News

A highly anticipated LGBTQ+ musical series (“Mariliendre”), a psychological thriller involving a standout U.S. indie producer-distributor (“Innate”) and a pre-sales hit period drama (“La Favorita 1922”) feature in Coming Next from Spain, a showcase of newest Spanish premium content.

Unspooling March 25 at Series Mania, organized by Icex Spain Trade and Investment’s umbrella organization, Audiovisual from Spain, the event targets buyers and international press, putting the spotlight on some of the most promising Spanish series produced by the country’s top leading companies.

Spain and its content have become a worldwide phenomenon. Think megahits “Money Heist” and “Elite,” which started conquering the TV fiction market seven years ago.

That fire left embers, as proved by recent hits such as the first season of “Berlin,” a “Money Heist” spin-off, toplining Pedro Alonso.

Released Dec. 2023 via Netflix, “Berlin’s” debut was the most-watched series globally upon its premiere, reaching the Top...

As the highly anticipated Spanish musical show “Mariliendre” gears up for this week’s world premiere at the Málaga Film Festival, screening at France’s Series Mania and an April 27 debut on Atresplayer, Variety sat down with the show’s creator and director, Javier Ferreiro, to discuss his debut series.

A six-episode musical dramedy, Mariliendre – produced by Spain’s hottest filmmaking duo Los Javis (Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi) at Suma Content – explores themes of friendship, LGBTQ+ culture, body positivity and the power of music in shaping identity.

Set in Chueca, one of the most vibrant and gay neighborhoods in the Spanish capital and likely the world, “Mariliendre” – a common Spanish nickname for the woman best friend of a gay man or group of gay men – follows Meri Román, a former queen of Madrid’s gay nightlife. Now, at 35 years old, those days of recognition are in the review mirror for Meri,...

When Spanish multi-hyphenate Elena Martín Gimeno first got a call to say she would be this year’s recipient of the Málaga Talent Award at the prestigious Malaga Film Festival, she felt it was a “full circle moment.” Having premiered her feature debut “Júlia Ist” at the festival almost a decade ago, the director credits the launchpad as having “made her career possible,” catapulting her to premiere her sophomore effort “Creatura” to great acclaim at Directors’ Fortnight in 2023.

Gimeno directed, wrote and starred in “Creatura,” which went on to win Best European Film at Directors’ Fortnight, six Gaudí Awards, and three nominations for the Goya Awards.

As a director and screenwriter, on top of her two feature films, Gimeno has worked on fiction projects such as Canneseries double winner “Vida Perfecta” by Leticia Dolera and “Veneno” by Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi, their first big international breakout. The creative also...

Entrepreneur and TV producer Daniel Domenjó has been named CEO of Movistar Plus+, Spain’s biggest national payTV/streaming service, replacing Cristina Burzako.

The appointment was announced by Movistar Plus+ parent Telefónica on Thursday.

The same reshuffle sees the departure of Sergio Oslé, president of Movistar Plus+ from 2017. Promoted to managing director of Teléfonica Spain in 2021, he continued to champion Movistar Plus+. He is replaced by Javier de la Paz, already a Telefónica board member.

Burzako will remain a board member of brand Movistar Plus+’s official company name Telefónica Audiovisual Digital and will take on new responsibilities in the group.

The massive management overhaul at the Spanish telco has been sparked by the substitution this January of José María Alvárez-Pallete by former Indra Sistemas Marc Murtra as its chairman-ceo.

That change came in turn after Saudi Arabian telecoms group Stc announced in 2023 that it had bought 4.9% of Telefonica, signalling...

La primera serie en clausurar el Festival de Málaga. © Atresplayer

La plataforma Atresplayer ha compartido el primer tráiler y ha anunciado la fecha de estreno de su serie Mariliendre, que cuenta con la producción de Javier Calvo y Javier Ambrossi, y es la primera serie que clausura el Festival de Málaga.

Mariliendre sigue a Meri Román, que era una reina de la noche gay de Madrid, pero de eso han pasado ya más de 10 años. Ahora, a sus 35, es una diva destronada que vive atormentada por su pasado y aburrida en su mediocre presente. Tras la muerte de su padre, Meri reconecta con su séquito de amigos gays, rememorando su pasado y los temazos musicales que marcaron aquella época, mientras intenta definir su caótica vida y su identidad.

Blanca Martínez será la encargada de dar vida a Meri, acompañada de un elenco principal que incluye a Martín Urrutia, Omar Ayuso,...

Protagonizada por Ana Boga y David Menéndez. © Movistar Plus+

Arranca el rodaje en diversas localizaciones de Barcelona y Berlín (Alemania) de Yo siempre a veces, una serie original de Movistar Plus+, creada por Marta Bassols y Marta Loza y producida por Javier Calvo y Javier Ambrossi.

Yo siempre a veces sigue a Laura (Ana Boga), que se quedó embarazada solo dos meses después de conocer a Rubén (David Menéndez), estando muy ciega de amor y de droga. Cinco meses después del nacimiento de su hijo, Mario, ya se estaban separando y no precisamente en buenos términos. Un libro expedido en el registro civil dice que son una familia; sin embargo, Laura cuida del niño casi sola. Lo hace con inmenso amor, fe, chispa y alegría, aunque a veces no tenga más ideas ni herramientas para cuidar de sí misma.

