Marie De-La-Fuente Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

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.

Anna Marie de la Fuente Miami-based FiGa Films has picked up worldwide sales on Andrés Kaiser’s found-footage doc “Time Theorem” (“Teorema de Tiempo”), which will have its world premiere at DOK.Fest München on May 8.Doc will also receive a market screening at the Cannes Marché du Film on May 18.“We could not believe that ‘Time Theorem’ was a documentary when we first watched it,” said FiGa Films CEO, Sandro Fiorin, adding: “Fiction could only hope for such a twisted story.”“Andrés is supremely talented, the way he and his producer put this film together is truly remarkable. We are lucky to be part of the team,” he continued.According to Kaiser, the doc relates the story of his grandparents and their lives as amateur filmmakers between Mexico and Switzerland from the 1940s to the 1980s. “It’s a story that reflects on how we use images as a tool to build our own personality, in contrast to the relentless passage of time and the tragedies that it carries with it,” he said.

Anna Marie de la Fuente Animayo Gran Canaria, Spain’s foremost Canary Islands-based animation festival, is venturing deep into the metaverse with experts in artificial intelligence, virtual reality and Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) joining leading voices in animation from major studios, including DreamWorks, Walt Disney, Skydance, Sony Pictures and Platige Image.Some 23 guests will be participating across 14 master classes, three debate panels, three workshops, 10 recruitment sessions and other events at the in-person 17th edition held over May 4-7 in Las Palmas, Gran Canaria. An online edition is slated to launch in October. “This year the debates are a novelty because it’s a must to create a meeting forum in this increasingly polarized society,” said Damian Perea, founder-director of the festival, which also encompasses VFX and video gaming.

Anna Marie de la Fuente Buoyed by the Oscar nomination for Maite Alberdi’s “The Mole Agent” last year, which was also shortlisted in the International Feature category, Chilean documentaries are attracting ever more attention worldwide. One of its leading lights, Patricio Guzman, will have the world premiere of his latest opus, “Mi País Imaginario” as a Cannes  Festival special screening.For the third time in a row, Chiledoc will be presenting a Chilean Docs in Progress showcase, scheduled for May 23 within the framework of Cannes Doc, which runs May 17 to 25.Spearheaded by Chiledoc director Paula Ossandón, the showcase comprises four films at editing stage.

Anna Marie de la Fuente Oscilloscope Laboratories has snagged North American rights to Helmut Dosantos’ documentary “Gods of Mexico,” an exploration of the rich diversity of indigenous and Afro-descendant communities across Mexico.The film had its world premiere at this year’s True/False Film Festival.Hailed as “a tribute to those who fight to preserve their cultural identity amidst the shadows of modernization,” Dosantos transports audiences “through salt pans, deserts, highlands, jungle, and underground mines, in both richly saturated color and black-and-white melodic interludes.”The “ethnographic portrait offers a critical consideration of values and challenges structures that breed displacement,” the synopsis reads. Commented O-Scope’s Dan Berger: “’Gods of Mexico’ is inarguably one of the most astonishing filmic experiences I’ve had.” “The imagery is beyond stunning and the dialogue-free (but far from silent) soundtrack is utterly immersive,” he said, adding: “And this says nothing about the access that Helmut was able to gain in order to feature many people and places that have never been committed to film.

Anna Marie de la Fuente Situated in the southeastern tip of Florida, Miami-Dade County and its cities, led by the capital of Miami and resort town Miami Beach, have long been a hotbed for entertainment. As Miami-Dade’s Daniella Levine Cava, elected as the county’s first-ever female mayor in November 2020, points out: “Miami-Dade County is a major production hub for all forms of entertainment media, from movies and music to fashion and print.

Anna Marie de la Fuente Beyond Rights and Insight TV Team Up for New Branded BlockBeyond Rights and top millennial-targeted digital channels provider Insight TV have struck a new alliance, which will see the launch of Beyond branded blocks on Insight TV’s science and technology-centered InWonder channel. The Beyond branded blocks will initially play on primetime weekends in North America, drawing from Beyond Rights’s extensive catalogue of science and engineering programming with such titles as “How Hacks Work” and “Wicked Inventions.” “We will work closely together over the coming months to measure the audience response, looking to build towards a range of branded FAST channels,” said David Smyth, CEO of Beyond Rights.

