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James Brolin, Lizzy Greene (“A Million Little Things”), and Eoin Macken (“La Brea”) are set to join Netflix’s upcoming romantic drama “Ransom Canyon,” Variety has confirmed.

They join previously announced leads Josh Duhamel and Minka Kelly. Kelly will portray Quinn, a character who “has often found herself in the shadow of others, but after a stint in New York pursuing her career as a concert pianist, she has returned to Ransom Canyon to carve out a new path for herself.”

Duhamel is set to play Staten Kirkland, the “steadfast and stoic” owner of the Double K Ranch. Staten “leads the charge to resist outside forces threatening his way of life and the land that he loves,” reads the description.

Based on the books by Jodi Thomas, the series is described as a romance-fueled family drama and contemporary Western that “charts the intersecting lives of three ranching families, all set...

Cementing its reputation as a harbinger of emerging talent, Madrid-based Latido Films has acquired the international sales rights to “Tras el Verano,” the debut film from Yolanda Centeno picked out as one of Variety’s 10 Women Directors to Watch from Spain, compiled in 2021.

Alfa Pictures is handling distribution in Spain.

Following on hits such as Colombia’s “Killing Jesus” and “Carmen & Lola” and “Lullaby” from Spain, this acquisition not only underscores Latido’s interest in nurturing and promoting fresh, innovative voices in cinema but also highlights the strength of a new generation of talent emanating from the Spanish-speaking world.

Centeno’s debut feature has attracted strong talent in the form of Goya and Gaudi winners Ruth Gabriel (“Numbered Days”) and Alexandra Jiménez (“The Distances” “100 Metres”).

Joining them is actor Juan Diego Botto whose own directorial debut “On The Fringe” reaped recognition at the Goyas, Venice and other festivals.

Few European arthouse-crossover film sales agents have better weathered the ebb and flow of international market dynamics than Madrid’s Latido Films, which turns 20 in 2023.

Proof of that came at April’s Platino Awards, where Latido scored six statuettes, split between an acting double for Alauda Ruiz de Azúa’s “Lullaby” and four for Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s “The Beasts,” which has already swept Spain’s Goya Awards and scored a French Cesar for foreign film.

Scoring €6.8 million ($7.5 million) in Spain, and 327,000 admissions in France, “The Beasts” also rates as one of the top-performing recent Spanish-language movies.

If Latido has survived for so long, insists director general Antonio Saura, it’s because of a core strategy of “working with talent, our search for talent.” Beyond that, other keys have been “collaboration with production companies that understand long-term relationships, and well-established relationships with clients.”

Companies with which Latido has held or holds...

After 25 years, Susana Gimenez, Argentina’s celebrated TV host, actress, model and entrepreneur, is set to make her hotly anticipated return to the big screen in a new Diego Kaplan comedy.

The still untitled film, penned by Kaplan and Pablo Minces, centers on a preeminent child psychologist who has her own struggles with her 43-year-old son who is reluctant to leave home. Principal photography is slated for October in Buenos Aires.

“I can’t believe I’m making a movie after all these years; I certainly wasn’t planning for it,” said Gimenez. “But Diego is a force of nature and a visionary. When he pitched the project to me, I just couldn’t resist it and jumped right in,” she added. Aside from starring in a host of film and TV series, Gimenez hosted a top-rated talk show likened to that of Oprah Winfrey or Italy’s Raffaella Carrà.

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...

Laura Mora’s “The Kings of the World” has no shortage of beautiful shots. The Colombia-set road trip follows a group of four teenagers as they set out to start a life anew away from the violence and poverty they’ve long grown up with. As the film moves away from the bustling streets of Medellin and into the foggy Andean landscapes, Mora captures a vision of this country in transition that is as stunning as it is eye-opening. Every frame begs to be dissected for the way it conjures the promise of futures and freedoms while also stressing the perils and dangers of such possibilities.

One early such shot is that of Rá (Carlos Andrés Castañeda), shirtless and fearless, atop a white horse in the middle of an empty urban street. It’s our first introduction to this young man. By himself atop this wild horse, he looks equally regal and boyish,...

Spanish fest has more Latin American films and projects than ever before.

This year’s San Sebastian InternationaI Film Festival has the highest number of Latin American films across its official selection and marketplaces than ever before, according to festival director José Luis Rebordinos.

