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Miami — Colombia and Mexico-based Tis Studios has boarded the Gaumont USA-produced “Futuro Desierto,” Lucía Puenzo and Nicolás Puenzo’s six-episode near-future psychological thriller and family drama which explores big questions sparked by Artificial Intelligence.

Also, it looks to do what Lucía Puenzo does best: Enroll a propulsive genre momentum to ask highly relevant personal questions, here focused via a familia drama, about modern-day society.

Tis Studios is handling international distribution on the series.

Produced by Gaumont USA for Paramount Television International Studios (Ptis), “Futuro Desierto,” one of the biggest series to come out of Latin America, is headlined by José María Yazpik, Àstrid Bergès-Frisbey, Andres Parra and Karla Souza in an all-star Latin American key cast.

“Futuro Desierto” also marks a banner title in a slate of new and often high-profile titles which Tis Studios will introduce to buyers at Content Americas as the Paramount-owned historic studio – formerly known...

The following contains major spoilers from NCIS Season 22, Episode 7, "Hardboiled," which debuted Monday, Dec. 2 on CBS.

NCIS Season 22, Episode 7, "Hardboiled" is an episode that might divide fans. On one hand, it's a solidly entertaining installment of the CBS show, and one that avoids several very obvious pitfalls. On the other, it's an hour that doesn't make great use of the series' main cast, making them feel more like supporting players in the guest characters' story.

"Hardboiled" centers around one of Nick Torres' confidential informants, who becomes the lead suspect when her husband is found dead. But it doesn't dig too deeply into Torres, or any of the NCIS team. Instead, it's Sara Paxton's character Amber Carnahan who's front and center. While the script serves her well, it's also hard not to want more from the folks who have helped keep NCIS so popular.

NCIS Season 22, Episode 7 Is Meant to...

“Emilia Pérez” star Adriana Paz, a Cannes 2024 best actress winner alongside the rest of the film’s female key cast, is headlining “The Huntress” (“La Cazadora”), where she plays a Ciudad Juárez factory worker turned vigilante who attains the status of a legend.

“The Huntress” marks the first feature from U.S.-Mexican filmmaker Suzanne Andrews Correa whose film “Green” won the Short Film Jury Award for U.S. Fiction at Sundance. It is produced by Mexico’s Záfiro Cinema, headed by Gabriela Maire (“The Good Girls”) and Edher Campos (“Huesera: The Bone Woman”) and U.S. outfit The Population, led by Mynette Louie (“Swallow”), marking their second Mexico-u.S. co-production after they joined forces for “I Carry You With Me,” Záfiro Cinema’s first title and a Sundance Audience Award and Next Innovator Award winner.

Though Paz’s Cannes win has thrown her into the international spotlight, she has...

Matthew Lillard has one big reason why he turned down an opportunity to compete on Dancing With the Stars.

The actor recently opened up to Business Insider about his early career struggles, specifically after 2004’s Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed bombed at the box office, much to his surprise.

“I thought I’d be No. 1 on the call sheet for the next 10 years of movies,” Lillard said about the Scooby-Doo sequel, which saw him play Shaggy. “And the reality was, the exact opposite happened.”

As a result, Lillard was forced to reevaluate his career, and that’s when his team at the time pitched him on joining ABC’s dancing competition series. However, the actor wasn’t jumping at the idea.

“I was going to do Dancing with the Stars. And I was like, if I do Dancing with the Stars, I’ll never win an Academy Award,” Lillard said. “If...

In this episode, we dive into the relationship between writing and editing. Soledad Salfate is a Chilean editor with a 25-year career and over thirty edited films. She began her career working with Alicia Scherson and Rodrigo Sepúlveda and later became a frequent collaborator of Sebastián Lelio, for whom she edited Navidad, Gloria and Una mujer fantástica, winner of the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film.In addition to working with renowned Chilean directors like Fernando Guzzoni, Cristián Jiménez and Alejandro Fernández Almendras, her experience also includes projects from edited films from other Latam countries including Plaza Catedral, by Abner Benaim; Delirio, by Alexandra Latishev; Pedro Páramo, by Rodrigo Prieto, and Horizonte, by César Augusto Acevedo,—both of which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival. On the other hand, Alejandra Márquez Abella is a Mexican director with fifteen years of experience in film and television. In 2015 she presented in...

The upcoming 14th GuadaLAjara Film Festival in Los Angeles (Glaff) will honour Emmy-nominated Nava Mau from Baby Reindeer, Ilse Salas from Pedro Páramo, and Diane Guerrero from Jane The Virgin.

Mau will receive the Trailblazer Award at the opening night gala at the United Artists Theater in Downtown Los Angeles on November 1. Besides Netflix hit Baby Reindeer she was a series regular in Max’s Generation.

Mau is an activist who has worked with immigrant survivors as a legal assistant, and a peer counselor and advocate for LGBTQ survivors of violence. Her short film All The Words But The One...

