In an acquisition which underscores the often shared sensibility between Canal+, France’s biggest pay TV operator, and Movistar Plus+, the largest Spanish pay TV player, Canal+ has acquired Canneseries winner “The Left-Handed Son” (“El hijo zurdo”), a Movistar Plus+ original series.
The series will bow on Canal+ on April 5 in a deal brokered by Movistar Plus+ International.
A psychological thriller with a lyrical undertow which surfaces to moving effect in key scenes, “The Left-Handed Son” marks the auspicious directorial debut of Rafael Cobos, the career-long co-scribe of Alberto Rodríguez, from 2005’s “7 Virgins” through international hit “Marshland” to 2017’s “The Plague,” still one of the biggest series which Movistar Plus+ has ever made.
World premiering at Canneseries in April 2023, “The Left-Handed Son” went on to win best series in the TV festival’s short form competition.
Produced with Átipica Films and co-directed by Paco R. Baños, who helmed four of its six episodes,...
The series will bow on Canal+ on April 5 in a deal brokered by Movistar Plus+ International.
A psychological thriller with a lyrical undertow which surfaces to moving effect in key scenes, “The Left-Handed Son” marks the auspicious directorial debut of Rafael Cobos, the career-long co-scribe of Alberto Rodríguez, from 2005’s “7 Virgins” through international hit “Marshland” to 2017’s “The Plague,” still one of the biggest series which Movistar Plus+ has ever made.
World premiering at Canneseries in April 2023, “The Left-Handed Son” went on to win best series in the TV festival’s short form competition.
Produced with Átipica Films and co-directed by Paco R. Baños, who helmed four of its six episodes,...
- 4/4/2024
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
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,...
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,...
- 2/18/2024
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
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...
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...
- 1/18/2024
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
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,...
“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,...
- 10/15/2023
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
In 2017, Movistar Plus, Spain’s biggest SVOD-pay TV player, rocked the San Sebastian Festival, the highest-profile movie event in Spain and Latin America region, with “The Plague,” the biggest series ever made in Spain.
Movistar Plus, owned by Telefónica, looks set to make waves again at this week’s San Sebastian by world premiering another big, bold series: “La Mesías.”
It’s written, directed and produced by Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo – known in Spain as Los Javis – marking their follow-up to overseas breakout “Veneno,” a raunchy but highly grounded bio of Spanish trans icon Cristina Ortiz. “Veneno” 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, to big offers, a lot of money from and outside Spain, to keep faithful to ourselves, and...
Movistar Plus, owned by Telefónica, looks set to make waves again at this week’s San Sebastian by world premiering another big, bold series: “La Mesías.”
It’s written, directed and produced by Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo – known in Spain as Los Javis – marking their follow-up to overseas breakout “Veneno,” a raunchy but highly grounded bio of Spanish trans icon Cristina Ortiz. “Veneno” 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, to big offers, a lot of money from and outside Spain, to keep faithful to ourselves, and...
- 9/28/2023
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
In a significant play for audience growth at Telefonica’s Movistar+, Domingo Corral has been promoted to the position of director of fiction and entertainment at the company, the biggest Spanish pay TV/SVOD service.
The move, which in some ways echoes the larger oversight of ITV Studios’ Ruth Berry, marks further recognition for the former director of original fiction who has spearheaded Movistar+’s notably successful drive into scripted production, begun with its first releases in 2017.
Playing off Corral’s innate flair at forge talent relationships his passion for premium entertainment and willingness to explore flexible market models, Movistar+ has created some of the most lauded and prized series in Spain, such as Canneseries double winner “A Perfect Life,” Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s “Riot Police” and “Offworld,” chosen by Variety as one of its best international TV shows of 2022.
Most recently, Alberto Rodriguez “Prison 1977” has bowed on Movistar+ to become...
The move, which in some ways echoes the larger oversight of ITV Studios’ Ruth Berry, marks further recognition for the former director of original fiction who has spearheaded Movistar+’s notably successful drive into scripted production, begun with its first releases in 2017.
Playing off Corral’s innate flair at forge talent relationships his passion for premium entertainment and willingness to explore flexible market models, Movistar+ has created some of the most lauded and prized series in Spain, such as Canneseries double winner “A Perfect Life,” Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s “Riot Police” and “Offworld,” chosen by Variety as one of its best international TV shows of 2022.
Most recently, Alberto Rodriguez “Prison 1977” has bowed on Movistar+ to become...
- 4/26/2023
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Norwegian political satire “Power Play” proved unbeatable at Canneseries, just like its headstrong protagonist, picking up awards for best series and music.