The line-up includes three titles in official selection: two from Argentinian directors - Manuel Abramovich’s Pornomelancolia and Diego Lerman’s The Substitute – and The Wonder from Chilean director Sebastian Lelio.

“It’s a very good moment for Latin America cinema for both quantity and the high quality of the proposals,” says Rebordinos.

Argentina in focus...

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...

“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...

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The 70th San Sebastián Film Festival unveiled its competition line-up Tuesday, with new works from award-winning directors Sebastián Lelio, Hong Sang-soo and Ulrich Seidl in the running for the 2022 Golden Shell.

Chilean filmmaker Lelio, who won an Oscar for best international feature with A Fantastic Woman (2017), will premiere his latest, The Wonder, in San Sebastián. The period drama, based on the Emma Donoghue novel, is set in mid-19th century Ireland and stars Florence Pugh, Ciarán Hinds, Tom Burke and Toby Jones.

The prolific Hong Sang-Soo, who just won the Jury Prize in Berlin in February for The Novelist’s Film, brings his latest minimalist drama, Walk Up, to the Spanish festival. The plot involves a middle-aged film director and his estranged daughter who are being shown around a building owned by an interior designer.

Seidl, the Austrian director who has made a career...

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.

Two of the highest-profile independents on the Spanish-language movie scene, Colombia’s 64-a Films and Spain’s Latido Films, are teaming to develop, produce and distribute premium TV and platform series.

Playing to their complementary expertise, Latido and 64-a will co-develop and co-produce titles, with 64-a overseeing physical production and Latido spearheading distribution.

Much of 64-a and Latido’s first development slate will be presented to potential partners at MipCancun, which kicks off Tuesday evening in Mexico, running Nov. 16-19.

Designed by 64-a founder Diego F. Ramírez and Juan Torres, Latido Films director of sales, the production alliance builds on the partners’ collaboration on two of the most successful of recent movie titles: Laura Mora’s feature debut “Killing Jesus,” a fest favorite sold to 40 countries; and Carlos Moreno’s “Lavaperros,” a Netflix Top 10 hit across Latin America.

First projects, unveiled to Variety in exclusivity, are squarely aimed at the...

New films from Oscar laureate Vanessa Ragone (“The Secret in Their Eyes”) and Camera d’Or winners Edher Campos (“Leap Year”) and Juan Pablo Miller (“Las Acacias”) are among attractions at this year’s Ventana Sur’s Primer Corte and Copia Final, the pix-in-post industry centerpieces at Latin America’s biggest film-tv market.

Ragone co-produces “The Face of the Jellyfish,” from Argentina’s Rotterdam-prized Melisa Liebenthal. Campos unveils “Journey to the Land of the Tarahumara,” Mexican Federico Cecchetti’s follow-up to the multi-prized “Mara’akame’s Dream.”

Miller introduces “Sublime,” one of the section’s buzz titles, along with “Diogenes,” from Peru’s Leonardo Barbuy, and two titles from Brazil: Gregorio Graziosi’s “Tinnitus” and Gabriel Martin’s “Mars One,” winner of Ventana Sur’s prestigious Paradiso Wip Award.

Titles brim with talent, observes Eva Morsch-Kihn, curator of Primer Corte and Copia Final along with Mercedes Abarca and Maria Nuñez.

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.

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,...

Blumhouse Television alternative chief Mary Lisio has left the company.

Lisio, who was EVP Alternative and Non-Scripted programming, is exiting to pursue other opportunities. The company will start a search for her replacement.

She has spent over three years at the company and has been involved in projects such as upcoming docuseries Worst Roommate Ever, Epix’s Fall River, CNN’s The People v. The Klan and HBO Max’s Brittany Murphy docuseries.

Other projects included Pray Away, the feature-length documentary from director Kristine Stolakis and executive producer Ryan Murphy, A Wilderness of Error for FX, A Secret Love, Relentless, for Discovery+ and This is Home.

She was also involved in the partnership with NBC News Studios that yielded NBC series The Thing About Pam with Renee Zellweger.

Her departure comes after Blumhouse struck an overall deal with ITV America to develop and produce unscripted formats.

Prior to joining Blumhouse,...