Woo Films, one of Mexico’s most successful indie companies behind such hit titles as Manolo Caro’s Netflix series “The House of Flowers” and lauded dramas “The Good Girls” (“Las Niñas Bien”) and “Los Adioses,” has teamed up with film collective Colectivo Colmena, to develop and produce three pics. Two of them are based on original ideas from Colmena and the third an adaptation of a Mexican novel.

Woo Films is taking “The Ballad of the Phoenix” (“La balada del fénix”), the first stop-motion animation feature by Cinema Fantasma (“Frankelda’s Book of Spooks”), to participate in the Guadalajara Film Festival’s co-production forum. This is one of three stop motion animation projects from Cinema Fantasma that Woo Films boarded last year.

“It is essential to support the growth of new voices in Mexican cinema to boost their visibility at a time when resources for independent film production and exhibition opportunities are scarce,...

In Alejandra Márquez Abella’s latest film, A Million Miles Away, we are invited into the extraordinary life of Jose Hernandez, a former NASA space scientist whose journey started from humble beginnings as the child of a migrant farmworker. His aspirations and dedication led him to embark on an unexpected journey into the world of astronomical science. A Million Miles Away is the inspiring tale of Jose Hernendez’s remarkable life. It delves into the life of an ordinary man who clung to his dreams and never looked back. As we follow Jose’s inspiring journey in the film, his passion, determination, and dedication to his dreams truly touch our hearts. His story reminds us of the incredible human spirit’s ability to aim high and reach the stars, which is quite literal in his case.

Alejandra Márquez Abella has masterfully made a mark in the world of cinema with...

Mubi Podcast: Encuentros returns for a fourth season.The first episode features:Ilse Salas (Mexico), a film, TV, and theater actress who is internationally recognized for her leading role in Alejandra Márquez Abella's The Good Girls, a selection of the Toronto International Film Festival and a prizewinner in Malaga. Winner of the Ariel for Best Actress, and a two-time Platino Award nominee, Salas has worked with important Latin American directors such as Abner Benaim, Lucía Puenzo, and Alonso Ruizpalacios.Guillermo Calderón (Chile), a playwright with a deep political commitment and the screenwriter of some of his country's most important films from the last decade, such as Pablo Larraín's The Club (2015), Neruda (2016), and Ema (2019). These films' festival screenings include the Venice Film Festival, the Berlinale, and the Directors' Fortnight at Cannes. In this first episode, the hosts talk about theatricality as an expressive possibility that’s poorly explored in Latin American cinema.

Launching globally on Prime Video on September 15, 2023 is A Million Miles Away.

Inspired by the real-life story of NASA flight engineer José Hernández, A Million Miles Away follows him and his devoted family of proud migrant farm worker on a decades-long journey, from a rural village in Michoacán, Mexico, to the fields of the San Joaquin Valley, to more than 200 miles above the Earth in the International Space Station. With the unwavering support of his hard-working parents, relatives, and teachers, José’s unrelenting drive & determination culminates in the opportunity to achieve his seemingly impossible goal.

Acclaimed writer and director Alejandra Márquez Abella has created a dazzling tribute to the loyalty and tenacity of the entire Hernández family, as well as anyone who dares to dream.

The film stars Michael Peña, Rosa Salazar, Bobby Soto, Sarayu Blue, Veronica Falcón, Julio César Cedillo, Garret Dillahunt and Eric Johnson.

The filmmaker “debuted her first feature,...

"A Million Miles Away" is an inspiring biopic about José Hernández, a farmworker turned NASA astronaut, and his journey from a village in Mexico to space. The film showcases José's tenacity and determination in overcoming challenges and achieving his childhood dream of becoming an astronaut. José's story is a tribute to the loyalty and tenacity of his family, as well as anyone who dares to dream. The film releases on Prime Video on September 15th.

Prime Video has released a trailer and first look images for its upcoming A Million Miles Away, an inspiring biopic that tells the tale of José Hernández, a farmworker turned NASA astronaut. The film follows José, portrayed by Michael Peña, and his family of migrant farmworkers on a decades-long journey, all the way from a village in Michoacán, Mexico, to the fields of California's San Joaquin Valley to José's flight to more than 200 miles above...

The drama A Million Miles Away, which is based on the real-life story of NASA flight engineer José Hernández, is set to be released through the Prime Video streaming service on September 15th – and with that date exactly one month away, a trailer for the film has arrived online and can be seen in the embed above.

Alejandra Márquez Abella, whose previous credits include Mal de tierra, Semana Santa, The Good Girls, Northern Skies Over Empty Space, and episodes of Narcos: Mexico, directed A Million Miles Away from a screenplay she crafted with Bettina Gilois and Hernán Jiménez. Michael Peña of the first two Ant-Man films takes on the role of José Hernández, and the film follows him and his devoted family of proud migrant farm workers on a decades-long journey, from a rural village in Michoacán, Mexico, to the fields of the San Joaquin Valley, to more than 200 miles...