The show, focusing on Norway’s first female Prime Minister, Gro Harlem Brundtland, and starting out in the 1970s, turned out to be a timely proposition, as noted by showrunner Johan Fasting, who co-wrote with Silje Storstein and Kristin Grue.
“It’s hard to persevere in politics, especially for women. We wanted to go behind the scenes of social democracy as well, see how it has dissolved and turned into what we have today. It felt like the right time to look at the mechanisms of power,” he told Variety earlier this week.
While the show delves into local politics, its youthful “punk” attitude and humor, which already drew early comparisons to the works of Armando Iannucci, seems to have paid off, seducing jurors Lior Raz, Zabou Breitman,...
The show, focusing on Norway’s first female Prime Minister, Gro Harlem Brundtland, and starting out in the 1970s, turned out to be a timely proposition, as noted by showrunner Johan Fasting, who co-wrote with Silje Storstein and Kristin Grue.
“It’s hard to persevere in politics, especially for women. We wanted to go behind the scenes of social democracy as well, see how it has dissolved and turned into what we have today. It felt like the right time to look at the mechanisms of power,” he told Variety earlier this week.
While the show delves into local politics, its youthful “punk” attitude and humor, which already drew early comparisons to the works of Armando Iannucci, seems to have paid off, seducing jurors Lior Raz, Zabou Breitman,...
- 4/19/2023
- by Marta Balaga
- Variety Film + TV
Zdf Boots Factual Entertainment
Zdf Studios is boosting factual entertainment with the establishment of new company Content Laden.
Founded with managing director Tom Gamlich and creative director Jan Fritzowsky, the Munich-based subsidiary will focus on the development and production of innovative and high-quality formats. Gamlich and Fritzowsky most recently served as the long-standing management team at South&Browse, where they oversaw development and production of successful factual entertainment formats for broadcasters and streamers.
Zdf Studios President and CEO Markus Schäfer said the foundation of Content Laden was “an investment in creativity and innovation. We want to create outstanding formats and in doing so, achieve long-term, sustainable growth.”
Oble Selling Albert Camus Adaptation ‘The Plague‘
France’s Oble has acquired international broadcasting rights for the series “The Plague,” a modern adaptation of Albert Camus’ novel of the same name. While the book’s story takes place in the 1940s, the miniseries is...
Zdf Studios is boosting factual entertainment with the establishment of new company Content Laden.
Founded with managing director Tom Gamlich and creative director Jan Fritzowsky, the Munich-based subsidiary will focus on the development and production of innovative and high-quality formats. Gamlich and Fritzowsky most recently served as the long-standing management team at South&Browse, where they oversaw development and production of successful factual entertainment formats for broadcasters and streamers.
Zdf Studios President and CEO Markus Schäfer said the foundation of Content Laden was “an investment in creativity and innovation. We want to create outstanding formats and in doing so, achieve long-term, sustainable growth.”
Oble Selling Albert Camus Adaptation ‘The Plague‘
France’s Oble has acquired international broadcasting rights for the series “The Plague,” a modern adaptation of Albert Camus’ novel of the same name. While the book’s story takes place in the 1940s, the miniseries is...
- 4/17/2023
- by Ed Meza
- Variety Film + TV
Spanish titles at MipTV:
“The Argonauts and the Golden Coin,” (Rtve)
A live action kids adventure, targeting 8-12s, from national public broadcaster Rtve and Galician powerhouse Portocabo as Rtve drives into regional co-production. Set over a summer in Galicia and inspired by the spirit of “The Famous Five” and “The Goonies,” translated to the 21st century.
“The Caravan,” (Cabal Films)
Selected for the inaugural MipDoc International Buyer Screenings, a first-person account of an eight-month pregnant woman in a caravan of Central American immigrants heading to the U.S.
“Dating in Barcelona,” (Filmax)
The latest from Filmax, behind “The Red Band Society” and “They All Lie,” following different romantic encounters of people who have met online.
“Dover: Die for Rock & Roll,” (Begin Again Films)
Doc feature on the Seattle/Jean Jett-inspired Spanish band, behind “Devil Came to Me,” and icon of late ‘90s Spanish alternative pop rock.
“Greenpeace,” (Zona Mixta...
“The Argonauts and the Golden Coin,” (Rtve)
A live action kids adventure, targeting 8-12s, from national public broadcaster Rtve and Galician powerhouse Portocabo as Rtve drives into regional co-production. Set over a summer in Galicia and inspired by the spirit of “The Famous Five” and “The Goonies,” translated to the 21st century.
“The Caravan,” (Cabal Films)
Selected for the inaugural MipDoc International Buyer Screenings, a first-person account of an eight-month pregnant woman in a caravan of Central American immigrants heading to the U.S.
