News

The 49th edition of Huelva Ibero-American Film Festival, Spain’s largest confab for films from Latin America, Spain and Portugal, will honor Mexican star Cecilia Suárez with its City of Huelva Award.

With leading roles in Netflix’s “The House of Flowers” and HBO Latin America’s “Capadocia,” Suárez has also be seen in ABC’s drama “The Promised Land” and has worked on films by as Tommy Lee Jones (“The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada”), James L. Brooks (“Spanglish”), Ernesto Contreras (“Párpados azules”), Antonio Serrano and Fernando Colomo (“Cuidado con lo que deseas”).

The new edition of Huelva runs Nov. 10-18.

Andalusia’s oldest film festival, Huelva will also grant a Light Award to Spanish actress Natalia de Molina, a two-time Goya winner, delivering acclaimed performance in films such as David Trueba’s “Living Is Easy with Eyes Closed” and Juan Miguel del Castillo’s “Food and Shelter.”

Another...

Major Latino Hollywood studio Pantelion Films is starting production on what it describes as its “most ambitious undertaking to date”: “La Usurpadora, the Musical.”

Given Pantelion was the distributor of “Instructions Not Included,” the highest grossing Spanish-language film of all time in the U.S., as well as producer of “No Manches Frida,” its highest grossing Spanish comedy, that claim to ambition means something, singling out “La Usurpadora, the Musical” as one of the big Spanish-language releases of 2022.

Produced by Pantelion Films and The Lift Entertainment, the movie marks a modern musical adaptation of one of the most succesful telenovelas of all time, “La Usurpadora,” a 1998 Televisa classic that hit huge ratings and was exported to 125 countries.

Directed by Santiago Limón,, “La Usurpadora, the Musical” teams music producer Sebastian Krys, winner of eight Grammy awards and 12 Latin Grammy awards, choreographer Priscilla Hernández, creator of the Day of the Dead parade in “James Bond: Specter,...

MEXICO CITY -- The controversial hit El Crimen del Padre Amaro (The Crime of Father Amaro) has been selected as Mexico's Academy Award contender in the foreign language category. Due to the film's commercial appeal and critical acclaim, Friday's announcement by the Mexican Motion Picture Academy of Arts and Sciences was not surprising. Thirteen films were in the running this year. Despite the controversial subject matter, which has raised eyebrows in this predominantly Catholic nation, director Carlos Carrera's film has received favorable reviews and shattered the all-time boxoffice record among Mexican productions. In just 20 days, Padre Amaro raked in 118.5 million pesos ($11.8 million), surpassing Sexo, pudor y lagrimas (Sex, Shame & Tears), which grossed 117 million pesos on a 26-week run in 1999.

MEXICO CITY -- In just 20 days, El Crimen del Padre Amaro (The Crime of Father Amaro), a film that has sparked considerable controversy in this predominantly Catholic nation, has broken the all-time boxoffice record among Mexican productions. The film's distributor, Columbia Pictures Mexico, said in a statement Thursday, that the film has grossed 118.5 million pesos (about $12 million), surpassing the 1999 release of Sexo, Pudor y Lagrimas, which ran 26 weeks and raked in boxoffice receipts totaling 117 million pesos. With the latest announcement, Padre Amaro, directed by Carlos Carrera, has also eclipsed such recent hits as Y Tu Mama Tambien (And Your Mother Too), which took in 102 million pesos ($10.1 million) in national ticket sales and Amores Perros (Love's a Bitch), which grossed 95 million pesos ($9.5 million) nationwide. The Samuel Goldwyn Co. has North American rights to the film.