La serie, compuesta por seis episodios de 30 minutos, está encabezada por...

Arte/Zdf, the German arm of European public broadcaster Arte, and German production company Port au Prince have boarded “Ivan & Hadoum,” the feature debut of Ian de la Rosa, one of Spain’s top emerging talents.

Now casting, “Ivan & Hadoum,” will be presented Friday at the EFM’s Spain in Focus Showcase by Emilia Fort at Avalon, one of the film’s Spanish producers.

Arte/Zdf will support “Ivan & Hadoum” via its Das Kleine Fernsehspiel initiative for new and artistically ambitious filmmakers.

“Ivan & Hadoum,” which won a Eurimages Co-production Development Award at the Berlinale Co-Production Market 2023, is set in an industrial greenhouse in Almería, Spain. Iván falls in love with co-worker Hadoum, a young Spanish-Moroccan woman. Ivan’s desired job promotion is challenged by the relationship, however, forcing him to decide what kind of man he wants to be.

Port au Prince and Arte/Zdf join Spain’s Avalon and Pecado Films,...

Javier Calvo y Javier Ambrossi tienen nuevo proyecto en Movistar Plus+. © Movistar Plus+

Hoy, Movistar Plus+ ha dado un paso más en su compromiso con el cine español, anunciando sus próximos proyectos, y entre ellos se encuentra La bola negra, la nueva película de Los Javis (La llamada), que toma como punto de partida una de las últimas obras, inacabada, de Federico García Lorca desde una perspectiva queer.

Tras el éxito de La Mesías, Javier Calvo y Javier Ambrossi han vuelto a confiar en Movistar Plus+ para dar vida a su siguiente proyecto, esta vez un largometraje, en coproducción con Suma Content Films, la productora independiente de contenidos audiovisuales que ambos fundaron.

La bola negra narra las vidas entrelazadas de tres hombres –cuyo reparto aún no se ha anunciado– en tres épocas diferentes. Tres existencias íntimamente ligadas por la sexualidad y el deseo, el dolor y la herencia.

En palabras...

Movistar Plus+, the Spanish pay-tv and SVoD service, is expanding its film production slate and has boarded Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi’s The Black Ball (La Bola Negra), set to shoot in the second half of 2025.

The Black Ball, inspired by an unfinished play by Federico García Lorca, will be a “queer vindication about three meen in three different moments of Spanish history: 1932, 1937 and 2017,” said Calvo and Ambrossi, best known as filmmaking duo Los Javis.

Los Javis’ outfit Suma Content is producing with Movistar Plus+.

Lorca was murdered at the start of the Spanish Civil War by rightwing military...

During a Movistar+ presentation at the historic Telefónica Building on Madrid’s Gran Via this afternoon, renowned writer-director-producer duo Los Javis – Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo – shared early details about their next project, “La bola negra,” a multi-timelined feature about what it is and has meant to be a gay man in Spain throughout the last century.

A day after their series “La Mesías” won the Rose d’Or Award for best mini or limited series at Content Americas, Ambrossi and Calvo – known locally as Los Javis – revealed that they’re in the final stages of putting the project together and will begin shooting later this year. Abrossi and Calvo are writing, directing, and co-producing the feature through their label Suma Content, which is teaming with Movistar+, its production and distribution partner, on “La Mesías.”

“La bola negra” is a “queer revisitation of a part of the history of our country,...

In her first major casting since breaking out with Cannes hit Emilia Pérez, Karla Sofía Gascón has signed on to star in Las Malas, a Spanish-language adaptation of the dark fairy-tale novel Bad Girls by author Camila Sosa Villada.

Armando Bó, who won an Academy Award for co-writing Alejandro González Iñárritu’s 2014 drama Birdman, will direct the feature and is co-penning the script with Josefina Licitra.

The project hails from About Entertainment, based in Argentina and Uruguay; Infinity Hill, best known for its Oscar-nominated film Argentina 1985; and Suma Content, the Spanish independent global production company.

Gascón will lead the feature in the role of Aunt Encarna, a tough but motherly leader of a group of trans sex workers, whose routine is upset when she finds an abandoned baby and decides to adopt him without realizing she is putting everyone around her in danger.

Girls was the debut novel by Villada,...

Movistar Plus+, the biggest Spanish SVOD/pay TV operator, has revealed four new scripted series for 2025, including a special on Pedro Almodóvar and struggling mother dramatic comedy “Yo siempre a veces” produced by “Veneno” and “La Mesías” creators Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo at their busy Madrid-based shingle Suma Content.

Also in the mix is “Los sin nombre,” from Pau Freixas and Filmax, a series spin-off from the movie, “La Canción,” a new title from “Hierro” co-writers and “Rapa” co-creators Pepe Coira and Fran Araujo, and espionage thriller “El Centro.”

News of new series comes as Movistar Plus+ scored in September both at Venice and San Sebastián, screening Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s “The New Years” at Venice’s series selection, alongside Alfonso Cuarón’s Apple TV+ Series “Disclaimer,” Joe Wright’s “M. Son Of The Century” and Thomas Vinterberg’s “Families Like Ours.”