Netflix is toasting Mexico’s National Day of Cinema on Aug. 15 with a slew of projects, many of them tapping the country’s wealth of literary classics and original storytellers. Working with some of the most prominent local filmmakers, the streaming giant is also reaffirming its $300 million commitment to Mexican cinema and series and its #QueMéxicoSeVea (“Let Mexico Be Seen”) initiative.

A teaser of its upcoming film “No voy a pedirle a nadie que me crea” (“I Don’t Expect Anyone to Believe Me”) by Fernando Frías De La Parra (“I’m No Longer Here”) debuts exclusively on Variety.

An adaptation of what award-winning author Juan Pablo Villalobos describes as an ‘autobiographical fiction,’ Frias’ latest film follows the writer as he prepares to go to Barcelona with his girlfriend to study for a doctorate in literature. But he gets caught up in a criminal network that spurs him to write the...

Exclusive: The Good Girls reunion of Jenna Bans, Bill Krebs and Retta is not happening — at least not at NBC. The network has passed on the untitled drama pilot (fka Murder by the Book), starring Retta and written and executive produced by Bans and Krebs. The studio behind the pilot, Universal Television, a division of Universal Studio Group, is expected to shop it.

The untitled Bans/Krebs project was one of two NBC drama pilots ordered this pilot season. The other, fka as Wolf, starring Zachary Quinto, remains in contention, I hear. A decision is expected in the next week as options on pilot casts are up June 30.

Related: 2023 NBC Pilots & Series Orders

NBC earlier this month made calls on its two 2023 comedy pilots, picking up Justin Spitzer’s St. Denis Medical to series and passing on Amber Ruffin’s Non-Evil Twin.

The Bans/Krebs drama follows an Instafamous big-city...

Mexico’s Woo Films is venturing into the kids/younger audience content biz for the first time, boarding three stop-motion animated features by Mexico City-based Cinema Fantasma, led by brothers Roy and Arturo Ambriz.

Producer Andrea Toca who brought the projects to Woo Films, said: “We’ve always wanted to make content for children and younger audiences.”

“I went to University with the Ambriz brothers so that’s where we first connected. We were very impressed by the working techniques they have developed in their workshop aside from their stories,” she added.

The initial pact is for Woo Films to co-produce Cinema Fantasma’s “Frankelda and The Prince of Spooks,” being presented at Annecy’s work in progress (Wip) section as well as two other stop-motion pics in development, “The Ballad of the Phoenix,” pitched last year at Annecy, and “The Bee Revolution.”

“Frankelda and The Prince of Spooks” is...

Colombian-Mexican filmmaker Rodrigo García has wrapped his first Spanish-language feature, “Familia,” which was shot in Valle de Guadalupe, Mexico for Netflix.

García, who has directed such acclaimed films as “Mother and Child” and “Albert Nobbs,” and whose TV credits include “Six Feet Under,” “Big Love” and “In Treatment,” said: “Shooting ‘Familia’ has been a great experience.” He added: “Great producers, collaborators, several of my favorite Mexican actors and actresses and Netflix’s full support have made this project an unforgettable trip back home.”

This is the first time García, who is the son of Colombian Nobel Laureate Gabriel García Marquez, has directed a film in Mexico. He’s an executive producer in Netflix’s upcoming adaptation of his father’s literary classic “100 Years of Solitude,” which will be shooting in Colombia.

According to the synopsis, “Familia” follows “a peculiar family and explores the complexities of cohabitation around a decision that will change them forever.

Peacock’s Bel-Air is nearly matching the number of seasons with its showrunners.

The NBCUniversal-backed streamer has handed out a third-season renewal for its reimagining of Will Smith’s beloved The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. The dramatic take on the former comedy series that is inspired by Morgan Cooper’s viral short was originally picked up at Peacock with a two-season order following a competitive bidding process with other streamers vying for the series.

The season three renewal marks its first vote of confidence beyond that initial order and follows a wave of showrunner changes as the drama struggled to find its creative voice. Carla Banks Waddles was recruited as showrunner at the start of season two. The Good Girls and The Soul Man alum was promoted from co-exec producer to showrunner and replaced T.J. Brady and Rasheed Newson (Army Wives, Lie to Me) at the helm of Bel-Air.

Christina Hendricks smiling close up. Pic credit: ©ImageCollect.com/Birdie Thompson/AdMedia

Christina Hendricks is stunning with another flawless look as she enjoys Scotland.

The Mad Men actress has largely been making 2022 headlines for her huge home renovations, but she took a break recently and took herself to Scotland, where she hit up Edinburgh Castle and posed for a drinks moment.

Posting for her 1.1 million Instagram followers, Christina showed off her signature and hourglass curves in a gorgeous printed dress.

The famous redhead was photographed backed by greenery and dramatic structures. She tagged herself at Johnnie Walker Princes Street while in a low-cut and belted floral-print dress in green and yellow, also holding a tall cocktail.

Smiling into the distance and wearing her fiery locks down, the actress showcased her high cheekbones while rocking a red lip, also offering a little more via her caption.

