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Penelope Cruz is the Oscar-winning actress who was born on April 28, 1974, in Madrid, Spain. Let's take a look back at 16 of her greatest films, ranked worst to best.

Cruz has received four Oscar nominations throughout her career. Her first nomination was for Best Actress for the film “Volver” in 2006. She subsequently received two Best Supporting Actress nominations for “Vicky Christina Barcelona” in 2008 and “Nine” in 2009. She received another Best Actress nom for "Parallel Mothers" (2021).

She won the Oscar for “Vicky Christina Barcelona” making her one of seven actors to win an Oscar for a Woody Allen film.

Cruz first rose to fame in her native Spain. Her performances in many films there and especially in the work of Pedro Almodóvar allowed her to start appearing in American films. She initially struggled a bit to bring the same power in her acting when she spoke English as opposed to Spanish and...

Pedro Almodóvar, who has had a decades-long relationship with the New York Film Festival, will receive a lifetime honor from its presenting organization next month.

The 50th annual Chaplin Award will be presented to the filmmaker April 28 at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall. Presenters who will pay tribute to him at the gala event include performer and artistic director Mikhail Baryshnikov; actress Rossy de Palma (the honoree’s longtime muse); pop star Dua Lipa; actor John Turturro; and filmmaker John Waters.

The Chaplin Award Gala is Film at Lincoln Center’s primary annual fundraising event. Proceeds benefit the nonprofit’s programs, including film series, educational initiatives, and marquee events like the New York Film Festival and New Directors/New Films.

The list of previous Chaplin recipients includes Jeff Bridges, Viola Davis, Robert De Niro, Barbara Streisand, Sidney Poitier, Michael Caine, Audrey Hepburn, Robert Altman, Billy Wilder and Elizabeth Taylor.

Pedro Almodóvar is ready to party with the best of ’em. The legendary auteur will be honored with the 50th Chaplin Award during a gala evening at Lincoln Center on April 28, as previously announced. Yet it’s the who’s who of eclectic presenters that has us abuzz today: IndieWire can confirm that Dua Lipa, John Waters, Almodóvar’s “The Room Next Door” star John Turturro, Mikhail Baryshnikov, and long-time Almodóvar muse Rossy de Palma will be on hand to toast to the internationally acclaimed Spanish filmmaker.

The Chaplin Award Tribute will feature excerpts from a selection of the beloved director’s work, appearances by actors, friends, and colleagues, and the presentation of the award itself. The 50th Chaplin Award Gala, presented in partnership with Rolex, will take place at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall. The annual gala is the premier fundraiser for Film at Lincoln Center, with proceeds...

When Spanish multi-hyphenate Elena Martín Gimeno first got a call to say she would be this year’s recipient of the Málaga Talent Award at the prestigious Malaga Film Festival, she felt it was a “full circle moment.” Having premiered her feature debut “Júlia Ist” at the festival almost a decade ago, the director credits the launchpad as having “made her career possible,” catapulting her to premiere her sophomore effort “Creatura” to great acclaim at Directors’ Fortnight in 2023.

Gimeno directed, wrote and starred in “Creatura,” which went on to win Best European Film at Directors’ Fortnight, six Gaudí Awards, and three nominations for the Goya Awards.

As a director and screenwriter, on top of her two feature films, Gimeno has worked on fiction projects such as Canneseries double winner “Vida Perfecta” by Leticia Dolera and “Veneno” by Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi, their first big international breakout. The creative also...

Two films – local hits The 47 and Undercover – shared the best film prize at Spain’s Goya awards on Saturday night (February 8).

The 47 began the ceremony with 14 nominations and won five awards including best film, supporting actress and actor (Clara Segura and Salva Reina), production design, and special effects.

Arantxa Echevarría’s Undercover received 13 nominations and won best film and best actress for Carolina Yuste.

Produced and distributed by The Mediapro Studio, Marcel Barrena’s The 47 is a social drama about a bus driver fighting for rights in a marginalised area of Barcelona, mainly populated by immigrants from Andalusia during Spain...

Fernanda Torres made history on Thursday morning as only the second Brazilian to receive a Best Actress nomination at the Oscars. The I’m Still Here star follows in the footsteps of her mother, Fernanda Montenegro, who was the first to do it in 1999 for Central Station. Walter Salles directed both films.

In I’m Still Here, Torres plays Eunice Paiva, a mother and activist who copes with the forced disappearance of her husband, the dissident politician Rubens Paiva, during Brazil’s military dictatorship. Adapted from Marcelo Rubens Paiva‘s memoir, I’m Still Here earned an additional Oscar bid for Best International Feature.

In January, Torres stunned pundits by winning the Golden Globe Award for Best Drama Actress, solidifying her status as a serious contender for the Oscars. Montenegro’s portrayal of the older version of Torres’ character in the film adds a sentimental layer to this achievement.

“To have this fairytale...

Some friendships are precious and can stand the test of time. In director Pedro Almodóvar’s The Room Next Door, Ingrid (Julianne Moore) and Martha (Tilda Swinton) were close friends in their youth when they worked together at the same magazine. Ingrid went on to become an autofiction novelist while Martha became a war reporter, and the circumstances of life separated them. After years of being out of touch, they meet again in an extreme but strangely sweet situation.