The Colombian filmmaker is making her second fiction feature in collaboration with Luxembourg and France. Killing Jesus, the previous drama put forth by Laura Mora, didn’t leave anyone cold upon its 2017 release. Following the frantic quest of a young woman who is looking to avenge her father’s death but whose intentions are ultimately thwarted by the personal relationship she develops with the murderer, this partly autobiographical tale proved popular for its intensity, realism and audacity. At the Chicago, Toronto and Thessaloniki film festivals, as well as at the San Sebastian event where Killing Jesús won three awards on top of a Special Mention, it was clear that Mora represented a promising new voice in Colombian film. Having also signed her name to several episodes of the series Escobar, el patrón del mal in 2012, Laura Mora has now stated that she’s looking to move away from a certain form.

IMDb TV, Amazon’s premium free streaming service, has put in development Hialeah: Dade F*ckin County, a half-hour family comedy from writers Monique Alvarez and Jessica Lee Williamson and Amazon Studios.

Co-created and written by Alvarez and Williamson, Hialeah: Dade F*ckin County follows first generation Cuban-American, ChiChi Rodriguez, who makes a run from her failed marriage and lands back with her disapproving family in the Cuban mecca of Hialeah: a hard left from Miami, a world away from the lavish version of South Florida, and the last place on earth ChiChi ever wanted to be. She’s determined to reinvent herself in this singular neighborhood brimming with cafecito counters, Santería altars, and bench ads for ass implants. But first she must learn that, hay que resolver: you gotta work with what you’ve got.

Alvarez and Williamson executive produce alongside Danielle Claman Gelber, Teri Weinberg (Gentefied) and Clark Johnson (The Shield), who directs.

In down-to-the-wire San Sebastian Festival business, Madrid-based Latido Films has pounced on world sales rights to Nicolás Postiglione’s debut feature “Immersion” (“Inmersión”), a Chilean suspense-thriller – and potential political metaphor for those who want to see it – starring Pablo Larraín regular Alfredo Castro.

“Immersion” is based on a screenplay by Postiglione and two film directors in their own right: Fast-rising Argentine director Agustín Toscano whose 2018 “The Snatch Thief” played in Cannes Directors’ Fortnight; and Moises Sepúlveda, whose “The Illiterate” premiered at Venice’s International Critics’ Week.

Before being shopped at San Sebastian, “Immersion” was screened in late August at the inaugural Lima-Toulouse Cine en Construcción.

Postiglione’s feature debut, “Immersion” turns on a middle-class father Ricardo (Castro) who takes his two daughters to their lakeside family house in southern Chile.

Out on a yacht one day, they see three young local fishermen waving at them from another boat which is rapidly taking on water.

As the titular son, Rafiq, in the first season finale episode of “Little America,” Haaz Sleiman delivered a journey of heartbreak and hope in the tight half-hour story. When the audience meets him, he is living with his family in Syria but quickly forced out of his home after his father learns he is gay. He finds solace in a new friend and in applying for asylum in the United States. The role was close to Sleiman’s heart as a gay man who grew up in Lebanon, and he will continue to represent the LGBTQ community with his next big role in Marvel’s “Eternals.”

Sleiman: I got the audition just like any other audition — through my agents. And as I was reading, it really interested me because I’ve never worked on an anthology series and I didn’t know much about anthology series prior to me doing “Little America.

Exclusive: CBS Television Studios has signed a first-look production deal with Propagate, the company led by Ben Silverman and Howard Owens. The agreement covers scripted projects from Propagate as well as subsidiaries Electus and Big Breakfast, across all platforms.

Under the pact, Propagate already is developing several new shows, including a re-imagining of Zorro with a female protagonist from Alfredo Barrios Jr. (Magnum Pi) and drama Home from writer Jorge Reyes (Queen of the South) — both at NBC — as well as an untitled project from Writer Melissa Scrivner-Love (Fear the Walking Dead) at CBS.

Zorro, written and executive produced by Barrios Jr., is a modern-day retelling of the Zorro mythology that follows Z, a female descendant of the warrior bloodline who will go to great lengths to protect the defenseless in her community.

Written and executive produced by Reyes — who hails from Buffalo — Home follows the Candelarias, a wealthy Puerto...

For the first time in its history, the Morelia Film Festival will open with a European film, Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne’s drama “Le Jeune Ahmed” (“Young Ahmed”), which garnered a best director prize for the Belgian siblings at Cannes last May. Luc Dardenne will be on hand to present the drama, described by Variety critic Peter Debruge as an “instantly recognizable” Dardenne film for having a “deceptively ‘rough’ quality as the directors’ earlier work, a carryover from their documentary background.”

