News

FilmSharks has announced a handful of deals with blue-chip distributors led by the US and UK on a remastered 4K version of Nine Queens, the Argentinian crime thriller that launched the career of Ricardo Darin.

Sony Pictures Classics has renewed its agreement for North America and has re-released the film digitally, 22 years after it initially distributed it, while Curzon has acquired rights for the UK.

In other deals, Warner Bros Discovery has acquired rights for Eastern Europe and A Contracorriente will distribute in Spain.

The late Fabián Bielinsky’s Nine Queens stars Darin and Gaston Pauls as conmen trying to...

Twdc-Disney have secured the theatrical and streaming rights in the LatAm for Sebastian Schindel's new crime/psychological-thriller feature film A Silent Death (Una Muerte Silenciosa). In the depths of Patagonia during the 80’s, a hunting guide stumbles upon a shocking crime involving his niece, forcing him to investigate and to confront the haunting secrets of that era dark years in his pursue of justice. The new thriller from Argentina stars Joaquin Furriel, Soledad Villamil, Alejandro Awada, and Maria Marull (Wild Tales). Our friends at FilmSharks are handling international sales at March du Film in Cannes. Crime Thriller Master Sebastian Schindel's...

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Famed Argentine director Daniel Burman’s new feature “Transmitzvah,” his first in nearly eight years, will receive a Cinéma de la Plage world premiere at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.

Burman first broke out internationally with a double Berlin Silver Bear win in 2004 for his fourth feature, “Lost Embrace,” and became one of Latin America’s most exportable box office draws in the following years. However, founding Oficina Burman, which was incorporated into The Mediapro Studio, his attention has shifted to creating and producing series for the past seven years, most notably Prime Video’s “Yosi, the Regretful Spy,” reckoned by many as the best title playing Berlinale Series in 2022.

“For 20 years, I made films. In my twenties, thirties, forties, I made a film every two years,” he recalled in a recent conversation with Variety. “Now, I went seven years only making series. When I went back to the...

Buenos Aires-based production, sales and distribution company FilmSharks has picked up all worldwide rights to the new crime thriller by Argentina’s Sebastian Schindel, “A Silent Death” (Una muerte silenciosa”), to which it has sold Latin American theatrical rights to Disney’s Star Distribution, slated for release later in the year.

Said FilmSharks CEO Guido Rud: “This is likely to become one of the biggest Latin American films of the year. Sebastian Schindel has earned his stripes as the Master of Crime after the huge international success of his films ‘The Boss,’ ‘Anatomy of a Crime,’ ‘Crimes that Bind’ and ‘The Wrath of God.’”

“There is a huge appetite for crime films across all platforms,” noted Rud who also holds the remake rights to the film.

Starring Joaquín Furriel, Soledad Villamil (“The Secret in Their Eyes”) Alejandro Awada (“Nine Queens”) and Maria Marull (“Wild Tales”), the psychological thriller is...

Veteran international film executive Rosa Bosch has partnered with Spanish distributor and sales agency Begin Again Films, joining the company’s international department.

Madrid-based Begin Again Films is known for handling arthouse fare such as doc The Year of Discovery, Zaida Carmona’s Girlfriends and Girlfriends and Nestor Ruiz Medina’s 21 Paradise.

Bosch joins as Begin Again also takes on sales for Anna Cornudella’s The Human Hibernation, winner of the Fipresci Award in the Forum section of the Berlinale 2024.

A veteran of the international film industry, Bosch’s career includes roles at AFI Fest, the London Film Festival...

With a couple more days left in this year's EFM our friends at FilmSharks have let us know about more deals they've secured in their time there. Two titles we've spoken about in recent months the other is the return of a classic Argentine thriller with a 4K restoration.    Look back in our pages for articles about Boogeyman and The Restless Waters. What's new to us is the 4K restoration of Fabian Bielinsky's (The Aura) 2000 thriller, Nine Queens. It was his debut feature film and was heavily lauded as one of the best thrillers of its time. Sadly, Bielinsky died from a heart attack one year after his second film, The Aura, premiered to equal acclaim. His second film was a favorite of mine...

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Exclusive: Buenos Aires-based FilmSharks has sold a series of its EFM titles, including Spanish horror pic The Boogeyman: The Origin of the Myth (El Hombre Del Saco) and a new 4K remastered version of the cult Argentinian thriller Nine Queens, to multiple international territories.

The Boogeyman: The Origin of the Myth has been sold to Rusia/Cis (Nashe Kino) for theatrical, Cambodia and Laos (Westec), and German-speaking Europe (Busch Medien). Previous deals on the pic include Mantícora, which picked up all rights for Latin America, the U.S., and Canada. Amazon’s Prime Video has acquired Spanish SVOD rights, and Antena 3 grabbed free Tvv rights.

The company has also sold the Spanish-Argentine supernatural horror drama, Restless Waters, Shivering Lights from director Ángeles Hernández, starring Hugo Silva, to Spain (Alfa) for theatrical and Kinologistica (Russia/Cis). Finally, FilmSharks has locked a deal for a theatrical release in France via Eurozoom...