Addressing fans, she wrote: “What?...

Prestige French distribution house Dulac Distribution has closed rights to France on “1976,” one of the most awaited of films to come out of Chile this year, which will world premiere next month at Cannes Directors’ Fortnight.

The buzzed up title represents the first feature from young Chilean actor-turned-director Manuela Martelli, star of Andrés Wood’s “Machuca” and Alicia Scherson’s “Il Futuro.”

Worldwide sales rights on “1976” are represented by Paris-based Luxbox, adding to its lengthening list of high profile pick-ups from Latin America which include Nathalie Alvarez Mesén’s “Clara Sola,” Alejandra Márquez’s “The Good Girls,” Marcelo Martinessi’s “The Heiresses” and Benjamín Naishtat’s “Rojo.”

The acquisition in a key territory for non English-language art films comes just weeks after “1976” walked off with three of the biggest awards at the Toulouse Latin American Festival’s Films in Progress, including the pix-in-post competition’s Grand Prix and Cine Plus...

The Miami Film Festival has announced its opening and closing titles for its upcoming 39th edition.

The festival, which showcases works from filmmaker’s in the Ibero-American diaspora, will premiere and end with two films listed on the Oscar shortlist for international feature film. “The Good Boss” (El Buen Patrón), a comedy written and directed by Spain’s Fernando León de Aranoa, will open the festival, which will close with “Plaza Catedral,” the sophomore narrative feature of Panamanian director Abner Benaim.

“The Good Boss” stars Javier Bardem as Blanco, the owner of a family business up for consideration for a local award for business excellence. Determined to win the award, Blanco begins meddling in the lives of his employees, setting off a chain of events that leads to shocking repercussions. In Spain, the film was nominated for a record-breaking 20 Goya Awards, which will be held on Feb. 12. León de Aranoa...

El norte sobre el vacío

After successfully launching her sophomore feature Las niñas bien at the Toronto Intl. Film Feature in 2018, Mexico City based filmmaker Alejandra Márquez Abella has been rocketing up the film scene first by being attached to the Netflix English biopic project A Million Miles Away, to prepping a pro-stance series for women called La Liberación, to a project inspired by her paternal grandmother called La Triste, to filming episodes of Narcos: Mexico, and finally, this July she embarked on her third feature film project titled El norte sobre el vacío. In post since October-ish, this is a Western with a mostly female that includes Juan Daniel García Treviño from I’m No Longer Here and La Civil fame.…...

Elie Samaha’s Luminosity Entertainment and Mike Karz’s Gulfstream Pictures have snagged the worldwide rights to Abner Benaim’s dramatic thriller, “Plaza Catedral.”

The deal, forged by Luminosity partner and co-president Daniel Diamond and Karz, closed just ahead of the film’s world premiere at the Guadalajara Int’l Film Festival (Ficg) on Oct. 3. “Plaza Catedral” is in competition at Ficg’s main category, the Mezcal Awards.

“Plaza Catedral is a very powerful, moving film with superb performances and outstanding direction by Benaim. We are proud to be a part of bringing this film to worldwide audiences,” said Diamond.

This is the first non-English pickup by Luminosity, which was launched in September. “I haven’t represented many, if any, non English-language films but audiences in the U.S. and around the world are demonstrating their interest in content of all nationalities and languages, as evidenced by the success of shows like ‘Lupin,...

Another NBC show bites the dust.

Buzzy dramedy Good Girls has been canceled after four seasons, and there are no plans to shop the series to other outlets.

According to Deadline, there was hope that a deal could be reached to bring the show back for a truncated fifth season to bring the series to a close.

Unfortunately, a deal could not be ironed out.

Christina Hendricks, Retta, and Mae Whitman led the NBC drama that was a strong digital performer for the network.

Even when the show recently launched on Netflix, it managed to top the streaming charts, leading many to believe it could continue.

Netflix also had international streaming rights to the show, and it was thought that a deal would be reached to ship the show to Netflix, but alas, Netflix is not as open to picking up canceled shows as it once was.

The series followed three suburban Michigan mothers,...

Parallel section will showcase 13 first and second features and 10 short films.

Cannes Critics’ Week 2021 has unveiled the line-up of its 60th edition, following last year’s hiatus due to the pandemic, running July 7 to 15 alongside the Cannes Film Festival.

It will showcase 13 features, seven of them in competition, as well as 10 short films.

French director Constance Meyer’s debut feature Robust, co-starring Gérard Depardieu opposite Divines discovery Déborah Lukumuena will open the section on July 7. Depardieu plays an ageing actor star in decline who hires Lukumuena’s character, a semi-professional wrestler, as a bodyguard at short notice. The seemingly disparate...

Fabula, the Chile-based film and TV production house of Pablo and Juan de Diós Larrain, is set to produce “Maquíllame Otra Vez,” the first feature film to go into production at Fabula Mexico, launched to complement Fabula’s Santiago de Chile H.Q. and Fabula U.S., run out of Los Angeles.

