Marie De-La-Fuente Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

Anna Marie de la Fuente TelevisaUnivision is adding to the roster of original titles offered on the ViX+ premium streaming service that bowed last month with the goal of serving up more than 70 new programs in its first year of operations.Production is underway on three scripted drama series, “Colapso,” “Isla Brava,” and “Senda Prohibida,” as well as the documentary “Absoluta” offering behind-the-scenes look at the transformation of Spain’s national soccer team known affectionately as La Furia Roja (the Red Fury).“From thrilling mysteries to heartwarming personal stories, these new original productions represent a sample of the breadth of incredible Spanish-language storytelling you can only find on ViX+,” said Rodrigo Mazon, executive VP and general manager of ViX+. Launched July 21 in the U.S.

Anna Marie de la Fuente Latin-focused content powerhouse Exile Content Studio has snagged a majority stake in the Lil’ Heroes NFT Franchise which will soon spawn a toon series with NBA star Carmelo Anthony.He will voice and exec produce the show through his company, Creative7 Productions.The news comes in the wake of Exile’s acquisition in late May by Candle Media, the next generation media company founded by Kevin Mayer and Tom Staggs. Said Mayer and Staggs, who serve as co-CEOs: “We are excited to expand Exile’s partnership with Lil’ Heroes, a dynamic new franchise with a deeply engaged community, and a great example of how digitally-native IP can engage audiences through various platforms, products and experiences.” Created by Spanish contemporary artist Edgar Plans, Lil’ Heroes was launched through an NFT collaboration with Exile and NFT studio, Curatible.

Anna Marie de la Fuente Underscoring the Atlàntida Mallorca Film Fest’s commitment to fostering young, upcoming talent, its five-year-old Talent Lab (AMTL) for projects in development will be complemented by a new Works in Progress (WIP) section for projects in post.The new WIP aims to give young creators the tools and opportunity to bolster the promotion of their audiovisual projects and secure local and international distribution.On July 27 and July 28 in Mallorca, six projects in post-production will compete for €15,000 ($15,300) at the new WIP. Atlàntida Mallorca Film Fest’s industry component is backed by Media Europa Creativa Catalunya and organized in collaboration with the Seville European Film Festival, the Gijón International Film Festival and the Albacete Film Festival (Abycine).

Anna Marie de la Fuente Opening the 26th Fantasia Int’l Film Festival in Montreal on July 14, writer-director KC Carthew’s “Polaris” is her sophomore pic after her multi-award-winning debut feature, “The Sun at Midnight” (2017). A teaser, bowing exclusively in Variety, reveals a dystopian thriller set in a frigid, snow-blanketed wasteland.An expansion of her award-winning short film “Fish out of Water,” which also bowed at Fantasia in 2015, “Polaris” turns on Sumi, a young girl who has been raised by a polar bear.

Anna Marie de la Fuente After 13 years on the road with Spain’s iconic singer-songwriter-poet Joaquin Sabina, “The Good Boss” director Fernando León de Aranoa has finally wrapped his documentary, “Sintiendolo Mucho” (roughly translated to “Deeply Felt”).“This film is a rare privilege that, as a filmmaker, I would like to share with the public: to spend some time alone with Joaquín when he is not Sabina,” said León de Aranoa. “13 years ago, I began to shoot with him, to accompany him on his day-to-day activities, on rehearsals, tours, immersed in his own environment… to portray the artist, his best and worst moments, and his personality, so linked to his work, his creativity,” he remarked, adding: “Most importantly, it has been a lot of fun.” León de Aranoa, who also produced the doc, established a deep rapport with Sabina through the years.The Reposado, BTF Media and Sony Music Spain co-production is the first of its kind on Sabina, who is known to be a very private person.

Anna Marie de la Fuente Underscoring a push into more ambitious productions in Latin America, Star Plus, The Walt Disney Company’s year-old general entertainment and sports streaming service in the region, presented an early banner production, “Santa Evita,” at Conecta Fiction & Entertainment in a gala screening on June 22.Attendees of the Toledo, Spain-based forum got an exclusive preview of the pilot episode to the seven-part limited series, which is set to bow July 26 on Star Plus Latin America, Hulu in the U.S. and Disney’s Star label in the rest of the world.“Santa Evita” anticipates more “true life fiction” shows that Star Plus is developing, based on larger-than-life figures in Latin America’s culture and history.