Exclusive: People’s Cup, a documentary feature about Argentina’s 2022 World Cup win led by Inter Miami’s Lionel Messi, is being repped for international sales at the European Film Market by Filmsharks.

The film was produced by Pablo Bossi, best known for titles such as Nine Queens and Son Of The Bride. The film has already opened in Argentina via Disney’s Star distribution and has cleared the 1.2m ticket mark, currently making it the number-one local-language title this year in Argentinan cinemas.

The doc is narrated by Guillermo Francella. The full plot reads: World Cup FIFA Qatar 2022: Argentina’s Championship coronation in a unique portrait of the biggest celebration in the history of sports through the eyes of fans across the Globe.

“No matter where you’re from, this theatrical documentary will make you laugh and cry, watching Messi’s coronation,...

November is the month of thankfulness, so why not be thankful for some great independent cinema?

As the end of the year approaches, new films arrive in theaters at a rapid pace with big blockbusters, seasonal holiday films, and major Oscar contenders all vying for those juicy November and December slots. This month alone, some highly anticipated films include “American Fiction,” “Dream Scenario,” “Leave the World Behind,” “May December,” “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes,” “Napoleon,” and the Disney Film “Wish.” On streaming, new movies skew towards the seasonal holiday variet with mountains of Christmas rom-coms coming to Netflix for you to enjoy and/or dread. But there’s still plenty of classic films arriving on platforms this November — including great independent movies that have released as recently as 2014 and as far back as 1969.

It’s a particularly great month for the Criterion Channel: the streamer for...

Among the myriad reasons we could call the Criterion Channel the single greatest streaming service is its leveling of cinematic snobbery. Where a new World Cinema Project restoration plays, so too does Tales from the Crypt: Demon Knight. I think about this looking at November’s lineup and being happiest about two new additions: a nine-film Robert Bresson retro including L’argent and The Devil, Probably; and a one-film Hype Williams retro including Belly and only Belly, but bringing as a bonus the direct-to-video Belly 2: Millionaire Boyz Club. Until recently such curation seemed impossible.

November will also feature a 20-film noir series boasting the obvious and the not. Maybe the single tightest collection is “Women of the West,” with Johnny Guitar and The Beguiled and Rancho Notorious and The Furies only half of it. Lynch/Oz, Irradiated, and My Two Voices make streaming premieres; Drylongso gets a Criterion Edition; and joining...

Since 1961, Argentina has been sending films to vie in the international film race and Ricardo Darin, the country’s most celebrated actor, stars in at least seven of them, including this year’s nominee, “Argentina 1985.” That’s no mean feat but given his lifetime commitment to his craft, perhaps not surprising.

Four of them: “Son of the Bride” (2001), “The Secret in their Eyes” (2009), “Wild Tales” (2014) and now the Amazon Studios-backed “Argentina 1985,” have either been shortlisted or in the case of Juan José Campanella’s “The Secret in Their Eyes,” taken home the golden statuette. Given its wins at the Venice Film Festival, the National Board of Review and the Golden Globes as well as the growing buzz, “Argentina 1985” may again clinch the honor.

Before his international career-launching turn in 2000 heist drama “Nine Queens,” which spawned a Hollywood remake, Darin, 66, had already worked in 35 films, aside from numerous roles in television,...

Btf Media and Madrid-based IP management company TheMadMediaCo announced on Tuesday, as Iberseries Platino Industria geared up in Madrid, that they are teaming to co-develop and co-produce Argentine true crime non-fiction novel “Magnetized” (“Magnetizado”).

In an instance which shows how IP deals are scaling up, the adaptation will be made across a range of media, formats and markets. First up is a podcast, to be followed shortly by a TV fiction series and docuseries.

The final book published by Busqued after a short but brilliant career before he died of a heart attack on March 29, “Magnetized” is hailed as one of the most original, chilling and unclassifiable of Latin America non-fiction novels.

That comes with the material and Busqued’s treatment of it. “Magnetized” is based on Busqued’s 90 hours of recorded conversation with psychiatric ward inmate Ricardo Melogno decades after Melogno, then a 20-year-old, killed four taxi drivers in...

Natalia Oreiro (“I’m Gilda”), Gustavo Bassani (“Separados”) and Mercedes Moran (“Spider) head the cast of Argentine Amazon Original “Iosi, El Espía Arrepentido,” one of Amazon Prime Original’s biggest bets to date in Latin America.

The series, an espionage thriller, will be available exclusively on Prime Video in more than 240 countries and territories worldwide.

Showrun by Daniel Burman, a leading light of the New Argentine Cinema and recent Cannes Un Certain Regard jury member, “Iosi, El Espía Arrepentido” is produced by Oficina Burman, part of The Mediapro Studio, whose credits include “Pequeña Victoria” and “Pequeñas victorias, perdidxs en la Tierra,” both produced with Vis, with the latter acquired for Latin America by Amazon Prime Video.

Burman serves a series creator and showrunner on a banner project for the writer-director, which was one of the two he presented in person at Berlin Festival in 2017 when Mediapro confirmed it had taken a substantial stake in Oficina Burman.