Helmer-scribe James Ivory, who won a best adapted screenplay Oscar last year for his first-love gay drama “Call Me By Your Name” is also making his first visit to Morelia, which will honor him with a retrospective of his films.

“Five continents will be represented in Morelia this year, but most important are the 100-plus Mexican filmmakers participating in this edition,” said Morelia artistic director Daniela Michel.

The festival,...

The 15th Zurich Film Festival (Sept. 26-Oct. 6) is marking a major changing of the guard while again presenting an impressive selection of high-profile international works and showcasing the

latest in Swiss cinema.

Todd Phillips’ “Joker,” Rupert Goold’s “Judy” and James Mangold’s “Le Mans ’66” (aka “Ford v Ferrari”) are among the films screening in the fest’s Gala Premieres section, which offers some of the year’s most highly anticipated films.

Zurich will again welcome a slew of major stars and filmmakers. This year the fest is honoring Roland Emmerich, Cate Blanchett and Kristen Stewart.

Likewise on hand will be Oliver Stone, who heads the fest’s international feature film competition jury, as well as Donald Sutherland, Javier Bardem and Julie Delpy, all of whom will be taking part in the

Zff Masters series.

2019 marks the final outing for fest founders and co-directors Nadja Schildknecht and Karl Spoerri. They...

Madrid — Beating out other suitors, Madrid-based sales company Latido Films has closed international sales rights on Belén Funes’ anticipated San Sebastian main competition contender “A Thief’s Daughter” (“La hija de un ladrón”). BTeam Pictures will release the film in Spain.

Already one of the most talked-about titles heading to San Sebastian this year, based on word-of-mouth generated by sneak-peak screenings in Madrid and Barcelona, Funes’ feature debut is sparking buzz for both its direction as well as Greta Fernández’s lead performance.

San Sebastian Festival director José Luis Rebordinos readily admits that he and his selection team had originally thought of the film as a candidate for the festival’s New Directors section. After screening it, however, they wanted it for main competition.

Seen in Isabel Coixet’s “Elisa & Marcela,” Fernández plays Sara, a single mother traumatized by her jailed father’s abandonment who attempts to juggle reuniting...

Panama City — In March 2019, Iff Panama’s artistic director Diana Sanchez, was appointed senior director of film at the Toronto Intl. Film Festival, as part of a wider remodeling of the fest’s senior management.

Sanchez has served as artistic director of Iff Panama since its launch in 2011 and has also worked with many different festivals, including programming for the Houston Latin Wave and the Los Angeles Latino Film Festival.

Under her new role, in addition to programming for the main fest, she will coordinate the Tiff Cinematheque, Film Circuit and theatrical programming at the Tiff Bell Lightbox. Speaking to Variety she looked back at the achievements of Iff Panama – where she will continue in an advisory role – and the challenges posed by her new appointment.

What do you think have been the main achievements of Iff Panama to date?

When we began the festival in 2012, we had to screen...

For all the peril that darkens its fringes, there’s an indomitable youthful exuberance that thrums through Catalina Arroyave Restrepo’s debut feature “Days of the Whale.” It makes the slight, and somewhat familiar, small-scale story, following a few days in the lives of a pair of Medellín-based graffiti artists, feel fresh enough as to be wet to the touch — a neon-colorful, if not hugely deep, manifesto of optimistic defiance spray-stenciled on a newly white-washed wall.

It’s this unmistakable energy and unconcealed filmmaking glee, rather than any particularly strong narrative instinct that marks Arroyave as one to watch. And as a calling card, “Days of the Whale” has already performed well, garnering the writer-director a special recognition in the CherryPicks Female First Feature category at SXSW, following stints at the Cartagena and Tallinn Black Nights film festivals. And in providing such a markedly lively contrast to her countrywoman Laura Mora’s grittier,...

The Macondos, Colombia’s Academy Awards, were held over the weekend, and Laura Mora’s “Killing Jesus” was the big winner, scooping five awards, including best picture for a Colombian feature.

The win caps off a whirlwind 14 months since the film’s 2017 Toronto world premiere and San Sebastian European premiere, where it won the Eroski Youth Award, Fedeora Award and two special mentions.

A semi-autobiographical film, “Killing Jesus” unspools in Medellin, the base of operations for Pablo Escobar’s cartel, which still suffers reverberations of the violence from his time as the world’s most notorious drug kingpin. Mora used non-professional actors to tell the revenge story of a young girl whose father is gunned down right before her eyes, and who, after a chance encounter with the killer at a nightclub, decides to embark on a mission of revenge.