We enjoyed speaking with Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore about their roles and how real life informed their performances. The Room Next Door’s story goes to intimate and powerful places, asking audiences to contemplate death and how they’ll meet it. Who will hold your hand when the lights dim? What will you say before your last breath?

Produced by Almodóvar’s El Deseo, The Room Next Door is a...

Hans Zimmer's transcendental soundscapes enhanced Denis Villeneuve's Dune adaptations. The director addressed the Academy's decision to reject their bid to nominate Zimmer's score for Dune: Part Two.

Director Denis Villeneuve is disappointed that Dune: Part Two was not nominated for Best Original Score for the 2025 Oscars. "I am absolutely against the decision of the Academy to exclude [music composer] Hans [Zimmer], frankly, because I feel like his score is one of the best scores of the year," he asserted (per /Film). "I don't use the word genius often, but Hans is one." The Academy disqualified Zimmer's score, deeming it too similar to Dune: Part One's composition. Academy rules require sequel music to be more than 80% unique from the material used in the preceding installments.

Related Denis Villeneuve Has 1 Major Regret About Dune: Part 2

The director confesses he wished he could make a certain script change to the blockbuster sequel to Dune.

We are just days out from the 2025 Golden Globes and several categories are still too close to call. Perhaps the most wide-open race is Best Film Drama Actress

With many of the top Oscar contenders like Mikey Madison (Anora), Cynithia Erivo (Wicked), Demi Moore (The Substance), and Karla Sofía Gascón (Emilia Pérez) over in the Golden Globes’ comedy/musical category, the drama race could be prime for an upset win.

Heavyweights Angelina Jolie (Maria) and Nicole Kidman (Babygirl) are the favorites, according to the Gold Derby panel of experts. Jolie is leading the pack with 37/10 odds and a whopping 1,200 users forecasting her victory, which includes 13 experts, seven editors, and 11 of the site’s top 24 users. Kidman is next at 4/1, followed by Fernanda Torres (I’m Still Here) at 9/2, Pamela Anderson (The Last Showgirl) at 11/2, Tilda Swinton (The Room Next Door) at 13/2, and Kate Winslet (Lee) at 7/1.

Despite the odds, there is...

Rank Film (distributor) Three-day gross (Oct 26-28) Total gross to date Week 1. Venom: The Last Dance(Sony) £4.3m £4.3m 1 2. The Wild Robot(Universal) £1.9m £6.4m 2 3. Smile 2(Paramount) £1m £4m 2 4. Transformers One(Paramount) £377,581 £3.4m 3 5. The Apprentice(Studiocanal) £372,604 £1.6m 2

Gbp to Usd conversion rate: 1.30

Sony’s Venom: The Last Dance started with a £4.3m weekend – enough to top the UK-Ireland box office, although down on the starts of the first two films in the franchise.

The Last Dance played in 622 sites, taking a £6,915 location average. This is down on the £5.6m start of 2018’s Venom, from 556 sites at a £10,160 average; and...

“It’s a good chance to reflect about mortality,” explained writer-director Pedro Almodóvar about his film “The Room Next Door,” which was the centerpiece selection at the 62nd New York Film Festival. “This is something that at least in my life is very present.” So when he read the proposition in Sigrid Nunez‘s novel “What Are You Going Through,” where a terminally ill woman asks her friend to assist in her suicide, the filmmaker was “very surprised.” Watch his discussion with actors Julianne Moore, Tilda Swinton, and John Turturro above.

“I thought that that was a very good sequence to develop between two actresses and two characters that they feel in a very different way in front of mortality,” Almodóvar added. Ultimately, Martha (Swinton) wants to end her life on her own terms, and Ingrid (Moore) is terrified at the prospect, but Swinton feels the meaning of the film...

Madrid – The Hague-based Latin Quarter Entertainment, a sales, co-production and distribution outfit, has acquired U.K. and German theatrical rights to “The Bail” (“La fianza”) from debut Colombian-Spanish director Gonzalo Perdomo. The deal was closed during this year’s Iberseries & Platino Industria market in Madrid.

An official synopsis for the black comedy thriller reads: “After celebrating her daughter’s sixth birthday, Ana receives an unwelcome visit from Walter, a strange man looking for her husband Ricardo, with whom he has unfinished business. What begins as a comfortable visit for Ana ends up becoming a disturbing situation in which she discovers Ricardo’s constant lies and infidelities, as well as the real reason why Walter is in her house: to hold her and her daughter as collateral for Ricardo to close a deal with the dangerous drug organization for which Walter works.”

“‘The Bail’ was born from two very simple premises,...

Pedro Almodóvar is the next recipient of Film at Lincoln Center’s prestigious Chaplin Award.

The Oscar-winning writer-director will be celebrated at a gala event featuring excerpts of his work and appearances by co-stars, friends and colleagues at Lincoln Center on April 28, 2025.

The announcement was made ahead of the U.S. premiere and New York Film Festival centerpiece gala screening of Almodóvar’s first English-language feature film The Room Next Door, starring Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton.