“Dating in Barcelona,” (Filmax)
The latest from Filmax, behind “The Red Band Society” and “They All Lie,” following different romantic encounters of people who have met online.
“Dover: Die for Rock & Roll,” (Begin Again Films)
Doc feature on the Seattle/Jean Jett-inspired Spanish band, behind “Devil Came to Me,” and icon of late ‘90s Spanish alternative pop rock.
“Greenpeace,” (Zona Mixta...
- 4/14/2023
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
In the run-up to its Canneseries world premiere, Movistar Plus+ has shared in exclusivity with Variety the international trailer to “The Left Handed Son” (“El hijo zurdo”), the directorial debut of Rafael Cobos, writer of Alberto Rodríguez international hit “Marshland” banner TV series “The Plague.”
Cobos also wrote Rodriguez’s memorable episode in “Offworld,” a market screening at this year’s MipTV.
Movistar Plus+, which produces with José Antonio Félez’s Atipica Films, its partner on “The Plague” and “Prison 1977,” has also announced the release date for “The Left-Handed Son,” whose episodes will all be made available on Movistar Plus+, Spain’s biggest SVOD/pay TV platform, on April 27.
Distribution outside Spain on “The Left-Handed Son” is handled by Movistar Plus+ International.
A six-part short format series, it reps Movistar+’s fourth title at Canneseries in six editions. “The Left Handed Son” delivers a probing, fast-paced psychological thriller which adds...
Cobos also wrote Rodriguez’s memorable episode in “Offworld,” a market screening at this year’s MipTV.
Movistar Plus+, which produces with José Antonio Félez’s Atipica Films, its partner on “The Plague” and “Prison 1977,” has also announced the release date for “The Left-Handed Son,” whose episodes will all be made available on Movistar Plus+, Spain’s biggest SVOD/pay TV platform, on April 27.
Distribution outside Spain on “The Left-Handed Son” is handled by Movistar Plus+ International.
A six-part short format series, it reps Movistar+’s fourth title at Canneseries in six editions. “The Left Handed Son” delivers a probing, fast-paced psychological thriller which adds...
- 4/3/2023
- by John Hopewell and Pablo Sandoval
- Variety Film + TV
Martin Wiley, a veteran producer and executive whose credits include Acts of Violence, Never Talk to Strangers and Under Siege 2: Dark Territory, died March 20, his son Cameron told Deadline. He was 65.
A USC alum who got his post-graduate degree from UCLA, Wiley served as a creative executive in charge of development on films produced at Warner Bros., Sony, Lionsgate and other studios and the supervising producer and/or unit production manager for more than a dozen theatrical features.
Related Story Hollywood & Media Deaths In 2023: Photo Gallery & Obituaries Related Story Essence Atkins & Tetona Jackson To Star In Wayans' Family Comedy Pilot At CBS Related Story 'SNL' Editorial Crew Ratify Deal To Avert Strike; The Late Night Show Will Go On With Inaugural Contract
Wiley began his career in the late 1980s, serving as a producer or co-producer on films including Mutator, Diving In and Little Sister. His...
A USC alum who got his post-graduate degree from UCLA, Wiley served as a creative executive in charge of development on films produced at Warner Bros., Sony, Lionsgate and other studios and the supervising producer and/or unit production manager for more than a dozen theatrical features.
Related Story Hollywood & Media Deaths In 2023: Photo Gallery & Obituaries Related Story Essence Atkins & Tetona Jackson To Star In Wayans' Family Comedy Pilot At CBS Related Story 'SNL' Editorial Crew Ratify Deal To Avert Strike; The Late Night Show Will Go On With Inaugural Contract
Wiley began his career in the late 1980s, serving as a producer or co-producer on films including Mutator, Diving In and Little Sister. His...
- 3/23/2023
- by Erik Pedersen
- Deadline Film + TV
“Beyond the Summit” (“La Cima”), the latest film from director Ibón Cormenzana, producer of Goya-winning “Blancanieves,” has world premiered at Spain’s Malaga Film Festival, where it must rate as one of the event’s most singular and striking films.
It was also one of four new Spanish films to feature in a Market Premiere showcase on Monday, the first day of the Spanish Screenings.
The French-Spanish co-production, starring Javier Rey (“Sin fin”) and Patricia López Arnaiz (“The Plague”), tells the story of Mateo (Rey), an amateur mountaineer determined to scale Annapurna, a Nepalese peak rated as one of the world’s deadliest.
On his first day, Mateo takes a fall, ending up in the care of revered Spanish mountaineer Ione (Arnaiz), who cares for him despite his recklessness.