Slated to go into production from October in Mexico City, “Maquíllame Otra Vez” also marks the directorial debut of Guillermo Calderón, Chile’s foremost living playwright as well as screenwriter of films – Pablo Larrain’s “Neruda” and “The Club,” and Andrés Wood’s “Violeta Went to Heaven,” for example – that have helped propel Chile into the vanguard of Latin American cinema.

“A comedy for our times,” Calderón told Variety, “Maquíllame Otra Vez” will star three Mexican actors who are at the forefront of their generation: Ilse Salas, the female lead of Alonso Ruizpalacios’ “Güeros” and Alejandra Márquez’s “The Good Girls”; Paulina Gaitán,...

L.A.-based Spanish-language streaming platform Pantaya and global streamer Starzplay have revealed that production is underway on the period new drama series “Señorita 89” from Fremantle and the Larraín brothers’ Fabula, the latest co-production stemming from a first-look deal between the two, dating back to 2019.

The first fruit of that combined labor was global hit series “La Jauria,” available on Amazon Prime Video in Latin America and HBO Max in the U.S. Selected as one of Variety’s best international series of 2020, “La Jauria” stars “A Fantastic Woman” lead Daniela Vega and is directed by one of Latin America’s most prominent film and TV writer-directors Lucia Puenzo.

Sticking with a talent alliance that worked so well for Fabula and Fremantle the first time around, Puenzo also co-wrote and is directing “Señorita 89.” She is joined by co-screenwriters María Renée Prudencio and Tatiana Mereñuk, and co-directors Nicolás Puenzo...

Paris-based Luxbox has scored the worldwide sales rights to Swedish-Costa Rican debut feature “Clara Sola” by Nathalie Álvarez Mesén.

The magical realist tale set in a remote Costa Rican village follows a woman, known for her healing powers, who seeks to break away from the stifling social and religious conventions of her community.

“Clara Sola” has nearly completed its post and will be primed for key festivals. The titular role of Clara is played by award-winning Costa Rican dancer Wendy Chinchilla who makes her film debut.

“Álvarez Mesén’s debut offers an ambitious role to an exceptional actress. Despite her differences, Clara imposes the will of a strong character, in opposition with the conventions and the expectations of her family. These chopped gestures and her impulse turn into a ballet, celebrating a true driving force of life,” said Luxbox co-CEOs Fiorella Moretti and Hédi Zardi.

“It is a privilege to...

Two leading lights on the international Spanish film-tv scene, sales agent Geraldine Gonard, director of Spain’s Conecta Fiction co-production forum, and Luis Collar, a partner and CEO of The Circular Group, a diversified film company, have joined forces to create Feel Content, which makes its public market bow at Ventana Sur.

A dedicated sales company, Feel Content, backed by Gonard’s Inside Content and Collar’s Great Waves, aims to exploit new opportunities emerging in the fast evolving sales landscape, acquiring individual titles and catalogs of Spanish-language and European films.

It hits the ground running at Ventana Sur, announcing two new acquisitions, Matías Meyer’s “Modern Loves” and “Karakol,” from Argentina’s Saula Benavente, which join two titles it introduced to buyers at Malaga’s Spanish Screenings: Gracia Querejeta’s “The Invisible” and “Pullman.”

“We think there’s a clear gap to fill in Spain for one more international sales agency,...

Attempting to guess the less than a dozen titles in Sundance’s World Dramatic comp section is a true crapshoot but seeing that Panamanian filmmaker Abner Benaim‘s last picture Ruben Blades Is Not My Name had it’s world premiere at Sundance’s competing festival SXSW means they are keeping tabs on this project. Benaim signed up the very choosey cinematographer Lorenzo Hagerman (Amat Escalante’s Heli and Rick Alverson’s last two features) and by enlisting the excellent Ilse Salas (featured in The Good Girls – check out our portrait of her in our TIFF studio) he assures that there’ll be interest for all Spanish speaking film territories and beyond. …...

Above: New OrderI am sitting in the terrace of the Hungaria Palace Hotel, and skimming through my notes. The festival is coming to an end: the Lido has all but emptied out, and the streets around the fest’s headquarters feel eerier and quieter than ever. I wish I could muster enough strength to jot down something about the melancholia that sinks in anytime Venice reaches its finale, but I’ve barely enough energy to keep my eyes open at this stage, and the heat feels so atrociously strong today the air seems a physical hindrance. I’m breathing through my mask, and waiting for a publicist to call my name. Sitting in the shade, legs crossed and arms folded, Michel Franco is chatting with a journalist. I’m the next one in line. Franco’s New Order was one of the last official competition titles to bow on the Lido,...

Following his star turn in “Jauja,” a major hit at the 2014 Cannes Festival, Viggo Mortensen will re-team with Argentine director Lisandro Alonso on “Eureka,” one of the boldest upcoming art films from Latin America.

Mortensen, who takes the lead role in “Eureka’s” first part, will be joined by France’s Chiara Mastroianni, a Cesar Award best actress nominee this year for “On a Magical Night,” and Portugal’s Maria de Medeiros (“Pulp Fiction”).

