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  • Málaga Launches Spanish, Latin American Work-in-Progress Showcase

    Málaga Launches Spanish, Latin American Work-in-Progress Showcase

    The Málaga Film Festival’s work-in-progress showcase kicks off on Wednesday with 12 projects by filmmakers from Spain and Latin America.

    Organized by Festival de Málaga in collaboration with the Albacete Film Festival’s talent lab Abycine Lanza, the Málaga Work in Progress (WIP) event presents 16 projects, including six Spanish titles and 10 works from Latin America that reflect “the diversity of identities and languages in the Ibero-American sphere.”

    The Málaga WIP programs aim to support financing for fiction and documentary films at the advanced or first-cut stage by introducing them to leading industry professionals, support the completion of films in post production and encourage their promotion and dissemination by seeking incentives for post production process and international distribution.

    Selected projects are screened for professionals attending the festival and in the Málaga Festival Industry Zone (MAFIZ) as well as sales agents, international distributors, festival programmers, international funds and producers.

    The two sections, Málaga WIP Spain and Málaga WIP Iberoamerica, will be presented during the festival over March 11-13.

    Below is the full list of this year’s Málaga WIP titles from both sections.

    WIP Spain

    “The Fissure” (“L’Excletxa”), by Àlex Lora Cercós

    Production company: Inicia Films

    Set in a small town in northern Catalonia, “The Fissure” follows Pol Khaled, a troubled teenage boy raised by his Catalan mother after his Moroccan father disappears. Following a violent incident, Pol is drawn to faith as he seeks order and belonging, but growing tensions force him to confront belief, violence, loss, and responsibility.

    “Bed of Grass” (“Lecho de Pasto”), by Carmela Román

    Production company: Mala Pécora Producciones Audiovisuales

    In a video essay format, a voice revisits “Japón,” an unfinished short about two women fleeing for love, to reconstruct a relationship erased by depression and trauma. Jane and Cleo watch the film as the memory of a past life.

    “The Convulsions” (“Las Convulsiones”), by David Gutierrez Camps

    Production company: Timber Films

    Rob and Zoé have fulfilled their dream of living in nature in the Pyrenees, seeking self-sufficiency with their permaculture garden. The couple faces a challenge when their daughter Louise loses consciousness, but Rob clings to his dream of building a wind turbine. The family searches for solutions and experiences a moment of connection by generating their own energy, only for another unexpected crisis to occur.

    “Taranta,” by Samuel Nacar

    Production company: Sarao Films

    Taranta is a portrait of the world surrounding the Santana factory in Linares, following its inhabitants as the city undergoes an unusual process of reindustrialization. The film accompanies four young people — two from Linares and two Chinese engineers — just as the old Santana factory, a symbol of the city, reopens.

    “Lóngquán,” by Adrià Guxens

    Production company: Pausa Dramatica Films

    During the Lunar New Year celebrations, Junyi, a young Catalan of Chinese descent, gets a call from his mom: his grandmother has suddenly fallen ill and wants to see him. Though he barely remembers her, Junyi sets off on a journey that will make him question his roots and his increasingly blurred sense of identity.

    “El Retorno de Júpiter,” by Maggie Civantos

    Production company: Bastardas Films

    Carlos and Carla, a young couple on the brink, decide to spend the weekend at a spiritual retreat. There they encounter Aura and Lucio, a brazenly New Age couple, who offer them a magical, cathartic and dangerous experience.

    WIP Latin America

    “The Guy Across the Street” (“El Chico del Frente”), by Marilina Giménez
    Producer: Martín Rodríguez Redondo (Argentina)

    A lesbian filmmaker, a trans poet and a non-binary artist gather the traces of a young trans man who disappeared. In their struggle for justice, they turn fantasy into a trench and friendship into a banner, asking the urgent question: where is Tehuel?

    “The Residence” (“La Residencia”), by Mariel Garcia Spooner
    Producer: Marcela Bejarano (Panama)

    When three friends in their mid-60s discover that one of them is about to lose everything due to a bank debt, they face the possibility of ending up in a state-run nursing home. Refusing to surrender, they decide to start their own business: a social club for seniors.