The story follows a tug-of-war relationship between the two of them, as Mateo seeks to summit despite ghastly conditions, and Ione...
It was also one of four new Spanish films to feature in a Market Premiere showcase on Monday, the first day of the Spanish Screenings.
The French-Spanish co-production, starring Javier Rey (“Sin fin”) and Patricia López Arnaiz (“The Plague”), tells the story of Mateo (Rey), an amateur mountaineer determined to scale Annapurna, a Nepalese peak rated as one of the world’s deadliest.
On his first day, Mateo takes a fall, ending up in the care of revered Spanish mountaineer Ione (Arnaiz), who cares for him despite his recklessness.
The story follows a tug-of-war relationship between the two of them, as Mateo seeks to summit despite ghastly conditions, and Ione...
- 3/21/2022
- by Justin Morgan
- Variety Film + TV
Reign, Season 2: Episode 1 – “The Plague”
Written by Laurie McCarthy
Directed by Fred Gerber
Airs Thursday nights at 9 on The CW
Welcome back to Reign, in which narrative burns quicker than the fires lighting the royal hall. This is one way to kick off a season. Many series opt for the easy re-introduction into the shows’ worlds and stories. “The Plague” has its “Previously on Reign…” segment and that’s that. Did you miss last season? Well, good luck catching up on all the gossip. Really, though, the pleasures of Reign don’t require a full comprehension of its history. The fun is all there to be had in the moment, and “The Plague” is anything but short on entertainment.
Last season left us with two major events to think about: the king is dead and the plague has returned. The consequences of both are addressed in “The Plague” in somewhat surprising ways.
Written by Laurie McCarthy
Directed by Fred Gerber
Airs Thursday nights at 9 on The CW
Welcome back to Reign, in which narrative burns quicker than the fires lighting the royal hall. This is one way to kick off a season. Many series opt for the easy re-introduction into the shows’ worlds and stories. “The Plague” has its “Previously on Reign…” segment and that’s that. Did you miss last season? Well, good luck catching up on all the gossip. Really, though, the pleasures of Reign don’t require a full comprehension of its history. The fun is all there to be had in the moment, and “The Plague” is anything but short on entertainment.
Last season left us with two major events to think about: the king is dead and the plague has returned. The consequences of both are addressed in “The Plague” in somewhat surprising ways.
- 10/3/2014
- by Sean Colletti
- SoundOnSight
Horror has come in a variety of flavors this summer: Gory. Existential. Sharknado. FX’s The Strain is geek Neapolitan—a combo of all three. It’s a high-concept monster mash—a vampire takeover thing restated as a zombie plague thing—that revels in body ick and clever ironies. This is a show that gets its shocks and jollies from having a goth rocker—a prick raconteur who’s only in it for the “p—y”—accidentally flush his balls down the toilet after his infected body abruptly decides to shed them, leaving him looking like Marilyn Manson on the cover of Mechanical Animals.
- 8/4/2014
- by Jeff Jensen
- EW - Inside TV
Fictionalized history in any artistic expression differs from the theories created by revisionists to carve out a narrative that fits their beliefs. Cinematic reinterpretations often, as they should, focus on the characters’ human condition, those emotions or personal plights that never make it to the history books. Audiences and artists are fascinated with the intrigues, romances, and other dramatic situations involving important figures. Despite their unique lives, they are humans beings subjected to the same fears and hopes that everyone else, the historical background just adds to the allure. In these terms is how Argentine director Lucía Puenzo approached her story about a real-life villain and his interactions with the world. Based on the myths and speculation surrounding notorious Nazi physician Josef Mengele, The German Doctor aims to put a face to his evil not in a simplistic manner but with all the complexities that form part of a multifaceted identity. Puenzo shared with us her motivation to write the novel that would turn into this film, the role history played in her creative process, and her opinion on why the myth of a disturbed Nazi doctor is still powerful today.
Read the review Here
Read the Case Study on the film by Sydney Levine
Carlos Aguilar: This story, The German Doctor, existed first as a novel you wrote, and not it is your film. What was the central idea that interested you?
Lucia Puenzo: The novel emerged first as a tale of a family that crossed paths in the desert route with this German man. From the beginning, what interested me this family and the protagonist, the teenage girl, more than Mengele. He is such a powerful character historically, as powerful as Nazism itself, so these subjects always tend to be the protagonists. What I think is that despite this historical references, Wakolda or The German Doctor is a very intimate story. It is the story of a teenage girl and the way she falls in love with a monster. It is the story of a hunt and of a seduction.
Aguilar: What kind of research was involved to develop this novel that needs great historical context?
