September 10th, 2010

Veteran Spanish producer buys film rights to bestselling Iraq novel from Pontas

On 9 September, 2010, this article by Chris Evans was published in ScreenDaily International:

>> Andrés Santana of Aiete Ariane Films has picked up the film rights to Spanish journalists Eduardo Martin de Pozuelo and Jordi Bordas’ number one best-selling novel No Coverage from literary agencyPontas.

Based on true events, No Coverage (Sin Cobertura) is about Sebastián Villanueva, the head of external intelligence at Spain’s secret service CNI, uncovering lies that led to the country joining the US in going to war with Iraq. The book has been a best-seller in Spain since it was published by RBA in April and has received some hugely favourable reviews with some comparing it to the best of John Le Carre and Ian Fleming. “We really believe Aiete Ariane will be able to produce this film as a great spy and political thriller based on real life events,” Anna Soler-Pont, head of Pontas told ScreenDaily. Award winning scriptwriter Elio Quiroga will adapt the novel for the big screen. Quiroga’s previous films include last year’s The Haunting and Fotos (1996), which was a favourite with Quentin Tarantino. “We want to make it a big Spanish production with a key local director and quality cast and the shooting will take place in several international locations,” Santana told ScreenDaily. Santana has worked on some of the biggest Spanish films of the past 30 years, including Montxo Armendariz’s Oscar nominated Secrets Of The Heart and Imanol Uribe’s With The Days Numbered, starring Javier Bardem. He is currently in post on Mateo Gil’s western Blackthorn, starring Sam Shepard and Eduardo Noriega, and is developing Gil’s next project Pedro Paramo, a hard-hitting drama set in Mexico, based on a best selling short novel by Juan Rulfo about a man who goes in search of his father (Paramo) who stole his mother’s land and money and destroyed her home town. << All translation rights available: anna@pontas-agency.com