In a nod towards “Jauja,” Mortensen once more takes the role of a father, here Murphy, searching for a daughter, again played by Denmark’s Viilbjørk Malling Agger, who has been kidnapped in “Eureka” by an outlaw, Randall. Despite the actors reprising similar roles, the film is not a sequel.

In addition, the setting for Part 1 of “Eureka,” entitled “Western,” is no longer Argentina’s Patagonia but a lawless township in 1870 on the U.S.-Mexico border,...

Whether we love them wholeheartedly or as guilty pleasures, Young Adult books make for great reading and TV material.

Unfortunately, TV is prone to making the same adaptational mistakes with Ya books as they are with any other type of literature.

Fortunately, TV is always searching for it next teen hit, so there's plenty of opportunities to finally give these Ya books a proper TV adaptation.

Let start with Pretty Little Liars because even though it aired for seven seasons, there's quite a demand for a redo.

Compared to the TV version, the Pretty Little Liars books, written by Sara Shepard, had far more substance.

For one thing, the books were much better plotted whereas the TV series was nonsensical.

The books were much better in how it depicted mental health. 

Despite its great casting, the TV series did a huge disservice to the characters. The TV show radically changed...

Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSFor Vogue France, portraits of a stylish Jean-Luc Godard in his Swiss home by Hedi Slimane. The full program for the 2020 Venice Film Festival, now revealed, includes films from Lav Diaz, Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Ann Hui, and Chloé Zhao. This year's impressive jury (selected in light of travel restrictions) will include Cate Blanchett, Christian Petzold, Joanna Hogg, and Cristi Puiu. Recommended VIEWINGPresented by the Maysles Documentary Center, "After Civilization" is a series featuring documentaries that "employ speculative techniques to reckon with ecological crisis and the ongoing material violences of dispossession." The films, from John Akomfrah's Afrofuturist essay film The Last Angel of History to Adam Khalil and Zack Khalil's Inaate/Se/ [it shines a certain way. to a certain place/it flies. falls./], are available for free until August 15. Madrid-based La Casa Encendida also has an ongoing screening series, entitled "Some Letters Make the Night Last a Moment Longer.

Alejandra Márquez Abella's The Good Girls, which is receiving an exclusive global online premiere on Mubi, is showing from July 23 – August 21, 2020 in most countries in Mubi's Viewfinder series.I’m very excited to be introducing my film Las niñas bien (The Good Girls) to the Mubi audience. It’s such a great honor! Las niñas bien was a compilation of Guadalupe Loaeza’s humoristic Sunday column in Mexico back in the early 80s. She wrote about what she was observing among her friends, the elite circle, during Mexico’s economic crisis. The column was published in one leftist journal at the time, it was a hit and a scandal for the real Niñas Bien who felt betrayed. Among other infamies, her writing revealed the great disconnection that the wealthy had with the political reality of their country. That book has been around for almost 40 years. Though perceived as pulpy,...

The Good Girls survived yet another season in the shadows of their criminal side-hustle. While not everyone in their orbit made it out alive (Rip, Lucy!), Sunday’s faux-nale set up a brand new springboard that’s sure to launch Beth and co. to dangerous new heights.

The forced shutdown left us five episodes shy of a full season, but we did get to see the birth of Boland Bubbles, the ladies’ new business endeavor/cash-washing machine, despite a driven new agent who’s hot on their tail. And though Stan and Ruby seemed to have patched things up, Beth...

In their continued bid to lock up leading talent for their fledgling TV development-production partnership, Endeavor Content and Exile have signed a first look series deal with lauded Mexican writer-director Alejandra Marquez Abella (“Las Niñas Bien”).

The alliance recently announced first look pacts with Sebastian Hofmann, “Roma” producer Nicolas Celis and Mauricio Katz’s shingle Subtrama.

Marquez Abella’s first project is the scripted dramedy series “La Liberación,” which follows a group of estranged female entertainment industry professionals who realize they need to resolve their differences in order to better face the future together.

“We as women have been condemned to ‘divide and conquer,’ to live clashing with each other,” said Marquez Abella. “Now we’re looking at each other and we’re learning that we don’t have to fight for a spot, that we all can co-exist and thrive together in this world.”

“La Liberación” stars “Los Espookys’” Cassandra Ciangherotti,...

Los Cabos — “The Twentieth Century,” Matthew Rankin’s crazed retelling of Canadian history, won the main Los Cabos Competition this Saturday, beating out a prestige lineup of some of the most notable festival standouts of the year.

The win at Los Cabos, whose competition is focused on movies from the U.S., Mexico and Canada, adds to “The Twentieth Century’s” Toronto Best Canadian First Feature prize for a feature made with high style, shot like 1940s melodrama, with a box-like Academy ratio.

