maya’ premier at my beloved Ficg, in the capital of Mexican animation, is a dream come true!” Gutierrez told Variety after the announcement was made.

Ficg released details outlining the full program for this year’s 36th edition, which also includes a special screening of Dennis Villeneuve’s “Dune” at the festival’s opening ceremony. Other major takeaways include the awarding of this year’s El Mayahuel de Plata to Mexican Cinema, the highest award given out by the festival, to the illustrious Mexican actor Elsa Aguirre, a figurehead of the country’s golden age of cinema.

Other announced honors include the Golden Mayahuel for contribution Ibero-American cinema to Spanish director Julio Medem, who will...

Ecuador-based Tropico Cine has pounced on the international sales rights to Javier Andrade’s drama “Lo Invisible.” This is Andrade’s second feature after his breakout film “The Porcelain Horse,” which represented Ecuador in the 2013 Academy Awards.

“Lo Invisible,” which bows its trailer exclusively in Variety, will have its world premiere Sept. 12 in the Toronto International Film Festival’s Discovery sidebar that spotlights directors to watch.

Said Tropico Cine CEO and co-founder Lucas Taillefier: “We started tracking ‘Lo Invisible’ after seeing it as a work in progress at a film festival in Ecuador and were struck by its power even then.

“It’s an elegant film that deals with a theme that is barely explored in Ecuadorian cinema; Anahi Hoeneisen’s performance is equally spectacular,” he added. Tropico Cine has handled such Latin American gems as “Alba,” “Neon Bull” and “Birds of Passage.”

Hoeneisen, who co-wrote the drama with Andrade,...

Celebrated up-and-coming Colombian filmmaker Laura Mora has wrapped shooting on her third feature “Kings of the World,” backed by Cristina Gallego, producer-director of 2018 Cannes Directors’ Fortnight hit “Birds of Passage,” and Mirlanda Torres.

“Kings” is set up at Gallego’s Bogota-based Ciudad Lunar, the label behind Oscar-nominated “Embrace of the Serpent” and Torres’ La Selva Producciones. It is backed by a powerful alliance of international production partners, often a sign these days of a major Latin American art film: Mer Films (Norway), Iris Prods. (Luxembourg), Talipot Studio (Mexico), Tu Vas Voir (France) and made in association with Caracol Televisión.

Written by Mora and María Camila Arias, a co-writer on “Birds of Passage,” “Kings of the World” is among the titles that sales agent Film Factory Entertainment is presenting at the Toronto Festival’s market.

The feature follows Rape, Culebro, Sere, Winny and Nano, five Medellín young men of and from the streets.

Paris-based sales agency Luxbox has added sales to the U.K., Australia and Brazil to previous deals with the U.S. and France on Directors’ Fortnight title “Clara Sola,” making good on its upbeat critical reception at the Cannes Festival this month.

London-based Peccadillo Pictures has acquired U.K. rights. Sydney’s Rialto Distribution, has scooped rights to Australia; Brazil’s Imovision, another classic arthouse distributor, has secured those to Brazil. Turkey (Bir Film) and Switzerland (Trigon) have also closed, Luxbox partner Fiorella Morretti told Variety.

At Cannes, Luxbox confirmed that Epicentre had picked up rights to France while Oscilloscope Laboratories swooped on rights to North America after the film’s world premiere.

One of a brace of features from young Latin American female directors selected for Cannes, like Mexican Tatiana Huezo’s “Prayers for the Stolen,” in Un Certain Regard, and Brazilian Anita Rocha da Silveira’s “Medusa,” in Directors’ Fortnight,...

“Clara Sola,” the debut feature from Swedish-Costa Rican director Nathalie Álvarez Mesén, looks set for a French release.

Luxbox has sold the rights in France to Paris-based art-pic distribution outfit Epicentre Films. News of the deal comes the same day that the magical realist is premiering in the Directors’ Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival.

Set in a remote Costa Rican village, “Clara Sola” centers around middle-aged Clara, played by debut actor and award-winning dancer Wendy Chinchilla. In the community, Clara is well-respected as a spiritual healer who brings hope to the rural population. Having been dominated for most of her life by an overbearing mother, she experiences a delayed sexual awakening after meeting her niece’s new boyfriend.

Mesen has described the film as being set in a “visceral world,” and hopes that it offers audiences a “window to a place where a subtle magic is inherent to nature...

Cristina Gallego, producer-director of 2018 Cannes Directors’ Fortnight hit “Birds of Passage,” is set to produce “Kings of the World,” the second feature by Colombia’s Laura Mora. Mora’s “Killing Jesus” marked one of the most notable of recent Latin American debuts.