Alauda Ruiz de Azua’s “Querer” was hailed...

What’s next for Pedro Almodóvar after winning his first Golden Lion? Perhaps something very, very different.

“I’m fascinated by the stylist who looks after Zendaya [Law Roach],” “The Room Next Door” director Almodóvar told Vanity Fair Spain in an interview published in his native Spanish (we used the built-in Google Translate tool for this story).

“I think his work is an act of enormous creation. It’s about fashion, frivolity, and social issues, and it’s about promotion,” he continued. “But above all, I think it takes talent for that. I’ve asked about this guy, and I’ve been told that he’s almost as much of a diva as she is. I’d love to make a film about them, a cross between ‘All About Eve’ and ‘The Devil Wears Prada.'”

What makes the relationship between Roach and Zendaya so unique is that, unlike most stylists,...

Exclusive: Goodfellas is expanding its footprint into Spain in a new production venture with prolific local producer Enrique López Lavigne aimed at producing ambitious projects with Spanish talent with international appeal.

Bannered Goodapatxe – in a nod to Lavigne’s Apache Films company, which he runs alongside El Studio – the venture aims to get two to three productions off the ground a year.

Details of the first projects are under wraps, but the partners have revealed they are in development on a Spanish historic film noir, a western and science fiction picture and four additional genre feature films directed by young Spanish authors.

Lavigne has been a driving force in the Spanish independent cinema scene for more than 30 years.

He started out as a film buyer for Canal Plus, before moving into distribution at Sogecine. He branched into producing in the late 1990s, taking credits on a host of early films...

Netflix Spain unveiled two new film projects at the San Sebastian International Film Festival that it is producing with Spanish filmmakers and production companies.

Carlos Sedes’ La Viuda Negra (which translates as The Black Widow) is being produced by Ramón Campos’ film and TV outfit Bambú Producciones, whose credits include Cable Girls and Isaki Lacuesta’s One Year, One Night.

The race-against-time thriller is about a body found in a parking lot in Valencia and the unexpected suspect the investigation digs up. It is now in pre-production.

Sedes is best known for TV series Fariña and, more recently, The Asunta Case.

Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo’s Suma Content and Spanish platform Atresplayer have teamed on “Mariliendre,” a new fictional musical comedy series from creator Javier Ferreiro.

“Mariliendre” was unveiled at FesTVal Vitoria earlier this month, and Variety has now been given exclusive access to the first international teaser for the show.

Set in Chueca, one of the most vibrant and gay neighborhoods in the Spanish capital and likely the world, “Mariliendre” – a common Spanish nickname for the woman best friend of a gay man – follows Meri Román, a former queen of Madrid’s gay nightlife. Now, at 35 years old, those days of recognition are in the review mirror for Meri, a dethroned diva who can’t let go of the past and is bored by her mundane present.

After the death of her father, Meri reconnects with her old group of gay friends, bringing into sharper focus memories of her...

Netflix launched two new film titles and shared details on several projects currently in development at a buzzy showcase this afternoon at the San Sebastian Film Festival.

The streamer announced at the event that it will back two new genre projects, Cortafuego directed by David Victori (Cross The Line), and The Black Widow from filmmaker Carlos Sedes (The Summer We Lived).

The Black Widow will be produced by Ramón Campos, Bambú Producciones. The official synopsis shared by the streamer reads: August 2017. The body of a man appears in a parking lot in Valencia, stabbed seven times. Everything points to a crime of passion. The city’s Homicide Group, led by a veteran inspector, begins an investigation against the clock that soon leads them to a suspect that no one expected: Maje, the young widow, sweet and serene, who had been married to the victim for less than a year.

Cortafuego,...

San Sebastian — At one of the biggest industry gatherings at this year’s San Sebastián Festival, Netflix has announced new Spanish movies from “Cable Girls” showrunner Ramón Campos and “Cross the Line” director David Victori, as it unveiled new talent details on four other banner titles.

Produced by Ramón Campos at his Madrid-based label Bambú Producciones, also behind “Grand Hotel,” “Velvet” and “Fariña,” and directed by Carlos Sedes “The Asunta Case,” “Cable Girls”), murder mystery “La Viuda Negra” begins with a body stabbed seven times is discovered in a car park in Valencia. The prime suspect for the city’s Homicide Group is Maje, the dead man’s Maje, young and kind widow to whom the deceased had been married for less than a year.

Billed as a psychological thriller, Victori’s “Cortafuego” is produced by Anxo Rodríguez y Ferrán Tomás of ESpotlight Media and stars a topnotch cast of Joaquín Furriel,...

Racers, start your engines! Fan favorites from around the "RuPaul's Drag Race" world, including "Drag Race" and "All Stars" mainstay Alyssa Edwards, "RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under" Season 2 runner-up Kween Kong, and more, compete to become the true "Queen of the Mothertucking World," in addition to a grand prize of $200,000 and a spot in the International Pavilion at the Drag Race Hall of Fame. The all-new "RuPaul's Drag Race Global All Stars" will premiere exclusively on Paramount+ on Friday, Aug. 16 with two all-new episodes. You can watch with 7-Day Free Trial of Paramount Plus.