    “Black Eyed Maria” (“María Ojos Negros”), by Benjamin Brunet
    Producer: Alejandro Ugarte (Chile)

    In southern Chile, Nicole begins a search for her origins that leads her to uncover the hidden past of María, a woman marked by intimacy, silence and unresolved wounds where love and pain coexist.

    “A Brief Extinction” (“Meteorito”), by Sebastián Múnera
    Producer: Valeria Mejía (Colombia)

    On the ruins of an illegal hacienda, two opposing communities collide as tensions rise over land and memory, exposing the fragility of justice and survival in a territory marked by violence.

    “Little Tragedies” (“Pequenas Tragédias”), by Daniel Nolasco
    Producer: Cecília Brito (Brazil)

    In 2011, Daniel Nolasco left his small hometown. Ten years later, he reflects on the departure of a group of queer friends from the same rural setting, revisiting stories of loss, migration and belonging through an intimate and political lens.

    “Puro R.A.P.” by Angel Arturo Corro
    Producer: Elvira Del Carmen Rodriguez Alonso (Panama)

    Zandert, Aldahir, Seis Lunas, UFO and Big G are immersed in the world of freestyle rap battles, striving to build careers in a country where making a living from art is nearly impossible. Through rhythm and rivalry, they seek transformation and recognition.

    “Bagman” (“Valijero”), by Esteban Trivisonno
    Producer: Agustin del Carpio (Argentina)

    Pedro (35), a recovering addict trying to rebuild his life, takes on a risky job delivering four mysterious suitcases in one week. Each delivery pushes him closer to the edge in a city that offers little mercy.

    “The Inheritance of Fire” (“La Mujer, el Diablo y el Fuego”), by Aurora Caballero and David Muñoz Velasco
    Producer: David Muñoz Velasco (México)

    A town that seems frozen in time; three myths that embody perpetual mysticism, the search for justice, and the violence that permeates the inhabitants of a town in the Guerrero mountains.

    “Cow” (“Vaca”), by Brian Jacobs
    Producer: Jimena Hospina (Peru)

    In an Austro-German colony lost in the Peruvian jungle, Hannah (35) plans to move to Germany to start a new life, away from her mother and her partner Eva (51), who manages the local cattle slaughterhouse. Unable to leave Eva alone, Hannah decides to find her a replacement partner before departing. She meets Betina (28), a mysterious woman who arrives in town with an unwanted pregnancy. The three women enter a love triangle where desire and illusion collide with their unresolved maternal wounds.

    “Cuscu” (“Cuscú”), by Risseth Yangüez Singh
    Producer: Juan Said Isaac Zepeda (Panama)

    In an evocative journey through family memory and inherited silences, the director explores identity, race and belonging while confronting generational denial and the emotional weight of unspoken histories.

  • Tokyo International Film Festival, Market Set Dates for 39th Edition

    Tokyo International Film Festival, Market Set Dates for 39th Edition

    The Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) and its affiliated audiovisual content market TIFFCOM have unveiled dates for their 2026 editions.

    The 39th TIFF will run for 10 days from Oct. 26 through Nov. 4, with the accompanying TIFFCOM market operating for three days from Oct. 28-30.

    Both events will return to their established Tokyo locations. TIFF’s main venues will remain in the Hibiya-Yurakucho-Marunouchi-Ginza area, while TIFFCOM will again be housed at the Tokyo Metropolitan Industrial Trade Center Hamamatsucho-Kan.

    A call for entries is scheduled to open on April 7, with further details to be posted on TIFF’s official website.

    The 2026 edition follows a strong 38th installment, which ran Oct. 27–Nov. 5, 2025. That edition drew a galaxy of stars to the opening night red carpet at the Takarazuka Theater, including Juliette Binoche, Fan Bingbing, Paul Schrader and Japanese screen legend Yoshinaga Sayuri, who received the TIFF Lifetime Achievement Award. The festival also saw the debut of the Asian Students’ Film Conference, a new showcase for emerging talent from film schools across the region, while TIFFCOM expanded its Tokyo Gap-Financing Market and rebranded its story market as Tokyo IP Market: Adaptation & Remake, reflecting growing international demand for Japanese intellectual property.

    TIFF is hosted by Unijapan. TIFFCOM is organized jointly by Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC), and Unijapan.

