PRESS

Paramount+ to Order 150 Int’l Originals by 2025, Unveils New Slate

First Lady of Sinaloa (Mexico)With John Leguizamo producing and starring, the series will chronicle “the fascinating yet volatile life of (former Mexican drug lord) El Chapo’s infamous Beauty Queen Bride, Emma Coronel, an innocent farm girl turned fierce icon who rises to become Mexico’s most formidable crime wife.” Producer Frida Torresblanco (Pan’s Labyrinth, The Assassination of Richard Nixon) and Cameron Penn (The Roommates) are also producing the show, described as a “story of love, sex, drugs and danger.”

Produced by VIS in association with Braven Films, the series has been greenlit for development and is planned to “debut exclusively on Paramount+ in Latin America and all international markets.”

ViacomCBS International Studios Announces TV Series about Artemisia Gentileschi, Frida Torresblanco and Jill Offman Set to Produce

“I’m honored to team up with Jill Offman and the ViacomCBS International Studios team. I couldn’t be more passionate about giving Artemisia a voice and bringing her timely story to the screen. Now more than ever the inspiration that her life and her art provides is needed,” said Frida Torresblanco. “There is a strong connection with this sort of young and brave woman who can overcome abuse and to turn it into a legacy of genius. This will be a contemporary feminist piece that is at once provocative and transgressive, invoking the spirit of our present moment in an eloquent and elegant way.”

ViacomCBS Intl. Studios (VIS) has announced a new scripted series based on the life of artist Artemisia Gentileschi to be produced by “Pan’s Labyrinth” producer Frida Torresblanco at her company Braven Films, and 66 Media managing director Jill Offman, who once filled the same role at ViacomCBS Intl. Studios U.K. Scheduled to begin production in 2021, the series is already in development, adapted from Mary Garrard’s non-fiction academic text “Artemisia Gentileschi: The Image of the Female Hero in Italian Baroque Art.” According to VIS, it will be the first made-for-TV depiction of the life of the artist, best known for her autobiographical portraits and key role in the foundation of modern-day feminism.

Born at the end of the 16th century, Gentileschi is a standout figure from the Baroque period and the most high-profile female painter from that time. She was the first woman to become a member of the Accademia del Disegno in Florence. The National Gallery in London is hosting an exhibition of her work.

Viacom International Studios, Infinity Hill Sign Exclusive First Look Deal

Viacom International Studios (VIS) has signed an exclusive first look development deal with Infinity Hill. The companies will co-develop and co-produce a slate of Spanish-language features, filmed globally and utilizing international talent on both sides of the camera.

Infinity Hill is the new label from longtime Telefonica and Viacom exec Axel Kuschevatzky, one of the Spanish-speaking world’s highest-profile film executives, “Waiting for Anya” producer Phin Glynn and producer Cindy Teperman (“Animal”). With offices in London, Los Angeles and Buenos Aires, the label already has a multilingual slate of films in production, some of which were unveiled at November’s American Film Market.

The company’s first title, “The Doorman,” recently wrapped and stars Ruby Rose (“Batwoman”) and Jean Reno (“Leon”) and is directed by Ryûhei Kitamura (“Versus,” “Midnight Meat Train”). A Lionsgate U.S. pick up which has sold strongly in international, handled by DDI, off a Berlin European Film Market bow, is produced by Glynn, alongside DDI’s Jason Moring, Immediate Film’s Michael Phillips and Smash Media’s Harry Winer.

“For a rising film company like Infinity Hill setting up a deal with such a giant as Viacom International Studios is a great opportunity and a marvelous way to create new films aimed for both local and global audiences,” said Kuschevatzky in a statement.

He added: “Spanish is the second-most spoken language win the world, with 460 Million Native Speakers. So, there is a huge community there with a big demand for films in its own language.”

“This deal empowers us to increase our development of high-quality, long-form content generating more IPs for VIS,” Federico Cuervo, SVP, head of Viacom International Studios elaborated. “We know the talent of Infinity Hill’s producers and what they can bring to a studio like ours in terms of high-end content.”