How to Watch "RuPaul's Drag Race Global All Stars" When: Friday, Aug. 16, 2024 Where: Paramount+ Stream: Watch with a 7-Day Free Trial of Paramount Plus. 7-Day Free Trial $7.99+ / month ParamountPlus.com

For a Limited Time, Get 1 Month of Paramount+ With Code: OGGMPZR3YBW

About "RuPaul's Drag Race Global All Stars"

In "RuPaul's Drag Race Global All Stars,...

BBC's "Boarders" Will Return to Tubi For Season 2

It's almost back-to-school time: Tubi has announced it will continue to bring the critically acclaimed BBC Three coming-of-age series "Boarders” to North American subscribers for the series’ second season.

Written by BAFTA nominee Daniel Lawrence Taylor (“Timewasters)”, “Boarders” follows the lives of five talented Black teenagers from inner-city London as they navigate life at St. Gilbert’s, an elite boarding school. The second season reportedly will see a new era for the students at the school with an acting headmistress who wants them gone.

Watch the trailer for “Boarders” Season 1 below:

Josh Tedeku (Jaheim), Jodie Campbell (Leah), Sekou Diaby (Toby), Myles Kamwendo (Omar), and Aruna Jalloh (Femi) will reprise their roles in the second season with Taylor returning as their mentor, Gus. The returning cast also includes Harry Gilby, Tallulah Greive, Rosie Graham, Assa Kanouté, and Niky Wardley.

The first season...

RuPaul Charles is set to be joined by an all-star cast of guest judges on the inaugural season of RuPaul’s Drag Race Global All Stars.

The Paramount+ reality series competition, which will premiere on the streamer on Friday, August 16, will have two episodes. Charles will be joined by resident judge Michelle Visage and choreographer Jamal Sims, and they will all be accompanied by a weekly guest judge on their quest to find the “Queen of the Mothertucking World.”

Related: ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race Global All Stars’ Cast Photos: Paramount+ Sets Premiere Date For Reality Series Competition

RuPaul’s Drag Race Global All Stars brings together 12 drag queens from around the world to compete for a grand prize of $200,000 and a spot in the International Pavilion at the Drag Race Hall of Fame.

The queens competing include Alyssa Edwards (RuPaul’s Drag Race), Athena Likis (Drag Race Belgique), Eva Le Queen (Drag...

Craving more competition on the world stage post-Olympics? “RuPaul’s Drag Race” is back for its first installment of “Global All Stars” and announced a star-studded group of guest judges Thursday, as the show dips its toe in international waters.

In the first official trailer for the new franchise from the Emmy Award-winning “Drag Race” producers, several new and returning guest judges will make their mark on the iconic runway.

Resident judge Michelle Visage and director-choreographer Jamal Sims will join host RuPaul on the panel each week. The new series will also feature several international stars as guest judges, including Adriana Lima, Ariadna Gutiérrez-Arévalo, Danna Paola, Dianne Brill, Graham Norton, Jasmine Tookes, Javier Ambrossi & Javier Calvo and Matt Rogers.

Fan-favorites Carson Kressley, Ross Mathews and Ts Madison are also set to reappear as guest judges on the global franchise.

12 all-stars will compete for the title of “Queen of the Mother Tucking...

Martin de Ot 2023 debuta en la actuación. © Atresplayer

La plataforma Atresplayer ha comenzado el rodaje de su nueva serie musical, “Mariliendre”, que cuenta con la producción de Javier Calvo y Javier Ambrossi.

“Mariliendre” sigue a Meri Román, que era una reina de la noche gay de Madrid, pero de eso han pasado ya más de 10 años. Ahora, a sus 35, es una diva destronada que vive atormentada por su pasado y aburrida en su mediocre presente. Tras la muerte de su padre, Meri reconecta con su séquito de amigos gays, rememorando su pasado y los temazos musicales que marcaron aquella época, mientras intenta definir su caótica vida y su identidad.

Blanca Martínez será Meri Román, la protagonista de la historia. La actriz está acompañada por Martin Urrutia, Omar Ayuso, Carlos González, Yenesi, Álvaro Jurado, Mariona Terés, Mariano Peña y Nina como el elenco principal de la ficción. Completan el reparto Pepón Nieto,...

Spanish writer and director Claudia Costafreda is on a roll. “Cardo” and “Veneno” have both been selected as Variety’s best international TV shows in their respective years and went on to find great success domestically and internationally, the latter landing distribution deals with major streamers such as HBO Max. Costafreda’s latest collaboration with long-term creative partners Los Javis, “La Mesías,” premiered to great acclaim at the Sundance Film Festival last January, and the trio is already working on their next project together, Netflix’s “Superestar.”

A sequel to “Veneno,” “Dressed in Blue: Veneno Season 2” premiered last year and followed in the footsteps of its predecessor in terms of international success, with Atresmedia TV International Sales closing deals across Europe, Africa and the Americas. Costafreda is a writer and director on the show.

“Dressed in Blue” begins two years after “Veneno,” with Lola Rodríguez’s Valeria returning to Valencia...

Netflix and “Elite” creator Carlos Montero have reteamed on the new medical drama “Breathless,” and Variety has been given exclusive access to new first images from the show.