Disney Plus has acquired Latin American broadcast rights to animated musical “Turu and the Wackies,” a 26-episode CGI spin-off series from the hit 2019 toon movie “Turu, the Wacky Hen,” a Spanish Academy best animated feature winner that Filmax has sold to 75 countries.

In further deals, Spanish public broadcaster Rtve has taken broadcast rights in Spain and A’Punt those to Spain’s Valencia region.

An ode to diversity, “Turu, the Wacky Hen” turns on a hen which can’t lay eggs but, when taken in by Isabel, an elderly lady and ex music teacher, discovers that it can speak to humans. Also, it sure can sing.

In the Spanish-Argentine series, which is being sold internationally by Filmax, Turu sets up a band with his farm friends: the elegant little pig Rhythm, who plays guitar, and energetic sheep Beat, on drums. Together they discover the world around them through adventures and...

Focused on Latin America and U.S. Hispanic markets, last week’s MipCancun Online Plus market-conference was a boutique affair, attracting 600 delegates from 500 companies and 44 countries.

Far more than MipTV and even Mipcom, however, MipCancun’s lineup of speakers marked a virtual who’s who of relevant leading industry figures, led by the top executives for Latin America at companies shaping the region’s film-tv future: Netflix’s Francisco Ramos; Disney Plus’ Leonardo Aranguibel; ViacomCBS Intl. Studios and Networks Americas’ J.C. Acosta; Amazon Prime Video’s Pablo Iacoviello; NBCUniversal Telemundo’s Marcos Santana; and Sony Pictures Television’s Ana Bond.

Wrapping Friday, 2020’s MipCancun kicked off on Nov. 17 as Disney Plus launched across Latin America. That seems appropriate. One subject dominated most keynote and panels, one way or another: The impact of the still ongoing Ott revolution on Latin America’s production sector. Below, find 10 takeaways from MipCancun 2020’s conference.

Miami-based Btf Media, celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, is planning a series reboot for Fabián Bielinsky’s Argentine modern classic “Nine Queens” (“Nueve Reinas”), a feature film which 20 years ago introduced the world to one of Argentina’s most bankable actors in Ricardo Darín and film-tv crossover superstar Gastón Pauls.

It also established, just as the New Argentine Cinema was lifting off in the country, a crossover style of movie which could combine artistic ambition and genre heft to appeal to broad audiences at home and abroad, a filmic mode inherited by Juan José Campanella and Pablo Trapero among others.

The announcement is the latest in what could prove a trend for the company, as earlier this year Btf Media also secured the remake rights to Alejandro Amenabar’s Golden Globe-nominated “The Others,” starring Nicole Kidman, and are planning a Spanish-language series version of the horror classic.

Btf Media...

Argentina’s StoryLab and Telecom SVOD platform Flow have announced that the country’s first new post-covid 19 series, “Post Mortem,” will be available to stream on Oct. 8.

Starring Julieta Zylberberg (“Wild Tales”), Esteban Pérez and Alejandro Awada (“Nine Queens”), “Post Mortem” is created and produced by Nacho Viale and Diego Palacio for StoryLab in co-production with TECtv, the channel of Argentina’s Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation. Palacio directs the screenplays written by Lucas Molteni and Luciana Porchietto.

“’Post Mortem’ is a strong bet by StoryLab, and we are proud to be able to launch a fiction series of this quality at a time and in a place where we badly need to tell new stories and see actors back on screen. This was a great team effort that we can now celebrate together with Flow,” said Palacio.

“Post Mortem” turns on a pair of Buenos Aires journalists, Florencia...

“We’re not thieves,” insists the ringleader of a heist in “Heroic Losers,” a South American crowd-pleaser about a rural collective seeking justice against big-city banking elites. He may be wrong in the most literal sense, but like an Argentinean Danny Ocean, he’s assembled a group of amateurs who have no intention of filling their coffers with ill-gotten gains — they just want their money back. Adding to a tradition of modest heist comedies like “Going in Style” and “Big Deal on Madonna Street,” . That populist touch has put it on track to be the year’s biggest box-office hit in its home country, and other territories will surely pounce after its international premiere in Toronto.

Anchoring this motley ensemble is Ricardo Darín, the durable star of Borensztein’s previous two films, “Chinese Take-Out” and “Kóblic,” though international audiences will likely remember him from “Nine Queens,” which also placed him...

“How did you end up in here?” an older inmate asks Jaime, a young man who unexpectedly finds himself in prison. The answer: He killed his best friend.

“El Principe” is Chilean director Sebastián Muñoz’s debut feature and has its world premiere in the Critics’ Week section at the Venice Film Festival. Set in Chile in the politically volatile 1970s, the story centers on the self-involved Jaime, who becomes known as El Principe (the Prince) behind bars and develops an unlikely relationship with El Potro (the Stallion), the powerful older inmate.

The film made waves when it screened as a work in progress at festivals in Chile and San Sebastian. Muñoz, who shot the short films “Happiness” and “Good Luck” in 1996 and 1997, respectively, told Variety that his freshman feature outing revolved around the themes of desire and the need of human beings “to love and be loved.” The prison...