Anna Marie de la Fuente Planete Plus Orders Munich Hostage Thriller DocFrench broadcaster Planete Plus has commissioned factual political thriller “Munich: Of Games and Blood” from Pernel Media to mark the 50th anniversary of the hostage crisis that rocked the Munich Olympic Games on September 5, 1972. Written by Philippe Saada, Yossi Melman and cinematographer Marc Dugain, the doc is narrated by three protagonists present at the original event where Israeli athletes were taken hostage by Palestinian Black September terrorists: an ex-terrorist, a member of the German police, and a Mossad agent.

Anna Marie de la Fuente Capping off a string of major sales deals worldwide, L.A.-based Cinema Management Group (CMG) has sold the U.S. rights of animated feature “Ainbo: Spirit of the Amazon” to Shout! Studios.The multi-platform entertainment distribution and production arm of Shout! Factory has secured all U.S.

Anna Marie de la Fuente Season 2 of “Encuentros,” the weekly podcast co-produced by Gael Garcia Bernal and Diego Luna’s La Corriente del Golfo and streamer, MUBI, bows Wednesday, March 30 with the first episode featuring Chilean actress Antonia Zegers and Oscar-winning Mexican production designer Eugenio Caballero in conversation.In this episode titled “A Collective Memory,” Caballero and Zegers will discuss their experiences and takeaways from more than two decades of work in their respective fields.Zegers’ credits include Pablo Larrain’s “The Club,” Sebastian Lelio’s Oscar-winning “A Fantastic Woman” and Lucia Puenzo’s gender abuse thriller series, “La Jauria,” produced by Larrain’s Fabula. Caballero became the first Mexican production designer to receive an Oscar for art direction, thanks to Guillermo del Toro’s “Pan’s Labyrinth” in 2007.  He has also worked on Alfonso Cuaron’s triple Oscar-winning “Roma,” J.A.

Anna Marie de la Fuente At a time when journalists are under attack in many parts of the world and the odious term “fake news” has become part of the global lexicon, Spain’s Mediacrest presents the topical drama series “Fake” at a key event in France-based Series Mania, the invitation-only Spain Pitching Breakfast, on Thursday.Leading the charge is industry vet-producer Gustavo Ferrada (“Klaus,” “Nobody Knows Anybody”), Mediacrest’s executive director of fiction, who joined the fast-rising Spanish production company in January.“Fake” is one of five selected projects from leading Spanish production companies seeking European partners, comprising Fedent España, Friki Films, Onza, Vertice 360 and Mediacrest. Created in-house by Mediacrest’s deputy head of fiction, Carlos Molinero and senior scriptwriter Nicolás Romero, the Strasbourg-based series of six 52-minute episodes follows a high-powered couple as their once idyllic relationship turns toxic.

Anna Marie de la Fuente Prime Video is bowing the trailer for season two of its first Spanish-language romcom series “Como Sobrevivir Soltero” (“How to Survive Being Single”), which debuts April 15 in more than 240 countries and territories worldwide. Performing  cameos this season are Miss Universe 2014/TV host Paulina Vega, Mexican heartthrob Vadhir Derbez (“De Viaje con los Derbez.” “El Mesero”), Faisy (“El Complot Mongol,” “Me Caigo de Risa”) and Edgar Vivar (“El Chavo del Ocho,” “Vecinos”).Created by brothers Emiliano and Sebastian Zurita, the eight episode second season picks up from where season one ends with Sebastián, playing his fictional self, paying tribute to his late girlfriend Julieta by trying to produce a movie from the script he wrote while they were dating.  He and his producing partner Natalia struggle to secure funding and in the end, decide to adapt the script for the stage. Still grieving, he decides that he can’t start dating again and takes full, wild advantage of his bachelorhood.Described as a hip millennial dramedy, the series revolves around Zurita’s alter ego and his pals as they navigate the trials and tribulations of dating in modern-day Mexico.