Lucia: There was a lot of research, years even. It took a year and a half to write the novel, but the research wasn’t the initial thing that occurred to me. In general, even if I’m dealing with a historical subject, I begin with invention rather than investigation, because I need to understand what is going to be the voice or the tone of the story. Whose point of view is it? Who is telling it?“ How is this character telling it? Therefore, I started writing before doing any research to understand the tone of the novel. It was a novel that needed all this information that I started gathering. While I was writing I was reading books on the subjects, meeting with documentarians and historians, all of who provided me with an immense amount of facts that ended up in the novel and eventually the film. An example is the inclusion of Nora Eldoc, the volunteer for the Mossad.
Aguilar: Did you know you wanted to turn this story into a film from the moment you started writing the novel?
Puenzo: At first I didn’t think about it at all, I didn’t write the novel thinking it would become a film. In the case of my second film The Fish Child (El Niño Pez), I had written the novel about 5 years before I made into a film. In the case of The German Doctor I had published the novel a year before I started writing the script, I even had another project to shoot. But I had this idea of the powerful cinematic language from the novel that I couldn’t let go of. When I started writing the script I thought that maybe someone else would direct it, but then I started to fall for it so much that I left the other project and I put all my time on The German Doctor.
Aguilar: It seems as if the chapter in history about the Nazis escaping to South America is often forgotten, or not amply discussed. Were you trying to revisit these events after the war?
Puenzo: Much more than trying to focus on the battlefield of the war, it was the central place that German doctors occupied within Nazism, the omnipotent and insane idea of wanting to generically modify an entire nation. This idea was not on the outskirts of Nazi ideology, it was the heart of movement, that’s what intrigued me. Mengele is the most extreme expression of this idea.
Aguilar: There is a fantastic analogy your film makes between the mass production f porcelain dolls and Mengele’s deranged plans. Did this come from any historical material or was it completely fictional?
Puenzo: That was one of those facts that emerged while I was doing my research. I was reading books about the Nazi presence not only in Argentina, but all over Latin America, and time and after time this information would come up. Mengele had something to do with these types of dolls, the stories say that he made them and gave them away to his friends as symbols of Nazism in exile. They also say this maybe was because he worked at a toy store. There were many of these stories. When I would ask different historians about these, all of them said that it is all part of a myth. There was a myth circulating among many historians that assured them this really happened. However, this is just a myth, no one will ever know for certain, no one ever saw those dolls with certainty, there are no photographs. For me, just the fact that this story exists is such a vicious and poisonous idea. To think he kept on trying to manipulate other bodies is disturbing, so much that I included in the novel and then in the film.
Aguilar: You seem to be attacked to stories about human physiology, not only here, but also with your previous film Xxy, about a hermaphrodite finding her physical and emotional identity.
Puenzo: Evidently this does attract me, if I said no it would be incongruent with the films I’m making [Laughs]. But it is not something I decide consciously. When I wrote Wakolda at first I wasn’t conscious that I was writing about something so close to or that had so many similar elements with Xxy. It was just after I was done writing that I noticed it. I think both teenagers in each film have many similarities, and Mengele is the extreme version of the plastic surgeon in Xxy. Both stories definitely have several ideas connecting them.
Aguilar: You mention that one the ideas that intrigued the most was the family’s vulnerability in particular the parents. Why is that?
Puenzo: The parents intrigued me in a very special way. They remind me of films like Sophie's Choice, how does someone react while having to make such a terrible decision: having a monster in front of you proposing something revolting, but that at the same time it could save your child. The parents in my film had very different perspectives. The mother comes from German parents, and although she doesn’t have an openly Nazi ideology, she was raised in that environment and she ends up trusting this man [Mengele], more than her husband. He is suspicious of the doctor’s motives because he belongs to a different world.
Aguilar: How difficult was it to find the perfect actor to bring Mengele to life and to an extent humanize him?
Puenzo: The casting process was extremely difficult. It was a character that needed the actor to speak Spanish and German, look alike physically, be able to act the part, and it had to be someone we could pay for. Our film required someone that would support the project fully and beyond the financial aspects. Àlex Brendemühl did it with much excitement. I sent him a picture of Mengele, then I called him and I told him they really looked alike and that he had to play this character. He immediately agreed. It was clear from the novel, and now in the film, that we didn’t want to fall in the stereotype of a “simply evil” character. We didn’t want a villain that you can see coming from miles away because he has written on his forehead how bad he is. It wasn’t the case here, because these men were very complex. They were psychopaths that camouflaged and penetrated our societies like in The Plague by Albert Camus, they were in every corner but no one noticed them.
Aguilar: Despite being a film set against the backdrop of important historical events, it still feels very engaging in an intimate way. How has the film been received by audiences?