Pamplona, Spain — Disney’s Leonardo Aranguibel, producer of “Until I Met You” and “Selena’s Secret,” may have another winner on its hands. Produced by the Buena Vista Production Group, “Monzón,” a chronicle of the Argentine’s boxing legend’s arrest and trial, accused of murdering wife Alicia Muniz, opened on Turner Latin America’s Space on Monday June 17 to a bullish rating. That made it, after the primetime offering of Telefe and Artear the most-watched program of the day in Argentina, despite Space being cable TV not free-to-air.

“Monzon” was the only Latin America series to be chosen for SeriesMania in March and played to warm applause at Conecta Fiction’s closing prize ceremony on June 19. The Buena Vista Production Group produces with Pampa Films, headed by Pablo Bossi, who serves as showrunner. Producer of some of the iconic titles of the New Argentine Cinema, such as Nine Queens and Chinese Takeaway,...

Exclusive: Ricardo Darin-starrer An Unexpected Love is one of a handful of films going global for Argentine outfit FilmSharks. Guido Rud’s label has sold remake rights for Juan Vera’s film to Recifilm for France and Btf for Mexico.

The film has to date been sold to more than 45 countries by sales outfit and remake rights specialist FilmSharks. A Chinese theatrical deal is said to be in advanced discussions. Mercedes Moran (El Angel) stars opposite Argentine superstar Darin (The Secret In Their Eyes) in the rom-com about a marriage tested by their son leaving home. The film opened last year’s San Sebastian Film Festival.

FilmSharks has also struck remake deals on swinger comedy 2+2 , which is from the same writer duo as An Unexpected Love. Pacts have been signed with Pirueta Films for Spain, Btf for Mexico, and with Brazilian producer-distributor Paris Entretenimento, owned by París Filmes. A U.

Sebastián Muñoz’s drama “El Principe” has closed key major territory deals before its European Film Market premiere, licensing North America (Artsploitation Films) and Germany/Austria (Salzgeber).

Sold by Patra Spanou, “El Princípe,” which proved a standout at works-in-progress strands of Chile’s Sanfic and Spain’s San Sebastián festival, has also sold to Poland (Tongariro Releasing). Chilean production house Jirafa, which runs a highly select distribution operation, will release “El Príncipe” in its native Chile.

Starring Gastón Pauls (“Nine Queens”) and Alfredo Castro, “El Principe” is set in 1970 Chile as Jaime enters prison, having murdered his best friend, and establishes a bond with “El Potro,” one of the jail’s most powerful inmates.

“El Principe” turns on two universal concepts, Muñoz told Variety: “Desire” and “human beings’ need to love and be loved.” The film is set in prison because “locked-up men only have each other and seek affection...

Bernardo Zupnik, one of the Argentine film industry’s most senior figures, has been voted in as the president of Argentina’s Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Cecilia Roth, famed for her performances in early Pedro Almodovar films, will serve as vice-president, and producer-turned-director Juan Vera, who has just debuted behind the camera with Ricardo Darín starrer “An Unexpected Love,” is the Academy’s new second vice-president.

The appointment marks the latest career turn for Zupnik, one of Argentina’s most famous independent distributors who headed for years, along with his daughter Paula Zupnik, Distribution Co., which released many of the largest U.S. independent and Argentine titles, such as 2009 Oscar winner “The Secret in Their Eyes,” which grossed $9.3 million domestically. He has also held public sector positions such as deputy director of the Argentine Film Institute (Incaa).

His appointment comes as Incaa is under increasing fiscal pressure,...

Directed by “La Casa Muda’s” Gustavo Hernández and starring “The Orphanage’s” Belén Rueda, “No dormirás” (“You Shall Not Sleep”) continues to rack up new major territory sales for FilmSharks Intl.

Produced among others by Pablo Bossi (“Nine Queens”), “You Shall Not Sleep” is one major highlight at Thursday’s Blood Window showcase Latin American Genre Films Today.

It is set in an abandoned psychiatric hospital, where a radical theater group experiments with insomnia, falling prey to the place’s dark energies.

The building supernatural chiller caught attention last August when 20th Century Fox stepped in to acquire rights to the U.S., most of Latin America and German-speaking territories.

Receiving its international premiere at the recent Tribeca Festival, “You Shall Not Sleep” has now been sold by FilmSharks Intl. to At Entertainment for Japan, Sycomad for Korea and StarCastle for Mexico, Peru, Ecuador & Bolivia. On other unannounced sales,...

Emmy winners Jeff Daniels (“The Newsroom”) and Alec Baldwin (“30 Rock”) head up the new Hulu original series “The Looming Tower,” which chronicles the rise of Osama Bin-Laden. Also featured in this docudrama about the inter-agency rivalry between the CIA and FBI in the first part of this century are Golden Globe nominees Peter Sarsgaard and Michael Stuhlbarg. The first of the 10 episodes starts streaming on Hulu on Feb. 28.