    Japan is the Country of Honor at this year’s Cannes Film Market. The country experienced a box office boom in 2025 with “Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Infinity Castle – Part 1” anchoring a banner year for Japan’s theatrical market, helping push total box office receipts to a record JPY274.45 billion ($1.79 billion), up 32% from 2024’s approximately JPY206 billion ($1.34 billion).

    The keenly anticipated Toho film, “Godzilla Minus Zero,” is scheduled to release in Japan on Nov. 3, the penultimate day of the festival, continuing the tradition of releasing on Godzilla Day.

  • Bitmine moves roughly 9,600 ETH worth $19.5 million to Coinbase Prime as ether treasury firm shuffles holdings

    Bitmine moves roughly 9,600 ETH worth $19.5 million to Coinbase Prime as ether treasury firm shuffles holdings

    Bitmine Immersion Technologies moved approximately 9,600 $ETH to Coinbase Prime hot wallets on Tuesday in two separate transfers, Arkham data shows.

    The first transfer sent 5,300 $ETH worth $10.75 million roughly nine hours ago, followed by a second batch of 4,308 $ETH worth $8.74 million about three hours ago.

    Both went through an intermediate wallet before landing at a Coinbase Prime hot wallet address, a routing pattern consistent with institutional custody operations.

    The transfers come after Bitmine reported its largest weekly ether purchase of 2026, buying 60,976 $ETH last week and bringing its total holdings above 4.5 million tokens. Chairman Thomas Lee said the firm was ramping up buying as it believes crypto is in the “late stages of a mini-crypto winter.”

    Moving coins to Coinbase Prime doesn’t necessarily mean Bitmine is selling. Prime is Coinbase’s institutional custody and trading platform, and transfers there could reflect internal rebalancing, staking operations, collateral management, or preparation for OTC activity.

    The balance history on Arkham shows Bitmine’s portfolio peaked near $16 billion around October 2024 and has declined to roughly $2.25 billion, reflecting ether’s price collapse rather than large-scale selling. The company is sitting on estimated losses of $7.8 billion on its position.

    Ether was trading at $2,042, up 2.8% on the day.

  • US Justice Department Files Application to Prosecute This Altcoin Founder for a Second Time! Here Are the Charges and Possible Date!

    The U.S. Treasury Department, which has long opposed cryptocurrency mixers due to their use for criminal purposes, stated that these services also have legitimate privacy use cases on public blockchains.

    While these statements from the US Treasury Department signal a shift in its stance against cryptocurrency manipulators, the US Department of Justice has made a move in the opposite direction.

    Accordingly, the US Department of Justice requested a retrial for the founder of Tornado Cash on two charges.

    According to a post by Eleanor Terrett, host of the Crypto in America program, on her X account, the U.S. Department of Justice has filed a request to the court to seek a retrial for Tornado Cash co-founder Roman Storm, specifically for money laundering and sanctions violations.

    The DOJ is requesting a retrial on two charges (money laundering and sanctions violations) for which the jury was unable to reach a verdict. The ministry has proposed a trial date for early October.

    Eleanor Terrett wrote: “The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) is seeking a retrial for Tornado Cash co-founder Roman Storm on two charges that the first jury failed to reach a verdict on: money laundering and sanctions violations. Prosecutors have recommended a retrial in early October, even though Storm’s Rule 29 application to dismiss the unauthorized money transfer charge has not yet been finalized.”

    *This is not investment advice.

  • ‘Tirrenica’ Shows Us Southern Italy “Beyond Cultural Clichés” (Exclusive Thessaloniki Trailer)

    ‘Tirrenica’ Shows Us Southern Italy “Beyond Cultural Clichés” (Exclusive Thessaloniki Trailer)

    In 1960s Italy, there was a promise of a connected future. The state-of-the-art Salerno–Reggio Calabria highway was unveiled and touted as one of the most important Italian and European engineering works. The goal: to connect the economically struggling south of the country with the financially healthier and more advanced north.

    However, as seems to be the case with many an infrastructure project, things didn’t quite play out as rosily as advertised. Far from it. The promises made were “as pompous as the scale of the project,” highlights a synopsis for Tirrenica, a documentary from director and director of photography Rosario Minervini, that dives into the stories of people living along the edges of the highway to “reveal Southern Italy beyond its stereotypes.”