Puenzo: Absolutely, I think that even though The German Doctor (Wakolda) is placed in a historical context like this, it is a very intimate story. It is basically four characters inside a hotel. That’s how the story is resolved, that’s how the story was conceived, and that was what grabbed me, more than the historical context. The film has been extremely well received around the world. It keeps on going around, opening in different markets, and connecting with the audience. In Argentina it was seen by over 450, 000 spectators, which is way more than anything we could have imagined. It also connected with very young audiences as well, teenagers and people in their 20s, which we also didn’t expect.
Aguilar: When we published our review for the film back when it was in contention for the Academy Award nomination, we received a couple of comments by people claiming that Mengele was still alive hiding somewhere, their claims seems very vivid, but of course surreal. Why do you think these fantastical stories exist?
Puenzo: This is a character that lived 30 years running away from the Mossad, which was always hot on his heels in Argentina, Paraguay, and Brazil. They never captured him, and he probably died without ever being found, this lends itself for these kinds of conspiracy theories and myths. We can only hope that he died in a prison like many other Nazis that were extradited, and not at the beach in Brazil. He is a character that lends itself to these intriguing stories because they never found him.
Aguilar: The original title of the film is Wakolda, which if I’m not mistaken comes from the indigenous people of the region, how does it relate to the story?
Puenzo. Yes, it’s a Mapuche name. The Mapuche are our indigenous people from the south, the Patagonia. They are a vey wise and luminous ancient cavitation, which is completely opposite to where Nazism was headed. In the novel, the theme of racial purity and the Nazi obsession with it was much more developed.
Aguilar: How did you work with you young actress, Florencia Bado, who played Lilith, given that this is a rather dark tale in which a strange bond between her and the doctor is formed?
Puenzo: We took very good care of her. She was 12 years old when we shot the film, this is her first movie, and she had never even taken an acting class. María Laura Berch, our casting director, and I, we understood that she needed to be taken care of. She didn’t read the script, her parents read it and agreed for her to be in the film. We told her little by little what the story was about. We made sure that she was comfortable and reassure her that we would take care of her. It was a very happy shoot; we went to film on location in Bariloche. We all stayed together in the same hotel where we filmed.
Aguilar: Luis Puenzo, your father, who won the Academy Award for his film The Official Story, how has he influenced your career as a filmmaker?
Puenzo: I’m completely surrounded, not only my father, but also my three brothers, and Sergio, my husband, all four of them work in film. Some are writers, or directors, or cinematographers, all of them. I’m surrounded by men that make films, so much that at some point I felt there was no more room in the family for another filmmaker. For many years I was only working as novelist or writing screenplays for others to direct. In terms of my father, if you have 4 children that work in film, then there certainly was a happy, positive influence from him because none us became an accountant. [Laughs].
The German Doctor opens in L.A. and New York on April 25th, 2014...
Read the review Here
Read the Case Study on the film by Sydney Levine
Carlos Aguilar: This story, The German Doctor, existed first as a novel you wrote, and not it is your film. What was the central idea that interested you?
Lucia Puenzo: The novel emerged first as a tale of a family that crossed paths in the desert route with this German man. From the beginning, what interested me this family and the protagonist, the teenage girl, more than Mengele. He is such a powerful character historically, as powerful as Nazism itself, so these subjects always tend to be the protagonists. What I think is that despite this historical references, Wakolda or The German Doctor is a very intimate story. It is the story of a teenage girl and the way she falls in love with a monster. It is the story of a hunt and of a seduction.
Aguilar: What kind of research was involved to develop this novel that needs great historical context?
Lucia: There was a lot of research, years even. It took a year and a half to write the novel, but the research wasn’t the initial thing that occurred to me. In general, even if I’m dealing with a historical subject, I begin with invention rather than investigation, because I need to understand what is going to be the voice or the tone of the story. Whose point of view is it? Who is telling it?“ How is this character telling it? Therefore, I started writing before doing any research to understand the tone of the novel. It was a novel that needed all this information that I started gathering. While I was writing I was reading books on the subjects, meeting with documentarians and historians, all of who provided me with an immense amount of facts that ended up in the novel and eventually the film. An example is the inclusion of Nora Eldoc, the volunteer for the Mossad.
Aguilar: Did you know you wanted to turn this story into a film from the moment you started writing the novel?
Puenzo: At first I didn’t think about it at all, I didn’t write the novel thinking it would become a film. In the case of my second film The Fish Child (El Niño Pez), I had written the novel about 5 years before I made into a film. In the case of The German Doctor I had published the novel a year before I started writing the script, I even had another project to shoot. But I had this idea of the powerful cinematic language from the novel that I couldn’t let go of. When I started writing the script I thought that maybe someone else would direct it, but then I started to fall for it so much that I left the other project and I put all my time on The German Doctor.