Mexico Primero, a showcase of first or second-time Mexican features, was won by “The Dove and the Wolf,” the feature debut of Carlos Lenin, which world premiered at this year’s Locarno Film Festival in Filmmakers of the Present. A young couple love story, “The Dove and the Wolf” is distinguished by its context, a grimy small town assailed by cartel violence, and its unyielding use of...

Morelia, Mexico — Paris-based Luxbox has picked up international sales rights to Guadalajara native Lorena Padilla’s debut feature “Martinez,” toplining Francisco Reyes who starred opposite Daniela Vega in Chile’s Oscar-winning “A Fantastic Woman.”

“We have totally embraced the singularity of this project which brings to our eyes the potential of a film that can entertain and move the audience,” said Luxbox CEO, Fiorella Moretti. “The film is a mix of different preoccupations of our contemporaries: Time passing, loneliness, isolation and the eternal quest for love, all depicted through a subtle and entertaining angle,” she noted, concluding: “The process of an audience-driven film.”

Reyes plays the titular of Martinez, an embittered Chilean in his sixties who has lived in Mexico for the past 40 years and is being forced to retire from his job. As he struggles with life changes, a neighbor suddenly dies and, as he sifts through her diary and her things,...

Panama’s internationally best-known helmer, Abner Benaim (“Ruben Blades Is Not My Name”) has just completed the shoot for his second fiction feature film, “Plaza Catedral,” starring Mexico’s Ilse Salas (“The Good Girls”), and Manolo Cardona (“Narcos”).

Salas plays a 42-year old grief-stricken woman, Alicia, who has severed her ties with married life and society. Her life is turned upside down when a 14-year old boy, “Chief,” who looks after people’s cars, comes bleeding into her house.

The boy is played by first time actor, Fernando de Casta, who was chosen from over 250 kids who came in for open casting in the same neighborhoods in Panama´s old town where the film’s plot takes place.

“What started out as a very small production quickly turned into medium-size, and sometimes large for Latin American standards,” explained Benaim.

“We had a very demanding schedule, many locations, and Panama’s tropical weather to deal with.

Some 40% of selections hail from female directors.

The Us premiere of Argentinian rom-com An Unexpected Love starring Ricardo Darín and the world premiere of Days Of Light bookend the 2019 AFI Latin American Film Festival, set to run in Silver Spring, Maryland, from Sept. 12-Oct. 2.

Some 53 films from 23 countries will screen at the 30th anniversary event during National Hispanic Heritage Month. Organisers said nearly 40% of the selections hail from female directors.

An Unexpected Love, directed by Patagonik’s Juan Vera marks Darín’s first outing as producer and he stars in the rom-com alongside Mercedes Morán.

Days Of Light is an...

Christina Hendricks just let her fans in on a secret she’s kept for 20 years.

The Mad Men star, 44, revealed that the hand on the iconic American Beauty poster belongs to her.

“Fun fact…. wait for it…I used to be a model and sometimes a hand model…. this is my hand and another model’s stomach….proud to be a part if this film in Any Way!!! #americanbeauty,” the Emmy-nominated actress wrote in an Instagram caption on Thursday, sharing the poster for the movie.

Hendricks’ revelation drew quite the reaction from her fellow celebrities.

Her Good Girls costar Retta added,...

Everyone lies, and everyone keeps secrets. It's human nature. The act of lying and keeping secrets tends to go hand-in-hand.

If you don't want someone to find out the truth, at some point, you'll have to tell them a lie. Some people are better at lying than others; it comes naturally to some while others couldn't tell a lie to save their own life.

Related: Get HBO via Prime Video Channels for Addictive Dramas, Hilarious Comedies & Hit Movies!

We've rounded up a list of TV characters who have mastered the art of keeping a secret. Some of their secrets are innocent in nature, some have the potential to destroy, some cover-up mistakes of the past, some are kept to protect others, and a few are better left taken to the grave.

Before we launch into our gallery of best TV secret-keepers, I'll leave you with this TV show theme song...

Panama’s internationally best-known helmer, Abner Benaim (“Ruben Blades Is Not My Name”) has moved into pre-production on his second fiction feature film, “Plaza Catedral,” which is set to star Mexico’s Ilse Salas, who has just won Mexican Academy’s Ariel Award for best actress for her performance in Alejandra Marquez’s Toronto hit “The Good Girls.”

Salas has also starred in both movies to date from Alonso Ruizpalacios, with Marquéz Mexico’s fasting-rising new director, whose “Museum”proved a standout at the Berlin and Toronto Festivals last year.

“Plaza Catedral” is scheduled to begin its six-week shoot in Panama City in August. In it, Salas plays a 42 year old grief-stricken woman who has severed her ties with married life and society.

“This complex, melancholy character finds herself in the tropical paradise that Panamá pretends to be, with its primary colors and a society obsessed with economic success and having a good time,...

The Mexican Academy of Arts and Cinematographic Sciences hosted the 61st edition of their Ariel Awards on Monday evening, where Alfonso Cuarón’s “Roma” and Alejandra Márquez Abella’s “The Good Girls” stood out among the winners.