Other announced Infinity Hill titles include adaptations of Graham Greene (“The Captain and the Enemy”) and Lawrence Osborne (“Hunters in the Dark”) – as well as Spanish-language pics such as “La Cúpula de las Fieras,” written and to be directed by Hatem Kraiche (“Orbit 9”), which will be produced alongside Frida Torresblanco (“Pan‘s Labyrinth,” “Disobedience”) at Braven Films, who also has a deal with Viacom International Studios, and a documentary directed by Martín Sastre following singer-actor Natalia Oreiro‘s Russian concert tour.

“We’ll work on English-language features but also local language offerings, not only in Spanish,” Kuschevtazky told Variety when announcing the label last November, underscoring the importance of producing in multiple languages and territories.  “We do admire other people’s talent, regardless of language.”

Viacom International Studios, Braven Films Sign First-Look Deal

At Miami’s NATPE market, Viacom Intl. Studios (VIS) announced an exclusive development and production first-look agreement with Spanish-American film and TV producer Frida Torresblanco’s production company Braven Films.

Braven films is run by Torresblanco and her partners Eric Laufer and Giovanna Randall and produces feature films, television series and documentaries.

Torresblanco’s resumé is packed with big-name talent and titles, having worked with Guillermo del Toro – on the Oscar-winning “Pan’s Labyrinth,” still reckoned by many to be his best film – and producing on other high-profile movies such as “The Assassination of Richard Nixon,” “The Dancer Upstairs,” and “Rudo and Cursi,” starring Gael García Bernal and Diego Luna and produced by Alfonso Cuarón.

Her most recent production, Sebastian Lelio’s “Disobedience” starring Rachel Weisz and Rachel McAdams, was nominated at the British Independent Film Awards, the London Critics Circle Film Awards and played in competition at Guadalajara and Göteborg.

Currently, Torresblanco’s slate includes projects with international superstars like Rachel Weisz, Ethan Hawke, Alessandro Nivola, John Curran, James Kent, and Björn Runge.

“Joining forces with a talent like Frida, a producer so creative that she has been able to  influence the film and television industry in such an impactful way, is how we continue to generate quality content for international distribution,” Federico Cuervo, SVP and head of Viacom International Studios said in a statement.

He added: “This partnership is a testament to VIS’ pursuit to forge significant exclusive partnerships that allow us to further grow our production slate and ensure its universal appeal.”

For her part, Torresblanco said: “My goal is to build the bridge between Latin America, Spain, and the rest of Europe and the United States to help create high-quality universal stories from voices who will make a real difference. Partnering with VIS is a unique opportunity to work with one of the most successful enterprises in the business. I can’t wait to combine both new and veteran talent to bring these original series to life with this innovative team: Dario Turovelzky, Federico Cuervo and Sebastian Vibes. I couldn’t be happier with the brilliant collaboration.”

Ventana Sur: Industry Luminaries Converge, Talk Women In Cinema by Holly Jones

BUENOS AIRES – Ventana Sur’s Opening Windows conference series welcomed an esteemed line-up of women in film to Buenos Aires’ UCA campus on Wednesday afternoon for a panel that sought to familiarize the audience with the enormous weight of breaking into a male-dominated industry throughout the years.

Among the panelists was Argentine Producer Lita Stantic, who has been in the industry since she swapped out her career as a journalist in the ‘60s. She recalls, “I was 20 years old, and there were no women in cinema, and I studied journalism because I wanted to be, let’s say, I thought that the only way to be near cinema was to write film criticism.” She then went on to regale the audience with her inspiring foray into film that began when she started creating short films, continuing to have an illustrious career as a producer, working on films like “La Ciénaga,” and “Un Muro De Silencio.”

When describing a sobering moment of enlightenment, Beatriz Navas, general director of Spain’s ICAA film agency and Madrid-based audiovisual programmer and researcher, pointed out, “It’s like one day you’re speaking with a friend about the day you had a punch to your head. Let’s say this is the day you suddenly discover that you’ve been living in a kind of matrix. You watch TV, open the newspaper, and suddenly everything looks like satire.”