The Room Next Door won the Golden Lion at this year’s Venice Film Festival and is set to open in L.A. and New York on Dec. 20 before expanding to select cities on Dec. 25 and going nationwide in January.

One of Spain’s most celebrated filmmakers, Almodóvar’s feature films include Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988); Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! (1989); All About My Mother (1999), which won the...

Film at Lincoln Center (Flc) has announced that internationally acclaimed Spanish film director, screenwriter, and author Pedro Almodóvar is the recipient of the 50th Chaplin Award. He will be honored during a gala evening at Lincoln Center on April 28, 2025.

The announcement was made this evening by Flc President Lesli Klainberg prior to the 62nd New York Film Festival Centerpiece premiere of Almodóvar’s first English-language feature, “The Room Next Door,” which won the Golden Lion at this year’s Venice Film Festival and opens at Flc on December 20.

Per this evening’s official announcement, “Internationally recognized for his spirited and bold storytelling with a distinctive and colorful visual style, Pedro Almodóvar is one of Spain’s most celebrated filmmakers. His work is characterized by a blend of humor and melodrama and his ability to create resonant, emotional stories often centered around the lives of strong and fearless women. He has...

It's difficult to ascertain where the quote came from, but someone wiser than myself once said that civilization is only nine meals away from anarchy. That is: if the citizens are starved, en masse, for three full days, governmental systems will collapse. One may be a moral, upstanding citizen, but if starved for three days, food theft becomes an attractive, natural option. Another old saying: If you see someone stealing food at the grocery store, no you didn't.

Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia's "The Platform 2," arriving on Netflix without fanfare on October 4, details the above adage in knuckle crunching detail. This new sequel has the same premise and setting as the first "The Platform," which was consumed voraciously by Netflix subscribers in 2020 right at the start of Covid-related lockdowns. Who would have guessed a bleak, sci-fi story about being trapped inside with limited food would resonate at such a time? "The Platform 2...

Nicole Kidman could be on the verge of receiving her sixth acting Oscar bid for the upcoming A24 erotic thriller “Babygirl,” directed by Halina Reijn, best known for the indie film “Bodies Bodies Bodies” (2022). With the movie already making its premiere at the Venice International Film Festival and Kidman taking home the Volpi Cup for Best Actress, let’s take a closer look at her five previous Oscar nominations, including her one win.

Her first recognition came for the Baz Luhrmann jukebox musical “Moulin Rouge” (2001), where Kidman portrayed a cabaret performer and courtesan in love with an English poet. It is certainly one of her most physical performances, as she performs extravagant musical numbers and showcases strong emotions as her character Satine suffers through an illness. Kidman won the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy and was part of the movie’s eight Oscar nominations,...

Filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar was welcomed to San Sebastian’s Kursaal Theater with a fierce reception on Thursday as the Spaniard picked up a Donostia Award for his “extraordinary contributions to cinema.”

Tilda Swinton, who stars in Almodóvar’s latest feature The Room Next Door — which won Venice’s Golden Lion after a whopping 17-minute standing ovation in Italy — joined the director onstage to celebrate his achievements.

“At my age, a prize like Donostia can indicate the end of a road and a reward for having traveled it,” Almodóvar said after raucous applause. “But I don’t live it like that. For me, cinema is a blessing or a curse. I can’t think of any other way of life if it’s not writing or directing.”

Swinton was full of praise for her colleague. She said to him: “You have planted in each one of us a garden of treasure…...

Pedro Almodóvar reflected on his long career and the political nature of his films at the San Sebastian International Film Festival (Siff) where he is in town to receive the festival’s honorary Donostia Award.

Almodóvar attended a packed press conference today (September 26) with cast including Tilda Swinton from his first English-language feature: The Room Next Door, which earlier this month won the Golden Lion at Venice.

Almodóvar arrived in San Sebastian yesterday (September 25), the day of his 75th birthday.

“The last 24 hours have been an emotional whirlwind, even more so than I expected,” said the director. “I have been on the verge of tears,...

The Best Actress race is already extremely stacked as we get closer to the 2025 awards season, with at least 10 significant contenders about to battle it out for only five slots at the Oscars. But if there’s one performance that is going to make it in, I believe it’s Nicole Kidman in “Babygirl,” written and directed by Halina Reijn. Why? Here are my top five reasons.

1. The performance.

Kidman gives a ferocious tour-de-force performance in “Babygirl,” which played at the Venice and Toronto Film Festivals and is opening in theaters in December. Kidman plays a high-powered CEO named Romy who enters a relationship with an intern named Samuel (Harris Dickinson) and in turn puts her job and family in jeopardy. Romy makes questionable choices throughout the narrative, but Kidman always keeps her grounded and empathetic in what I believe is her best movie performance since 2010’s “Rabbit Hole.”

SEENicole Kidman is ‘bold,...

Oscar-winning Spanish auteur Pedro Almodovar has made a name for himself with a series of brightly colored, delightfully kinky and unabashedly melodramatic titles, mixing comedy, drama, sex and violence to great success. He shows no signs of slowing down, with his latest outing in 2019 being the Oscar-nominated “Pain and Glory.” Let’s take a look back at all 22 of his films, ranked worst to best.