“Breathless” is produced by Montero’s El Desorden Crea and executive produced by Montero and Diego Betancor. David Pinillos and Marta Font shared directing duties, working from screenplays by Montero, Carlos Ruano, Guillermo Escribano, and Pablo Saiz.

Alongside today’s photos, Netflix released a new synopsis for the show: “The Joaquín Sorolla is much more than a public hospital in Valencia where lives are saved every day. Doctors and residents work their fingers to the bone in the frenetic pace of the emergency room, where tensions, emotions and even desire accelerate the hearts of a staff that lives increasingly on the edge. The arrival of a distinguished patient highlights the complicated situation of the public health system, lighting the fuse for what...

“I’m Nevenka,” a Movistar Plus+ original film and the awaited next feature from Spain’s Iciar Bollaín, has closed its earliest pre-sales, struck by Film Factory Entertainment, including a bellwether deal in France.

The deals come as “I’m Nevenka” has wrapped production, shooting in the Basque city of Bilbao before transferring to rural Zamora, western Spain.

Daniel Chabannes’ Epicentre Films, a classic 30-year-old distributor and producer of non-English language art pics, especially from Europe and Latin America, whose recent acquisitions take in San Sebastian Gold Shell winner “The Rye Horn” and Amos Gitai’s “It’s Not Over,” has acquired French rights.

A distributor of both big Cannes winners – “Triangle of Sadness,” “Rosetta,” “The Child” – and slightly more out-there propositions, such as Pablo Berger’s silent movie “Blancanieves,” Xenix Film Distribution has clinched rights to Switzerland.

Iciar Bollaín: A Broader Audience Auteur

The early pre-sales are hardly surprising. Since her big breakout,...

Having spent three years making buzzy Spanish series La Mesías, Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo have admitted to a crisis of confidence before the show was released.

The pair are huge stars in Spain and recognized at home and increasingly abroad. People are politely waiting for selfies when Deadline spoke to them at Series Mania, where they scooped the Best Directing accolade for the latest project, which was an original for Spanish streamer Movistar Plus+.

“When we made the show, we were like, ‘maybe nobody’s watching this.’ We were confident in the beginning, then got really scared,” Calvo said. “We were like, ‘is this too hard, is it too painful for the audience?’”

They needn’t have worried. Movistar does not break out viewing data, but the series created a huge stir in Spain, with buzz building as the episodes dropped in weekly instalments.

La Mesías – The Messiah in...

Man vs. machine chess thriller Rematch was awarded the International Competition grand prize at the 2024 Series Mania festival on Friday night (March 22) in Lille, France.

Inspired by the true story of the historic confrontation between chess master Garry Kasparov and Ibm’s supercomputer Deep Blue, the AI-themed story created by Yan England, André Gulluni and Bruno Nahon is produced by Unité, Arte France, Federation Studios and Proton and stars Christian Cooke. Federation Studios handles international sales.

Scroll down for full list of winners

The international competition jury, presided by The Oa creator Zal Batmanglij, also gave awards to the stars...

The Series Mania Festival’s top prize for best series went to Rematch, a French-Hungarian drama about the historic match between chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov and Ibm’s Deep Blue computer.

The best actress prize went to Annette Bening for her role in Apples Never Fall, the first major TV role up from the five-time Oscar nominee. Kamel El Basha won best actor for the Australian drama House of Gods, in which he played the charismatic head cleric of a big city mosque.

In the Apples Never Fall adaptation, based on the novel by Big Little Lies author Liane Moriarty, Bening plays Joy Delaney, family matriarch and patient wife to the irascible former tennis pro, Stan (Sam Neill). When Joy disappears, the four adult Delaney children are forced to reassess everything they thought they knew about their parents and their family history. Bening was also a best actress Oscar contender...

Annette Bening’s first major TV series role has won the five-time Oscar nominee the Best Actress prize at this year’s Series Mania.

Bening was awarded in the past few minutes at the prestigious Lille event for her leading role in Peacock series Apples Never Fall, an adaptation of a novel by Big Little Lies scribe Liane Moriarty.

The coveted grand prize was given to French-Hungarian chess drama Rematch about the historic 1997 chess battle between Garry Kasparov and an Ibm computer. It beat off competition from the likes of Apples Never Fall, MGM+’s Hotel Cocaine and Leonard Cohen show So Long, Marianne.

Apples Never Fall stars Bening as Joy Delaney, a matriarch former tennis coach married to the irritable Stan (Neill), who suddenly goes missing, leaving her four children to piece together everything they thought they knew about their parents.

Speaking to Deadline prior to Series Mania, showrunner...

Martin da un salto a la actuación tras Operación Triunfo 2023 con una serie musical de los Javis. © Prime Video

El sexto finalista del concurso de Prime Video, Ot 2023, Martín Urrutia, formará parte de la próxima serie musical de Atresplayer, bajo la dirección de Javier Calvo y Javier Ambrossi.

