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Ready, SETT, Go: SETT Execs Drill Down on the Spanish Sovereign Venture Capital Fund That Will Drive Industry Conversation at San Sebastián

One of the major industry narratives at this year’s San Sebastián Festival, running Sept. 18-26, will be the presentation of SETT, the venture capital fund of Spain’s Ministry for Digital Transformation.SETT director general Javier Ponce and its audiovisual director María Coronado deliver a practical guide to Spain’s governmental investment drive powering up companies in Spain: […]

Entertainment

Spain’s National Film Prize Honoree Carmen Machi: ‘Acting Has Been the Driving Force of My Happiness and Also a Balm for My Darkest Moments’

Actor Carmen Machi, best known for her role as Aida in the wildly popular Spanish series “7 Lives” and spin-off “Aida” as well as her pivotal roles in Almodóvar classics “Talk to Her” and “Broken Embraces,” received the 2026 National Film Prize at the San Sebastian Festival, a prestigious honor that has been granted to […]

Entertainment

Naomi Watts Believes Standards Have Changed for Older Women in the Industry: ‘Look at the Emmys Last Week… That’s Heartening to See’

British actor Naomi Watts, at the San Sebastián Film Festival to receive this year’s prestigious Donostia Award, spoke about opportunities in the industry for women over 50. Talking a week after Sarah Paulson told Variety about the lack of film offers following her spellbinding portrait of Marcia Clark in “The People v. O.J. Simpson: American […]

Entertainment

Spain’s SETT Drives $521 Million Investment Push to Build Global Audiovisual Players

No Spanish industry initiative is likely to drive more conversation at this year’s San Sebastián Festival than the latest moves by the Spanish Society for Technological Transformation (SETT). Over the past 12 months, state-backed venture capital fund SETT, the investment driver of the Spain Audiovisual Hub, has plowed €215.6 million ($252.3 million) into Spain’s film, […]

Entertainment

Writer-Star Berto Romero, Director Javier Ruiz Caldera Unpack San Sebastian Buzz Title ‘5 More Minutes’: ‘Characters and Audience Should Feel Every Second’s Weight’

World-premiering in the San Sebastián Festival’s main competition, Javier Ruiz Caldera’s time-warping drama ‘5 More Minutes’ (‘5 Minutos Más’) suggests one way an on-the rocks relationship may come closer together again: by plunging them into the makings of a global apocalypse. Writer-star Berto Romero (“The Other Side”) and Belen Cuesta (“The Endless Trench”) play a […]

Entertainment

Portugal’s Queer Lisboa Celebrates 30th Anniversary With Vast Showcase of Latest LGBTQ Titles, Dose of Radical 1970s Counterculture and Family Fare

Celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, Portugal’s preeminent Queer Lisboa – International Queer Film Festival kicked off Friday with a vast program showcasing the latest in LGBTQ cinema, from established filmmakers to new voices, and a look back at the underground counterculture and revolutionary works of activist filmmakers on both sides of the Atlantic. Lisbon’s […]

Entertainment

World Premiering at San Sebastián, Igor Legarreta Describes His Third Film ‘The Blind Ants’ as a Coastal Western Set in the Basque Country

“The Blind Ants” (“Inurri Itsuak”), the third feature by director Igor Legarreta (“All the Moons,” “When You Stop Loving Me”), had it world premiere on Sept. 18 at the 74th San Sebastián International Film Festival. Part of the Zinemira section, which is dedicated to Basque productions, the film is competing for the Irizar Award for […]

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Entertainment

Don Palathara’s Indian Drama ‘Monkey Play’ Selected for Vancouver’s Inaugural Works-in-Progress Lab (EXCLUSIVE)

“Monkey Play” (“Kurangukali”), the latest project by Indian filmmaker Don Palathara (“1956, Central Travancore,” “Family”), has been selected for the Vancouver Film Festival’s new Business Hub Works-in-Progress program, which showcases up to eight feature-length projects in the final stages of production. The film, which Variety unveiled last year, follows Sethu and Nikita, who, in the […]

Entertainment

TV Operators Power Spain’s Global Breakout as the San Sebastian Film Festival Readies Launch: ‘Spanish Cinema Has Never Been So Powerful’

Over the last year or so, Spain has burst onto the world stage, scoring five Cannes main competition berths — more than any other country in the world outside France — with joint best director winner “La Bola Negra” now prominent in awards season conversations. Spain’s San Sebastián Film Festival looks set to capture this […]

Entertainment

Elevation Pictures Acquires Jason Lapeyre’s World War II Hybrid Doc ‘The Auschwitz Volunteer’ (EXCLUSIVE)

Elevation Pictures has boarded as Canadian theatrical distributor Jason Lapeyre’s World War II hybrid documentary “The Auschwitz Volunteer,” the true story of Witold Pilecki, a Polish soldier who volunteers to go to a Nazi prison camp and start a resistance movement from the inside. Written, produced and set to be directed by Lapeyre, the project […]

Entertainment

VIFF’s First Business Hub Lineup Mixes It Up With a Vibrant Lineup

Expanding its industry ambitions this year, the Vancouver International Film Festival, as part of its newly established Institute for the Moving Image, has announced its slate of eight first-ever Works in Progress (WIP), alongside eight international co-productions. These initiatives are designed to connect filmmakers with domestic, U.S. and international financing, distribution opportunities and production partners […]

Entertainment

Werner Herzog and Orlando Bloom on ‘Bucking Fastard’ and That Threesome Scene With the Mara Sisters: ‘It Has Such Charm and Depth’

While speaking at the San Sebastián Film Festival, where they are presenting “Bucking Fastard,” renowned German director Werner Herzog and the film’s star Orlando Bloom spoke about a threesome scene between the “Pirates of the Caribbean” actor and Rooney and Kate Mara, who lead Herzog’s latest as two deeply intertwined sisters. Asked about the scene, […]

Entertainment

Catalonia’s New Generation Raises Its Game as Ambition, Scale and Genre Drive Bolder Arthouse and Crossover Titles

Over 2019-25, annual Catalan government general cinema funding soared from €12.5 million ($14.4 million) in 2019 to €30.2 million ($34.8 million) in just specific support lines. Now, however, the films that are being made are also getting bigger, as a new generation of filmmakers and TV creatives emerged over the last decade raise their game […]

Entertainment

Catalonia: A Dozen Highlights at San Sebastián, From a Time-Loop Thriller to a Singular Heist Tale and a Potential Arthouse Sleeper

Barcelona’s soccer players packed out Spain’s FIFA World Cup winning team. Now Catalonia, the northeast region of Spain counting on Barcelona as its capital, accounts for a very significant chunk of the Spanish films playing this year’s San Sebastián Festival, one of its principal draws. Some 150 Catalan companies, no less, will be in San […]

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Japan’s Top Broadcasters Unite for First Joint Delegation to MipCancun (EXCLUSIVE)

Ten major Japanese broadcasters are joining forces for the first time to send a joint delegation to MipCancun, marking the country’s first coordinated television market presence outside Asia. The “All-Japan” initiative is organized under the Japan Commercial Broadcasters Association (JBA) in collaboration with Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC) and the Broadcast Program […]

Topic: Markets & Festivals | RocksNews