Navas went on to talk about the pointed comment that changed her,” a very good friend of mine told me that the problem with women was that we didn’t have the capacity to fascinate people with our stories,” she said.

“It was strange because I’m able to fascinate myself very easily with anything. I got very angry….After that blow to the head ,you start analyzing your life. I went through a series of events that hurt me a lot and made me change.”

Rocio Juadue, Chilean executive producer with Fabula who’s worked on films such as “Neruda,” and “Gloria Bell,” then spoke to her generation, one that’s seemingly benefited from the women that came before them.

“I feel that because I am a little younger, it’s been a little easier. In college, one of my favorite professors was a Chilean mountaineer named Andrea Chignoli. She was one of my mentors because besides being a great mountaineer she has a very strong character. She taught me how to face, and stand up to, directors like the ones she’s dealt with every day,” Juadue relayed.

She continued, “So I think that we join forces. I think that working together, it’s been much easier to meet the obstacles that can be present with men so talented and powerful. It’s been quite equitable in my case.”

Frida Torresblanco, CEO of Braven Films and a producer of “Pan’s Labyrinth,” addressed the women in the audience, stating, “Life has changed a lot in the last six years. You, you’re the fruits of that labor, the generation that will be able, perhaps, to enjoy more inclusion.”

The panel was moderated by Argentine director and screenwriter María Victoria Menis, who spoke to trends in the industry, “We have some very discouraging data regarding the numbers of women and men in film. There’s something very striking, and that is, in the polls, around 60% of those enrolled in film school are women, 40% are men. Ten years later, and around 65% of men are working in the field and only 35% are women. That’s the trend, at least in Latin America.”

Through revisiting their own experiences trudging uphill, the panel furnished an eager audience with a comprehensive peek into the career trajectory of women in film past and present. The panelists offered pertinent solutions that included ensuring film crews are staffed with more women, producing films from strong female perspectives, and lending a hand to other women entering the industry. While the room shared a few laughs, the group sent a resounding reminder that there is still plenty of work to be done.

“Everyone, at their own level, is trying to fight their own small battles and those small battles are what everyone here today should choose to fight. Extend your hands to other women with the intent of helping them, boost them up,” concluded Torresblanco.

Ethan Hawke, Alessandro Nivola Team on Country Music Story ‘Satan Is Real’ (EXCLUSIVE) by Brent Lang

Ethan Hawke and Alessandro Nivola are teaming up in “Satan Is Real,” the story of the Louvin brothers. The real-life best friends will portray Charlie and Ira Louvin, influential country musicians whose relationship is forged by love, hate, jealousy, and alcohol.

In an interview with Variety, Hawke and Nivola said they hoped to achieve a music term called “blood harmony” in their performances. It’s a term that describes the kind of harmonizing that can be achieved when family members sing together, because their genetic link allows them to share the same tone in their voice.

“It’s such an important expression to us,” said Hawke. “It sounds both violent and beautiful and the music should be that. It’s aggressive, it’s electric, it’s strange. It’s not Brooklyn folk rock. It’s not wannabe cool guy country. It’s hillbilly gospel music.”

The film will be directed by Phil Morrison, who previously worked with Nivola on “Junebug.” Jon Raymond and Shelby Gaines are writing the screenplay drawing on Charlie Louvin’s adaptation. Protagonist Pictures is handling sales of the film.

The brothers may have been related, but they had dramatically different personalities. Charlie Louvin was an honest Christian man and churchgoing singer, and his brother Ira had the devil in him, known for smashing his mandolin to splinters onstage and wrecking havoc in his wake.

“It’s ultimately a tragic story but it needs to be injected with a kind of wit,” said Nivola.

The film’s producers include Frida Torresblanco for Braven Films, Ryan Hawke for Under the Influence Productions, Jeff Elliott for Off the Pier Productions, and Nivola for King Bee Productions. Executive producers are Jason Blum of Blumhouse, as well as Eric Laufer and Giovanna Randall from Braven Films.