Diego Ramirez’s Bogota and Cali-based 64A Films, the Colombian...

Cristina Gallego and Ciro Guerra’s “Birds of Passage,” Colombia’s official entry to the Oscars’ Foreign-Language category, took home the best picture Fenix Award in a glittering ceremony held in Mexico City on Nov. 7. Its lead actress, Carmiña Martínez, clinched the best actress Fenix.

However, Argentine period drama “Zama” by Lucrecia Martel snagged the most awards, including cinematography, editing, sound and art design.

In a nod to the boom in premium TV series, the Fenix have included included television nominees since last year. Alex Pina’s Atresmedia-produced Netflix heist thriller series, “La Casa de Papel” (“Money Heist”), nabbed best series while Gael Garcia Bernal and Kyzza Terraza’s “Here on Earth” won best ensemble cast for a family drama-thriller series which toplines some of the most renowned actors in the Spanish-speaking world, such as Mexico’s Daniel Giménez Cacho, Chile’s Luis Gnecco and Spain’s Ariadna Gil.

Marcelo Martinez...

Madrid-based Latido Films has closed high-profile deals on two flagship titles, licensing Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s Toronto-San Sebastian player “The Realm” to China’s Heyday, Rialto for Australia and the U.K.’s Signature Entertainment, as well as selling Spain’s Oscar submission “Champions” to Japan’s Synca Creations.

The sales mark part of a score or more new territory deals confirmed or near to fruition as Latido hits this week’s American Film Market, having already announced near 3o territory sales off Cannes, Venice, Toronto and San Sebastian.

The Synca Creations accord also takes in “Ni Distintos, ni diferentes: Campeones,” Alvaro Longoria’s docu-feature profile of the special needs actors starring in “Champions.”

In further sales deals, playing off a strong line in first features from standout women directors, Latido has licensed Colombian Laura Mora’s revenge thriller “Killing Jesus” to France’s Bobine Films and Germany’s Waystone Film.

San Sebastian — As many people talk the talk, some companies are walking the walk – acquiring and selling women’s films as part of a growing business.

In the latest move, announced Sunday at San Sebastian as the festival, the biggest in the Spanish-speaking world, signed a gender parity charter, Latido Films has acquired international rights to films by two first-time Latin American women filmmakers: Camila Urrutia’s “Polvora en el corazón,” and “La Casa de los Conejos,” from Valeria Selinger.

That’s not charity. Rather, it reflects Latido’s conviction there’s really a market for movies by striking new women directors, following on what it describes as “a string of successes,” headed by Chilean Pepa San Martín’s “Rara” and Colombian Laura Mora’s “Killing Jesús.”

“We do not look at the gender of a talented director, we look for talent,” said Latido director Antonio Saura.

But it’s no coincidence,...

“The trick is not to make it a history lesson,” explains Ridley Scott about producing “The Terror.” This AMC limited series is a fictionalized account of a lost expedition to the Arctic from 1845-1848, during which the Hms Terror and Hms Erebus become stuck and their crews are stalked by an elusive menace. “When something as remarkable and inordinately courageous as this” happens Scott is compelled to bring it to the screen. He served as an executive producer on the series, which was developed by David Kajganich and stars Jared Harris, Tobias Menzies, and Ciarán Hinds. Watch our exclusive video interview with Scott above.

See Jared Harris (‘The Terror’): Horror limited series succeeds because of ‘patience and restraint in the storytelling’ [Exclusive Video Interview]

With its exotic setting and period details, “The Terror” was a massive undertaking, but the key is to work with “good people,” explains Scott. “You get bad people,...

Panama City — Colombian Laura Mora’s vengeance drama “Killing Jesus” took the Copa Airlines Audience Award for Ibero-American fiction feature; and Ernesto Daranas’ “Sergio and Sergei” topped the Central America and Caribbean section.

In further plaudits, Fernando Muñoz’s “A Calypso Night” scooped best documentary, in prizes announced at the closing ceremony of Iff Panama, that wrapped Wednesday night in Panama City.

At a press conference, artistic director Diana Sanchez announced that in 2019 Iff Panama will complement the audience awards with a Fipresci prize for best film from Central America and the Caribbean. Next year’s fest edition will also hold a film criticism training workshop, in a new initiative agreed with Fipresci president, Klaus Eder, who attended this year’s Iff Panama.

