Madrid Film School ECAM Launches Co-Production Forum, Call for Participants

Selome Hailu Netflix is at or near the top of both Nielsen and Luminate‘s streaming rankings every week, but achieved that with some titles that differ from its usual fare during the March 29-April 3 viewing window. As expected, “3 Body Problem” remained the most-watched streaming original series of the week per Luminate with 964.1 million minutes watched (an estimated 3.6 million views) — unsurprising, as the title is the follow-up from “Game of Thrones” helmers David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, who created the show alongside Alexander Woo.

Emiliano De Pablos After 12 seasons on linear TV, flagship Spanish talent show “Operación Triunfo,” produced by Banijay Iberia’s Gestmusic, has jumped successfully to the online environment via Prime Video. “Operación Triunfo’s” first gala was the most viewed premiere in the history of Prime Video in Spain. Its app for voting accumulated 53 million votes and, on social networks, generated 718.9 million views in TikTok and YouTube, according to VOD analytics Sigmados30.

The Mediapro Studio’s parent company, produced. Like Cruz, Fernández Espeso is driven. At a dinner during Spain’s San Sebastian Film Festival in 2020, most of the executive attendees started out with small talk.

The Cannes Film Festival’s Marché du Film is launching a new initiative, bannered Cannes Remakes, aimed at fostering remake opportunities for European feature films that have proven successful in their home territories.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent “Dahomey,” the Berlinale Golden Bear-winning film helmed by French-Senegalese director Mati Diop, has been sold to a raft of international territories by Les Films du Losange. Along with being acquired by Mubi in key markets, “Dahomey” has been acquired in Australia & New Zealand (Rialto), China (Hugoeast), Spain (Filmin), Portugal (Nitrato Filmes), Greece (One From the Heart), Scandinavia (NonStop Entertainement), Benelux (Cinéart), Bulgaria (Beta Films), Ex-Yugoslavia (Discovery), Hungary (Mozinet), Czech Republic (Film Europe), Romania (Voodoo), Baltic Countries (Taip Toliau), Poland (New Horizons), Ukraine (Kyivmusicfilm), Taiwan (Joint Entertainment), Indonesia (PT Falcon) and Sudu Connexion in Africa.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Utopia‘s label Circle Collective has bought Bruce LaBruce‘s bold and thought-provoking film “The Visitor” for North America and the U.K. Represented in international markets by Best Friend Forever, “The Visitor” world premiered at the Berlin Film Festival in the Panorama section.

Wellington Love has started the w/Love production company, and already has an inaugural slate of projects lined up.

Devon Werkheiser, Lindsey Shaw and Daniel Curtis Lee, the former stars of Ned’s Declassified School Survivor Guide, have apologized for making a sexual joke when asked about the Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV docuseries during a TikTok live.

Thania Garcia On her first album in seven years, Shakira is focused on her evolution. The singer solidified herself as a pillar of international pop stardom, propelled by her English-language debut “Laundry Service,” in 2001, and in her freshly-released “Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran,” she makes a grand re-entrance into society after what she’s openly called the “darkest hours” of her life, ones defined by the tabloid gossip surrounding her finances and very public breakup with soccer player Gerard Piqué.

Holly Jones Premiering in January to a Sundance Dramatic World Cinema Grand Jury Prize, “Sujo” from “Identifying Features” filmmakers Astrid Rondero and Fernanda Valadez has expanded its global reach, closing multiple distribution deals forged by Paris-based Alpha Violet, who heads international distribution. Paris-based Damned Films has picked up the title for France while Twelve Oaks Pictures, Trigon Films, Cinobo and MCF Megacom have swooped on the film for Spain, Switzerland, Greece and Cyprus and Ex-Yugoslavia territories respectively, with Auckland’s Vendetta Films securing rights to the title for the Australia and New Zealand markets.

Ben Croll An explosive political drama retracing the 2018 murders of investigative journalist Ján Kuciak and his fiancée Martina Kušnírová, “Our People” claimed the best project award at this year’s Series Mania Forum. Winning €50,000 ($54,318) in prize money and earning an enhanced international stature, the unflinching miniseries should now see an easier path forward – particularly given the chilly reception it found with funding authorities in native Slovakia. “We thought it impossible,” said director Tereza Nvotova as she claimed the Series Mania prize.