    World premiering in the Newcomers Documentary competition lineup of the Thessaloniki International Film Festival in Greece on Tuesday, March 10, Tirrenica‘s narrative travels between the present and the past. Among the people viewers meet is a man who, after losing his job after 12 years, becomes a shepherd and lives in a caravan without water and electricity. Among others, people salvaging and repairing discarded objects and practising target shooting also feature, as does Francesca, who fights for civil rights.

    Press notes for the film describe them with such descriptions as The Revolutionary, The Hoarder, The Shepherd, and The Sharpshooter.

    As it unfolds, the film explores how the huge highway project, which ended up taking more than 60 years to finish, became synonymous with the areas it connects, from the outskirts of Naples to Salerno, but “for all the wrong reasons,” as a synopsis highlights. It also exposes “the structural pathologies of the Italian state like no other, effectively confirming the narrative of a ‘country of two speeds.’ Through the striking comparison of yesterday’s expectations and the mundane reality of those who were born and raised in the shadow of a phantom project, Rosario Minervini performs a dissection of clinical precision of the delays that have weighed down Italy’s collective psyche over time.”

    Or as Minervini, who serves as the artistic director of the documentary section at the Giffoni Film Festival. says in a director’s statement: “Tirrenica is an observational film that explores Southern Italy beyond its cultural clichés. Set along the Salerno–Reggio Calabria highway, the film unfolds as a visual and emotional journey through the lives of those who inhabit its margins. This iconic road becomes a connective thread, linking stories of solitude, survival and quiet resistance.”

    THR can now exclusively reveal a trailer for Tirrenica. It may be in Italian, but it shows off the mix of current and archive footage, the colorful characters, and the music of the film. So, buckle up for a trip to Southern Italy and see a side of Italy that promises to be very different from what tourist guides tell and show you.

  • Tokyo Film Festival, TIFFCOM 2026 Dates Set

    Tokyo Film Festival, TIFFCOM 2026 Dates Set

    The dates for the 2026 Tokyo International Film Festival and its related content market TIFFCOM have been revealed.

    The 39th edition of Asia‘s biggest film festival will open on Oct. 26, and run for 10 days until Nov.4. TIFFCOM will open its doors to attendees on Oct. 28 and run through Oct. 30. The festival will once again take place in the Hibiya-Yurakucho-MarunouchiGinza area of Japan‘s capital. TIFFCOM will again be located in the Tokyo Metropolitan Industrial Trade Center Hamamatsucho-Kan.

    UNIJAPAN, the organizers of the festival, will begin a call for submissions on April 7, with further details to be released on the official website.

    The Tokyo Film Festival holds a main competition features a main competition and awards a series of prizes, including the prestigious Tokyo Grand Prix/Governor of Tokyo Award, the special jury prize, and awards for best director, best actress, best actor and best artistic contribution. There is also an audience award presented to the most popular film in the Competition section as determined by viewers’ vote; an up-and-coming director-led Asian Future section with an award for best film; and the Asian Students’ Film Conference section which awards a grand prix and a special jury prize.

    Last year’s prize winners included Annemarie Jacir’s epic historical drama Palestine 36, which took the Grand Prix/The Governor of Tokyo Award, and Rithy Panh’s documentary We Are the Fruits of the Forest, which won the special jury prize.

  • North Korea denounces ‘muscle-flexing’ US-South Korean military exercises

    North Korea denounces ‘muscle-flexing’ US-South Korean military exercises

    North Korea’s Kim Yo Jong said the annual ‘Freedom Shield’ exercises could lead to ‘unimaginably terrible consequences’.

    Published On 10 Mar 2026

    Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, has accused the United States and South Korea of “destroying the stability” of East Asia, as the two countries start their annual 10-day joint military exercises on the Korean Peninsula.

    “The muscle-flexing of the hostile forces near the areas of our state’s sovereignty and security may cause unimaginably terrible consequences,” Kim Yo Yong said on Tuesday, according to the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

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    “The enemies should never try to test our patience, will and capability,” Kim said.

    “We will watch to what extent the enemy violates the security of our state and what it is playing at,” she continued.

    Kim’s remarks follow the start of the joint Freedom Shield exercises on Monday, which will run for 10 days and involve 18,000 South Korean and US military personnel.