Anna Marie de la Fuente Ask Jose Velasco, 60, what he thinks about the Conecta Fiction Honorary award he’s receiving on Thursday June 23 and his first response is, “Why?”The self-effacing founder and president of powerhouse content producer iZen Group says he is grateful to those who decided to give it to him, “rightly or not.” “I guess it’s because I’ve been in this business for 35 years and have done everything from fiction to reality to game shows,” he muses, adding: “But if they think this will make me retire, they’re mistaken.”“I guess I am of the generation of people in Spain who were trying the shape the country’s television landscape,” he notes. Indeed, Velasco founded and ran one of the pioneering entertainment giants of Spain, Globomedia.

Anna Marie de la Fuente A survivor of the Baja California accident that claimed the lives of actors Raymundo Garduño Cruz and Juan Francisco González from the Netflix series “The Chosen One” says he doesn’t blame the van driver or the production company. But actor Yeray Albelda says it’s the norm that “people are exhausted” in many productions.The Mexican actors union ANDA also held a remote press conference Tuesday to weigh in on the fatal crash.In an interview with Variety, Albelda, one of the six survivors of the crash, said he was told that a mechanical failure might have caused it. Others, he was told, have speculated that the driver was trying to avoid a pothole or even a deer.

Anna Marie de la Fuente Netflix and Redrum, producers of series “The Chosen One,” have issued statements on the Baja California road accident that killed two of their actors on Thursday. Two other cast members and four crew members were injured, but remain stable and have gone home to recover.Said Netflix: “We are deeply saddened by the tragic accident that took the lives of Ray Garduño and Juan Francisco González.

Anna Marie de la Fuente In a bid to further expand job opportunities in the animation industry, France’s first free animation school ÉCAS (Ecole Cartoucherie Animation Solidaire) has partnered with French animation producer Frog Box and post-production service provider Titrafilm to create a new course that will train professional actors in the art of dubbing animation projects.News was announced Thursday at the MIFA market at this week’s Annecy International Animation Film Festival where the issues of inclusion, diversity and labor shortages in the sector were discussed in some forums at the festival, particularly at the Women in Animation summit.Founded in 2018 by TeamTO in response to the under-representation and lack of diversity in the animation sector, ÉCAS has trained a new generation of underprivileged talent in 3D character animation and storyboarding (in partnership with Canada’s House of Cool) for the past four years. Said Guillaume Hellouin, president of ÉCAS and TeamTO: “Over the past few years, there has been a general awareness and desire among producers, major platforms and traditional broadcasters to integrate a greater representation of society.

Anna Marie de la Fuente Underscoring the further expansion of its animation division, leading VFX and animation studio DNEG has tapped Erika Burton, its president of VFX Production since October last year, to lead DNEG Animation with Tom Jacomb as co-president.The former DreamWorks Animation and Disney Animation exec will focus on production, resource management, training, and operations while Jacomb will oversee creative, client management and outreach as well as the development of IP and original content.Expressing his delight at welcoming Burton to the DNEG Animation fold, Jacomb said: “We have more exciting projects, more growth and expansion, and more original content and co-productions on the horizon, and Erika will be absolutely instrumental in helping to ensure that we have a rock-solid foundation upon which to continue building.” “I’m also delighted that she will be contributing her compassion, warmth, and experience to the amazing work that our teams are already doing in putting equality, diversity and inclusivity at the heart of everything that we do here at DNEG Animation,” he continued.Said Burton: “I have been fortunate enough to work with some immensely talented VFX and animation teams during the course of my career, and I love both disciplines equally.”“There is something really compelling and challenging about animated filmmaking that keeps drawing me back and this is just a tremendous new opportunity,” she added. “Working with DNEG’s VFX teams over the last year has been a career highlight for me, but when the invitation came to join Tom, David [Prescott, SVP Creative], Crosby [Clyse, Head of Production] and all of the other talented folks on the animation side of our business, it was one that I could

Anna Marie de la Fuente HBO Max Latin America has unveiled a new take on the Dark Knight in the upcoming animation feature “Batman Azteca: Choque de Imperios” (“Aztec Batman: Clash of Empires”) in the first ever collaboration between Warner Bros. Animation, Particular Crowd, Mexico’s Anima and “Book of Life” producer Chatrone.