Veteran producer and sales agent Rosa Bosch has joined the Madrid-based distributor and international sales agency Begin Again Films. Bosch will serve as part of the company’s international department. 

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has already confessed he would prefer to avoid Bayern Munich, Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain in today's Champions League quarter-final draw.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Memento International has closed a raft of deals on “Fremont,” a critically acclaimed film starring Anaita Wali Zada, an Afghan refugee and first-time actor, and featuring “The Bear” actor Jeremy Allen White. Directed by BAFTA-nominated Iranian-born director Babak Jalali, the black-and-white movie tells the story of Donya, a young woman working at a Chinese fortune cookie factory in the San Francisco bay. Formerly a translator for the U.S.

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent “Los caminantes de la calle,” directed by Argentina’s Juan Martín Hsu, Chilean Ignacio Pávez’s docu-fiction drama “An Amputee” and Uruguayan Lorenzo Tocco’s “For God’s Sake” proved the biggest winners at the Malaga Festival’s MAFIZ industry area awards, announced at a ceremony on Friday night. Covering Malaga’s Work in Progress showcase, its Málaga Festival Fund Co-Production forum (MAFF) and the Spanish Screenings Content – Málaga Short Corner, prizes were divvied up among a slew of titles, with ‘Sometimes,’ by Sara Fantova and Enrique Buleo’s ‘Still Life With Ghosts,’ both scoring multiple awards. From his first feature, 2015’s “La Salada,” a patchwork narrative tale of immigrants’ lives, dreams and suffering in Argentina, to 2021’s “La Luna Reprenta Mi Corazon,” a docu feature record of the rencounter with his mother in Taiwan, Hsu has carved out a niche depicting the immigrant experience in Argentina.

William Earl administrator SPOILER ALERT: This article discusses plot points from “The Piper.” Horror Film School is a feature in which talent in front of and behind the camera share the ins and outs of creating the biggest onscreen scares. Icelandic director Erlingur Thoroddsen‘s latest film is “The Piper,” starring Charlotte Hope and the late Julian Sands. The indie horror feature follows a musician hoping to finish a lost piece of music that may conjure up the evil entity that was the inspiration for the dark German legend “Pied Piper of Hamelin.” From a fiery opening to a enigmatic midsection to a bonkers ending act that evokes VHS-era supernatural slashers like “A Nightmare on Elm Street” and “Wishmaster,” Thoroddsen’s film works because of its clever pacing, walking a tightrope between thrills and mysteries.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief This month’s Hong Kong International Film Festival will showcase over 190 films from 62 countries and regions, including five world premieres, and 64 Asian premieres. Running 12 days (March 28 – April 8), the festival will open with the Asian premiere of local director Ray Yeung’s “All Shall Be Well,” which won the Teddy Award at the recent Berlin festival.

Ed Meza @edmezavar Spain’s cultural and historical heritage and its diverse natural landscapes, from Moorish castles and royal palaces to snowy peaks, vast deserts and rugged coastlines, have made the country a prime location for international films and series. In the last decade, Spain’s national government and key regions – the Canary Islands and the Basque Country’s Bizkaia – have added tax rebates and credits which now rate as among the best in Europe.

Emiliano De Pablos Madrid-based Begin Again Films has picked up Spanish distribution and international sales rights to Juan Gautier’s psychological thriller “El aspirante” (“The Aspirant”), about initiation into a masculine universe revolving around hazing of a university residence. “El aspirante” plays at this year’s Málaga Work in Progress’ WIP España sidebar, an industry centerpiece at the Málaga Film Festival, now in its 27th edition. The film toplines Jorge Motos, star of 2021’s “Lucas,” a film which earned him a Málaga Silver Biznaga for best actor and a Goya best new actor nomination; Lucas Nabor (“All the Names of God”), Eduardo Rosa (“La casa de las flores”) and Catalina Sopelana (“Sky Rojo”) complete the main cast.

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent The incontrovertible and immediate effect of muscular tax credits, entering in force in 2023, have powered to a new level the shoot scene in Bilbao and Bizkaia – the Basque city and surrounding province in Northern Spain. Introduced on Jan. 1, 2023, the new incentives offer an up-to-60% tax deduction for national and international co-productions of film and TV projects.