Anna Marie de la Fuente Following the success of their collaboration on Nicolás Postiglione’s debut feature “Immersion,” production shingles Whisky Content of Mexico and Chile’s Juntos Films have forged a medium-term strategic alliance for the joint development of nine films in six years.The agreement comes just days after the premiere of “Immersion,” a thriller headlined by Chile’s most bankable star, Alfredo Castro, at the Miami Film Festival where its poster won the Best Poster Design Award. The film has already racked up top awards from the festivals of Guadalajara, Tallinn Black Nights and Punta del Este.The move also comes as further cooperation among Hispanic companies continue apace in response to the increasing challenges of local content production.

Anna Marie de la Fuente Less than a year since its June 29, 2021 launch in the region, HBO Max Latin America is adding a raft of new original Latin American shows to its programming grid. WarnerMedia’s SVOD service now ranks second in the region, albeit still lagging behind market leader, Netflix.“When we launched more than eight months ago, we promised to launch 100 shows in a year and a half; I think we’re on track to deliver that promise,” said Luis Duran, general manager, HBO Max Latin America, in an exclusive interview with Variety.

Anna Marie de la Fuente In its continued bid to provide compelling artist-forward stories, WarnerMedia OneFifty has picked up the live action Oscar-nominated short “Please Hold” to stream exclusively on HBO Max where it bows on March 17.The directorial debut of Mexican-American screenwriter KD Dávila, who co-wrote the short with Levin Menekse, “Please Hold” is a darkly comic dystopian tale set in the not-so-distant future. It follows young Mateo Torres (played by Erick Lopez) who in a case of mistaken identity, is arrested by a police drone while on his way to work. He finds himself in a fully automated prison cell where he struggles to find a living human being to set things straight as his situation gets even more absurd and frustrating by the nanosecond.

Anna Marie de la Fuente Documentaries about the conflict in Ukraine, the Cuban migrant situation and the Palestinian refugee crisis were among top winners at MiradasDoc, Spain’s foremost documentary film festival which wrapped its 15th edition on March 12. Based in Tenerife, Canary Islands, the festival was an in-person event running March 4-12, while its market (March 8-11) remained virtual for the second consecutive year.The best international documentary prize went to “Option Zero” (“La Opcion Cero”) by Cuban filmmaker Marcel Beltran while the best debut feature award was extended to “Trenches” by French journalist Loup Bureau who has covered the Arab Spring in Egypt, the Syrian War and the Russian-Ukrainian conflict in the Donbas region. “Trenches” follows the intrepid young men and women who are fighting Russian-backed separatists in Ukraine’s Donbas region.

Anna Marie de la Fuente Barcelona-based Scenic Rights, the leading literary rights broker for Spanish-language film and TV series, has officially opened its Mexico City office as it continues to expand its purview across key territories, including Madrid, Los Angeles and most recently, Prague.The Mexico City office opening, delayed twice by the pandemic, kicks off operations on Monday March 7. According to Scenic Rights CEO, Sydney Borjas, the company’s Mexican branch will oversee more than 30 book to film-TV project adaptations, mostly into series.Ana Karen Larios, previously a foreign rights manager at VF Literary Agency, has been tapped as Scenic Rights’ content manager in Mexico and will report to the agency’s Chief Operating Officer Ignacio Diaz.

Anna Marie de la Fuente Kazakh filmmaker Askar Uzabayev’s domestic violence drama “Happiness” snagged the Audience Award in the Berlin Film Festival’s prestigious Panorama sidebar, a good sign of its potential appeal in cinemas and festivals worldwide. Whether it will secure distribution in its native Kazakhstan is another matter, however.Based on actual events, “Happiness” centers on a lovely influencer who promotes a product line called Happiness, which she pitches as a surefire path to happiness, beauty and success.But her home life reflects the opposite where her abusive husband grows ever more violent.