Before then, Hulu viewers will get a chance to see another acclaimed docudrama, the film “Detroit” by Oscar-winning director Kathryn Bigelow (“The Hurt Locker”). She reteamed with screenwriter Mark Boal, who also picked up an Oscar for “The Hurt Locker,” for this acclaimed film. “Detroit” documents the riots that beset the motor city in the summer of 1967 after the police raid an unlicensed bar on July 23 and arrest the 82 patrons and staff. Over the course of just five days, 43 people died...

Exclusive: Film Sharks scores sales on redemption feature.

Black Snow (Nieve Negra), the thriller starring Argentinian superstar Ricardo Darin who is in official selection at Cannes Film Festival with The Summit (El Cordillera), has sparked a flurry of multi-platform transactions for Film Sharks including a global streaming deal with Netflix.

Fabian Bielinsky protégé Martin Hodara’s film has also gone to DirecTV for Latin American TVoD rights, and as previously announced will open theatrically in Spain through A Contracorriente, and Italy via Movies Inspired.

Paris Films will distribute in Brazil, and Seven Films in Greece. Buena Vista International reported more than 750,000 admissions in South America.

Talks are ongoing for theatrical deals in the UK, Australia, Germany and Scandinavia on the story of a man living in self-imposed exile in Patagonia years after he was accused of killing his brother.

Old rivalries are reignited when he is visited by another brother and his wife with a land sale...

Making his solo directorial debut in Black Snow -- back in 2000, he was assistant director on Fabian Bielinsky’s scam classic Nine Queens, and later co-directed The Signal with Ricardo Darin -- Martin Hodara can’t go too far wrong, since the film's cast features the charismatic likes of Darin, Leonardo Sbaraglia, Federico Luppi and Dolores Fonzi. But though it burns as slowly and intensely as a cabin log fire over its first hour, narrative confusion and implausibility strike over the final run, and it’s that wobbly final stretch that will linger in viewers’ minds, making Snow a less chilling experience than it...

The Argentinian star will collect the lifetime achievement award during the third annual awards gala at the Punta del Este Conventions Centre in Uruguay on July 24.

The awards recognise talent in the cinematic arts in Spanish and Portuguese-language films and according to the selection committee Darin’s hallmarks are the “commitment and hard work of a true craftsman in the art of acting.”

Darín launched his career in El Mismo Amor, La Misma Lluvia in 1999, for which he won the Condor de Plata. The actor earned his second Condor for the Oscar-nominated Son Of The Bride in 2001.

A fruitful collaboration with Juan José Campanella brought international celebrity through a starring role in 2010 best foreign-language Oscar-winner The Secret In Their Eyes, which garnered Darín’s first Premio Sur for best actor from the Argentinian Motion Picture Academy.

He has also starred in Fabián Bielinsky’s thriller Nine Queens, Cesc Gay’s comedy Truman, and [link=nm...

Exclusive: Ricardo Darin-starring thriller is now shooting in Spain and Argentina.

FilmSharks has cut early pre-sales on the $4m Black Snow (Nieve Niegra), the Ricardo Darin thriller that is shooting now in Spain and Argentina.

Buena Vista has acquired rights for South America, Paris Filmes for Brazil, and Seven Films for Greece. Producer A Contracorriente Films holds Spanish rights.

Guido rud is showing first footage in Cannes on the thriller by Fabian Bieleinsky protégé Martin Hodara about a man living in self-imposed exile in Patagonia years after being accused of killing his brother who is visited by another brother and his wife with a sensitive land sale proposal.

Leonardo Sbaraglia and Laia Costa also star and produce.

Pablo Bossi of Nine Queens produces with Gloriamundi, Pampa Films, Amiguetes Ent, A Contracorrriente Films, and DirecTV in associaiton with Antena 3 and Telefe /Telefonica Studios.

Exclusive: FilmSharks’ Francis: Pray For Us promo continues to draw buyers as Metropolitan has swooped on French rights to the Vatican-endorsed biopic of the current Pope.

M2 Pictures acquired Italian rights and To Must See Movie Releasing will distribute in South Korea.

Offers from the Us, the UK and Germany are on the table.

Dario Grandinetti stars and Pablo Bossi of Nine Queens fame produces the $6m Spanish-language film that charts the early career of Jorge Mario Bergoglio [the Pope] through the eyes of an investigative reporter, culminating in the papal conclave in 2013.

As previously announced FilmSharks pre-sold to Disney for Latin America and Warsaw Movie Distribution in Poland.

“We are expecting huge success for this title about the most beloved Pope ever that recounts his hard life based on the only one official biography,” said Rud.

Exclusive: Disney has swooped on Latin American and Spanish rights to Kóblic, a thriller that reunites Argentinian idol Ricardo Darin with his Chinese Take-Out director Sebastián Borensztein.

Guido Rud’s Buenos Aires-based FilmSharks closed the early deal on the $3.5m project and has scored a Greek pre-sale with Seven Films.

Production on Kóblic is set to start in Argentina on July 20 with Darin playing a Navy captain in the late 1970s during the country’s ‘Dirty War’ who refuses to take part in the death flights, whereby drugged dissidents are dropped from planes.

The officer takes refuge in a coastal city and flies crop dusters for a family friend. He eventually falls for a local woman and confronts a thuggish police chief as the dictatorship’s agents close in on his whereabouts.