Born in 1949 in Spain, Almodovar came to prominence during La Movida Madrilena, a cultural renaissance that blossomed at the end of Francoist Spain. Staring with his filmmaking debut “Pepi, Luci, Bom and Other Girls Like Mom” (1980), the openly gay director showed an affinity for oddballs and outsiders, populating his films with transvestites, transexuals and homosexuals, all of whom had previously been relegated to the closet. He also showed a talent for working with women, and throughout his 40 year career has placed actresses such as Penelope Cruz,...

Pedro Almodóvar’s The Room Next Door and Marielle Heller’s Nightbitch, the two most highly-anticipated films that screened at the Toronto International Film Festival on Saturday night, are in some ways very similar: both are adaptations of novels by filmmakers who have been bringing quality films to TIFF for years, and both center on complex female protagonists played by first-rate actresses. But their receptions at the fest, and their awards prospects moving forward, couldn’t be more different.

The Room Next Door, which is Spaniard Almodóvar’s English-language feature directorial debut, came to Toronto via the Venice Film Festival, and was unveiled here just hours after the Venice jury bestowed upon the film its highest honor, the Golden Lion — which is somehow the first top prize from a major film festival that the 74-year-old auteur has ever been awarded.

Adapted from Sigrid Nunez’s 2020 novel What Are You Going Through?...

The Oscars will surely knock on Pedro Almodóvar’s door this awards season.

Pedro Almodóvar’s expansive filmography has shaped international cinema for over four decades. With his English-language directorial debut, “The Room Next Door,” fresh off winning the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival, the Spanish auteur and distributor Sony Pictures Classics are setting their sights on landing Almodóvar’s first best picture nomination.

Adapted from Sigrid Nunez’s novel “What Are You Going Through,” the film follows two women — war correspondent Martha (Tilda Swinton) and author Ingrid (Julianne Moore) — who reunite after years apart under challenging circumstances.

Read: You can see all Academy Award predictions in all 23 categories on one page on the Variety Awards Circuit: Oscars

Almodóvar’s body of work has garnered widespread acclaim within the Academy. “All About My Mother” (1999) won the Oscar for international feature, while “Talk to Her” (2002) earned him two noms for directing and original screenplay,...

Pedro Almodóvar’s “The Room Next Door” won the Golden Lion at the 81st Venice Film Festival. The Spanish auteur’s first feature in English took the top prize at the awards ceremony on Saturday, where he accepted the honor in person. Based on Sigrid Nunez’s novel “What Are You Going Through,” the film stars Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore as friends who reunite after several years.

Though Almodóvar’s latest was not reviewed as enthusiastically as most of his films (a high bar to cross), the drama was still favored to do well at the Venice awards. When it premiered earlier this week, it was met with a lengthy standing ovation of almost 20 minutes — a warm reception even for festival audiences. And few are the cinephiles in Europe who do not consider the director of “All About My Mother,” “Talk to Her,” “Volver,” “Bad Education” and “Parallel Mothers” a living great.

Pedro Almodóvar unveiled his latest feature, and his first in English, The Room Next Door, here at the Venice Film Festival this evening, receiving a mega 18-minute, 36-second ovation.

As soon as the lights came on and the audience stood, Almodóvar kissed the hands of both leading ladies, Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton. The unusually long length of the ovation was likely due to the cast and Almodóvar descending from the gallery and staying for awhile, clapping along with the crowd.

The Spanish maestro was joined at the world premiere screening by stars Moore and Swinton. Also featuring in the cast are Alessandro Nivola, Juan Diego Botto, Raúl Arévalo, Melina Mathews and Victoria Luengo, among others.

In the film, Moore stars as Ingrid, a best-selling writer who rekindles a relationship with her friend Martha, a war journalist played by Swinton. The two women immerse themselves in their pasts, but Martha...

Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton stunned the Venice Film Festival on Monday night with the premiere of Pedro Almodóvar’s “The Room Next Door,” which received a 17-minute standing ovation, the longest of the 2024 edition so far.

After the film ended, the Spanish auteur kissed the cheeks of both Swinton and Moore and lifted up their arms like champion boxers. He then descended the stairs with his new muses, prolonging the ovation by shaking hands with fans in the theater. Swinton, in a white Chanel suit, hugged Moore, dressed in a gold shimmering gown. Moore looked misty-eyed as Almodóvar — in a cotton-candy pink suit — eagerly soaked in all the applause, with the crowd chanting, “Pedro! Pedro! Pedro!”

Almodóvar seemed to be individually waving to each fan in the Sala Grande theater throughout the rapturous applause. He clapped as Moore clutched his arm. As the ovation wound down, around minute 14, Almodóvar...

After debuting his first English-language short, The Human Voice, here at the Venice Film Festival in 2020, Spanish master Pedro Almodóvar has returned to the Lido with his first feature in English, The Room Next Door. The movie world premieres in competition this evening.

The filmmaker, along with stars Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton, met with reporters this afternoon following the first press screenings. The trio talked about everything from euthanasia to climate change, female friendships and their mutual admiration.