The brothers may have been known for their buttermilk-smooth harmonies, but their personal lives were filled with sturm und drang.

“They’re singing these songs and then backstage they’re taking speed and hitting on girls and beating the shit out of each other,” said Hawke.

The two actors will be presenting the film to buyers at Cannes. In order to draw interest, they headed to the studio to record some of the singers’ work.

“We wanted to show the financiers that we can do it and it will be good,” said Hawke.

Nivola said that acting isn’t all that different from being a musician, even though one medium demands that a performer be able to sing on key.

“Creating a compelling scene is just like performing a song,” he said. “You have to choose the climactic moments. You have to find the right rhythms.”

It helps that the actors have been longtime friends since 2010 when Nivola starred in the Off Broadway revival of Sam Shepard’s “A Lie of the Mind,” which Hawke directed. Later, Hawke moved his family to the same Brooklyn neighborhood where Nivola lives.

“We like to drink beer and play guitar,” said Nivola. “Now we’ll be doing it for work.”

Hawke said that the goal is that the musical sequences will help chart the brothers’ deteriorating relationship much as the boxing sequences in “Raging Bull” served as metaphors for boxer Jake Lamotta’s problems with his brother and wife.

“We want to put all our love and disappointments and all the real stuff of life into the film,” said Hawke.

“Georgina Campbell, Faye Dunaway Topline New Thriller From ‘Sleepless Night’ Director” by Elsa Keslassy

Georgina Campbell (“Black Mirror”) and Faye Dunaway are set to star in “Visceral,” a female-driven action thriller that will mark the English-language debut of Frederic Jardin (“Sleepless Night”). Bac Films has come on board to handle international sales and distribution in France.

Marco Cherqui at CPB Films (“A Prophet”) is producing the thriller with Frida Torresblanco at Braven Films (“Disobedience”) and Bac Films which is co-producing. Jeff Elliott, David Grumbach (“The Leisure Seeker”), Eric Laufer and Giovanna Randall will serve as executive producers.

The movie reunites Jardin, Cherqui and Grumbach, who had worked together on “Sleepless Night.” Jeff Elliott (“Poison Rose,” “Imperium”) at Brickell and Broadbridge is financing.

“Visceral” marks Jardin’s follow-up to “Sleepless Night,” which sold to more than 30 territories and was remade in the U.S. with Jamie Foxx and Michelle Monaghan. Jardin also successfully leaped into TV and directed Canal Plus’s critically acclaimed series “Spiral” and “Braquo.”

“Visceral” stars Campbell as Julie, a young cardiac surgeon who is trying to save a boy waiting for a heart transplant. When a compatible and available organ is finally assigned to him, Julie picks it up but is kidnapped by a Russian mafia family who also wants the heart at any cost in order to save their grandmother.

“‘Sleepless Night’ was about a dad desperate to free his son from a kidnapping by gangsters. After this dark and all-male universe, I wanted to shift to a female lead: In ‘Visceral,’ the lead, Julie, is a young heart surgeon desperate to save a teenager under her care,” said Jardin. “This ordinary heroine whose calling is to save lives and beat death, will find herself facing extraordinarily dangerous twists and turns together with Vincent, a young cop,” he adding, noting that the film will mix action and emotion.

Cherqui said that from the start the idea for the movie was to create an intense and edgy thriller which “steers clear from tried and tested narrative devices, such as drugs and money,” and he and the rest of the team spent time to come up with a compelling plot device. “What does everyone worry about today other than staying young and living forever? It didn’t take long for Frédéric (Jardin) to find the answer: an organ; specifically, the most important of our organs, the heart, which represents life, love,” said Cherqui.

The French producer said the project started as a French-language production and became an English-language one “in order to convey the story in a more universal way.”

Torresblanco said she was drawn to the project thanks to Jardin’s vision. “(He’s) crafting a very transgressive and unique story of a regular woman in extreme circumstances. This is one of the feminine roles that hasn’t been explored before, and thus spoke to me so deeply,” said the New York-based producer.

