Conecta Fiction 2021: 7 Takes from Its Embracing Europe to Buzz Titles and Spain’s Next Gen Scribes

John Hopewell Chief International CorrespondentIn the biggest news to come out of Iberseries Platino Industria, L.A., Miami and Madrid-based Secuoya Studios and Telemundo Streaming Studios are joining forces to co-develop, co-produce and co-finance multiple fiction projects through to 2023.Sequoya Group’s content production arm, Sequoya Studios, leapt to prominence in April 2020 when appointing James Costos, a former HBO executive and U.S.

Global TV major Fremantle has promoted Andrea Scrosati to the role of CEO Continental Europe, giving him additional responsibility for Fremantle’s businesses in Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, the Nordics, and Poland.

Jamie Lang This year’s San Sebastian Nest competition for international student short films honored Sara Grgurić’s Croatian relationship drama “In the Woods” with this year’s Nest Award and its accompanying €10,000 ($11,800) cash prize.“Because of its complexity and its precision, because with little it tells something enormous and because since we saw it, it has stayed with us, we give the award to ‘In the Woods,’” said the jury as they made the announcement.Spanish production “Pont de Pedra”

Jamie Lang French software company Kinetix took home the €10,000 ($11,800) Startup Challenge prize from this year’s San Sebastian Zinemaldia & Technology sidebar, held at and in partnership with the Tabakalera, an international center of contemporary culture and technology based in the Spanish city.In addition to the cash prize, the company is offered space in an incubator for a year at one of the Basque Technology Park Network’s BICs (Business Innovation Centers) as well as access to funding

Javier Bardem is all smiles at the premiere of his new movie, The Good Boss, during the 2021 San Sebastian International Film Festival at Kursaal Palace on Tuesday (September 21) in San Sebastian, Spain.

Fernando León de Aranoa’s Spanish-language dark comedy The Good Boss had its world premiere last night at the San Sebastian Film Festival in front of a raucous local crowd (albeit at half-capacity due to Covid measures).

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Jamie Lang Narrowing down the best Basque projects on the horizon has become increasingly difficult in recent years, as the region is experiencing a boom in both the quality and quantity of local production that has made prognostication more difficult than ever.Below, Variety has picked 20 projects from that crowded field which we will be tracking in the coming years.“Almanac” (Jorge Moneo Quintana)A Berlinale Talents project, “Almanac” challenges the limits of documentary cinema by revisiting

EXCLUSIVE: Spanish indie production powerhouse Mediapro is at San Sebastian Film Festival this year screening two of the buzziest local features in the program: the Antonio Banderas, Penelope Cruz and Oscar Martinez-starring Official Competition, which arrives from Venice, and the Javier Bardem-fronted The Good Boss, which premieres here.

Emiliano De Pablos Tabling straightforward simple stories and experimenting with new narratives, the newest wave of Basque film talents has started to dip their toe into the international scene, landing at movie launchpads such as Venice, Berlin and San Sebastian festivals.The new generation addresses universal issues telling small, local stories, attaining quality standards thanks in part to studies in Spain and quite often at film schools in Europe and the U.S..The newest directors are

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John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent“Forget My Name,” “Life” and “Stolen Kids” proved some of the big winners at the 2021 Conecta Fiction awards ceremony in Pamplona, northern Spain on Wednesday night as the Europe-Latin America co-production forum reached its climax.A female spy drama-thriller charged emotionally by an effective mother-daughter relationship, “Forget My Name” won one of the most enticing awards on offer: A development contract with Spanish public broadcaster RTVE.

Ryanair has issued a stark warning to anyone planning to book a holiday with the airline next year. The budget airline's boss Michael O’Leary said a surge in bookings for 2022 may result in prices to soar as travellers look to go abroad without restrictions.

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John Hopewell Chief International CorrespondentOpening up what could be a rich vein in Spanish movies coming onto the open market, Film Factory Entertainment has acquired world sales rights outside Spain to “Modelo 77,” the next film by Alberto Rodríguez, director of “Marshland” and “The Plague.”A potential jewel in Spanish cinema’s 2022 crown, “Modelo 77” is produced by Spanish pay TV/VOD giant Movistar Plus and Madrid-based Atípica Films, Rodríguez’s career-long producer.