Anna Marie de la Fuente Baz Luhrmann’s “Elvis,” described by Variety as “a fizzy, delirious, impishly energized, compulsively watchable 2-hour-and-39-minute fever dream,” is set to open the 37th Guadalajara Int’l Film Festival (FICG) on June 10.The biopic starring Austin Butler as Elvis opposite Tom Hanks as his controversial manager, received a rousing 12-minute standing ovation at Cannes, the longest at this year’s edition.The Festival closes June 18 with Mexico’s own musical icons, Los Tigres del Norte, in the documentary “Los Tigres del Norte: Historias que contar,” by Carlos Pérez Osorio (“Las Cronicas del Taco”), with its band members descending on Guadalajara to present it. The documentary debuts on Prime Video the day before but it’s all about bringing back the in-person theatrical experience, said festival director Estrella Araiza.FICG has managed to push through the pandemic and the current government’s indifference to culture and subsequent budget cuts.

Anna Marie de la Fuente Ran Tal’s moving documentary “1341 Frames of Love and War” has won three key awards at DocAviv and been sold to seven territories by sales company Reservoir Docs.Tal took home the best director prize while Nilli Feller snagged the editor award. In addition, the doc won the Kedar Foundation Award for a film inspired by Israel’s history and society, which includes a $15,000 cash prize.Since its world premiere at the Berlinale Special sidebar of the Berlin Film Festival, Reservoir Docs, which handles world sales excluding North America, Israel, Greece and Portugal, has sold the doc to several territories, including Non Stop (Nordic), Tanweer Films (Greece) and Nos Lusomundo Audiovisuais (Portugal).

Anna Marie de la Fuente Miami-based BTF Media and Loz Dos Studios, a Latinx production studio, are jumping on the Marilyn Monroe bandwagon, with a still untitled biopic in the works that promises an untold look at the iconic movie star’s Latina heritage and one of her final trips to Mexico. Details of the script are drawn from released FBI documents, obtained through the Freedom of Information Act.The upcoming project will be another addition to the pantheon of film and TV projects that have proliferated through the years since Monroe’s untimely death in 1962, with the latest being Netflix docu “The Mystery of Marilyn Monroe: The Unheard Tapes” and the upcoming NC-17-rated drama “Blonde,” starring Ana de Armas, that is slated for release this year on the giant streamer.

Anna Marie de la Fuente Chef Mauro Colagreco of the three-Michelin star restaurant Mirazur will be attending the June 13 North American premiere of the documentary “Reinventing Mirazur” at the Tribeca Film Festival.  In a clip released ahead of its premiere in Variety, Colagreco explains the new philosophy behind the restaurant’s menus, borne out of the pandemic.As described, the doc takes “a deep dive into the life of Chef Mauro, who finds himself changing everything about his flagship restaurant after the COVID-19 pandemic halted his worldwide rise to prominence.”Forced to go into hiatus not long after his Menton, France-based restaurant was awarded the coveted three Michelin stars and the No.1 spot in The World’s 50 Best Restaurants list in 2019, Colagreco spent more time in his estate’s vast vegetable and flower garden and came up with the idea to introduce menus pegged to the cycles of the moon. Since he sourced all the restaurant’s fresh produce from his garden, where planting and harvesting were timed according to the moon’s cycles, the menus would undergo a radical change.

Anna Marie de la Fuente Iberseries & Platino Industria, a key international Ibero-American film-TV event which kicked off last year in Madrid, has announced new collaborations with Ventana Sur and the San Sebastian Film Festival for its second edition, slated for September 27-30.The announcement was staged at the Marché stand of Argentine film-TV agency INCAA, a co-organizer of Ventana Sur along with Cannes Marché du Film-Cannes Festival. It detailed new plans for the annual event to include hosting the Co-Production Forum-Platino Industria with San Sebastian and the Series Co-Production Forum with Ventana Sur, Latin America’s largest film and TV market.The Ibero-American event will once again present an extensive program of conferences and keynotes with experts, pitching sessions for platforms, and a market and networking area.

Anna Marie de la Fuente In a historical first, the Cannes Festival and its market, the Marché, hosted the inaugural Venezuela Film Hub (VFH), surprising many international participants by its presence, given the mostly abysmal news coming from the South American country, crippled by the government’s economic mismanagement and U.S. sanctions.Spearheaded and fully financed by The Visionist Advisers, a New York and Paris-based creative agency founded by strategic advisor Valeska Hernandez, VFH brought close to a 100 Venezuelan projects to the Marché in a booth that offered a networking platform for Venezuelan filmmakers as well as a chance to promote the country as a filming location and the sampling of Venezuelan products.