Anna Marie de la Fuente Miami-based FiGa Films has announced a flurry of sales and acquisition activity during the EFM. Among its stellar pics is ‘Nudo Mixteco,” the first indigenous film it has handled, which HBO Max has picked up for the U.S., to bow in May.Uruguayan doc, “Straight to VHS,” winner of the prestigious critics award, the Fipresci, at the Buenos Aires indie film fest, Bafici, has been sold to IndiePix for the U.S. It also acquired the film on which the doc is based upon, “Act of Violence on a Young Journalist,” that will be released as an extra on home video.“We are delighted to collaborate with IndiePix and with their enthusiasm for ‘Straight to VHS,’” said FiGa Films’ Sandro Fiorin, adding: “Their plans for a home-video release full of extras sounds like an instant collectible item.

Anna Marie de la Fuente Netflix has recently released Spain’s first film using LED volume technology, teen romantic drama “Through My Window” (“A Través de mi Ventana”).Produced by Adrian Guerra’s Nostromo Pictures alongside sister company Orca Studios, the Spanish-language film features real-time rendered CG scenes shot in-camera as part of its production.Its LED volume technology is the same ground-breaking virtual production process utilized by Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) on Disney Plus’ hit series “The Mandalorian” and is considered by many as the most significant technological advance since green screen.LED wall volumes replace static backgrounds in virtual studios with exterior or interior images that adjust in sync with camera movement, powered by video game PC engines, such as Unreal for “The Mandalorian.” “We selected three scenes — the heliport, the penthouse interior and the elevator — as they had different challenges and needs,” said Guerra, adding: “We also shot some car sequences directly in the LED volume, with driving plates from Barcelona projected on the LED screens and backgrounds in different sets.”Based on the YA novel by Ariana Godoy, a bestseller on online social reading platform Wattpad, “Through My Window” follows high schooler Raquel who has a been harboring a crush on her gorgeous neighbor, Ares, whom she spies on from her window. He’s also the scion of a wealthy family, so she feels he’s way out of her league.

Anna Marie de la Fuente Top Argentine sales and production company, FilmSharks Int’l, has picked up worldwide sales rights to Matias Lucchesi’s latest film “The Broken Land” (“Las Rojas”) ahead of its debut at the European Film Market (EFM).This will be the second time for a Lucchesi film to be present in Berlin. Lucchesi snagged the best feature prize at the Berlinale Generation Kplus sidebar with his feature debut, “Natural Sciences,” in 2014.Shot mainly in the majestic Cordillera de las Andes of Mendoza, Argentina, “The Broken Land” can be described as a thriller with Western undertones, highlighted by the soulful music of composer Hernan Segret.Drama centers on two female paleontologists, played by Argentina’s Mercedes Moran (“La Cienaga”) and Uruguay’s Natalia Oreiro (“The Unseen”), who are at loggerheads from the moment they meet. Oreiro’s character, Constanza, has come to the protected national reserve where Moran’s equally strong-willed character, Carlota, has been toiling for years.

Anna Marie de la Fuente It’s a new dawn for Chile’s audiovisual industry. When Gabriel Boric, Chile’s youngest (at 35) and most left-leaning president since Salvador Allende, was elected in December, his pledge to more than double the state’s contribution to the arts was greeted with great fanfare.  After all, Chile’s prodigious film output this past decade has been remarkable despite the scant public support it has received. “If everything we have achieved in the last 10 years was done with so little money, imagine what we can achieve with an increase in audiovisual funding!” says Constanza Arena, executive director of Chile’s film promotion org, CinemaChile.In recent years, Chile has triumphed at the Oscars, starting when Pablo Larraín’s “No” was nominated for international feature in 2012, and culminating in an Oscar win for Sebastian Lelio’s “A Fantastic Woman” in 2017.

Anna Marie de la Fuente Key Chilean projects being moved at this year’s European Film Market:AlisDirectors: Clare Weiskopf and Nicolás van HemelryckCasatarántula produced this Chile-Colombia-Romania doc along with Pantalla Cines and Defilm. Produced by Alexandra Galvis and Radu Stancu, it world premieres at Berlinale’s Generation 14plus sidebar.