Festival guest Geraldine Chaplin said that the Fipreci prize is an important step forward: “Whenever I go to a festival, I can’t see all the films,...

Ruben Blades Is Not My Name closed Latino event on Wednesday.

Top brass at the seventh Iff Panama handed out awards on Wednesday night (April 11) as the Latino event drew to a close with a screening of SXSW audience winner Ruben Blades Is Not My Name.

Fabien Pisani’s En La Caliente (Cuba) won first prize in the Works in Progress (Primera Mirada) section, followed by Días de luz with second prize.

The latter hails from Costa Rica, Panama, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala and was directed by Mauro Borges (Costa Rica), Enrique Pérez (Panama), Gloria Carrión (Nicaragua), Enrique Medrano...

They say write what you know, but to what degree and to what depths is a whole other issue. Colombian filmmaker Laura Mora‘s second feature film tackles the victimization discourse to a whole other level. When there is an infrastructure that allows for crime, is it really the person who fired the gun that is the immoral one? With Killing Jesus (Matar a Jesús), Mora moves beyond the revenge drama and takes a thoughtful, critical look at her dwellings. Landing at the Toronto International Film Festival (with subsequent screenings on the film fest circuit with a pair of wins at…...

Panama City — On Thursday night, Panama City’s Teatro Balboa hosted the opening ceremony for the 7th Panama Intl. Film Festival, screening this year’s foreign-language Oscar winner, Sebastián Lelio’s “A Fantastic Woman.”

The screening took place in the presence of the film’s lead actress, Daniela Vega.

This year’s edition has a record number of films and participating countries – 75 films from 51 countries, including two world premieres. Since the fest’s launch in 2012, it has welcomed over 4,300 films and over 700 international guests.

Speaking onstage to a packed audience in the 1,200-seater cinema, fest director Pituka Ortega Heilbron greeted “extraordinary films, extraordinary guests, a passionate audience and a hopeful future for the cinema of our region, to which we are deeply committed.”

She noted that more than 10% of our program is occupied by Panamanian cinema. “The local industry is growing and we are happy to be its platform. We...

Killing Jesus must have been a tough film to make for the Colombian Laura Mora, whose own father, like her heroine’s, was shot dead by a hitman — whom, like her heroine, she later met. But far from being a straight-up good vs. bad revenge drama, Mora has wisely reserved her anger not for the killers, but for the kind of society that turns people into killers. Thus simmering with controlled bitterness, Jesus has an intensity and rawness that more than make up for its flaws. Further festival killings are likely, following outings at Zurich, Toronto and San Sebastian.

At...

Thirteen first and second films revealed.

The San Sebastian Film Festival has revealed 13 of the first and second films by European, Asian and Latin American filmmakers set to compete for the Kutxabank-New Directors Award.

Among the films are Chilean film Princess, produced by Juan de Dios, Pablo Larraín and Fernanda del Nido, and the first film by Marine Francen, former assistant to Michael Haneke and Olivier Assayas, starring Pauline Burlet (The Past) and Géraldine Pailhas (Young & Beautiful).

Princess is the second feature film by Marialy Rivas. The Chilean director debuted with Young & Wild (Joven & Alocada) selected for Films in Progress 20 at the San Sebastian Festival (2011) and a competitor in Horizontes Latinos after winning the World Cinema Screenwriting Award at Sundance in 2012.

The film, which was selected by Films in Progress 28, narrates the experience of a 12-year-old girl living in a sect.

The Sower (Le Semeur), the first film by Marine Francen, former assistant...

Thirteen first and second films revealed.

The San Sebastian Film Festival has revealed thirteen of the first and second films by European, Asian and Latin American filmmakers set to compete for the Kutxabank-New Directors Award.

Among the films are Chilean movie Princess, produced by Juan de Dios, Pablo Larraín and Fernanda del Nido and the first film by Marine Francen, former assistant to Michael Haneke and Olivier Assayas, starring Pauline Burlet (The Past) and Géraldine Pailhas (Young & Beautiful).

Princess is the second feature film by Marialy Rivas. The Chilean director debuted with Young & Wild (Joven & Alocada) selected for Films in Progress 20 at the San Sebastian Festival (2011) and a competitor in Horizontes Latinos after winning the World Cinema Screenwriting Award at Sundance in 2012.