El joven cantante vasco, que quedó sexto en el concurso de Amazon Prime Video, debutará como actor en “Mariliendre”. Una serie, creada por Javier Ferreiro, que cuenta la historia de Meri Román, que hace más de una década era la reina de la noche gay madrileña. Ahora, a sus 35 años, se enfrenta a una vida atormentada por su pasado y aburrida de su mediocre presente. Después de la muerte de su padre, Meri se reencuentra con sus amigos gays, y revive los viejos tiempos y sus grandes éxitos musicales que marcaron su época dorada, mientras trata de definir su complicada vida y...

French broadcaster Arte has joined Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s upcoming Movistar Plus+ series The New Years.

Arte and Spanish streamer Movistar Plus+ will co-produce the series, which is from Madrid-based Caballo Films — the production company Sorogoyen co-founded.

Production on the series began last year, and Arte has now snapped up French rights. Movistar Plus+ International will shop the title outside of Spain and France.

The series is set on New Year’s Eve every year for a decade, following a couple, played by Iria del Río (Riot Police) and Francesco Carril (Un Amor), who meet aged 30. Each episode follows updates their relationship and the trials they face to stay together, and the final shot is a single 40-minute take. “The narrative device allows you to consider change,” said Movistar Plus+ Director of Fiction and Entertainment Domingo Corral.

Alexandre Piel, Deputy Head of Drama at Arte France, said: “We’re very happy...

Updated Lille, France — One of Spain’s most awaited drama series of the year, Rodrigo Sorogyen’s ‘The New Years’ will be co-produced by Spain’s Movistar Plus+, its original backer, and new partner Arte France, the upscale French public broadcaster.

Going into production last year on Oct. 2, and shooting in Madrid, Lyon (France) and Berlin (Germany), the series is produced in collaboration with Madrid-based independent production house Caballo Films, co-founded by Sorogoyen.

Movistar Plus+ International will handle distribution outside Spain and France. Arte France’s involvement guarantees the 10-part series’ distribution in all the territories where it operates.

Set on the same day every year for a decade, New Year’s Eve, “The New Years” stars Iria del Río and Francesco Carril. Ana and Óscar, meet at 30 and start a relationship which lasts 10 years.

The period from 30 to 40 is “a crucial decade for all of us,” Sorogoyen commented when the new series was announced.

Malaga — Antonio Chavarrías’ “Holy Mother,” Celia Rico’s “Little Loves” and Diogo Viegas’s “Alice’s Diary” play at this year’s 3rd Spanish Screenings Content, the Malaga Festival’s part of the Spanish Screenings Xxl, Spain’s biggest international industry platform in its history, featuring over March 4-7 and – when it comes to Málaga – the monumental number of 222 titles.

In production volume, Spain has never had it so good. The market screenings at Malaga’s Rosaleda Multiplex range across over 80 Spanish movie titles, taking in recent past gems such as “The Girls Are All Right, “Something Is About to Happen,” “Jokes & Cigarettes and “The Chapel,” just to mention titles on Monday’s program.

Also on offer are 11 Works in Progress, 62 Film Library titles and 65 shorts.

The Screenings come at a propitious time in many ways for Spanish cinema. Two Spanish movies – J.A. Bayona’s Andean air crash disaster...

Series from Atresmedia TV, Rtve, Movistar Plus+, Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi (“La Mesías”), Zeta Studios (“Elite”) and director Carlota Pereda and Morena Films (behind Sundance hit “Piggy”) will unspool or be unveiled at the Berlinale. They underscore the breadth and depth of Spanish TV output:

“Death to Love,”

Carlota Pereda dazzled at Sundance with first feature, “Piggy.” Now, Pereda’s at the Berlinale Co-Pro Series on Feb. 20 with her debut series, “Death to Love,” in which afemale vampire struggles over centuries to end a toxic relationship with her vampire female lover and culminates in a modern-day climax. “A visceral and romantic proposition,” Pereda says.

“Dressed in Blue: Veneno Season 2,”

The Sundance world premiere “La Mesías” sealed the standing of Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi as most probably the coolest creative duo in Spain. This time around, they produce, with Mikel Rueda, a director on “Veneno,” and Claudia Costafreda and Ian de la Rosa,...

Jean Labadie’s Le Pacte and sales agency Film Factory have joined Spanish pay giant Movistar Plus on the next film from Alberto Rodríguez (“Marshland”), which is shaping up fast with as one of the biggest packages from Spain this year at the Berlinale’s European Film Market.

Le Pacte will co-produce the thriller out of France and handle French distribution rights. Film Factory is launching international sales at Berlin. Movistar Plus, co-producing out of Spain with Kowalski Films and Feelgood Media, will bring the deepest pocket of any production powerhouse in Spain, backing what looks like a potentially big-budgeted movie.

Currently in pre-production, Rodríguez’s latest is scheduled for release in Spanish theaters via Buena Vista Intl. in 2025.

The film is also the latest from one of the most prominent Spanish directors of his generation, co-writer-director of both “The Plague,” still one of Movistar Plus+ biggest series, and “Prison 77,...

Ja Bayona’s Society Of The Snow was the big winner at Spain’s Goya awards on Saturday night (February 10), scooping 12 prizes including best film and director to become the third-most garlanded film in Goya history.

Justine Triet’s Anatomy Of A Fall, was named best European film, and Pablo Berger’s Robot Dreams won the prizes for best adapted screenplay and feature animation.