Anna Marie de la Fuente It’s a new dawn for Chile’s audiovisual industry. When Gabriel Boric, Chile’s youngest (at 35) and most left-leaning president since Salvador Allende, was elected in December, his pledge to more than double the state’s contribution to the arts was greeted with great fanfare.After all, Chile’s prodigious film output this past decade has been remarkable despite the scant public support it has received.“If everything we have achieved in the last 10 years was done with so little money, imagine what we can achieve with an increase in audiovisual funding!” says Constanza Arena, executive director of Chile’s film promotion org, CinemaChile.In recent years, Chile has triumphed at the Oscars, starting when Pablo Larraín’s “No” was nominated for international feature in 2012, and culminating in an Oscar win for Sebastian Lelio’s “A Fantastic Woman” in 2017.

Anna Marie de la Fuente International sales, distribution and production company Axxon Media has picked up a troika of films ahead of Berlinale. Leading the pack is Askar Uzabayev’s “Happiness” (“Bakhyt”) from Kazakhstan, which world premieres in the festival’s Panorama section.Making its market debut at the EFM is Algeria-set “Soula,” written and directed by Salah Issaad, a contender at the Red Sea Festival in Jeddah last December.The third film is Amalric Gérard’s French burlesque comedy “Public Enemy No.

Anna Marie de la Fuente Chilean filmmaker Roberto Doveris’ “Phantom Project” vies for the top Tiger prize at the Rotterdam film festival’s online edition this year and leads a robust Chilean delegation in other sections of the festival. Co-produced by Doveris’ Niña Niño Films and Aura Sinclair’s Agencia Rekia (“La Isla de las Gaviotas”), “Phantom Project” (previously titled “Ghost Project”) has world premiered at the fest, which began Jan. 26 and wraps on Feb.

Anna Marie de la Fuente In a bid to tap into the intense demand for premium Spanish-language content, veteran Spanish entertainment executive Pepe Huertas has launched TV production company, Tres Vacas. He’s joined by seasoned showrunners Pilar Nadal and Felipe Mellizo, creators of such top selling dramatic series as “Águila Roja” (“Red Eagle”) and “Un Paso Adelante” (“One Step Forward”).The company will focus on creating scripted content for the global audience, drawing on their combined talents, expertise and decades of experience.“Our aim is to conceive relatable stories capable of engaging with the audience from the first minute, based on in-depth character development that allows us to construct long and strong narrative arcs,” said Huertas, founding partner and managing director of Tres Vacas.

Anna Marie de la Fuente Netflix’s first Uruguayan original, “Togo” by Israel Adrian Caetano, is set to bow in the spring, most likely in April. Described by Caetano as an urban Western, “Togo” marks Caetano’s first film since 2015.“Seven years have passed since I made ‘The Lost Brother’ [‘El Otro Hermano’]; I’m back with my first love,” said Caetano who has been working on TV series aside from taking a pandemic-induced hiatus in recent years.The film is currently in post at Federico Moreira’s LaMayorCine, which produced and provided post-production services to Sundance World Competition entry “Utama.”“Federico and I have been wanting to work together for some time now, but he’s on board only as the sound director here; hopefully next time,” said Caetano whose company, La Expresion del Deseo, partnered with Luis Ara’s Trailer Films and Ignacio Jaunsolo’s Ska Films to co-produce “Togo.” The titular Togo, played by Argentine actor Diego Alonso (“Okupas”), is one of Montevideo’s sizeable number of marginalized people who offer to watch your car for a token fee.

Anna Marie de la Fuente Five years after her lauded short “And the Whole Sky Fit in the Dead Cow’s Eye” won Sundance’s short film jury award in international fiction, Chile’s Francisca Alegria is bowing her feature debut on Jan. 23 at the Park City, Utah, fest.In “The Cow Who Sang a Song Into the Future,” Alegria continues to further expand the themes in her short.

Anna Marie de la Fuente By telling the story of an elderly indigenous couple as they eke out a living in the arid Bolivian highlands, Alejandro Loayza Grisi brings home the all-too-real perils of climate change in his country and around the world. But “Utama” (“Our Home”) is also an enduring love story, played by real-life couple Jose Calcina and Luisa Quispe, who’ve been married for 48 years.“Utama,” which world premieres Jan.