In The Room Next Door, Moore stars as Ingrid, a best-selling writer who rekindles a relationship with her friend Martha, a war journalist played by Swinton. The two women immerse themselves in their pasts, but Martha has a request that will test their newly strengthened bond. Also featuring in the cast are Alessandro Nivola, Juan Diego Botto, Raúl Arévalo, Melina Mathews and Victoria Luengo, among others.

Related: Pedro Almodóvar’s ‘The Room Next Door...

Sony Pictures Classics has set a December 20 New York and Los Angeles release for Pedro Almodóvar’s first English-language feature The Room Next Door starring Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton.

The awards contender will expand to select cities on December 25 before opening nationwide in January 2025.

Almodóvar’s El Deseo produced The Room Next Door, which will premiere in Venice and then travel to Toronto and New York film festivals.

It follows two formerly close friends who worked together at the same magazine. After years apart they meet in “an extreme but strangely sweet situation”. Now one is an autofiction novelist...

The trailer for Pedro Almodóvar’s first English-language film ironically features no dialogue, but every shot tells a story with the accompanying melodic music. The trailer also sets the tone for this moody character drama. Sony Pictures Classics announced today that they will release The Room Next Door in New York and Los Angeles on December 20, 2024, before expanding to select cities on Christmas Day. The film, starring Julianne Moore, Tilda Swinton and John Turturro, will then open in theaters nationwide in January 2025.

The official synopsis reads,

“The film follows Ingrid (Julianne Moore) and Martha (Tilda Swinton), who were close friends in their youth, when they worked together at the same magazine. Ingrid went on to become an autofiction novelist while Martha became a war reporter, and they were separated by the circumstances of life. After years of being out of touch, they meet again in an extreme but strangely sweet situation.

Tilda Swinton is reuniting with auteur Pedro Almodóvar for his English-language feature debut.

Swinton, who starred in Almodóvar’s short film “The Human Voice,” plays a dying journalist who reunites with her old friend (Julianne Moore). The official synopsis reads: Ingrid (Moore) and Martha (Swinton) were close friends in their youth, when they worked together at the same magazine. Ingrid went on to become an autofiction novelist while Martha became a war reporter, and they were separated by the circumstances of life. After years of being out of touch, they meet again in an extreme but strangely sweet situation.

John Turturro, Alessandro Nivola, and Juan Diego Botto also star.

The feature is adapted from Sigrid Nunez’s novel “What Are You Going Through,” and while filmed in Madrid, is instead centered on Almodóvar’s “career-long fascination with the lives of women for an American vernacular, capturing Manhattan and upstate New York with enraptured affection,...

Renowned Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar is premiering his first English-language movie, titled The Room Next Door, at this year’s Venice Film Festival. The drama adaptation stars Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton and has generated buzz leading up to its debut.

The Room Next Door is based on Sigrid Nunez’s novel What Are You Going Through. It follows the story of Ingrid, a best-selling author played by Moore, who rekindles her friendship with Martha, a war journalist played by Swinton. As the two women discuss their shared past, they grapple with themes of life, death, and the passage of time.

Almodóvar, known for exploring complex emotions and relationships in films like Parallel Mothers, focuses on how Moore and Swinton’s characters cope with realities like the horrors of war in different ways. Their renewed bond is tested when Martha makes an unexpected request. The film weaves their personal histories...

The first footage from Spanish auteur Pedro Almodóvar’s “The Room Next Door,” starring Oscar winners Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton, is here.

Sony Pictures Classics dropped a teaser trailer on Tuesday for the film, which marks Almodóvar’s first English-language feature and is set to premiere in competition at Venice Film Festival on Sept. 2. According to its synopsis, “The Room Next Door” follows Ingrid (Moore) and Martha (Swinton), who were close friends in their youth when they worked at the same magazine.

“Ingrid went on to become an autofiction novelist while Martha became a war reporter, and they were separated by the circumstances of life,” the description continues. “After years of being out of touch, they meet again in an extreme but strangely sweet situation.”

In the clip, Swinton is seen in a hospital bed with Moore at her side as dramatic music plays. The two go on to...

Spanish directing legend Pedro Almodóvar will be honored with the Donostia Award for “extraordinary contributions to cinema” at this year’s San Sebastian Film Festival.

Almodóvar is intimately tied to San Sebastian, having premiered his sophomore feature Pepi, Luci, Bom there in 1980. He returned in 1982 with Labyrinth of Passions, his first collaboration with actor Antonio Banderas and cinematographer Ángel Luis Fernandez and the film that made him a talent to watch.

He would go on to celebrate international success with Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988), which swept Spain’s Goya Awards and secured the director his first Oscar nomination; All About My Mother (1999), which won the Academy Award for best foreign-language film; and Talk to Her (2002), which was nominated for two Oscars and won Almodóvar the best original screenplay honor.

In addition to his many collaborations with Banderas, Almodóvar is closely associated with Spanish star Penélope Cruz,...

Tilda Swinton Julianne Moore in The Room Next Door Photo: Iglesias Más Film at Lincoln Center has announced that Pedro Almodóvar’s The Room Next Door, starring Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton with John Turturro, Alex Høgh Andersen and Alessandro Nivola, will be the Centerpiece selection of the 62nd New York Film Festival. RaMell Ross’s Nickel Boys and Steve McQueen’s Blitz are the Opening and Closing Night gala selections.