The film, which was selected by Films in Progress 28, narrates the experience of a 12 year-old girl living in a sect.

The Sower (Le Semeur), the first film by Marine Francen, former assistant...

Bill O’Reilly‘s latest Killing movie is officially dead at National Geographic.

The cable channel has scrapped plans for a TV adaptation of the former Fox News host’s 2014 bestseller Killing Patton, according to our sister site Deadline. The book, co-written by Martin Dugard, theorized that World War II general George Patton may have been poisoned by Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin; the TV adaptation was first announced back in November 2015.

Related‘Sad’ Bill O’Reilly on Fox News Firing: ‘The Truth Will Come Out’

Nat Geo and O’Reilly have had ratings success in the past together, with adaptations...

Exclusive: Sales outfit boards Siete Cabezas and Killing Jesus.

Spanish sales outfit Latido Films is strengthening its links with Latin American cinema at every market, and Cannes is no exception. The Madrid-based company has scored two key Latin American deals at the start of the Marché, boarding international sales for Siete Cabezas (pictured) by El Paramo director Jaime Osorio Marquez and Killing Jesus, the debut feature of Laura Mora.

They are two of the most anticipated Colombian films of the year. With Ciro Guerra’s Embrace Of The Serpent winning the Directors’ Fortnight prize in 2015 and Cesar Augusto Acevedo’s Land And Shade winning the Camera d’Or that same year, Cannes has been a strong launchpad for the country’s films in recent years.

Diana Bustamante, who produced Land And Shade and is on the Critics’ Week jury this year, is a driving force in the new wave of Latin American cinema. She has teamed...

Author: Zehra Phelan

An emotionally affecting and inspiring trailer for the biographical film Another Mother’s Son has been released. The film stars Judge John Deed actress, Jenny Seagrove as Louisa Gould – one of the first recipients of Her Majesty’s British Hero of the Holocaust Awards in March 2010.

Louisa Gould was a shopkeeper in Jersey during the Second World War, in charge of handing out rations to those in the only British territory to fall under the control of the Third Reich. After learning of her son’s death in battle she takes under her wing a young Russian Pow who escaped a German Prison camp despite her family’s concerns. Singer/songwriter, and ex-Boyzone member, Ronan Keating plays her brother Harold Gould. He is no stranger to acting following his role as Guy in the West End show, Once, which earned him rave reviews.

Directed by Emmy-nominated Christopher Menaul (Summer in February,...

National Geographic Channel said today its latest fourth Killing franchise movie, Killing Reagan, will premiere on Sunday, October 16 at 8 Pm. The pic, based on the bestselling book by Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard and produced by Scott Free Productions, stars Tim Matheson as Ronald Reagan and Cynthia Nixon as Nancy Reagan. Nat Geo’s previous franchise pics — Killing Lincoln, Killing Kennedy and Killing Jesus — are the network's three most-watched programs of all time…...

NatGeo and UK broadcaster Channel 4 are teaming up to produce a limited, scripted series based on the terrorist organization Isis.

VideosLaura Benanti Plays Melania Trump on Colbert, Defends Rnc Speech With More Borrowed Lines

Per our sister site Deadline, the untitled drama will explore the fact-inspired, fictitious tale of four British men and women who join the Islamic State in Raqqah, Syria. The four-part program will be helmed by writer/director Peter Kosminsky (Wolf Hall), and is expected to debut in 2017.

“After a year of extensive research, Peter has written a fascinating fictional story that sheds light on an unknown and unimaginable world,...

Ron and Nancy: Reimagined.

People has the exclusive First Look at Tim Matheson and Cynthia Nixon as Ronald and Nancy Reagan in Nat Geo's upcoming Killing Reagan.

Based on the book by Bill O'Reilly and following the network's adaptations of Killing Lincoln, Killing Kennedy and Killing Jesus, the two-hour television movie will cover one of America's favorite love stories as it played out amid the backdrop of seismic shifts in the country's political, cultural and historical landscape during Reagan's two-term presidence from 1981–89.

"With this fourth installment of the highly successful Killing franchise, we are, along with our partners, Bill O'Reilly and Scott Free Productions,...