Perhaps the most surprising thing about Cuarón’s “Roma” scooping best picture is that it’s only the second of his films to win an Ariel award, and the first to be nominated for best picture. In 1992 “Sólo con Tu Pareja” was nominated for best first work and screenplay, and won best original story. In 2001 he chose not to submit his Oscar-nominated classic “Y tu mamá también” in protest at the Academy’s voting practices.

By the end of the Monday evening however, “Roma” netted 10 prizes, including best director, supporting actress, photography, screenplay, editing, sound, art design, visual effects and special effects to go along with the best picture prize.

A festival darling over the past year,...

Alfonso Cuarón’s Roma swept the boards at Mexico’s Ariel Awards last night in Mexico City.

The black-and-white period drama scored ten wins at the country’s leading film awards, bestowed by the Mexican Academy, including best film, director, cinematography and original screenplay.

Muchas gracias por acompañarnos en la sexagésima primera entrega del Ariel. ¡Hasta el próximo año! #Ariel2019 pic.twitter.com/waria4j1uq

— AcademiaCineMx (@AcademiaCineMx) June 25, 2019

Cuarón was unable to attend the ceremony for personal reasons but most of the Netflix movie’s cast and crew were on hand to collect their awards in the city in which much of the film is set. Multi-Oscar winner Roma, the darling of last year’s festival and awards season, charts a year in the life of a Mexican maid working for a middle class family during the early 1970s.

Alejandra Marquez’s drama The Good Girls was the only...

The economy’s a mess but Sofía’s hair is perfect in Alejandra Márquez Abella’s “The Good Girls,” a film that is all surface in a way that is not, for once, a negative. The primped, powdered and shoulder-padded story of the fall from grace of a 1980s Mexican socialite is all about buffed and lustrous surfaces — poreless skin, laquered nails, silken fabrics — all the veneer of social superiority that money can buy. It’s an illusion, of course, that such a thin plating of wealth offers any protection against the changeable climate outside. But it’s such a seductive lie that the vacuous, complacent people thus ensheathed are prone to believe it, forgetting that their glaze of perfection is as brittle as the burnt-sugar topping on a crème brûlée. It’s delicious when it cracks.

We’re introduced to Sofía (Ilse Salas) in fragments: her hair being lathered...

by Jorge Molina

Award season is a misnomer. Movie awards are a year-long, worldwide affair. At the end of last month the Mexican Academy of Film Arts and Sciences (Amacc) announced its nominees for the 61st annual Ariel awards, celebrating the films of 2018.

As you undoubtedly would expect, Alfonso Cuarón’s multi-celebrated, Oscar-winning Roma garnered the most nominations, with 15. It was followed by Museo, by Alonso Ruizpalacios, and The Good Girls by Alejandra Márquez Abella (still awaiting Us distribution), with 14 each. You can see a full list of nominees below:...

The Spanish film The Days to Come and two 1980s-set Mexican dramas, This Is Not Berlin and The Good Girls, shared the bulk of the top prizes at the 22nd annual Malaga Film Festival, which ran from March 15-24 in the Spanish city.

The festival’s two best film honors — known as the Golden Biznagas — go to one Spanish film and one Ibero-American film. Taking home this year's awards were the Catalan-language Days to Come by Carlos Marques-Marcet and Mexican director Alejandra Marquez Abella’s Good Girls.

Days to Come, a documentary-style drama about a young couple’s nine-month journey to parenthood, also ...

The Spanish film The Days to Come and two 1980s-set Mexican dramas, This Is Not Berlin and The Good Girls, shared the bulk of the top prizes at the 22nd annual Malaga Film Festival, which ran from March 15-24 in the Spanish city.

The festival’s two best film honors — known as the Golden Biznagas — go to one Spanish film and one Ibero-American film. Taking home this year's awards were the Catalan-language Days to Come by Carlos Marques-Marcet and Mexican director Alejandra Marquez Abella’s Good Girls.

Days to Come, a documentary-style drama about a young couple’s nine-month journey to parenthood, also ...

Guadalajara, Mexico — New Mexican production shingle Zafiro Cinema, launched by Machete Prods. founder Edher Campos and Bolivian producer Gabriela Maire late last year, is gearing up to make its first film, “Perros” (“Dogs”), written and to be directed by Chilean director Vinko Tomičić.

Chilean thesp Alfredo Castro, who broke out internationally in Pablo Larraín’s films and then Lorenzo Vigas’ Venice Golden Lion winner “From Afar” (“Desde Alla”), will play opposite a yet-to-be discovered non-pro from La Paz, Bolivia.

This will be Tomičić’s sophomore feature. His debut film “Cockroach” (“Fumigador”), co-directed with Francisco Hevia, won the best film at the 2016 Santiago International Film Festival (Sanfic) among others.

Tomičić is currently polishing his script at the Cannes Festival’s Cinefondation Residence program in Paris, one of two Chilean filmmakers selected for its 38th session.

Set to begin shooting later this year in La Paz on an estimated $450,000 budget, “Perros” turns...