    The military manoeuvres are designed to “enhance the combined, joint, all-domain, and interagency operational environment, thereby strengthening the Alliance’s response capabilities,” United States Forces Korea said.

    This year’s Freedom Shield will involve 22 field training drills, according to South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency, which is fewer than half the number carried out last year.

    Kim added on Tuesday that there was no justification to hold the exercises, which have been called a “defensive” action by Washington and Seoul in the past.

    “No matter what justification they may establish and how the elements of the drill may be coordinated, the clear confrontational nature of the high-intensity large-scale war drill staged by the most hostile entities in collusion at the doorstep of [North Korea] never changes,” she said.

    “The recent global geopolitical crisis and complicated international events prove that all military manoeuvres of the field warfare troops, to be conducted by the enemy states, assume no distinction between defence and attack, training and actual warfare,” she continued, in an apparent reference to the US-Israel war on Iran.

    South Korea and North Korea have technically been at war since 1953, when an armistice agreement paused fighting but did not formally end the armed confrontation.

    North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said in 2024 that he would no longer pursue reconciliation with South Korea, although it remains Seoul’s long-term goal.

    An official at South Korea’s Ministry of Unification told Yonhap that Kim’s remarks on Tuesday were relatively muted by North Korean standards.

    The statement did not refer directly to the US or threaten to use nuclear weapons, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

    “Kim appears to have limited her response to merely pinpointing the South Korea-US exercise, taking the current security situation into account,” the official told Yonhap.

  • S.S. Rajamouli’s ‘Varanasi’ Taps Malaysia’s SkyBlue Cinematix for Global Brand Integration (EXCLUSIVE)

    S.S. Rajamouli’s ‘Varanasi’ Taps Malaysia’s SkyBlue Cinematix for Global Brand Integration (EXCLUSIVE)

    Malaysia’s SkyBlue Cinematix has secured the exclusive worldwide brand integration rights for “Varanasi,” the upcoming large-scale action epic from “RRR” filmmaker S.S. Rajamouli.

    The deal positions SkyBlue Cinematix, the entertainment and content integration arm of Malaysia-based SkyBlue Group, as the sole global architect of brand partnerships within the film.

    “Varanasi” is one of the first Indian productions shot in the 1.43:1 Imax format. The film is touted as a high-octane, globe-trotting action-adventure that blends ancient legend with contemporary storytelling. A worldwide theatrical rollout across more than 120 countries is planned for April 7, 2027.

    The film stars Mahesh Babu in the lead role, alongside Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Prithviraj Sukumaran. Academy Award-winning composer M.M. Keeravani is attached to provide the original score.

    “‘Varanasi’ is mounted on an enormous scale, both creatively and technically. Every collaboration helps the film reach wider audiences meaningfully. I hope our partnership with SkyBlue Cinematix integrates global brands organically and respectfully into its rooted world,” Rajamouli said.

    Rather than conventional product placement, SkyBlue Cinematix said it will deploy what it calls “Authentic Narrative Weaves” – deeply embedded brand integrations intended to align with the film’s mythology-rooted storytelling across both ancient and modern settings.

    Dato’ Manikandamurthy Velayoudam, chair of SkyBlue Group, called the mandate both an honor and a responsibility. “This film is not merely a production – it is a global cinematic movement. We are proud to serve as the strategic engine powering its worldwide brand partnerships,” he said.

    SkyBlue Group is an international media and infrastructure company with more than 18 years of operations spanning Malaysia, the U.A.E., India, and Nigeria. Its media holdings include over 1,400 transit media touchpoints under Dubai’s Roads & Transport Authority concession and digital out-of-home networks in Malaysia. SkyBlue Cinematix is currently expanding into Turkey, South Korea, Indonesia, and Thailand.

    Rajamouli is best known internationally for the “Baahubali” duology and “RRR,” the latter of which won the Academy Award for Best Original Song.

  • US consumers express dismay over rising gas prices after attack on Iran

    US consumers express dismay over rising gas prices after attack on Iran

    Surging energy prices caused by the US-Israel war on Iran could ripple across the United States economy, heaping further strain on consumers at a time when cost-of-living issues are already a primary concern.

    The price of crude oil increased from about $67 per barrel before the war began on February 28 to nearly $97 on Monday, as the conflict snarls production and transport in one of the most energy-rich regions on earth. Oil temporarily passed $100 per barrel on Sunday before slightly easing back.