“In particular, I’ve always wanted a project where the protagonist is from a background that has been so long neglected on screen and ‘Visceral’ offered us the ideal opportunity for gifted actor like Georgina,” Torresblanco added.

Gilles Sousa, head of international sales at Bac Films, described “Visceral” as an “elevated genre with an original and clever concept” and said he was looking forward to representing Jardin’s English-language debut in international markets.

Grumbach, meanwhile, said “Visceral” underscores the French banner’s ambition to ramp up its slate of English-language movies with strong concepts that bring together talent from Europe and the U.S.

“Visceral” is set to start shooting in March in the U.K.

Harvey Keitel and Sonia Braga are set to star in Fatima, a project about three children who experience the supernatural and accept their quest to bring a message of peace to the world. Marco Pontecorvo is directing and Arclight Films is launching sales on the project to buyers in Cannes.

Based on a true story, children Jacinta and Francisco Marto along with their older cousin Lucia de Jesus dos Santos, told sceptical elders that they witnessed six apparitions of the Virgin Mary between May 13, 1917 and October 13, 1917. After the Roman Catholic Church validated the children’s visions, it turned Fatima into Portugal’s main pilgrimage site. The shrine is nowadays visited by more than five million people a year.

The younger children died in the 1918-19 European influenza pandemic but their cousin Lucia, died in 2005 at the age of 97. The Virgin Mary is said to have confided three secrets to the children, which were not written down until 1941, when Lucia started writing her memoirs. The first two secrets were interpreted as foretelling a world war and the dangers of Soviet Communism. The third secret was a long kept mystery but was later interpreted as a prediction of the attempted assassination of Pope John Paul. Pope Francis recently made the two younger children saints.

Origin Entertainment’s James T. Volk, Braven Films’ Frida Torresblanco, Rose Pictures’ Rose Ganguzza and Natasha Howes produce the title.

Keitel is repped by The Artists Partnership. Braga is repped by Untitled Entertainment. Pontecorvo is repped by APA.

50 filmmakers attended the workshop hosted by MOME in partnership with Made in NY Media Center by IFP featuring a panel discussion, breakout sessions and networking with moderator Leah Meyerhoff, Filmmaker and Founder, Film Fatales, Dylan Marchetti, SVP, Acquisitions and Theatrical Releasing, Well Go USA, Inc., Frida Torresblanco-Weiss, CEO, Braven Films, Pierce Varous, Owner, Nice Dissolve Productions.

NEW YORK, NY– APRIL 10, 2017 –AT&T* and Tribeca are teaming up to launch a new film initiative, AT&T Presents: Untold Stories. An Inclusive Film Program in Collaboration with Tribeca. AT&T will provide funding of up to $1 million for 1 talented filmmaker to create his or her film, and Tribeca will provide mentorship from seasoned industry professionals. AT&T plans to distribute the winning film across several of its video platforms, including DIRECTV NOW, AT&T’s streaming over-the-top service.

AT&T Presents: Untold Stories kicks off April 18 with a live pitch event in New York City. Five talented and diverse filmmakers (listed below), curated by Tribeca Film Institute, will present their story ideas, budgets and film scripts to a Greenlight committee, including Fiona Carter (AT&T Chief Brand Officer), Jeffrey Wright (Actor), Anthony Mackie (Actor), Josh Deutsch (Chairman and CEO, Downtown Records), Lee Daniels (Film Producer), Len Amato (President, HBO Films) and Frida Torresblanco (Film Producer).

Rachel McAdams is in negotiations to star in adaptation of the Naomi Alderman novel “Disobedience,” opposite Rachel Weisz.

Weisz will produce alongside Ed Guiney, who will produce through his Element Pictures shingle, Frida Torresblanco, who will produce through her banner Braven Films, and Film 4. Sebastian Lelio direct the film based on a script he co-wrote with Rebecca Lenkiewicz.

In the original book, the story follows young woman (Weisz) who returns to her Orthodox Jewish home after learning about the death of her estranged father. She causes an upheaval in the quiet community when she rekindles a repressed love with her best friend – a woman now married to her cousin. McAdams will play the best friend in the pic.