Almodóvar has a long and honoured history with the festival. Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown (NYFF26) was the Opening Night selection, and he also opened NYFF with All About My Mother (NYFF37). Bad Education (NYFF42) and Volver (NYFF44) were selected as Centerpieces, and Live Flesh (NYFF35), Talk To Her (NYFF40), Broken Embraces (NYFF47), and Parallel Mothers (NYFF59) were Closing Night selections. Additional NYFF selections include The Flower Of My Secret (NYFF33), The Skin I Live In...

After just wrapping production a few months ago, Pedro Almodóvar is already putting the finishing touches on his next feature. Following Venice Film Festival’s announcement of a world premiere for The Room Next Door, starring Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton, it’s now been unveiled as the Centerpiece selection for the 62nd New York Film Festival, making its U.S. premiere at Alice Tully Hall on October 4.

Here’s the synopsis: “Ingrid (Julianne Moore), a best-selling writer, rekindles her relationship with her friend Martha (Tilda Swinton), a war journalist with whom she has lost touch for a number of years. The two women immerse themselves in their pasts, sharing memories, anecdotes, art, movies—yet Martha has a request that will test their newly strengthened bond. Pedro Almodóvar’s finely sculpted drama, his first English-language feature, is the unmistakable work of a master filmmaker, a hushed and humane portrayal of...

First Madrid, then New York, then Venice, and now: the New York Film Festival.

Pedro Almodóvar’s “The Room Next Door,” which shot earlier this year on-location in Madrid and Manhattan, will play the New York Film Festival (NYFF) as its Centerpiece on October 4. NYFF has billed the melodrama, starring Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore, as a U.S. premiere, which means New York is the next destination for Almodóvar’s first English-language feature after world-premiering in the Venice competition. That also means no Telluride screening, but it could still show up in Toronto for a North American premiere. The NYFF presentation of “The Room Next Door” will take place at Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center.

Here’s a more detailed synopsis than we’ve seen before, courtesy of NYFF: “Ingrid (Julianne Moore), a best-selling writer, rekindles her relationship with her friend Martha (Tilda Swinton), a war journalist with...

Pedro Almodóvar’s The Room Next Door, starring Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton, will receive its U.S. premiere as the centerpiece selection for the 2024 New York Film Festival on Oct. 4.

The film, an adaptation of Sigrid Nunez’s novel What Are You Going Through, marks Spanish auteur Almodóvar’s first English-language feature and follows best-selling writer Ingrid (Moore) and Martha (Swinton) as they rekindle their friendship after losing touch. As they immerse themselves in past memories, anecdotes, art and movies, Martha makes a request that will test their renewed bond.

“I am delighted that The Room Next Door will be the centerpiece of the New York Film Festival,” said Almodóvar. “This festival has been my bridge to New York audiences for decades, so it only felt natural that the two protagonists go see a film at the Alice Tully Hall in one of the scenes of the movie. It...

Pedro Almodóvar can now count Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore among his new cinematic muses.

The Oscar-winning Spanish director’s first English-language feature, “The Room Next Door,” was confirmed Tuesday morning as expected to premiere at the 2024 Venice Film Festival in competition. Timed to artistic director Alberto Barbera’s lineup announcement, the festival has also released a first-look image of the film, which you can see above.

Almodóvar has made two short films in English: the Jean Cocteau-inspired breakup tone poem “The Human Voice,” which premiered at Venice in 2020, and gay Western “Strange Way of Life,” starring Ethan Hawke and Pedro Pascal, which played Cannes 2023. That was all in service of preparing to make his first movie entirely in English, “The Room Next Door,” led by “The Human Voice” star Tilda Swinton as a war correspondent named Martha. Her friend, an author named Ingrid (Julianne Moore), brings various buried...

Buckle in, film buffs, we’re not done with festival season yet. The 2024 Venice Film Festival lineup was announced on Tuesday, and rest assured there will be plenty of glamorous movie stars waving from boats. The lineup includes expected entries like Joker: Folie à Deux, starring Oscar winner Joaquin Phoenix...

Boatloads of high-wattage stars are set to disembark at this year’s Venice Film Festival.

Lady Gaga, Joaquin Phoenix, Julianne Moore, Tilda Swinton, Angelina Jolie, Daniel Craig, Adrien Brody, Felicity Jones, Cate Blanchett, George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Monica Bellucci, Michael Keaton and Jenna Ortega are among A-list talents toplining high-profile titles that will premiere at the Lido’s Palazzo del Cinema.

But besides being a glitzy affair, Venice’s upcoming 81st edition – which features a rich mix of known names and potential discoveries across a wide range of genres – also looks set to bolster the event’s status as the top destination for studios and streamers to build Oscar campaigns and a prime launchpad for the cream of the year’s cinematic crop.

As anticipated by Variety, “Joker 2: Folie à Deux” — Todd Phillips’ edgy musical sequel to his 2019 Golden Lion prizewinning “Joker,” starring Gaga and Phoenix — is once again...