Anna Marie de la Fuente In keeping with a tradition that began in 2005, the Morelia Int’l Film Festival will showcase a selection of shorts at Cannes’ Critics Week.As festival director Daniela Michel explained: “The selection is made by the Critics’ Week team directly. Every year, a member of that team is invited to participate in our Mexican Short Film jury; they make a shortlist of films for the program in Cannes and the programming team narrows it down to four shorts.”The shorts chosen from Morelia’s prior edition underscore the diversity of themes and genres that are currently explored in Mexican cinema, from family ties that bind to black and white animation.

Anna Marie de la Fuente Miami-based sales and distribution company FiGa Films has snagged world sales rights to Bolivian filmmaker Martin Boulocq’s fourth pic, “The Visitor.”Described as a “somber meditation on family relations, class, and the increasing power of evangelism in Latin America,” “The Visitor” world premieres in June at the 2022 Tribeca Festival where it competes in the festival’s international narrative section.One of the prominent talents in Bolivia’s burgeoning filmmaking industry, Martín Boulocq is best known for his feature debut “The Most Beautiful and My Best Years,” hailed by Bolivian critics as one of the twelve most notable films in Bolivian film history.Set in the city of Cochabamba in central Bolivia, “The Visitor” follows Humberto (newcomer Enrique Aráoz), an ex-convict who earns a decent living by singing at wakes. He’s anxious to repair his relationship with his estranged daughter but his in-laws, powerful Evangelical pastors, refuse to give up custody of their sole granddaughter.

Anna Marie de la Fuente Despite the cuts to federal tax incentives in recent years, Brazil remains a good source of production mechanisms. “The major platforms led by Netflix, Disney Plus, Amazon Prime Video have production service agreements with Brazilian production companies to take advantage of these funding possibilities,” says FestCampos Talks producer-curator Fernanda Martins.Jose Mauricio Fittipaldi, a partner at law firm CQSFV, adds: “It is true that investment has been severely cut in the last couple of years, but the causes are a bit more complex than just [President Jair] Bolsonaro.

Anna Marie de la Fuente Long established as a venue for festivals devoted to music and the performing arts, Brazil’s alpine city of Campos do Jordão has also hosted audiovisual industry events, led by the annual showcase of upcoming releases, the Winter Show. Now on its 13th year, it was paused for two years because of the pandemic.With the launch of FestCampos, new screening venues are being constructed, says Sergio Sá Leitão, São Paulo State Secretary of Culture.

Anna Marie de la Fuente Taking place over May 13-22 in Brazil’s highest city, the verdant mountain resort town of Campos do Jordão, more akin to a northern European city thanks to its architecture and pine tree forests, the maiden FestCampos Cultural has launched this year in tandem with the 13th Winter Show, an annual Brazilian audiovisual industry event not unlike CinemaCon where exhibitors and distributors tout the latest releases.The free activities include screenings of current releases, video projections and panels.A key component of FestCampos is a series of 18 online interviews, FestCampos Talks, kicking off on May 21, comprising conversations with prominent international film and TV industry players who will expound on the practices and trends in content production and distribution.

Anna Marie de la Fuente In response to shifting dynamics at film festivals, many of which have been impacted by the pandemic, a new curated Spanish film platform, Panoramic.film is entering the market.Spearheaded by curator Xavier Puerto, director of the Festival REC de Tarragona and a Spanish-language film programmer for the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival in Estonia, Panoramica’s offer is two-fold: “We offer festivals the possibility of completing their line-up with especially curated programs and, through our selective catalogue, offer filmmakers the chance to see their films extend their rounds on the international festival circuit,” said Puerto.The idea for the platform came about after conversations with various festival heads and cultural institutions as they grappled with the changes brought about by the pandemic, with many forced to hold online or hybrid editions. “On the other hand, it is a common conversation among filmmakers that most films, for a variety of reasons, have a very ‘short’ life on the festival scene, regardless of their quality,” Puerto noted.With a number of festivals coming to realize that a hybrid version has enabled them to reach audiences beyond their borders, many have embraced it for the long term.“We want to help festivals with the sometimes rather complex process of presenting a hybrid version and help its audiences discover hidden gems,” said Puerto.In practice, Panoramica is integrated into the programming of the festival itself, as well as on its website with a series of conditions such as viewings with geo-blocking, specific dates or viewing limitations.

