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Exclusive: Production is underway in the Galápagos Islands on Lions of the Sea, a documentary described as “an immersive journey into the compelling lives of sea lions in their unique environment.”

The film is being directed by Jamaicanoproblem, the nom de cinéma of Ecuadorian explorer and filmmaker Luis Felipe Fernández-Salvador y Campodonico. The all-star lineup of talent behind the scenes includes producer Adam Leipzig, former president of National Geographic Documentary Films, who led the acquisition of March of the Penguins – one of the most successful documentaries of all time.

L-r Guillermo Navarro, Adam Leipzig and Jamaicanoproblem

Guillermo Navarro, the Oscar-winning cinematographer of Pan’s Labyrinth, is heading a team of photographers described as “the world’s best nature and underwater documentarians.” He is also an executive producer of Lions of the Sea. Fellow Oscar winner Nicolas Becker (Sound of Metal) serves as sound designer on the project.

According to a release,...

Netflix has dropped a teaser for J.A. Bayona’s highly anticipated survival thriller “Society of the Snow,” which will represent Spain in the Oscars international feature film race. The film world premiered on closing night of the Venice Film Festival and is playing this week at the Lumiere Film Festival in Lyon.

Based on Uruguayan journalist Pablo Vierci’s 2009 book, “Society of the Snow” tells the true story of survivors of the 1972 Andes flight disaster who had to take extreme measures, including cannibalism, to stay alive.

“Society of the Snow” is the first Netflix film to have been selected by the Spanish committee for the Oscars and marks Bayona’s second Oscar entry following “The Orphanage” in 2007.

The film will roll out in select theaters across Latin American on Dec. 14, as well as in Spain on Dec. 15 and in the U.S. and in the U.K. on Dec. 22. “Society of the Snow...

Nathalie Garcia is leaving Fremantle Spain to join ITV Studios as the managing director of their newly announced ITV Studios Iberia. The new entity will open next month in Madrid and will be the exclusive home of the studio’s formats in Spain, including “The Voice” (La Voz), “The Voice Kids” (La Voz Kids) and “The Chase” (El Cazador).

The top executive leaves the British multinational after nine years as the CEO of Fremantle Spain. During her tenure, Garcia oversaw the production of formats such as “Got Talent España,” “The Masked Singer,” “Password,” “The Farm” and others. On the original front, Garcia helmed IPs such as “Game of Talents” (Adivina Qué Hago Esta Noche), which went on to air on Fox in the U.S., and Netflix reality show “Love Never Lies.”

In her new position, Garcia will report to ITV Studios’ managing director, international production, Lisa Perrin. In an official statement,...

Spanish director J.A. Bayona’s “Society of the Snow,” a reconstruction of a 1972 plane crash in the Andes that forced survivors to take extreme measures, including cannibalism, has been set as the Venice Film Festival’s closing film.

The deeply immersive Spanish-language saga is a Netflix original film shot in Andalusia’s Sierra Nevada, mainland Spain’s highest mountain range, using a 300-person crew. “Society of the Snow” will world premiere on the Lido out of competition on Sept. 9. Its official screening will be held in the Palazzo del Cinema after the awards ceremony.

In 1972, Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571, which had been chartered to bring Montevideo’s Old Christians Rugby Club team to Chile, crashed at an altitude of 11,712 feet in the Andes. Of its 45 passengers – which consisted mostly of the rugby team, friends and family – only 29 survived. Without food, the survivors, who belonged to Uruguay’s elite, were forced...

Spain’s fast-growing production house Mediacrest Entertainment is launching high-concept eco-reality contest format “El pueblo” (“The Village”), which will have its international market premiere at this week’s MipTV trade fair.

Designed as a primetime reality show, “El pueblo” has been structured as a social experiment, charting five families’ attempt to settle in an abandoned village, guided by the principles of sustainability and globally connected self-sufficiency.

The families’ will create their own rules, events and traditions, will initiate agriculture and livestock initiatives and start trading with nearby towns, sand later with the world. The twist: Only one winning family finally gets to stay in the village.

“Our goal is to provide the audience with content not only attractive in terms of television, but also that makes a social contribution,” said Daniel Domenjó, entertainment & factual business manager at Mediacrest.

“We believe the format is closely linked to the needs, concerns and...

A post-lockdown trend, unscripted commissioning has shot up from 32% of global commissions in fourth quarter 2019 to match scripted with 52% in 2022 Q4, according to Ampere Analysis.

The spike in Spain is even stronger: 2022 Q3 saw 166 unscripted titles announced, compared to 40 scripted, 1Q 2023 96 vs. 23.

As elsewhere, with fiction production costs soaring, unscripted has found a bigger demand among Spanish streamers and broadcasters, looking for less budget-heavy fare.

“Probably the pandemic oversized fiction. Now audiences are looking for a good time, opting for entertainment formats with less dense narratives,” argues Daniel Domenjó at Mediacrest, producer of Tve’s hit daily game show “El cazador” and new reality format “El pueblo.”

“Interest in non-fiction content has increased due to operators’ need to vary their offer,” argues Atresmedia Sales’ José Antonio Salso.

Scripted and unscripted contents today straddle free-to-air and streaming TV.

While linear TV operators back realities, talent and game shows and magazines, platforms push docu-series,...

The non-fiction focuses on the Gualeguaychú carnival in Argentina.

UK-based sales firm Wildstar International has boarded international sales on The Carnival, the first non-fiction film from Argentinian director Marco Berger.

Wildstar will introduce the title to buyers at next week’s online European Film Market.

The film has completed production and will have a festival premiere in 2021.

It centres on two men who grew up in the town of Gualeguaychú, in the east of Argentina near the border with Uruguay. Every summer they participate in the town’s traditional carnival, which transforms the men of the community into Dionysiac figures via costumes,...

Director-writer Marco Berger has been playing with same-sex seduction since his debut, “Plan B,” frequently pitching one confident gay man against a more closeted or curious conquest. Eleven years after that first feature, his latest, “Young Hunter,” continues to riff on the same theme, here exhibiting parallels with the entrapment scenario of 2011’s “Absent” in the story of a teen duped into making a sex tape and then blackmailed into recruiting younger unsuspecting students. Far more transgressive than this premise is the casual acceptance of a 13-year-old’s sexual hunger, which is likely to discomfort viewers queasy about acknowledging the reality that maturity and sexual maturity can be mutually exclusive. Oddly world premiering in the amorphous Big Screen Competition section at Rotterdam, “Young Hunter” will be more at home in queer fests and Lgbtq distribution networks.

Berger’s enjoyment in playing with thriller elements is especially drawn out here, both...