Arclight Films’ Chasing Wonders has locked North American distribution with Gravitas on its coming of age film, Chasing Wonders directed by Paul Meins. A theatrical and on-demand release is scheduled for June 4. Arclight is handling global sales for the pic.

Set in the lush wine country landscapes of Australia and Spain, the heart-warming tale follows 12-year-old Savino, who, encouraged by his maternal grandfather to live a life of hope and possibility, takes off on the adventure of a lifetime to find the magical Emu Plains. His journey leads him to the heart of the human condition – learning to understand our parents’ past but not to be defined by it.

The pic stars Paz Vega, Oscar nominee Edward James Olmos, Quim Gutierrez, Carmen Maura, Goya award-winner Antonio de la Torre, Australia’s Jessica Marais, and making his feature film debut, Michael Crisafulli as Savino.

Australian award-winning screenwriter Judy Morris wrote the screenplay, which was shot over a five-year period.

Chasing Wonders made its World Premiere at the Adelaide Film Festival last year and has been selected for the Gold Coast Film Festival, where it will screen on April 18 and 22.

“Chasing Wonders is an uplifting story of familial love and loss and a powerful exploration of the path to understanding and acceptance. This heartwarming film with top international stars and spectacular landscapes is exactly what audiences yearn for. We are thrilled to have our longtime trusted partners at Gravitas Ventures bringing the film to North American audiences and are certain that their team will make this beautiful film shine bright,” said Arclight Films Chairman Gary Hamilton.

“With an ensemble that includes veteran screen icons alongside exciting new talent, the filmmakers craft an inspiring coming of age story on a canvas of breathtaking vistas across multiple continents. We look forward to North American audiences taking the journey,” said Tony Piantedosi, VP of Acquisitions at Gravitas Ventures.

Hianlo Films presents Chasing Wonders in association with the South Australian Film Corporation, a Met Film and Sla Films production. Anna Vincent (I Am Mother), Stewart Le Marechal (Swimming With Men), Anna Mohr-Pietsch (Swimming With Men), Hilton Nathanson, and Louise Nathanson are producers. Jonny Persey (The Mercy) and Timothy White are EPs.

Launched by “El Chapo” producer Camila Jiménez and its creator Silvana Aguirre, L.A.-based The Immigrant is developing drama series with Guatemala’s Jayro Bustamante and Spain’s Javier Ruíz Caldera (“Superlópez”).

The news comes after The Immigrant made a large splash in October 2019 when Fremantle bought into the production house, acquiring a 25% stake, marking its first major investment in a Latinx company.

Jiménez has spent Covid-19 lockdown building talent relations across the Latinx community in U.S., Latin America and Spain. Development on the drama series with Bustamante and Ruíz Caldera are just some of the results.

Bustamante has made three features to date, which have established him as one of the most consistently acclaimed of Latin American arthouse auteurs. His first, 2015’s “Ixcanul,” described by Variety as a “powerful modern fable” about the clash of civilizations in a Mayan farming community, won the Alfred Bauer Prize at Berlin,...

The actress is leading the cast of Antoine Barraud’s 3rd feature film, sold by Charades and produced by Les Films du Bélier in league with Close Up Films and Frakas. 26 September will see filming begin on Madeleine Collins, the 3rd full-length film by Antoine Barraud, following The Sinkholes and Portrait of the Artist (unveiled in the Berlinale Forum in 2015). Starring in the cast is Belgian actress Virginie Efira, France’s Bruno Salomone, Spain’s Quim Gutiérrez, American star Jacqueline Bisset and, last...

Berlin — Netflix has unveiled five new Spanish original series, including titles by well-known film director Nacho Vigalondo (“Timecrimes”) and Pau Freixas, executive producer of Spanish breakout “The Red Band Society.”

The new titles see the streaming giant near doubling the number of new and returning scripted series it has in development and production in Spain from six to 11.

Marking its first collaborations with two classic Spanish production houses, Filmax and Plano a Plano, the new series sees the streaming giant still still predominantly targeting women and YA viewers, but brings a far larger variety of series types to the mix.

Announced on the eve of the 2019 Berlin Film Festival, to which Netflix brings a powerful at least 49 executive delegation, and has its first movie ever playing in competition, Isabel Coixet’s “Elisa & Marcela,” the five series announcement marks yet another powerful statement of Netflix’s ambitions in Europe and...

Madrid — Disney’s “Jungle Cruise,” starring Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt, has added Spanish actor Quim Gutiérrez, one of Spain’s most prominent thirty-something actors who broke out last decade.

Directed by Jaume Collet Serra, “Jungle Cruise” will see Gutiérrez play one of the movie’s villains.

Born in Barcelona, Gutiérrez’s big break came in Daniel Sánchez Arévalo’s debut “DarkBlueAlmostBlack,” a rights-of-passage tragicomedy which won star Gutiérrez a Spanish Academy best new actor Goya for his performance as a young janitor attracted to his brother’s prison inmate girlfriend.

Arévalo’s other credits include spy operative comedy thriller “Spy Time,” released in 2015, and Mediaset España’s 2016 mini-series “Cain’s Father,” about the dirty war against Eta terrorism, where he played a by-the-book Civil Guard lieutenant.

Consecration in Spain came in 2016 when Gutiérrez was chosen to model the new Emidio Tucci male fashion line of El Corte Inglés, Spain’s biggest department store chain.