Gens catches Kanzaman's 'Cold'

Genre specialist Xavier Gens ("Hitman," "Frontiere(s)") is mounted on direct mental thriller "Cold Skin" for Madrid and Paris-based Kanzaman. Set with an Antarctic island, "Skin" adjusts Catalan author Albert Sanchez Pinol's eponymous bestseller. The British-language "Skin" is going to be created by Kanzaman partners Denise O'Dell and Mark Albela, co-proprietors of worldwide sales company 6 Sales. Spain's Jesus Olmo ("Linked," "28 Days Later") composed the script. Now in pre-production, "Skin" is allocated around million ($23 million), O'Dell told Variety. It's among a clutch of pre-buys revealed by TVE, the television division of The spanish language pubcaster RTVE, in a joint press conference with The spanish language producer umbrella org Fapae held Thursday in the San Sebastian Festival. Other pre-buys include "Don't Cry, Fly," the 3rd feature from Peruvian director Claudia Llosa, champion of the 2009 Berlin Golden Bear for "The Milk of Sorrow." "Fly" is created by Jose Maria Morales' Madrid-based distrib-production company Wanda Films. Another TVE-backed project is "Rental property," from Argentinean helmer Pablo Trapero ("Carancho"), which is to establish at Spain's Morena Films. Based on TVE mind of cinema Avoi Cebrian, TVE is ploughing $55.two million into feature, documentary and animation this year, 9% lower on 2010. A driving pressure behind The spanish language film production, TVE has pre-bought 41 features this season from nearly 300 projects it received, Cebrian added. Showing the most recent statistics on The spanish language film production, Fapae prexy Pedro Perez says The country has created or co-created 101 films this season, 12% lower around the 116 this year. The spanish language films' share of the market was at 14% through Sept. 21, on 2010's 9%. Local movies' total 2011 share of the market could achieve 18%-20%, Perez stated. Contact Variety Staff at news@variety.com