Following the opening of her new drama “Denial,” Rachel Weisz is set to star and produce an adaptation of the Naomi Alderman novel “Disobedience.”

Weisz will produce alongside Ed Guiney, who will produce through his Element Pictures shingle, Frida Torresblanco, who will produce through her banner Braven Films and Film 4. Sebastian Lelio direct the film based on a script he co-wrote with Rebecca Lenkiewicz.

In the original book, the story follows young woman who returns to her Orthodox Jewish home after learning about the death of her estranged father. She causes an upheaval in the quiet community when she rekindles a repressed love with her best friend – a woman now married to her cousin.

EXCLUSIVE: Alessandro Nivola is in talks to join the cast of Disobedience, the Sebastian Lelio-directed drama starring Rachel Weisz and Rachel McAdams and based on Naomi Alderman’s 2006 novel.

Nivola will play McAdams’ husband, an orthodox rabbi in North London whose marriage is threatened by his wife’s forbidden romance with a lapsed Jewish woman (Weisz) returning to the community after years of self-imposed exile. The pic is being produced by Weisz, Element Pictures’ Ed Guiney, Film4 and Braven Pictures’ Frida Torresblanco. Lelio (Gloria) co-wrote the script with Rebecca Lenkiewicz.

FilmNation Entertainment is co-financing with Film4 and handling international sales.

US sales outfit FilmNation has boarded writer-director Sebastian Lelio’s (Gloria) prestige drama Disobedience, which it will co-finance with Carol backer Film4.

Spotlight star Rachel McAdams and Oscar-winner Rachel Weisz (The Constant Gardener) will star in the romantic-drama based on Naomi Alderman’s novel about the estranged daughter of a rabbi who returns from New York to the Orthodox Jewish neighbourhood she grew up in North London, following her father’s death. However, her arrival causes significant upheaval in the quiet community.

Lelio has co-written the script with British dramatist and screenwriter Rebecca Lenkiewicz, who collaborated with Polish film-maker Pawel Pawlikowski on the screenplay of Oscar-winner Ida.

Spotlight star Rachel McAdams is attached to star alongside Rachel Weisz in Chilean director Sebastián Lelio’s (Gloria) Disobedience.The film is an adaptation of author Naomi Alderman’s novel of the same name.

As well as starring in the film, Oscar-winner Weisz is also set to produce alongside Room producer Ed Guiney of Dublin-based Element Pictures and Spanish producer Frida Torresblanco (Pan’s Labyrinth) of New York-based Braven Films.

Rachel Weisz is to star in and produce $15m kidnapping thriller Snatchback, from Dredd director Pete Travis. Oscar-winner Weisz (The Constant Gardener) co-developed the project and will produce alongside Frida Torresblanco (Pan’s Labyrinth, Magic Magic) of New York-based Braven Films.

Travis, also known for making Omagh and Vantage Point, has written the script and will direct.Snatchback is based on the true story of Maureen Dabbagh, a woman from Virginia whose ex-husband stole away their two year-old daughter and took her to the Middle East in 1992. Dabbagh spent more than a decade searching for her daughter, one of 1,000 children illegally abducted from the US each year, before she finally found her.

CANNES — Rachel Weisz is set to star in “Snatchback,” a thriller set in the dangerous world of illegal child recovery. It is written and will be directed by Pete Travis (“Vantage Point”). Weisz, who appears in two competition films at Cannes — “The Lobster” and “Youth,” developed the project with Travis and producer Frida Torresblanco (“Pan’s Labyrinth”), whose New York-based Braven Films is producing. Weisz and Torresblanco are producers.

CANNES — Rachel Weisz is set to star in “Snatchback,” a thriller set in the dangerous world of illegal child recovery. It is written and will be directed by Pete Travis (“Vantage Point”). Weisz, who appears in two competition films at Cannes — “The Lobster” and “Youth,” developed the project with Travis and producer Frida Torresblanco (“Pan’s Labyrinth”), whose New York-based Braven Films is producing. Weisz and Torresblanco are producers.