Darin, who appeared in Argentina’s Oscar-nominated Wild Tales as well as Oscar winner The Secret In Their Eyes and Nine Queens, will star alongside...

This anthology of six bleakly funny shorts is a mixed bag that ranges from anticlimactic but intriguing to “Oh my God, did I just laugh out loud at that?” I’m “biast” (pro): nothing

I’m “biast” (con): nothing

(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto)

A huge hit in its native Argentina and an Oscar nominee this year for Best Foreign Language Film, this anthology of six bleakly, blackly funny short films is a mixed bag that ranges from anticlimactic but intriguing to “Oh my God, did I just laugh out loud at that?” Writer-director Damián Szifron, variously borrowing the trappings of genres from suspense drama to action thriller to romantic comedy, connects the individual stories through themes of betrayal, frustration, and revenge that send up human foibles and cultural defects: one story revolves around a man who lashes out at lifelong maltreatment, some of it quite minor,...

Thanks to video-on-demand, films never go away any more – so when I tell you to watch a weird Austrian cowboy movie, I expect you do it. This week

Netflix and video-on-demand and Hulu have created immense new pressures on hardcore movie lovers. In the olden days you could tell a friend, “You just have to see House of Games; it’s the best scam movie of the year!” or “I will not stop badgering you until you see Nine Queens! It’s the best South American scam movie of the year!”

And back in the olden days people would reply: “Yeah, sure, I’ll get to it when I get to it.” But then the film would end its theatrical run, so your friends had a legitimate excuse to ignore you. They would assure you that they would get around to seeing that Argentine movie about the bank robber with...

Who knew petty crime could be so much fun? Focus, a tale of charming pickpockets, con-men and confidence tricksters, treats theft as an art form. Our hero, Nicky Spurgeon (Will Smith), is essentially an evil Derren Brown. Through a combination of psychological tricks, subconscious programming and old-school grifting, he manipulates his marks so expertly they only notice they’ve been taken for a ride when he’s long gone, if at all.

Focus is a film of two halves, the first taking place in New Orleans over the week of the Super Bowl. With thousands of booze-soaked tourists flocking into town, Nicky spies opportunity. He promptly assembles a professional pickpocket gang that swoops through the streets with clockwork synchronicity. One thief distracts, another removes the mark’s wallet, a third immediately scarpers with the loot. These wallets get funnelled straight to an office complex where they’re stripped of cash,...

Wild Tales

Written by Damián Szifron

Directed by Damián Szifron

Argentina, 2014

Wild Tales fulfills an Argentine need for release and catharsis. It’s engineered to reflect the zeitgeist or, at least, its own interpretation of the national mood. It stages a multidirectional offensive against marriage, city and national governments, illogical bureaucracy, class and ethnic resentment, and even parenthood. Damián Szifrón, its director and writer, locates six unconnected narratives in clearly Argentine contexts, but mostly avoids specifics: they happen in the present day, are symptomatic of ongoing social and political tensions, but also occur during an unspecified time, as likely today as yesterday and tomorrow, and no people, groups, or parties are explicitly singled out for criticism. No one and everyone is to blame for our spiteful and violent collective moment.

This is no subtle analysis of reasons and origins, only a spectacular, sensational snapshot, or rather an hilarious, infinitely-watchable, and ultimately adolescent cry.

Aside from Brazil and Mexico, Argentina has had perhaps the most well developed Latin American base for popular cinema, and it’s been home to a number of respected filmmakers for many years now. The late Fabien Bielinsky from Buenos Aires made a nice, twisty con man film in the form of 2000’s “Nine Queens,” and Juan José Campanella took home an Oscar for "The Secret In Their Eyes." Pablo Trapero has broken out with "Carancho" and "White Elephant." But Perhaps one of the most underappreciated filmmakers from this region is Lucrecia Martel. She made a splash with her gentle, disturbing debut, “La Cienaga,” or as it translates in English, “The Swamp.” An actual swamp does figure in the movie’s plot in the early goings, but the title has a metaphorical resonance as well: “La Cienaga” is a slow-moving, largely plotless mood piece that drops in on one particularly...

Exclusive: Guido Rud’s FilmSharks International has prevailed in a bidding war, acquiring feature rights to Abel Basti’s Latin American publishing sensation.

Buenos Aires-based Rud is developing the project with Amsterdam-based European Film Company, the company behind Kidnapping Freddy Heineken that is understood to be bringing equity and soft money to the table.

Rud is aiming for a studio-level feature, preferably in Argentina, and will commence pre-sales at the Afm.

In After Hitler’s Steps Basti produces evidence purporting to show how the Führer survived WWII and fled to Argentina and Paraguay, where he lived until his death in the 1970s.

The world-renowned authority on the Third Reich and the flight of Nazis to Latin America and the Us is adapting the screenplay. His previous work has been acquired by the BBC and he wrote a documentary that aired on History Channel called Hitler’s Escape (El Escape De Hitler).

Producing is Pablo Bossi, Fabian Bielinsky’s producer...