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    The price tracker GasBuddy reported on Monday that the average price of gas in the US has risen by 51 cents per gallon over the last week.

    “Yes, yes, definitely,” said 52-year-old Alma Newell when asked if she was worried about price increases at a gas station in the coastal city of Goleta, California.

    Newell said she is out of work with a shoulder injury and worried that rising costs could stretch her already limited budget.

    “The prices have a big impact because I’m not working right now,” she said. “Food and rent are already very expensive.”

    “It’s crazy,” she added. “Because the war is so unnecessary.”

    Cost of living issues

    Rising prices could deepen frustration with the administration of US President Donald Trump and put greater political pressure on the White House, already struggling to address cost-of-living issues with the crucial midterm elections set to take place later this year.

    “I think the current price increase in oil suggests the US will see $3.50 to $4 gasoline by next week, and $5 diesel this week,” said Gregory Brew, a senior analyst on Iran and oil at the Eurasia Group.

    The highest recorded average for gas prices at the pump was in June 2022, when prices soared to $5.034, months after the Russian war on Ukraine started, according to Gas Buddy, which tracks fuel prices going back to 2008.

    “The impact [now] is more political than economic, as high gasoline prices generate negative press and can add to the perception that the government is not properly handling the economy. That means Trump will feel more political pressure to end this war quickly.”

    A Pew Research Center poll in early February suggested widespread anxiety about the rising cost-of-living before the US and Israel launched attacks on Iran, with 68 percent of respondents saying they were very or somewhat concerned about gas prices.

    “I’m not too worried myself because I have a hybrid car and ride my bike,” said 72-year-old Bjorn Birmir at the gas station in Goleta, California. “But for people in general, it will make life more expensive. Prices are already high, and it will make them even higher.”

    Ongoing disruptions

    The disruptions caused by the war include the shuttering of the Strait of Hormuz, a key node in global transit and shipping. Iran has long said that it could close down the strait in the event of a showdown with the US and Israel.

    About 20 percent of global oil and a significant portion of natural gas pass through the strait, predominantly to Asia, supplies that are now stranded as traffic through the narrow waterway has ground to a halt. Iranian attacks on energy infrastructure in countries across the region have also led some countries to scale back production.

    Other economic sectors are also feeling the squeeze.

    Goods such as fertiliser, vital for agricultural production, are seeing price increases just ahead of the spring planting season in the Northern Hemisphere. About one-third of the global fertiliser trade passes through the Strait of Hormuz.

    Effects of the war could ripple throughout the global economy, with poor countries especially hard-hit. Pakistan announced a series of austerity measures and cuts to fuel subsidies on Monday, while Bangladesh shuttered universities and announced restrictions on fuel use as a result of the war.

    US officials and countries around the world have already discussed measures to help ease the shock of rising energy prices, including the potential release of strategic oil reserves in a bid to temporarily boost global supply.

    The G7 said on Monday that it would take “necessary measures” to support energy supplies, but held off on announcing the release of strategic reserves, with energy ministers set to meet on Tuesday to discuss the matter further.

    The US has a strategic oil reserve of more than 415 million barrels, one of the largest in the world, that it could release in coordination with allied countries.

    But it is unclear when these measures would kick in and how long such steps could help fill the gaps created by the war.

    Rachel Ziemba, adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, says that much depends on whether the war is brought to a speedy conclusion or continues on for weeks or even months, with the possibility of further escalation.

    Thus far, neither the US and Israel nor Iran has suggested it are willing to stop the war anytime soon, although Trump told CBS News on Monday that “the war is very complete, pretty much”, comments that helped ease some of the price swings in oil and stocks.

    “If the war continues, we would see oil prices not only remain elevated, but perhaps rally further as markets price in a more protracted outage,” said Ziemba. “There’s also the question of, when it does end, how much damage will be done to infrastructure and just how quickly supplies could come back online.”

    Initial polling has suggested that the war is unpopular in the US, with a Quinnipiac University poll released on Monday finding that 53 percent of voters who responded oppose Trump’s military action in Iran, including 60 percent of political independents.

    That lack of popular support could present a political headache for Trump and his Republican Party if voters connect the war to increasing prices. Thus far, Trump has largely dismissed concerns about the war’s possible impact on the rising cost of living.