Ron and Nancy: Reimagined. People has the exclusive First Look at Tim Matheson and Cynthia Nixon as Ronald and Nancy Reagan in Nat Geo's upcoming Killing Reagan. Based on the book by Bill O'Reilly and following the network's adaptations of Killing Lincoln, Killing Kennedy and Killing Jesus, the two-hour television movie will cover one of America's favorite love stories as it played out amid the backdrop of seismic shifts in the country's political, cultural and historical landscape during Reagan's two-term presidence from 1981–89. "With this fourth installment of the highly successful Killing franchise, we are, along with our partners, Bill O'Reilly and Scott Free Productions,...

Exclusive: Diego Ramirez’s 64-a Films is touting several projects at the Marche.

Colombian producer Diego Ramirez of 64-a Films is in Cannes talking up several projects in the pipeline, including revenge drama Killing Jesus and an ambitious TV series about the Spanish Conquest of South America.

Killing Jesus is being lined up for an August or September shoot in Medellin, Colombia, with Mexican powerhouse Canana newly on board alongside Argentina’s Az Films.

The true story follows a woman who witnessed the murder of her father, a human rights professor, and dedicates herself to avenging his death by getting to know the killer before exacting revenge.

Ramirez is also assembling a portfolio of “very ambitious TV projects” after he served as executive producer on Caracol Television’s Escobar series and guided 64-a Films into a production services role on the French web series Blanca that shot over four weeks in Colombia.

Top of the...

Given her presidential surname, Cynthia Nixon‘s next role seems all too appropriate.

The Sex and the City alumna will play First Lady Nancy Reagan in NatGeo’s upcoming adaptation of Killing Reagan, based on Bill O’Reilly’s book.

RelatedRon Howard Directing NatGeo’s First Scripted Drama Series Genius

Nixon will star opposite Hart of Dixie‘s Tim Matheson (as President Ronald Reagan) in the project, which explores how the assassination attempt made on Reagan’s life impacted his time in office.

Airing in fall 2016, this will be NatGeo’s fourth take on an O’Reilly book, following Killing Lincoln,...

Tim Matheson and Cynthia Nixon have been cast as Ronald Reagan and Nancy Reagan, respectively, in National Geographic Channel’s adaptation of Bill O’Reilly‘s “Killing Reagan.” The cable network will continue its successful partnership with Ridley Scott‘s Scott Free Productions to produce the next movie based on the brand new O’Reilly and Martin Dugard book, “Killing Reagan,” which was published Tuesday by Henry Holt and Company. The network’s three most-watched programs ever were the O’Reilly adaptations “Killing Lincoln,” “Killing Kennedy” and “Killing Jesus.” Also Read: Bill O'Reilly's 'Killing Reagan' Heads to Nat...

In a Gold Derby exclusive, we have learned the category placements of the key Emmy Awards contenders for the National Geographic Channel. Last year, the network scored major nominations for "Killing Jesus" (Best TV Movie) and "StarTalk with Neil Degrasse Tyson" (Best Informational Series or Special). Below, see the list of Nat Geo submissions across all categories for 2016. (Please note: Performers not included below may well be submitted by their personal reps.) Subscribe to Gold Derby Breaking News Alerts & Experts’ Latest Emmy Predictions -Break- TV Movie "Saints And Strangers" Movie/Limited Series Actor - Vincent Kartheiser Movie/Limited Series Supporting Actor - Ron Livingston, Ray Stevenson, Raoul Trujillo Movie/Limited Series Supporting Actress - Anna Camp Movie/Limited Series Directing - Paul A. Edwards Movie/Limited Series Writing - Seth Fisher, Walon Green, Chip Johannessen, Eric Overmyer Docume...

From his Hyperion Cantos novels to his seminal Summer of Night and beyond, author Dan Simmons has provided readers with thought-provoking horror, science-fiction, and fantasy for decades. Now AMC is moving forward with a 10-episode anthology series adaptation of Simmons’ The Terror, which follows an arctic expedition crew stalked by something as mysterious as it is deadly.

Press Release: New York, NY, March 2, 2016 – AMC today announced that it has greenlit a new anthology drama series called “The Terror,” an adaption of the bestselling novel by Dan Simmons. Scott Free, Emjag Productions and Entertainment 360 are producing the series in association with AMC Studios.

Written by David Kajganich (“True Story,” “A Bigger Splash”), who will also serve as co-showrunner with Soo Hugh (“The Whispers,” “The Killing”), the series is set in 1847, when a Royal Naval expedition crew searching for the Northwest Passage is attacked by a mysterious predator that stalks the ships...