20,000 Species Of Bees, the feature debut of Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren, received three Goyas for best new director and original screenplay for Solaguren, and best supporting actress for Ane Gabarain. The 15 nominations for Bees were the...

Netflix Original “The Society of the Snow” won best picture and director for J.A. Bayona at Saturday night’s 38th Spanish Academy Goya Awards.

Those plaudits were two of a total 12 prizes, the third-highest kudos count for any title in the Goyas’ near 40-year history.

The lineup of best picture nominees was, however, a reminder in itself of the high quality and diversity of Spain’s current film production output. These took in Estibaliz’s Urresola Berlin triple winner “20,000 Species of Bees,” David Trueba’s real-life tender love story “Jokes & Cigarettes,” Isabel Coixet’s probing “Un Amor” and Victor Erice’s “Close Your Eyes,” an “aching ode to film, time and memory,” Variety wrote in its review.

Even after Bayona took best director there was still genuine suspense whether he would also win best picture, after best adapted screenplay went to “Robot Dreams” and “Jokes & Cigarettes” took best actor for David Verdaguer.

“Film” may literally be in the title of the Sundance Film Festival, but the event has also premiered a variety of impressive episodic work over the years, and 2024’s lineup was no exception. Festival organizers put together an annual pilot showcase featuring narrative coming-of-age stories both magical and relatable. This year, the Spanish showrunners behind HBO’s Veneno, Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo, released a wild first episode of La Mesías, which blends low-budget aliens with intergenerational trauma and superb acting for a show that promises to surprise.

But the real gems of Sundance’s 2024 episodic programming were the docuseries reckoning with recent U.S. history, which ranged from the deeply compelling to those bordering on fan art.

Netflix Spain and Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo – popularly known as Los Javis – are teaming to produce a modern movie makeover of way before its time Spanish classic “My Dearest Señorita,” nominated for a 1973 Academy Award.

The adaptation was the biggest news at a packed-to-the rafters Next on Netflix showcase which took place in Madre on Thursday, where the U.S. streaming giant also announced a docu-reality series, “The Thyssen Baroness,” and released a first-look pic of “Superestar,” its recently announced six-part series inspired by singer and fleeting pop culture phenom Tamara.

Written and directed by Jaime de Armiñán, who co-wrote the script with José Luis Borau, who went on to become of Spain’s greatest directors of the ‘70s and ‘80s, directing “Poachers, ” the original comedy “My Dearest Señorita” starred top Spanish comedian José Luis López Vázquez, as a frumpy old maid in her ‘40s with an inexplicable talent...

Netflix has ordered another Spanish film, My Dearest Señorita, and unveiled a first look at upcoming dram series Superstar at an event in Madrid.

My Dearest Señorita, produced by Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi, is an adaptation of the 1972 Oscar-winning film of the same name directed by Jaime de Arimañán, who co-wrote the script with José Luis Borau starring José Luis López Vázquez.

The 1970s film was a romantic drama that explored themes of intersexuality, and was one of very few to tackle sexual orientation in General Franco’s ultra-conservative Spain. It won the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film at the 1973 Oscars.

“My Dearest Señorita is an adaptation,” said Calvo and Ambrossi in a statement. “Times have changed, and we believe it is a good time to revisit this story, a story of gender identity and wonderful, mainstream love. The creative challenge is how far we can update it without losing the essence.

Yaya (played by Camryn Jones) just wants to walk to school with her boyfriend. Living on the South Side of Chicago in a house overflowing with family members, the only thing that gets the exhausted teen out of bed every morning is knowing Dre (Travis Wolfe Jr.) will be waiting on her stoop. The only issue: her protective brother, Mouse (Victor Musoni), doesn’t approve. He thinks her friends aren’t a good influence — they show up late to school too often, eat too much junk food, and don’t pay enough attention to their surroundings. Mouse, clearly, just wants his little sister to be safe, get good grades, and live a better life, but by intimidating Dre, he’s unwittingly snuffing out her one spark of joy — joy that manifests itself via her favorite hobby: dance.

Yaya loves to dance, and “Me/We” — one of three entries in Sundance’s 2024 Pilot Showcase,...

Telefonica’s Movistar Plus+, Spain’s biggest pay TV-svod operator, is set to co-produce new movies from Rodrigo Sorogoyen, Iciar Bollaín, Alberto Rodríguez, Óliver Laxe and Ana Rujas. It’s a move which sees the high-end Spanish TV powerhouse become one of Spain’s most significant movie players.

Titles in the slate are backed by top Spanish producers such as Agustín Almodóvar and Esther García at El Deseo – backing Laxe’s next – and Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo at their high-flying new production house Suma Content, producing what will be Rujas’ debut feature as a director.

The acclaimed “La Mesías,” the latest series from Los Javis – as Ambrossi and Calvo are known – will have its international premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, where it will the only European series at this year’s event.

In a fillip for Spain’s box office, still 26% down on pre-pandemic levels, Movistar Plus+ will...

Drag Race España is gearing up to debut the first ever international All Stars season!

Wow Presents Plus has revealed the upcoming spinoff season of Spain’s version of RuPaul’s Drag Race, and they revealed all of the queens from the first three seasons that will be returning for a second chance at the crown.