Anna Marie de la Fuente Led by a special screening slot for celebrated documentarian Patricio Guzman’s “My Imaginary Country,” plus Directors’ Fortnights “1976”  and a new short by 2018 Cinéfondation prizewinner Diego Céspedes in Critics’ Week, Chile boats the biggest presence of any Latin American country at Cannes.“Our cinema is a living and pulsating entity, a cinema full of risky auteurist viewpoints that are capable of expressing our particular experiences in a universal way and at the same level playing field as bigger filmmaking territories, says CinemaChile executive director Constanza Arena, taking note of Chile’s strong showing.“The directors of a new wave of Chilean cinema take on powerful themes with deep socio-historical weight, but with fresh stylistically innovation, whether it’s political trauma in ‘1976’ by Manuela Martelli, or the LGBTQ+ theme in ‘Las Criaturas que se Derriten Bajo el Sol’ by Céspedes. With their daring, they are pushing forward a new generation of Chilean and Latin American cinema,” Arena observes.

Anna Marie de la Fuente Thrown into the limelight by the Oscar nomination for Maite Alberdi’s “The Mole Agent” in 2021, Chilean documentaries been growing in stature worldwide for years.At Cannes, venerable Patricio Guzman world premieres his latest doc, “My Imaginary Country” (“Mi País Imaginario”) as a special screening, following on his lauded “The Cordillera of Dreams” which was awarded the 2019 L’œil d’Or award for Cannes’ best documentary. Matias Rojas’ “Our Memory” will be among the spotlighted projects at Cannes Docs.

Anna Marie de la Fuente Following, some potential Chilean highlights at Cannes:“Beautiful Yet Mortal” (“Bella Cosa Mortal”), Nicolás PostiglioneAn Oro Films-Whisky Content co-production about star-crossed lovers in an ultra-traditional German community in Southern Chile, from the director of the acclaimed “Immersion.” To shoot in late 2022.Breaking and Entering” (“Allanamiento”), Tomás Gonzalez MatosFrom Sanfic Industry Goes to Cannes, a police procedural where the deputy commissioner of the investigative police unit asks the commissioner to enter the prosecutor’s office and dispose of recordings implicating them in drug trafficking, torture and corruption. In post.“Conditional,” Alvaro Diaz A youth comedy from Juntos Films following Esteban who, in order to impact the girl he fancies, runs for president of his school’s student union.

Anna Marie de la Fuente In one of the first high-profile sexual assault cases in Latin America following the #MeToo reckoning, Chilean director Nicolás López, who was renowned for his raunchy box office comedy hits “Sin Filtro,” “No Estoy Loca” and the “Que Pena” trilogy, has been sentenced to five years and one day in prison for two cases of sexual abuse.The charges against López first surfaced in 2018, when several actresses came forward to accuse him of rape and sexual abuse. The court dismissed the charges of rape, but found López guilty of the latter charge.López has also been banned from coming near his accusers and is permanently disqualified from running for public office.

Anna Marie de la Fuente Starting this year, Spain’s Animayo Gran Canaria will places not one, but two animated short films in the running for an Oscars. Both the winner of Animayo’s International Jury Grand Prize and – effective this 17th edition – and the best Spanish-language animated short will be eligible for consideration in the animated short film category of the Academy Awards.News broke days after the festival wrapped May 7 which saw “Prisoner Outside” by Germany’s Igor Medvedev snag the International Jury Grand award, which includes a cash prize of €3,000 Euros and the aforementioned eligibility for Oscar consideration. Short centers on a long-confined prisoner who uses his imagination to escape from his cell.

Anna Marie de la Fuente In its continued bid to ramp up its programming content, ViX Plus, the upcoming premium SVOD  service from TelevisaUnivision, has formed a strategic alliance with Spain’s The Mediapro Studio, which will produce exclusive original content for the new Spanish-language streamer slated to launch in the second half of this year.First out the gate are scripted series “Las Pelotaris” and the sports-themed docuseries, “La Sangre y la Gloria” (“The Blood and The Glory”).Welcoming The Mediapro Studio as a crucial partner in its efforts to build “a service that will offer the best content in Spanish for our audience in the United States and Latin America,” Rodrigo Mazón, executive vice president and general manager of ViX Plus, said: “We are very excited to present the first original productions resulting from this strategic alliance and to be able to develop more stories together with the highest of production values.” Commented Marta Ezpeleta, director of international, The Mediapro Studio: “This alliance represents an important step in the international expansion of the studio and in its consolidation both in Latin America and in the United States, where we already have a solid infrastructure, with our own production facilities and a great team of creators.”Set in the 1920s, “Las Pelotaris” follows three pioneering women who broke multiple glass ceilings in order to succeed.