    “Short term oil prices, which will drop rapidly when the destruction of the Iran nuclear threat is over, is a very small price to pay for USA, and World, Safety and Peace,” Trump said in a Truth Social post on Sunday. “ONLY FOOLS WOULD THINK DIFFERENTLY!”

  • ‘The Friends of My Parents,’ From Romina Tamburello, Teams Pez Cine, Lechiguana, El Cielo and Imval (EXCLUSIVE)

    ‘The Friends of My Parents,’ From Romina Tamburello, Teams Pez Cine, Lechiguana, El Cielo and Imval (EXCLUSIVE)

    Argentina’s Pez Cine and Lechiguana Films are linking to Uruguay’s El Cielo Cine and Spain’s Imval Producciones to produce “The Friends of My Parents,” Romina Tamburello’s first solo feature which bids fair to repeat the upbeat critics¡ reaction and audience success of “Vera and the Pleasure of Others,” acquired for world sales by M-Appeal.  

    Also penned by playwright, novelist and filmmaker Tamburello, “The Friends of My Parents” is being brought to market at this week’s Malaga Festival MAFF co-production forum before segueing to the Guadalajara Co-Production Meeting in April. 

    An “intimate, autobiographical comedy,” Tamburello told Variety, “The Friends of My Parents” turns on Cecilia, 36, separating quietly, who is asked by her parents to help them find “reliable” swinger clubs. 

    Battling multiple prejudices, she begins visiting places and discovers “a universe of diverse sexualities, nurturing relationships, and unexpected friendships” – in sharp contrast to her own emotional breakdown, the synopsis  adds.

    Cecilia will be played by Camila Peralta, nominated for best actress and best new actress for “Cambio, Cambio” and best actress for “Clara se pierde en el bosque” at the Argentinean Film Critics Association Awards and nominated for best new actress for “Puan” by Argentina’s Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences – all in 2024. 

    She will be joined by Alejandra Flechner, an Argentinean Academy Award supporting actress winner for her performance in “Argentina, 1985” and by Luis Ziembrowski, a star of Demián Rugna’s international breakout “When Evil Lurks.”

    “My Parents’ Friends” centers on a territory rarely explored by cinema: desire in old age. Based on my parents’ real-life experience as swingers after their cancer diagnosis, the film confronts generational prejudices with humor and tenderness, challenging the place of aging bodies on screen as living, erotic, and complex entities,” said Tamburello.

    According to producer Santiago King at Pez Cine, the film “stages one of cinema’s last great taboos: sexuality in old age. Through humor and emotional honesty, it portrays bodies marked by time as territories of desire, not decline,” King added. “This combination of autobiographical intimacy and contemporary perspective gives it a strong auteurist identity and clear international appeal.”

    Under development from 2024 at Pez Cine, which has backed Tamburello’s work since 2017, “The Friends of My Parents” adapts the same-titled novel by Tamburello, published in 2024 by Penguin Random House Argentina. 

    The project, currently undergoing a rewriting process with script doctor Yolanda Barrasa, has won development awards at Argentina’s Espacio Santafesino, Entre Ríos Film Festival (FICER), and Bariloche Audiovisual Festival (FAB). Winner of a Second Feature Film Competition at the INCAA Argentine film-TV agency, “The Friends of My Parents” was selected for the 3rd Extremadura Film Residency, which sparked the co-production with Imval.

    “The Friends of My Parents” continues the liberal sex positive line of “Vera and the Pleasure of Others,” written and directed by Tamburello and Federico Actis (“The Architecture of Crime”). 

    Produced by Pez Cine, it turns on Vera, 17, who rents out an empty apartment to teens looking to have sex and spying on them as she begins to explore her own sexual pleasures, on her own and then with clients. Celebrating its world premiere at the 2023 Tallinn Back Nights Film Festival, it won best direction in the Argentine Competition at the 2023 Mar del Plata Festival, the Critics’ Award at the 2024 D’A Film Festival Barcelona in Spain and the Audience Award at that year’s Vancouver Intl. Film Festival.    

    A decided crowdpleaser, “Vera” is available on the streaming service of Argentine cable operator Flow where it has played in its Top 10 of most-watched films and series.