Pedro Almodóvar’s first English-language feature film, “The Room Next Door” — starring Oscar winners Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton — will likely launch from the Venice Film Festival, which is putting the final touches on a stellar lineup ahead of its official announcement next week.

“Room Next Door” is Almodóvar’s follow-up to 2021’s “Parallel Mothers,” which bowed at Venice and scored the fest’s best actress Volpi Cup for Penelope Cruz’s performance. Almodóvar’s latest is also believed to be in competition at the festival, according to several sources.

Almodóvar’s New England-set film is “about a very imperfect mother and her resentful daughter, who live separate lives because of a profound misunderstanding,” as the director has put it.

“Room Next Door,” which is produced by Almodóvar’s El Deseo banner, is set to hit theaters this year via Sony Pictures Classics in the U.S., Middle East and India,...

¡Juntos caminamos, juntos festejamos, juntos caemos! © Netflix

Netflix ha publicado el primer tráiler y la fecha de estreno de la esperada segunda entrega de “El Hoyo”, una de las películas españolas más populares de la historia de Netflix, que ocupa el quinto puesto en la categoría de películas de habla no inglesa con 82.800.000 visualizaciones.

En “El Hoyo 2”, a medida que un líder misterioso impone su ley en el Hoyo, una nueva inquilina se implica en la batalla contra este controvertido método para luchar contra el brutal sistema de alimentación. Pero, cuando alimentarse del plato equivocado se convierte en una sentencia de muerte, ¿hasta dónde estarías dispuesto a llegar para salvar tu vida?

“El Hoyo 2” está dirigida por Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia, director de la película original, y protagonizada por Milena Smit (“Madres Paralelas”), Hovik Keuchkerian (“Reina Roja”), Natalia Tena (“John Wick 4”) y Óscar Jaenada (“Awareness”).

“El Hoyo 2” se...

Un hospital al borde del colapso. © Netflix

Netflix ha publicado el primer teaser tráiler de “Respira”, el primer drama hospitalario de Netflix en España, creado por Carlos Montero.

El Joaquín Sorolla es mucho más que un hospital público de Valencia donde cada día se salvan vidas. Médicos y residentes se dejan la piel en el frenético ritmo de las urgencias, donde las tensiones, las emociones y hasta el deseo aceleran el corazón de un personal que vive cada vez más al límite. La llegada de una distinguida paciente pone de manifiesto la complicada situación de la sanidad pública, encendiendo la mecha de lo que se convertirá en una huelga drástica y sin precedentes.

Esta nueva serie de ficción de ocho episodios está protagonizada por Najwa Nimri, Aitana Sánchez Gijón, Blanca Suárez, Manu Ríos, Borja Luna y Alfonso Bassave. Completan el reparto Ana Rayo, Macarena de Rueda, Blanca Martínez, Abril Zamora,...

Exclusive: Aao Entertainment has signed Rubin Stein, the Spanish filmmaker behind Netflix’s popular psychological horror film Tin & Tina, for management.

Marking Stein’s feature directorial debut, Tin & Tina follows Lola and her husband Adolfo, who after a tragic miscarriage, adopt Tin and Tina, a lovely brother and sister with an ultra-Catholic education that makes them interpret Holy Bible verbatim. Upon its premiere in 2023, the film won three Carmen Awards and received a nomination for Best Special Effects at the 2024 Goya Awards. Watched by more than 50 million viewers in its first weeks on Netflix, it spent five weeks in the Global Top 10 Films (Non-English) and hit the Top 10 on the streamer in 78 countries. Milena Smit (Parallel Mothers) and Jaime Lorente (Money Heist) star.

Also the creator of the suspenseful, black-and-white short film trilogy Light & Darkness, Stein continues to be represented by Let’s Work Together in Spain.

Founded...

Warner Bros Pictures has acquired Pedro Almodóvar’s English-language feature debut, The Room Next Door, for release in a host of key international markets including the filmmaker’s home turf of Spain.

Other markets to figure in the deal are the UK, Germany, Italy, the Nordics, Central & Eastern Europe (excluding Poland), Latin America and some of Asia-Pacific, including Japan.

Starring Julianne Moore, Tilda Swinton and John Turturro, The Room Next Door follows the story of a very imperfect mother and a spiteful daughter separated by a serious misunderstanding. Between them, another woman, Ingrid (Moore), the mother’s friend and an auto fiction novelist, is the keeper of their pain and bitterness. Martha, the mother (Swinton), is a war reporter.

The film is described as addressing the endless cruelty of war, and the very different ways in which the two female authors approach and write about reality, death, friendship and sexual...

Penélope Cruz is 5 feet 4 inches (162.6 cm) tall. For context, the average American woman is also around 5 feet 4 inches, making Cruz’s height quite typical.

Penélope Cruz vs. Scarlett Johansson’s Heights

Penélope Cruz, with a height of 5 feet 4 inches (162.6 cm), is slightly taller than Scarlett Johansson, who stands at 5 feet 3 inches (160 cm). Penélope Cruz is approximately 1 inch (2.6 cm) taller than Scarlett Johansson.

