Yahoo News Anonymous Content, Spain’s Morena Films Forge Joint Venture (EXCLUSIVE)
Anonymous Content has partnered with Spain’s Morena Films, one of the country’s top production companies, to launch a joint venture aimed at developing and producing Spanish-language content for the global market.
The alliance marks the fifth international joint venture for Anonymous Content as they continue to build partnerships with local producers and companies in key territories around the world.
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Anonymous Content’s president of international, David Davoli, and Morena Films CEO Pilar Benito will oversee the joint venture, whose managing director will be named in the coming weeks, the companies announced Friday in a statement.
The partnership aims “to leverage Morena’s long-standing reputation” as one of the key production companies in Spain “to continue developing and producing premium film and TV projects,” the statement added.
Launched in 1999 to produce innovative, high-quality content for the international market, Morena is behind more than 100 titles, taking in feature films, TV series and documentaries, involving talents such as Asghar Farhadi, Javier Bardem, Penélope Cruz, Oliver Stone, Icíar Bollaín, Carlos Saura, Javier Fesser, Pablo Trapero and Steven Soderbergh, among others.
“Spain has such a rich and vibrant film and television history and is home to some of the world’s most incredible filmmakers, writers, and talent,” Davoli said.
“We couldn’t think of a better partner to dive into this territory with than the Morena Films team. Their two and half decades of expertise combined with their undeniable impact in the Spanish film market makes them invaluable partners and we can’t wait to see the great work we do together.”
The joint venture “will be focused on developing and creating Spanish-language content with a global appeal,” Benito noted.
Both companies will collaborate “not only with the best Spanish language writers and directors but we will also work hard to identify new upcoming talent that will help nurture our great audiovisual industry,” she added.
Two of Morena Films’ titles are included among the top 20 box-office hits of all time in Spain: 2009 prison thriller “Cell 211,” directed by Daniel Monzón, which scored $15.9 million in Spanish theaters, and Javier Fesser’s comedy “Champions,” released in 2018, with a spectacular $23 million B.O. result.
Morena has recently produced Fesser’s “Championext,” the anticipated follow-up to “Champions,” scheduled for an Aug. 18 Spanish release via Universal Pictures International Spain, whose international sales rights are being handled by Latido Films.
Since establishing AC Chapter One in 2018 and as part of their push to expand globally, Anonymous Content has set up multiple joint ventures with international partners.
Among them are Anonymous Federation, teaming with European indie studio Federation Entertainment; AC Nordic, in partnership with Morten Tyldum and Guri Neby of Oslo-based Einar Films and CAA; and AC Brazil, a joint venture with Rodrigo Teixeira’s RT Features and CAA, focused on premium Latin American TV.
The international push will continue this year as the company looks to establish several more joint ventures in Europe and beyond.
Anonymous Content also announced in 2022 a two-year joint venture with Fifth Season to produce scripted series in the U.S. as well as a partnership with Nick Antosca and Alex Hedlund’s Eat the Cat, to launch Anonymous Cat.
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