Ricardo Darín: Celebs Rumors

ALBANIA“A Cup of Coffee and New Shoes On”Director: Gentian KociDirector Koci’s first film, “Daybreak,” was Albania’s Oscar entry in 2017; his second is “A Cup of Coffee and New Shoes On,” about deaf-mute twins who also have a disease that will make them blind. Albania has submitted 15 films to the Oscars without landing a nomination or placing a film on the shortlist.ALGERIA“Our Brothers”Director: Rachid BoucharebSeven films from director Bouchareb have represented Algeria in the Oscar race, more than any other director, including three of the country’s five nominated movies.

Anna Marie de la Fuente Buenos Aires-based FilmSharks has secured the world sales and remake rights to 2000 classic “Nine Queens” (“Nueve Reinas”), newly remastered into 4K Ultra HD. Hailed by Variety as “a seductively structured and superbly acted suspenser that breathtakingly piles swindle upon scam without giving away the game until the very end,” it was written and directed by the late Fabian Bielinsky and became the biggest box office hit in his native Argentina in at least 10 years.

Santiago Miter’s political thriller Argentina, 1985, and the Colombian series News of a Kidnapping, created by Andrés Wood and Rodrigo García, swept the top awards at the tenth Platino Awards Saturday evening.

News of a Kidnapping,” created by Andrés Wood and Rodrigo García, swept the top prizes for best picture on Saturday night at the 2023 Platino Awards, in a sign of how the global streamers – here Amazon Studios and Prime Video – have lured top-of-their-class talent in Latin America. One highlight of the ceremony, dedicated to films and TV shows in the Spanish-speaking world, was Benicio del Toro’s acceptance speech of a honorary Platino in which he reflected on being typecast for many years in Hollywood as a Latino actor.  “If I had to play stereotypes, I tried to find the character’s humanity, a sense of complicity, so that audiences felt what my character felt and whilst they’re watching, don’t forget who I am and where I come from.,” he said. “What’s important is to share more than be divided,” he added. 

Benicio del Toro will be recognized with the Platino Honorary Award. The award celebrates Ibero-American filmmaking, being one of the few recognitions that considers Latin American and Spanish talent.

Pedro Pascal, one of the most popular actors at the moment and best known for his current roles in HBO’s ‘Last of Us’ and Disney+’s ‘The Mandalorian,’ attended the Oscars not only to present an award, also to support someone special in his life, his sister, Javiera Balmaceda.While Pedro has been in the spotlight a lot lately, his sibling also has a very successful career in the film industry. Javiera is a producer, and while she didn’t receive a nomination, she was part of several projects recognized throughout the awards ceremony.

Pedro Pascal is sharing his thoughts about the new storyline and upcoming seasons, including his admiration for Lionel Messi.“Well, I wouldn’t see him as a Jedi,” Pascal said, when asked which character would the soccer star be on the show, if he were to be in the Star Wars universe. “I see him as a mandalorian, but he would have to take off his helmet so we could see his face.”Pascal explained that the audience would want to “recognize” him, as most of the mandalorians are known for keeping their helmet on at all times.

Anna Marie de la Fuente Since 1961, Argentina has been sending films to vie in the foreign film race and Ricardo Darin, the country’s most celebrated actor, stars in at least seven of them, including this year’s nominee, “Argentina 1985.” That’s no mean feat but given his lifetime commitment to his craft, perhaps not surprising. Four of them: “Son of the Bride” (2001), “The Secret in their Eyes” (2009), “Wild Tales” (2014) and now the Amazon Studios-backed “Argentina 1985,” have either been shortlisted or in the case of Juan José Campanella’s “The Secret in Their Eyes,” taken home the golden statuette. Given its wins at the Venice Film Festival, the National Board of Review and the Golden Globes as well as the growing buzz, “Argentina 1985” may again clinch the honor.

The Oscar-nominated Argentina, 1985 shines a light on everyday people doing extraordinary things — real-life superheroes not unlike the fictional tales told by Marvel to much fanfare. The film’s protagonists are based on real-life people led by prosecutors Julio César Strassera and Luis Moreno Ocampo who took on an unwinable case against Argentina’s military junta for crimes against humanity and put on a fight that inspired a nation.

With a bold, declarative title such as “Argentina, 1985,” one might wonder what co-writer/director Santiago Mitre is taking on with his fifth feature. Reunited with his “The Summit” lead Ricardo Darín, Mitre turns to the Trial of the Juntas.

Argentina has submitted Santiago Mitre’s political drama Argentina, 1985 to the Best International Film Oscar race.

Five years on from their thrilling diplomatic drama “The Summit,” icons of Argentinian cinema Santiago Mitre (“White Elephant,” “Paulina,” ) and Ricardo Darín (“Wild Tales,” “The Secret in Their Eyes”) have teamed up once more for the Venice-bound “Argentina, 1985.” This time, however, their collaboration is much more fact than fiction, as the film seeks to bring one of Argentina’s most historic judicial trials to the big screen.