Penélope Cruz is about 1 inch taller than Scarlett Johansson, with Cruz standing at 5 feet 4 inches (162.6 cm) and Johansson at 5 feet 3 inches (160 cm) (Credit: Tinseltown / Shutterstock)

Penélope Cruz vs. Salma Hayek’s Heights

Penélope Cruz is also taller than Salma Hayek, who stands at 5 feet 1.5 inches (156.2 cm). Cruz is approximately 2.5 inches (6.4 cm) taller than Hayek.

Penélope Cruz is approximately 2.5 inches taller than Salma Hayek, with Cruz standing at 5 feet 4 inches (162.6 cm) and Hayek at 5 feet 1.5 inches (156.2 cm) (Credit: S_Bukley / Shutterstock)

Penélope Cruz vs. Gwyneth Paltrow’s Heights

Penélope...

Netflix and “Elite” creator Carlos Montero have reteamed on the new medical drama “Breathless,” and Variety has been given exclusive access to new first images from the show.

“Breathless” is produced by Montero’s El Desorden Crea and executive produced by Montero and Diego Betancor. David Pinillos and Marta Font shared directing duties, working from screenplays by Montero, Carlos Ruano, Guillermo Escribano, and Pablo Saiz.

Alongside today’s photos, Netflix released a new synopsis for the show: “The Joaquín Sorolla is much more than a public hospital in Valencia where lives are saved every day. Doctors and residents work their fingers to the bone in the frenetic pace of the emergency room, where tensions, emotions and even desire accelerate the hearts of a staff that lives increasingly on the edge. The arrival of a distinguished patient highlights the complicated situation of the public health system, lighting the fuse for what...

Exclusive: Artist International Group has signed renowned Japanese filmmaker Ryuhei Kitamura for representation.

First coming onto the scene in Japan with his ultra-violent zombie samurai action flick Versus, Kitamura directed his first English-language feature with the Bradley Cooper-led The Midnight Meat Train, an adaptation of the Clive Barker novel for Lakeshore Entertainment and Lionsgate.

Previously, Kitamura has helmed manga adaptations including the sci-fi actioner Alive; an epic samurai action pic based on Yu Koyama’s Aragami; Lupin the Third for Toho and Kadokawa; and The Three Sisters of Tenmasouinn. In television, Kitamura created the hit series Sky High before going on to direct a feature adaptation. Other notable credits include the 50th anniversary film Godzilla Final Wars, directing the narrative scenes in the bestselling video game Metal Gear Solid: The Twins Snakes, and his latest Japanese film, Love Death.

Additional English-language credits for Kitamura include Pathé’s No One Lives starring Luke Evans,...

Exclusive: Alessandro Nivola has joined Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton in The Room Next Door, the first English-language film from Oscar-winning Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar. Sony Pictures Classics will distribute and John Turturro is also on board.

Almodóvar’s El Deseo is producing.

The Room Next Door will be Almodóvar’s first feature-length project since 2021’s Parallel Mothers, which debuted at the Venice Film Festival. The film starred Penélope Cruz — who won the Best Actress prize at Venice — and Milena Smit as single mothers who became pregnant by accident and meet in a hospital room as they are about to give birth.

Nivola will next be seen starring in the Apple TV+ limited series The Big Cigar playing radical chic Hollywood film producer Bert Schneider in the crazier-than-fiction story about Schneider’s complicated friendship with Black Panther leader Huey P. Newton. The series has a May 17 air date. He then stars as Aleksei Sytsevitch,...

The incontrovertible and immediate effect of muscular tax credits, entering in force in 2023, have powered to a new level the shoot scene in Bilbao and Bizkaia – the Basque city and surrounding province in Northern Spain.

Introduced on Jan. 1, 2023, the new incentives offer an up-to-60% tax deduction for national and international co-productions of film and TV projects.

Enticing studios such as Toboggan and production houses Buendía Estudios and Tornasol to set up in Bizkaia and streaming giant Netflix to invest in original productions, the territory is fast capitalizing on its breaks.

Over 2023, 151 shoots filmed in Bilbao-Bizkaia, 76 from the Basque Country, 47 from Spain and 28 from abroad, according to the Bilbao-Bizkaia 2023 Year Book.

Total shoot spend in 2023 came in at €58.5 million ($63.7 million), 324% up on 2019’s figure of €13.8 million, six times up on €23.5 million ($25.6 million) in 2021. In all, productions shot 1,026 days in Bilbao or in the rest of Bizkaia, 74% more than 2022. The fact that...

Everyone could use a good cry now and again. And what better way to get those tears flowing than watching a movie?

Variety caught up with this year’s Oscar nominees at the Academy’s annual nominees luncheon at the Beverly Hilton to find out the last time they cried at the movies.

“I cried at ‘Parallel Mothers,’” said “Oppenheimer” star Emily Blunt. “When Penélope [Cruz] breaks down, it’s so beautiful. I am a crier. I can’t bear to see other people cry. If I see someone cry, I will cry immediately.”

Emma Stone recently rewatched “Sleepless in Seattle,” the 1993 romantic comedy starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. “So much of that movie is heartbreaking,” the “Poor Things” star said.

Sterling K. Brown said he was recently caught off guard when he and his youngest son were watching “Matilda.” “It was his first time crying at a movie,” the “American Fiction” star recalled.