Exclusive: Guido Rud’s FilmSharks International has prevailed in a bidding war, acquiring feature rights to Abel Basti’s Latin American publishing sensation.

Buenos Aires-based Rud is developing the project with Amsterdam-based European Film Company, the company behind Kidnapping Freddy Heineken that is understood to be bringing equity and soft money to the table.

Rud is aiming for a studio-level feature, preferably in Argentina, and will commence pre-sales at the Afm.

In After Hitler’s Steps Basti produces evidence purporting to show how the Führer survived WWII and fled to Argentina and Paraguay, where he lived until his death in the 1970s.

The world-renowned authority on the Third Reich and the flight of Nazis to Latin America and the Us is adapting the screenplay. His previous work has been acquired by the BBC and he wrote a documentary that aired on History Channel called Hitler’s Escape (El Escape De Hitler).

Producing is Pablo Bossi, Fabian Bielinsky’s producer...

Welcome back to Cannes Check, In Contention's annual preview of the films in Competition at this year's Cannes Film Festival, which kicks off on May 14. Taking on different selections every day, we'll be examining what they're about, who's involved and what their chances are of snagging an award from Jane Campion's jury. Next up, perhaps the most unexpected selection of the lot: Damián Szifrón's "Wild Tales." The director: Damián Szifrón (Argentinian, 38 years old). Arguably the least familiar name in the Competition to most Cannes-goers, Szifrón is the only South American representative in a lineup that isn't as geographically diverse as it could be. (Asia, in particular, seems to have been sold short, but that's another discussion.) Perhaps there was an element of cultural balancing to his inclusion, perhaps not; either way, he's not a filmmaker who has previously been on the major festival radar, having largely been limited to...

While we’ve known for a while that Channing Tatum is hard at work on the Magic Mike sequel – the man himself recently tweeted photographic evidence – but most other details were still hidden. Now The Playlist has it that Greg Jacobs will be the man to direct the new film, and that it will be called Magic Mike Xxl.The word arrives from “sources”, so we can’t treat it as official yet, but Jacobs certainly isn’t a stranger to the world of Magic Mike, nor the first film’s director, Steven Soderbergh. He’s served as first assistant director for Soderbergh since King Of The Hill and has been a producer on his films for several years. So while there had been chatter about Tatum or writing/producing partner Reid Carolin taking the reins, Jacobs would seem to be a smart choice. Jacobs has also called the shots...

Disney's family-friendly movie tops the UK box-office charts, as rival animation Free Birds' fortunes take a dive

• More on the UK box office

• Frozen – review

• The Hunger Games: Catching Fire – review

The winner

Pushing The Hunger Games: Catching Fire aside after its two weeks at the top spot, Disney's Frozen opened with £4.70m. That's by no means the top number for an animation this year – Despicable Me 2 debut gathered £14.82m, including £4.87m in previews in June – but it's a solid start for a film presumed to play to the Christmas audience. Family films targeting the Christmas market have a knack of playing strongly right through until Christmas Eve, and if the festive association is not too strong can, continue to play beyond that date.

Two years ago, Aardman's Arthur Christmas debuted with a so-so £2.11m, but by Christmas Day had managed £19.66m, and eventually reached £20.84m. (A re-release...

Following are some supplemental sections featuring notable director & actor teams that did not meet the criteria for the main body of the article. Some will argue that a number of these should have been included in the primary section but keep in mind that film writing on any level, from the casual to the academic, is a game of knowledge and perception filtered through personal taste.

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Other Notable Director & Actor Teams

This section is devoted to pairings where the duo worked together at least 3 times with the actor in a major role in each feature film, resulting in 1 must-see film.

Terence Young & Sean Connery

Must-See Collaboration: From Russia with Love (1962).

Other Collaborations: Action of the Tiger (1957), Dr. No (1962), Thunderball (1965).

Director Young and actor Connery teamed up to create one of the very best Connery-era James Bond films with From Russia with Love which features a great villainous performance by Robert Shaw...

This past week has really been all about us recommending movies for you guys. As it should be. Although most of the mainstream releases hitting this weekend suck, we did give high grades to the latest from Joss Whedon and Alain Resnais while also finding places to highlight some additional picks that might be more easily available to you this month than what’s just on the big screen. The latest from Neil Labute, for instance, as well as David Mackenzie‘s Tonight You’re Mine and a classic from Billy Wilder, which is a great alternative to The Internship. We also referenced Nine Queens as a better alternative to Now You See Me, Death Sentence for being better than Death Wish and anniversary celebrant Big as requiring a fresh look from your 25-year-older self. On top of that, we officially entered super-excited-about-Man of Steel mode here at Fsr. There...

This weekend’s two major openers had something in common: each deceived us as far as being relevant to current hot-button issues. It’s a strange thing to fake, I know. Marketing mainstream Hollywood fare as having political messages would seem to be misguided. And the fact that both were sort of a misdirection anyway, that probably annoyed anyone who would go to see After Earth or Now You See Me because of the promise of substantial contemporary context. I can’t be the only person who is more interested in studio pictures when they at least address if not also deal with real world problems. I even went to see the Fright Night remake specifically because it incorporated some commentary on the housing crisis and its significance in Las Vegas. Now You See Me sold me similarly on its consideration of the Great Recession and banking crisis. I thought this could be the most timely heist...