Shooting this month in Medellin and Bajo Cauca, Colombia, “Kings” is set up at Gallego’s Bogota-based Ciudad Lunar, the shingle behind Oscar-nominated “Embrace of the Serpent” and Mirlanda Torres’ La Selva Producciones.

It is backed by a powerful alliance of international production partners, often a sign these days of a major Latin American art film: Mer Films (Norway), Iris Prods. (Luxembourg), Talipot Studio (Mexico), Tu Vas Voir (France) and made in association with Caracol Televisión.

“Kings of the World” is being brought onto the Cannes market by Film Factory Entertainment, a sales agent on “The Weeping Woman,” “Wild Tales” and “The Clan.”

Written by Mora and María Camila Arias,...

Production slated for October start in US.

The UK’s Altitude Film Entertainment is producing, financing and handling international sales on Gabe Polsky’s frontier adventure Butcher’s Crossing heading into this week’s Pre-Cannes Screenings.

Polsky and Liam Satre-Meloy adapted the screenplay from the novel by John Williams exploring man’s relationship with nature and focuses on a little-known chapter in US history.

When a young Harvard dropout seeks fortune in the West by teaming up with buffalo hunters led by Miller (Cage), they embark on a harrowing journey that places their lives and sanity at risk.

Production is...

Exclusive: Natalia Reyes has signed on to star in Tomorrow Before After, a post-apocalyptic sci-fi thriller that is scheduled to start shooting this month in Colombia.

The film, from writer/director Alfonso Quijada (El Suspiro del Silencio), centers on a woman with no name (played by Reyes) who struggles to survive on her own in a post-apocalyptic world, searching for others, with only a stray dog by her side.

In her quest, she collides with a world that is collapsed and utterly destroyed, and it seems, for a long time, that she is the only survivor in the world—until she discovers one day that she is pregnant. Not understanding how this could be possible, she then begins to question her own existence.

Chad Barager and Ian Ihnatowycz are producing Tomorrow Before After through Barager’s Apollo Pictures and Ihnatowycz’s First Generation Capital.

Film Movement has acquired North American rights to “Wildland,” Jeanette Nordahl’s debut feature starring Sidse Babett Knudsen (“Borgen”) as a mafia ringleader.

The gripping crime drama, which was part of the Berlinale 2020 selection, will next premiere at New York City’s Film Forum, followed by a wide theatrical release and roll out on all digital and home entertainment platforms.

The announcement was made by Michael Rosenberg, president of Film Movement, and Andrea dos Santos for Bac Films Distribution.

Set in the Danish countryside around an old industrialized farming town, “Wildland” follows a 17-year old girl, Ida, who moves in with her aunt and cousins after the tragic death of her mother in a car accident. The home is filled with love, but outside of the home, the family leads a violent and criminal life.

Produced by Snowglobe, the film was written by Ingeborg Topsoe, whose recent credits include Milad Alami’s “The Charmer.

The Belgian director is taking temporary leave of the younger viewers to whom he owes his success in order to shoot his new film. Belgian director Olivier Ringer and his producer brother Yves Ringer have been enjoying success for several years now in the domain of live action films for young audiences, offering up movies which have made their way around the world, including Pom, le poulain, On The Sly and Birds of Passage. They’ve also found themselves on the receiving end of the European Best Children's Film Award on two separate occasions. With Les Gentils, the directors are changing register to try their hand at a social comedy, examining the scars and after-effects of globalisation within a small community. When their biggest client relocates, Michel and Blandine’s small business slowly begins to sink, dragging its staff down with it. Just when they’re losing everything, including their house and their.

Exclusive: Filmmaker Lissette Feliciano has inked with Verve following the success of her feature debut at SXSW, Women Is Losers, which she wrote, directed, and produced.

Set during the 1960s in San Francisco, Women Is Losers follows bright and talented Catholic school girl Celina Guerrera (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood’s Lorenza Izzo) survives a difficult home life by following the rules. That is until an indiscretion creates a series of devastating consequences. As Celina faces the compounded obstacles of being young and alone, she sets out to rise above the oppression of poverty and invest in a future that sets new precedents for the time. The pic is inspired by real women and the Janis Joplin song of the same title. Simu Liu (Shang-Chi), Chrissie Fit (Pitch Perfect 2 & 3) and Liza Weil (How to Get Away With Murder) also star.

A graduate of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts,...

Spain’s The Mediapro Studio has sealed a production pact with Colombia’s Caracol Television in its continued bid to boost an already substantial presence in the Latin American market.

The first project out the gate is “Las Cheers,” a 60-episode musical comedy series created by Hector Rodriguez, which turns on a group of cheerleaders from a working-class hood who dream of representing their country at the Olympics.