Aguilar: It seems as if the chapter in history about the Nazis escaping to South America is often forgotten, or not amply discussed. Were you trying to revisit these events after the war?
Puenzo: Much more than trying to focus on the battlefield of the war, it was the central place that German doctors occupied within Nazism, the omnipotent and insane idea of wanting to generically modify an entire nation. This idea was not on the outskirts of Nazi ideology, it was the heart of movement, that’s what intrigued me. Mengele is the most extreme expression of this idea.
Aguilar: There is a fantastic analogy your film makes between the mass production f porcelain dolls and Mengele’s deranged plans. Did this come from any historical material or was it completely fictional?
Puenzo: That was one of those facts that emerged while I was doing my research. I was reading books about the Nazi presence not only in Argentina, but all over Latin America, and time and after time this information would come up. Mengele had something to do with these types of dolls, the stories say that he made them and gave them away to his friends as symbols of Nazism in exile. They also say this maybe was because he worked at a toy store. There were many of these stories. When I would ask different historians about these, all of them said that it is all part of a myth. There was a myth circulating among many historians that assured them this really happened. However, this is just a myth, no one will ever know for certain, no one ever saw those dolls with certainty, there are no photographs. For me, just the fact that this story exists is such a vicious and poisonous idea. To think he kept on trying to manipulate other bodies is disturbing, so much that I included in the novel and then in the film.
Aguilar: You seem to be attacked to stories about human physiology, not only here, but also with your previous film Xxy, about a hermaphrodite finding her physical and emotional identity.
Puenzo: Evidently this does attract me, if I said no it would be incongruent with the films I’m making [Laughs]. But it is not something I decide consciously. When I wrote Wakolda at first I wasn’t conscious that I was writing about something so close to or that had so many similar elements with Xxy. It was just after I was done writing that I noticed it. I think both teenagers in each film have many similarities, and Mengele is the extreme version of the plastic surgeon in Xxy. Both stories definitely have several ideas connecting them.
Aguilar: You mention that one the ideas that intrigued the most was the family’s vulnerability in particular the parents. Why is that?
Puenzo: The parents intrigued me in a very special way. They remind me of films like Sophie's Choice, how does someone react while having to make such a terrible decision: having a monster in front of you proposing something revolting, but that at the same time it could save your child. The parents in my film had very different perspectives. The mother comes from German parents, and although she doesn’t have an openly Nazi ideology, she was raised in that environment and she ends up trusting this man [Mengele], more than her husband. He is suspicious of the doctor’s motives because he belongs to a different world.
Aguilar: How difficult was it to find the perfect actor to bring Mengele to life and to an extent humanize him?
Puenzo: The casting process was extremely difficult. It was a character that needed the actor to speak Spanish and German, look alike physically, be able to act the part, and it had to be someone we could pay for. Our film required someone that would support the project fully and beyond the financial aspects. Àlex Brendemühl did it with much excitement. I sent him a picture of Mengele, then I called him and I told him they really looked alike and that he had to play this character. He immediately agreed. It was clear from the novel, and now in the film, that we didn’t want to fall in the stereotype of a “simply evil” character. We didn’t want a villain that you can see coming from miles away because he has written on his forehead how bad he is. It wasn’t the case here, because these men were very complex. They were psychopaths that camouflaged and penetrated our societies like in The Plague by Albert Camus, they were in every corner but no one noticed them.
Aguilar: Despite being a film set against the backdrop of important historical events, it still feels very engaging in an intimate way. How has the film been received by audiences?
Puenzo: Absolutely, I think that even though The German Doctor (Wakolda) is placed in a historical context like this, it is a very intimate story. It is basically four characters inside a hotel. That’s how the story is resolved, that’s how the story was conceived, and that was what grabbed me, more than the historical context. The film has been extremely well received around the world. It keeps on going around, opening in different markets, and connecting with the audience. In Argentina it was seen by over 450, 000 spectators, which is way more than anything we could have imagined. It also connected with very young audiences as well, teenagers and people in their 20s, which we also didn’t expect.
Aguilar: When we published our review for the film back when it was in contention for the Academy Award nomination, we received a couple of comments by people claiming that Mengele was still alive hiding somewhere, their claims seems very vivid, but of course surreal. Why do you think these fantastical stories exist?
Puenzo: This is a character that lived 30 years running away from the Mossad, which was always hot on his heels in Argentina, Paraguay, and Brazil. They never captured him, and he probably died without ever being found, this lends itself for these kinds of conspiracy theories and myths. We can only hope that he died in a prison like many other Nazis that were extradited, and not at the beach in Brazil. He is a character that lends itself to these intriguing stories because they never found him.