The cast and crew of MAGIC MAGIC were out in full force for the film’s midnight premiere at Sundance 2013, where a packed audience eagerly lost themselves in Sebastián Silva’s tense and terrifying psychological thriller. Sipa Press was on the red carpet, where they captured candid and stylish photos of Juno Temple, Emily Browning, Michael Cera, Sebastián Silva, Catalina Sandino, and Agustin Silva.

PARIS — This year’s glitzier-than-usual Directors’ Fortnight will have a strong American accent, with two Sundance preems, Jim Mickle’s cannibal thriller “We Are What We Are” and Sebastian Silva’s psychological suspenser “Magic Magic”; Jeremy Saulnier’s revenge thriller “Blue Ruin”; and Frank Pavich’s documentary “Jodorowsky’s Dune” all set to compete at the Cannes Film Festival sidebar.

The selection, announced Tuesday morning in Paris, has artistic director Edouard Waintrop’s stamp all over it. When Waintrop took over Directors’ Fortnight in 2012, he spoke to Variety about his desire to raise the sidebar’s profile and cast a wider net, with more genre films, crossover fare and American indies represented.

“In 2012, we ended up with a strong selection of films, but I felt that we needed a larger U.S. presence. This year, we’re right where we need to be,” he said.

Directors’ Fortnight has announced the complete lineup for the annual sidebar. The 45th Fortnight will screen 21 feature films, including 16 world premieres, and 9 short films…Sebastian Silva’s Magic Magic is a psychological thriller set in the south of the country. It bowed at Sundance earlier this year, and boasts a trio of familiar indie faces, with Michael Cera (Scott Pilgrim vs. the World), Juno Temple (Lovelace) and Oscar-nominated Catalina Sandino Moreno (Maria Full of Grace) starring.

I think Silva’s one of the most entertaining, inventive and brilliant rising directors out there, and MAGIC MAGIC confirms my belief with its Polanski-esque flair for f#*!ing with its audience. One minute you’re laughing at the main characters’ bizarre (yet human) behavior; the next you become deeply disturbed as you realize its implications… The tension of being thrust into a group of strangers is a universally relatable feeling, of which Silva takes full advantage.

Meticulously acted, gorgeously shot and hilariously insightful about the strange, inarticulable ways people can get on one another’s nerves, this psychological thriller takes its premise to surprising, darkly comic extremes, though its non-genre approach keeps things niche. Cera may not be the protagonist, but he’s certainly the pic’s most interesting personality as Brink, an attention-seeking American in Chile who obnoxiously flaunts his grasp of the local language and customs in the face of newcomers.

Silva, sadist that he is, knows that true fear comes from expectation. There are zero “jump scares” in this film, but the insufferable waiting, waiting, waiting for something terrible to happen will drive you crazy… When good actors are given room to just freak out about something that isn’t supernatural or make believe, the effect is no joke. As a result, the final 20 minutes or so of ‘Magic Magic’ may very well make you sick to your stomach. At the screening I attended, there were audible moans and even an entreaty to “make it stop.” Yeah, you’ve got to see this movie.

Writer/director Silva is one of the strongest new voices in horror. MAGIC MAGIC is the visually stunning and mentally harrowing tale of a vacation that becomes an eerie nightmare… Juno Temple’s performance is outstanding, walking the line between vaguely annoying and completely sympathetic. Her portrayal of a young woman on the brink of sanity is rich, intricate and enormously detailed… a recipe for terrific terror. Funny and very strange, MAGIC MAGIC is not only one of the best films at Sundance, but Silva is one of the strongest new voices in horror.

Brian O’Shea’s The Exchange and 6 Sales have been talking up Untitled Sebastian Silva Project, a psycho-thriller that wrapped last week and marks the Chilean director of The Maid’s first English-language feature. Michael Cera, Juno Temple and Emily Browning star in the true story about a young American who begins to unravel while on vacation in remote Chile. Killer is producing with Mike White’s company Ripcord and Braven Films and Frida Torresblanco. UTA Independent represents domestic rights.

