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In 2009, nine production companies were operating in the Canary Islands using Zec preferential tax rates for being established here. Flash forward 15 years, there are now 31 companies doing live action. Below, some of the Canary Islands pacemaker production companies, and titles to track:

Anaga Media Productions

The Canary Islands’ newest kid on the block, founded in June 2023 by two U.S.-raised Venezuelans: Gisberg Bermúdez, director of hit chiller “Whistler: the Origins,” and actress-turned-producer Malena González, now based out of Tenerife’s San Cristobal de La Laguna. There it hit the ground offering production services on “Bruha,” which shot in November, directed and co-written by Bermúdez for Elizabeth Avellán. Currently in post, it stars Clara Rosager McCaul Lombardi, Jeff Fahey and González. Now developing “Black Lotus” which will be Anaga’s first production. Interested in both international co-production and offering production services, say González and Bermúdez.

Buendía Estudios Canarias

The biggest...

Exclusive: Argentinian crime thriller A Singular Crime (Un Crimen Argentino), directed by Lucas Combina, has landed a series of international distribution deals on the third day of the EFM.

The pic was given a local theatrical release by Warner Bros. last year and was brought to the market by FilmSharks. We understand that Koba films have taken all rights for France and French-speaking Europe, IV productions for Russia/Cis, AMC took all digital TV/SVOD rights for East Europe, and Spafax for inflight-Airline rights.

Deals for Korea, Japan, Australia, and Germany are said to be in discussion, with a US deal in motion.

Based on the best-selling novel by Reynaldo Sietecase, published by Penguin Random House, the film follows two jurists who try to solve the case of a wealthy businessman’s disappearance while facing the interference of a police officer.

The film stars Nicolas Francella, Darío Grandinetti, Matias Mayer (Iosi: El Espía Arrepentido), and Luis Luque.

Producers include Juan Pablo Buscarini, Pol Bossi-Cabe Bossi, Tomás Yankelevich, Peter Bevan, and Mariana Sanjurjo. Writers are Jorge Bechara, Matías Bertilotti, and Sebastián Pivotto.

Exclusive: FilmSharks has picked up world sales rights, excluding Latin America, to the crime thriller A Singular Crime (Un Crimen Argentino), directed by Lucas Combina.

Based on the best-selling novel by Reynaldo Sietecase, the film follows two jurists who will try to solve the case of a wealthy businessman’s disappearance while facing the interference of a police officer. The film was given a local theatrical release by Warner Bros. Pictures earlier this month and will be available exclusively on HBO Max across Latin America.

“We are happy to be chosen by these recognized companies to take care of their international sales,” Guido Rud of FilmSharks said. “We are one of the few Word Sales agencies that have agreements in place to rep their local language films, including Warner; Sony; Disney; Televisa-Videocine; Fox; Antena3; Banijay; Globo; ITV among other players.

The film is produced by Juan Pablo Buscarini, Pol Bossi-Cabe Bossi,...

This year’s crop of Intl. Emmy nominees across categories feature strong and diverse showings for series and performers alike. Here, Variety breaks down the races.

Drama

Few categories sum up current trends in global TV better than drama series, which also continues to be the biggest prize at the ceremony. Three of the four titles come from big, global-reaching companies, and three of are also crime thrillers, still the stock-in trade of much high-end international drama. On paper, any of the four titles could win, with interrogation room-set “Criminal: U.K.” from “Killing Eve” writer George Kay, pitting cops against suspects played in memorable turns by a stone-faced David Tennant and swanking Hayley Atwell. “The Bronze Garden 2” has Argentina’s Joaquín Furriel take on a new case to honor his dead friend Doberti (Luis Luque). Set in Berlin’s renowned Charité university hospital, the second season of “Charité” unspools...

Disney to distribute theatrically in Argentina through Buena Vista International in August.

Buenos Aires-based FilmSharks has launched talks with Efm buyers on the in-demand Latin American hit-maker Ariel Winograd’s latest comedy Today We Fix The World (Hoy Se Arregla el Mundo).

Leonardo Sbaraglia from Wild Tales and Pain And Glory stars in the production from powerhouse Argentinian producer Patagonik as a busy talk show producer who discovers he is not the real father of the nine-year-old in his household. After the mother dies he sets out with the boy to find the real father.

Disney will distribute theatrically in...

Buenos Aires — Ever incorporating ever bigger titles to its slate, Latido Films has boarded the Viacom-backed, Telefe co-produced “El Robo del Siglo” (“The Theft of the Century”), acquiring international rights outside the U.S. to a title which is shaping up as one of Argentina’s biggest bows of early 2020.

Multiple factors elevate it to that category.

“El Robo” is based on Argentina’s most celebrated heist ever, as true crime booms in Argentina. It stars a powerful cast, led by Guillermo Francella (“The Secret in Their Eyes” and “The Clan”) and Diego Peretti (“En terapia”).

“The Theft of the Century” is also produced by Az Films, MarVista Ent., Viacom International Studios (Vis) and Telefe, with DirectTV in associate production.

Viacom-owned Telefe has backed and promoted most of Argentina’s big hits this last decade, including “The Secret in Their Eyes” and “Wild Tales.”

Headed by Alex Zito, and...

There’s a new and not-necessarily awful sub-genre in thrillers these days, where the hose is stepped on for hours until the twist is unravelled and water comes a-flooding out. When it’s done right, we’ve been led down a narrow path, shadows and fog obscuring details that were right in front of us the whole time, entertained even while being distracted. When it’s done wrong, it’s your Uncle George trying aimlessly to get a joke out at the dinner table. The Cat Vanishes is a quirky Argentinean psychological thriller that asks the audience to question sanity as a whole, all the while unable to stop giggling about the card it has up its sleeve.

Luis (played by Luis Luque) is being released from psychiatric care, declared sane after an incident that left a colleague bruised and battered. His wife Beatriz (played by Beatriz Spelzini… wait a...

A psychotic break has fractured Luis (Luis Luque) and Beatriz’s (Beatriz Spelzini) marriage in El gato desaparece [The Cat Vanishes], playing at the Toronto International Film Festival. Proud parents of two, successful in life as a professor and translator respectively, and completely in love, they still prove ill equipped to handle mental instability. Brought on by the ceaseless toiling to validate his research and publish his magnum opus, paranoia sets in as ideas of sabotage begin to manifest. Accusations against his assistant at the university, Fourcade (Javier Niklison), are made while aggression takes hold. He beats his friend up in unjustified anger and then turns his violence onto Beatriz when the idea that she has been helping the traitor misguidedly appears logical. It is the sort of event that ruins lives, but Luis is lucky to find a second chance through psychiatric help, drugs, and compassion from those he wronged. The memory of unchecked and unprovoked chaos,...