When the colonels enter the courtroom, they clearly think they are in the clear. A military court has spent a year deciding that whatever excesses the Argentinian police, army and whoever else might have committed, these gentlemen were not down in the muck where these things happened, whatever “these things” were. One by one, they rise to announce that, as military men, they do not recognize the authority of the civil court. They are holding back smirks. Perhaps they think they will be free of this nonsense by lunchtime.

Guy Lodge Film Critic Rather like the arc of the moral universe, “Argentina, 1985” is long, but bends toward justice. Effectively dramatizing the country’s landmark Trial of the Juntas, history’s first instance of a civilian justice system convicting a military dictatorship, Santiago Mitre’s broad, sprawling, heart-on-sleeve courtroom saga may draw from the same nightmarish period of history that has informed much of Argentine cinema’s most essential, haunting works — from 1985’s Oscar-winning “The Official Story” to last year’s “Azor” — but eschews any subtle arthouse stylings for a storytelling sensibility as robustly populist as anything by Sorkin or Spielberg. Small wonder, then, that Amazon Studios has boarded a film clearly aiming to be both a domestic smash and an international crossover hit — buoyed by the reliable star power of Ricardo Darín, his signature suaveness tempered by a walrus mustache and boxy ‘80s frames as Julio Strassera, the dogged prosecutor who took on this charged, against-the-odds case. Though a warmly received premiere in competition at Venice will set it on the right path, “Argentina, 1985” is, appropriately enough, a people’s film about people’s justice, balancing tear-jerking historical catharsis with touches of droll domestic comedy, and set to draw crowds on enthusiastic word of mouth.

Leo Barraclough International Features EditorThe Zurich Film Festival has unveiled the first seven titles from its Gala Premieres section, a showcase of some of the year’s hottest auteur films. The films include the star-studded drama “The Banshees of Inisherin” by Oscar-winning director Martin McDonagh, the European premiere of the German film adaptation “All Quiet on the Western Front,” directed by Edward Berger, and the world premieres of Sönke Wortmann’s “Der Nachname” and “Die Goldenen Jahre” by Barbara Kulcsar.Artistic director Christian Jungen said: “In recent years, the Zurich Film Festival has established itself as a springboard into the awards season.

Five years on from their thrilling diplomatic drama “The Summit,” icons of Argentinian cinema Santiago Mitre (“White Elephant,” “Paulina,” ) and Ricardo Darín (“Wild Tales,” “The Secret in Their Eyes”) have teamed up once more for the Venice-bound “Argentina, 1985.” This time, however, their collaboration is much more fact than fiction, as the film seeks to bring one of Argentina’s most historic judicial trials to the big screen.

Úrsula Corberó is taking a break from her busy schedule to enjoy some fun in the sun.The Spanish actress and her longtime boyfriend, Ricardo Mario ‘Chino’ Darín, were spotted at the beach in Punta Del Este, Uruguay. The pair was all smiles as they arrived, with Chino wearing a simple grey T-shirt paired with his green swim trunks.

John Hopewell Chief International CorrespondentAmazon Studios, La Unión de los Ríos, Kenya Films and Infinity Hill have teamed to produce Argentina’s first Amazon Original film, Santiago Mitre’s “Argentina, 1985,” which looks set to become a banner Argentine big fest title and release in 2022.Headlining arguably the foremost Argentine stars of their generations – Ricardo Darín (“The Secret in Their Eyes,” “Wild Tales”) and Peter Lanzani (“The Clan”) – the feature film has just started shooting in Argentina.It focuses on an extraordinary but real life event of which Argentineans can feel proud: the true story of how a public prosector, Julio Strassera, a young lawyer, Luis Morena Ocampo, and their inexperienced legal team dared to prosecute

Jamie Lang Miami-based BTF Media, celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, is planning a series reboot for Fabián Bielinsky’s Argentine modern classic “Nine Queens” (“Nueve Reinas”), a feature film which 20 years ago introduced the world to one of Argentina’s most bankable actors in Ricardo Darín (“The Secret in Their Eyes,” “Wild Tales”) and film-TV crossover superstar Gastón Pauls (“Todos contra Juan,” Pablo Larraín’s “Fuga”).It also established, just as the New Argentine Cinema was lifting off in the country, a crossover style of movie which could combine artistic ambition and genre heft to appeal to broad audiences at home and abroad, a filmic mode inherited by Juan José Campanella and Pablo Trapero among others.

Naman Ramachandran Cesc Gay’s “The People Upstairs” (a.k.a. “Sentimental”), Nacho Álvarez’s feature debut “My Heart Goes Boom! (“Explota Explota”) and the series “Ines of My Soul” (“Inés del alma mía”), based on the book of the same name by Isabel Allende, will have their world premieres at the San Sebastian film festival in September.All three are galas from Radio Televisión Española (RTVE), official sponsor of the festival.Spain’s Gay had a hit with “Truman,” starring Ricardo Darin (“The Secret in Their Eyes”) and Javier Cámara (“Talk to Her”).

The Panama Film Festival (IFF Panama), with support from the Inter-American Development Bank, is unspooling a five-day online festival, running May 22-26, which includes film screenings and round tables.

By John Hopewell