Aguilar: The original title of the film is Wakolda, which if I’m not mistaken comes from the indigenous people of the region, how does it relate to the story?
Puenzo. Yes, it’s a Mapuche name. The Mapuche are our indigenous people from the south, the Patagonia. They are a vey wise and luminous ancient cavitation, which is completely opposite to where Nazism was headed. In the novel, the theme of racial purity and the Nazi obsession with it was much more developed.
Aguilar: How did you work with you young actress, Florencia Bado, who played Lilith, given that this is a rather dark tale in which a strange bond between her and the doctor is formed?
Puenzo: We took very good care of her. She was 12 years old when we shot the film, this is her first movie, and she had never even taken an acting class. María Laura Berch, our casting director, and I, we understood that she needed to be taken care of. She didn’t read the script, her parents read it and agreed for her to be in the film. We told her little by little what the story was about. We made sure that she was comfortable and reassure her that we would take care of her. It was a very happy shoot; we went to film on location in Bariloche. We all stayed together in the same hotel where we filmed.
Aguilar: Luis Puenzo, your father, who won the Academy Award for his film The Official Story, how has he influenced your career as a filmmaker?
Puenzo: I’m completely surrounded, not only my father, but also my three brothers, and Sergio, my husband, all four of them work in film. Some are writers, or directors, or cinematographers, all of them. I’m surrounded by men that make films, so much that at some point I felt there was no more room in the family for another filmmaker. For many years I was only working as novelist or writing screenplays for others to direct. In terms of my father, if you have 4 children that work in film, then there certainly was a happy, positive influence from him because none us became an accountant. [Laughs].
The German Doctor opens in L.A. and New York on April 25th, 2014...
- 4/25/2014
- by Carlos Aguilar
- Sydney's Buzz
Review by Dane Marti
Shorts Program # 5: Experimental plays as part of the St. Louis Filmmakers Showcase Tuesday July 11th at 5:00pm at The Tivoli Theater, 6350 Delmar Blvd.
As an experimental filmmaker, I am looking forward to seeing what my competition is. Who knows, perhaps I should have submitted my surreal film shorts. Perhaps next year!
Anyway, even looking at the opening frames on this DVD menu of films to be show at the St. Louis Filmmakers Showcase makes me excited that I will be in for a treat! All of the imagery looks interesting to me.
180 - Zlatko Cosic was the great filmmaker behind this first simple but colorfully interesting film: One giant rectangle consists of many smaller cubes of kinetic and colorful moving pictures. It is a moving painting—literally. With repeated viewings, the filmgoer will catch additional nuggets of eye candy. I believe that his collage...
Shorts Program # 5: Experimental plays as part of the St. Louis Filmmakers Showcase Tuesday July 11th at 5:00pm at The Tivoli Theater, 6350 Delmar Blvd.
As an experimental filmmaker, I am looking forward to seeing what my competition is. Who knows, perhaps I should have submitted my surreal film shorts. Perhaps next year!
Anyway, even looking at the opening frames on this DVD menu of films to be show at the St. Louis Filmmakers Showcase makes me excited that I will be in for a treat! All of the imagery looks interesting to me.
180 - Zlatko Cosic was the great filmmaker behind this first simple but colorfully interesting film: One giant rectangle consists of many smaller cubes of kinetic and colorful moving pictures. It is a moving painting—literally. With repeated viewings, the filmgoer will catch additional nuggets of eye candy. I believe that his collage...
- 7/11/2012
- by Movie Geeks
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Over my time authoring Top 10 Tuesdays (or Thursdays if your editor is slow!) for Owf, I’ve submitted a couple of articles chronicling the best full-length films available to watch online (Part I and Part II). My attention focused on YouTube’s offerings in these previous lists, but today I turn to the Internet Archive. This site is dedicated to offering the general public as much content as possible – whether it’s live concerts, television shows or indeed feature films – for free viewing/listening or download. As I’ve previously mentioned, this content is in the Public Domain, which means the reproduction and offers of free viewings or downloads is entirely legal.
As a relentless fan and tireless advocate for classical Hollywood fare, The Internet Archive is one of my favourite sites out in the stratosphere of the interweb! Read on to find 10 classic films that you really have no excuse not to watch…...
As a relentless fan and tireless advocate for classical Hollywood fare, The Internet Archive is one of my favourite sites out in the stratosphere of the interweb! Read on to find 10 classic films that you really have no excuse not to watch…...
- 4/21/2011
- by Stuart Cummins
- Obsessed with Film
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