The series is making its market debut at NATPE. “Caracol Television strengthens its brand every day worldwide, connecting with key allies to produce stories that transcend markets. Working hand in hand with The Mediapro Studio, joining creative forces to present ‘Cheers,’ represents a step forward in our goals,” said Lisette Osorio, VP of international sales, Caracol Television.

Juliana Barrera, director of content at The Mediapro Studio in Colombia concurred: “‘Cheers’ has all the elements required to captivate audiences: Love, music, dance and the chasing of big dreams,...

Exclusive: Verve has signed Colombian filmmaker Cristina Gallego, and will rep her in all areas as she moves to widen her reach and continue her passion for telling untold stories from a female perspective.

Gallego co-directed Birds of Passage, which premiered in the Directors’ Fortnight section at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival, was selected as the Colombian entry and made the shortlist for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 91st Academy Awards. The film is not a traditional Colombian drug-running story; it follows the journey of a Wayuu Indian family as they forego their traditions and fall into the drug trade. Gallego was at the forefront of the creative process and wanted to subvert the genre that has typically been very macho by focusing on stories from the female members of the family and community. She directed the film with Ciro Guerra, her ex-husband; she produced the acclaimed 2015 film Embrace of the Serpent,...

Bookmark this page for all the latest international feature submissions.

Submissions for the best international feature film award at the 2021 Academy Awards have started to come in, and Screen is keeping a running list of each film below.

Scroll down for the full list

The 93rd Academy Awards is set to take place on April 25, 2021. It was originally set to be held on February 28, before both the ceremony and eligibility period were postponed for two months due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Submitted films must have been released in their respective countries between the expanded dates of October 1, 2019, and December 31, 2020. (Last year it was October-September.

Bookmark this page for all the latest international feature submissions.

Submissions for the best international feature film award at the 2021 Academy Awards have started to come in, and Screen is keeping a running list of each film below.

Scroll down for the full list

The 93rd Academy Awards is set to take place on April 25, 2021. It was originally set to be held on February 28, before both the ceremony and eligibility period were postponed for two months due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Submitted films must have been released in their respective countries between the expanded dates of October 1, 2019, and December 31, 2020. (Last year it was October-September.

“Forgotten We’ll Be,” the latest film from director Fernando Trueba, an Academy Award winner (“Belle Epoque”) and nominee (“Chico and Rita”), has been sold to Italy, the film’s sales agent Film Factory Entertainment striking a deal for Italian distribution with Lucky Red, a classic arthouse and independent film distributor.

Details of the deal come just days after it was announced that the title will close on Sept. 26, playing out of competition, the Official Selection of the San Sebastian Film Festival, after having generated upbeat buzz among Spanish critics at a press screening earlier this week in Madrid.

The deal has been brokered by Vicente Canales, managing director of Film Factory Ent., and Stefano Massenzi, Lucky Red head of acquisitions. It marks the latest licensing coup for “Forgotten We’ll Be,” a title which hit the online Cannes Marché in June as one of the few titles from the Cannes Festival...

Bursting onto the Latin American film-tv scene in the second half of last decade, Colombia’s Fidelio Films has struck a development and co-production deal with Stories, the burgeoning film-tv arm of Spain-based publishing giant Editorial Planeta.

The news comes as Fidelio prepares to present at Spain’s Conecta Fiction, a Europe-Latin America TV production forum, the supernatural drama series “Tenebris,” which won an Our Local is Global grant from the Tribeca Film Institute.

First title up in Fidelio-Editorial Planeta deal is Fidelio partner Mauricio Leiva Cock’s movie adaptation of cult Colombian writer Andrés Caicedo’s unfinished novel “Noche sin Fortuna.” Also in the mix is a small screen makeover of “Persona Normal,” a Mexican and Latin American bestseller written by Mexico’s Benito Taibo.

Fidelio’s deal sees it parlaying the extraordinary recent writing and directing record of partners Leiva Cock and David Figueroa García into strategic alliances...

2019 Foreign Language Film Oscar Submissions Algeria – Until The End Of Time – Yasmine Chouikh Argentina– The Angel (El Angel) – Luis Ortega Austria – The Waldheim Waltz – Ruth Beckermann Belarus – Crystal Swan – Darya Zhuk Belgium – Girl – Lukas Dhont Bolivia – Muralla – Rodrigo Patiño Bosnia – Never Leave Me – Aida Begic Brazil – The Great Mystical Circus – Carlos Diegues Bulgaria – Omnipresent – Ilian Djevelekov Cambodia – Graves Without A Name – Rithy Pan Canada – Watch Dog – Sophie Dupuis Chile – And Suddenly The Dawn – Silvio Caiozzi Colombia– Birds of Passage, Cristina Gallego & Ciro Guerra Croatia – The Eighth Commissioner – Ivan Salaj Czech Republic – Winter Flies – Olmo Omerzu Denmark – The Guilty – Gustav Möller Dominican Republic – Cocote – Nelson Carlo de los Santos Ecuador – A Son Of Man – Jamaicanoproblem and Pablo Agüero Egypt – Yomeddine – Abu Bakr Shawky Estonia – Take It Or Leave It – Liina Trishkina-Vanhatalo Finland – Euthanizer – Teemu Nikin France – Memoir Of War – Emmanuel Finkiel Georgia – Namme – Zaza Khalvashi Germany – Never Look Away – Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck...