La multipremiada La nana, de Sebastián Silva, quien luego de su triunfo en el Festival de Sundance 2009, logró ser estrenada en Nueva York (gracias a la distribuidora Elephant eye) en octubre de ese año, en 13 copias, la que sumada a estrenos en Los Angeles y San Francisco, logró acumular más de 140.000 dólares, el récord para una cinta chilena en ese mercado.
Con el ejemplo señero de La nana, le permitió a su director conseguir no sólo distribución, sino que productores en EEUU. Magic, magic, cinta recién filmada, que incluso ya antes de terminarse cerró un acuerdo de distribución en EEUU con la poderosa Sony Pictures, con la que tendrá, muy probablemente, el estreno más masivo de una cinta chilena en su historia.

Sebastian Silva followed up his Sundance hit “The Maid” with an untitled English-language psychological thriller starring Michael Cera, Juno Temple and Catalina Sandino Moreno. The film, which revolves around a young woman whose mind descends into a netherworld while on holiday with friends in a remote part of Chile, is being fully financed by Frida Torresblanco’s Braven Films, with Christine Vachon, Mike White and David Bernad joining Torresblanco as producers. Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions pre-bought rights in the U.S. and other territories.

Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions pre-bought rights in the U.S. and other territories for the untitled Sebastian Silva thriller starring Michael Cera (Superbad), Juno Temple (Dirty Girl), Emily Browning (Sucker Punch) and Catalina Sandino Moreno (Maria Full of Grace). The film is written and directed by Silva, whose film The Maid won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance and nominated for Best Foreign Film at the Golden Globes two years ago. SPWA’s deal includes rights in Canada, Latin America, Scandinavia, South Africa and Eastern Europe.

Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions has preemptively picked up the domestic rights to Sebastian Silva’s untitled thriller that will star Michael Cera, Juno Temple and Emily Browning. SPWA has also picked up the media rights to Latin America, Scandinavia, South Africa, Eastern Europe for the movie, which will shoot this spring in Chile. Maria Full of Grace star Catalina Sandino Moreno also is in the cast.

Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions has pre-bought all media rights to Sebastian Silva’s untitled thriller formerly known as “Magic Magic” and starring Michael Cera, Juno Temple, Emily Browning and Catalina Sandino Moreno. Pic is written and directed by Silva, whose film “The Maid” won the Grand Jury prize at Sundance and drew a Golden Globe nomination for best foreign film.

Building up for much of last year, Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions has snapped up domestic rights to the film, which will be rolling in front of cameras this spring. Co-starring a strong cast that features Juno Temple, Emily Browning and Catalina Sandino Moreno, the story will follow “a girl vacationing with her friends in a remote area of Chile who slowly starts losing her mental faculties. She tries to get her friends’ attention, but they ignore her until it’s too late.”

Tragedy is what led Hollywood producer, Frida Torresblanco, to triumph. In 2001, she moved to L.A. and started looking for work. That same year, she was offered to head film director Alfonso Cuarón’s production company – Esperanto in New York. Since then Torresblanco has made a name for herself in Hollywood, producing films like three-time Oscar winner “Pan’s Labyrinth” by Guillermo del Toro and Carlos Cuarón’s “Rudo y Cursi,” among other hits.

Braven Films, a New York-based production company, is tackling a biopic about Mexican rock singer, songwriter and composter Gloria Trevi as its first project. Swiss-born Christian Keller will make his directorial debut with “Trevi”. Swiss-born Christian Keller will make his directorial debut with “Trevi,” which is to be produced by Barrie Osborne and Braven head Frida Torresblanco.

Frida Torresblanco, the former head of Alfonso Cuaron’s Esperanto label who produced Guillermo del Toro’s “Pan’s Labyrinth,” Carlos Cuaron’s “Rudo y Cursi” and other hits, has launched Braven Films. The new Gotham-based shingle kicks off with $6 million in private backing. First project is Spanish-language biopic “Trevi,” based on the true-life story of singer Gloria Trevi.