Supremme de Luxe will be returning as host of the series, with returning judges Javier Calvo, Javier Ambrossi, and Ana Locking.

The first season of Drag Race España All Stars will premiere on Sunday, February 4th, with new episodes weekly on Sundays on Wow Presents Plus in the US and other territories. It will premiere same day on Spain’s ATRESplayer Premium.

Keep reading to find out which queens are competing on Drag Race España All Stars…...

Fresh off the selection of “La Mesías” as the only European series at this year’s Sundance Festival, “Veneno” creators Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo – Los Javis – are set to produce Netflix original series “Superestar,” created by Spain’s Nacho Vigalondo, writer-director of 2016’s Anna Hathaway headed “Colossal,” Neon’s first pick-up for the U.S.

The six-episode series is directed by Vigalondo and Claudia Costafreda, co-creator of “Cardo,” an uninhibited portrait of Spain’s young generation eager for a quick fix of sex or drugs for want of a larger sense of direction in life, which was chosen by Variety, as “Veneno,” as one of the best international TV shows of the year.

Set up at Los Javis’ Suma Content, their indie Madrid-based label, “Superestar” is written by Vigalondo, María Bastarós, Paco Bezerra and Costafreda.

Oscar-nominated for his short, “7:35 in the Morning,” Vigalondo is best known for sci-fi comedies and thrillers such as,...

The Society Of The Snow has garnered 13 nominations, followed by Close Your Eyes and Jokes & Cigarettes with 11.

Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren’s 20,000 Species Of Bees leads the nominations for Spain’s prestigious Goya awards, which will be presented on February 10, 2024.

20,000 Species Of Bees premiered in competition at Berlin, going on to win the Silver Bear for best performance for Sofía Otero, playing an eight-year-old girl who spends a summer working in the Basque Country’s beehives while exploring her identity.

The film scored 15 nominations, including best film, best director and four nods in the acting categories.

Ja Bayona’s...

In a deal unveiled at Mipcom, Movistar Plus+ International, the prominent Spanish pay TV/SVOD platform’s sales division, announced a key sale to HBO Latin America of series “La Mesías,” hailed as the buzziest title at the San Sebastian Film Festival in September.

The series is written, directed and produced by Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo of Suma Content, best known for their series “Veneno,” an HBO Max U.S. pickup, as well as “Paquita Salas,” sold to Netflix.

“La Mesías” marks the return of this creative duo, three years after their last release as directors and screenwriters, according to Movistar Plus+ Int’l.

Described as the most ambitious and complex project from the creative duo, widely known as Los Javis, “La Mesías” follows a family torn apart by the matriarch’s religious fanaticism.

Across seven gripping episodes, each with a runtime of just over an hour, the story spans various time periods,...

Spain’s TV fiction industry is exercising some caution after high-end Spanish-language series lifted off in 2018.

“We all wanted to launch so many projects, so many new platforms arrived that there was no time for analysis,” says Bambú co-founder Ramón Campos.

As streamers scale back on originals and sales cycles slow, the industry has time for larger re-calculation.

“We come from a spectacular moment, in terms of both quality and volume,” says Sonia Martínez, series editorial director at Buendía Estudios.

That groundbreaking moment, championed by series like “Money Heist” and “Elite,” propelled Spanish fiction production to historic heights of global popularity.

“There is a virtuous circle that began in 2018 and has been continuously regenerating. Spain’s talent base already interests international audiences,” says María Valenzuela, Movistar Plus Intl.’s general manager.

But the country’s TV production scene is still cycling through the fruits of the boom: the number of...

The Spanish world premiere that made the most waves at this year’s San Sebastian Festival was not a film but a series, “La Mesías,” written, directed and produced by Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo.

“A masterpiece,” proclaimed Spanish website Cineconñ; national newspaper El Mundo greeted it as the first work of maturity from hugely unconventional auteurs.

Now bound for Mipcom, where the series receives a market screening, “La Mesías” says much about the ambitions of its creators and its backer, Movistar Plus.

In 2017, Telefónica-owned Movistar Plus, Spain’s biggest SVOD-pay TV player, rocked the San Sebastian Festival with “The Plague,” then the biggest series ever made in Spain.

“La Mesías” follows Ambrossi and Calvo’s overseas breakout “Veneno,” which was picked up by HBO Max for the U.S. market, and made Ambrossi and Calvo among the most-courted young showrunners in Europe.

“We’ve had to say ‘no’ to a lot of things,...

Turning on real-life 1990s trans icon Cristina Ortiz, “Veneno” established Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo as leading LGBTQ directors in Spain.

In “La Mesías,” they bring their hallmark visceral sense of diversity to each and every scene and episode, which lends them their large distinction.

“We’re not very conscious of it, but you can see diversity in how each character reacts differently to trauma, as well as the genre mix and diversity of settings. It’s a bit like how we are; we like a lot of things and modes,” says Calvo.

In the series, protagonist Enric (Roger Casamajor) is eviscerated emotionally by his childhood trauma which involves his fanatically religious mother. In contrast Sister Irene (Macarena García) tries to make a new life. Enric escapes but is triggered into action when he sees his siblings on TV performing as a Christian music group.

Episode 1 blends psychodrama and sci-fi,...