Nobel Prize-winning, South African author J.M. Coetzee’s 1980 novel, Waiting for the Barbarians, always seemed ripe for a big- or small-screen adaptation. Equal parts allegorical, metaphorical, and satirical, Coetzee’s trenchant critique of imperialism and colonialism contained the kind of Big Ideas irresistible to serious-minded filmmakers. But it took the better part of four decades, including Coetzee’s direct involvement as adapter and screenwriter and Columbian director Ciro Guerra for Waiting for the Barbarians to finally make the jump from the printed page to digital screens of varying sizes and shapes. Despite languid, languorous pacing and allegorical plot devices over character development, thematically rich storytelling and Mark Rylance’s central performance, Waiting for the Barbarians manages to engage and enthrall more...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

You expect fireworks when you cast Johnny Depp, Robert Pattinson and Mark Rylance in a political allegory about a nameless empire that savagely exploits the indigenous people in its desert colony. That the sparks fly only intermittently in Waiting for the Barbarians may be due to the heavy lifting required by the great Colombian director Ciro Guerra (Embrace of the Serpent, Birds of Passage) as he adapts South African author J.M. Coetzee’s 1980 novel to the screen with a first-time script by the Nobel laureate himself. In his first film in English,...

Enemy at the Gate: Guerra Heads to the International Frontier with Flat Coetzee Adaptation

The richness and heft of Ciro Guerra’s cinema gets lost somehow along the trip to J.M. Coetzee’s border of the Empire, with the Embrace of the Serpent and Birds of Passage director failing to make an equally strong impression in his first English-language film. Waiting for the Barbarians enlists Coetzee on screenwriting duty for the first time, prompting the Nobel laureate to adapt his own 1980 novel into a mostly faithful but toothless script. Mark Rylance’s central performance anchors the story and gives it much-needed texture, while Johnny Depp’s one-note, uptight villainy doesn’t even spill out from behind a pair of frowny round sunglasses.…...

Director Ciro Guerra has denied allegations of sexual misconduct leveled by eight women against one of Colombia’s most prominent filmmakers.

Accusations of harassment and abuse were raised in a June 24 report by Volcanicas, a Latin American feminist journal. The publication does not name the women but says it conducted direct interviews with each accuser and viewed text message exchanges and recordings that detail the alleged harassment and one instance of alleged assault.

None of the women intend to press charges, the Volcanicas article said. Their goal is to call attention to “the normalization of sexual violence in Colombia’s audiovisual industry, which hinders the professional growth of women and affects them physically and emotionally,” wrote Volcanicas editors Catalina Ruiz-Navarro and Matilde de los Milagros Londoño. The article included a transcription of their call with Guerra where they asked him to respond to the charges, which he denied.

The incidents...

Ciro Guerra, the Colombian film director behind “Embrace of the Serpent” and “Birds of Passage,” is denying allegations of sexual harassment and abuse made against him in a June 24 report published by the feminist journal Volcánicas. The filmmaker said in a video posted online, “I want to state that the publication today of grave accusations in the online magazine Volcanicas against me are completely false. I committed none of the falsehoods I am accused of.”

“In view of the nature and gravity of those accusations, I don’t have any other option but to pursue legal avenues to clear my name,” he continued. “I ask that you wait before passing judgment for justice to reveal the truth in this case.”

In the report published this week by Volcánicas, seven women accused Guerra of sexual harassment and one woman claimed the director sexually abused her at his home. The alleged incidents...

Ciro Guerra, the Colombian film director behind “Embrace of the Serpent” and “Birds of Passage,” is denying allegations of sexual harassment and abuse made against him in a June 24 report published by the feminist journal Volcánicas. The filmmaker said in a video posted online, “I want to state that the publication today of grave accusations in the online magazine Volcanicas against me are completely false. I committed none of the falsehoods I am accused of.”

“In view of the nature and gravity of those accusations, I don’t have any other option but to pursue legal avenues to clear my name,” he continued. “I ask that you wait before passing judgment for justice to reveal the truth in this case.”

In the report published this week by Volcánicas, seven women accused Guerra of sexual harassment and one woman claimed the director sexually abused her at his home. The alleged incidents...