This article is dedicated to Andrew Copp: filmmaker, film writer, artist and close friend who passed away on January 19, 2013. You are loved and missed, brother.

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Looking at the Best Actor Academy Award nominations for the film year 2012, the one miss that clearly cries out for more attention is Liam Neeson’s powerful performance in Joe Carnahan’s excellent survival film The Grey, easily one of the best roles of Neeson’s career.

In Neeson’s case, his lack of a nomination was a case of neglect similar to the Albert Brooks snub in the Best Supporting Actor category for the film year 2011 for Drive(Nicolas Winding Refn, USA).

Along with negligence, other factors commonly prevent outstanding lead acting performances from getting the kind of critical attention they deserve. Sometimes it’s that the performance is in a film not considered “Oscar material” or even worthy of any substantial critical attention.

They're not Korea or Iran or anything, but there's been some fairly impressive films coming out of Argentina in the last few years. The nation's always had a strong film culture (they're the only Latin American country to have won the Foreign Language Oscar, and have done so twice), but in the first decade of the 21st century, films like "Nine Queens," "The Aura," "Son Of The Bride" and, most of all, "The Secret In Their Eyes," have all made serious impressions over the last few years. And one of the most exciting talents the country has right now is director Pablo Trapero. The 41-year-old filmmaker's been working for nearly two decades, but has found serious international recognition in the last few years with films like "Carancho," official Cannes selection "Lion's Den," and this year's "White Elephant" (read our review of the latter from Tiff here -- Strand Releasing will release.

HollywoodNews.com: The Tribeca Film Institute (Tfi) announced the award winners for the Tfi Latin America Media Arts Fund and first-ever Heineken Voces grant at a celebration over the weekend for Latin American filmmakers during the Tribeca Film Festival. The funds, totaling $60,000, support innovative Latin American film and video artists to help them explore stories reflecting diverse cultures and gain exposure in the film industry.

The Tfi Latin America Media Arts Fund awards $10,000 grants to animation, documentary, or hybrid feature-length films in advanced development, production or post-production from filmmakers living and working in the Caribbean, Mexico, Central and South America. Grantees also receive exclusive guidance from Tfi to ensure that each film reaches completion and enters the U.S. marketplace from the best possible vantage point. The Fund is sponsored by Moviecity and Canacine.

“We are proud to support this year’s Latin America Fund and Heineken Voces winners, and...

The Tribeca Film Festival kicks off for the eleventh time starting Wednesday when "The Five-Year Engagement" premieres, and festival organizers have just announced the star-studded jury for this year's edition.

Thirty-nine celebrities -- of various levels of fame and awards kudos -- make up the six juries, with producer Irwin Winkler ("Goodfellas") serving a jury president.

Among those selected by Tribeca this year: Patricia Clarkson, Hugh Dancy, Rosario Dawson, Dakota Fanning, Kellan Lutz, Michael Moore and Olivia Wilde. Also on the list: Brett Ratner. The controversial big-budget director will serve on the Documentary and Student Short Film Competition jury along with Justin Bieber's manager Scooter Braun, Susan Sarandon and Shailene Woodley, among others.

“We are honored to have this accomplished group dedicate the time and care it takes to view and discuss the films in competition this year,” Tribeca Film Festival co-founder Jane Rosenthal said in a statement.

For...

It’s a star-studded list that includes some interesting, and surprising, names, which is just what you’d expect from the Tribeca Film Festival. The juries have been announced, and you could hardly got a more varied mix.

Juries Announced For 2012 Tribeca Film Festival And Tribeca Film Institute Programs

Academy Award-Winning Producer/Director Irwin Winkler To Serve as Jury President

Patricia Clarkson, Hugh Dancy, Rosario Dawson, Dakota Fanning, Whoopi Goldberg, Susannah Grant, Kellan Lutz, Michael Moore, Mike Newell, Brett Ratner, Susan Sarandon, Olivia Wilde, and Shailene Woodley are among the Jurors

The Tribeca Film Festival (Tff), presented by founding partner American Express, today announced its jurors – a diverse group of 39 individuals, including award-winning filmmakers, writers and producers, acclaimed actors, respected critics and global business leaders. Irwin Winkler has been named President of the Jury. The Jury will be divided among the six competitive Festival categories and will announce the winning films,...

David Fincher's adaptation of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo is only the latest English-language version of a hit Scandi film to disappoint at the box office. Have we now got a taste for 'authentic originals'?

When producer Scott Rudin optioned the English-language rights on Stieg Larsson's The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo books in early 2010, he'd be forgiven for anticipating a slam-dunk hit. He had a global bestseller and two lead characters likely to attract A-list actors. The only snag was that the material had already yielded film versions in the original Swedish. But these had yet to open in the key English-speaking markets, which would surely be way more excited about a version directed by David Fincher and starring Daniel Craig. Right?

Fast-forward two years, and the film's main backer, MGM, disclosed to its investors that box-office for Fincher's film was "below our expectations and...