At the Costa Rica Media Market (CRMM) to announce the launch of the Latin American offshoot of genre initiative WomanInFan, Sitges Film Festival director general Monica Garcia sat with Morbido CEO Pablo Guisa and Mexican director Luis Javier Henaine (“Disappear Completely”) to discuss the state of genre filmmaking in Latin America and the surge of women directors in the field, despite the obstacles.

Speaking to Variety before the panel, Garcia revealed that the number of female genre directors participating at Sitges since WomanInFan launched six years ago, has jumped from 6% to some 30%., encouraging news for the new WomanInFan LatAm program.

But the field of genre filmmaking remains tough for women. Showing the audience a trailer for a documentary she directed, which offered a snapshot of some women who had ventured into the field, the consensus was not altogether rosy.

“The common denominator in all of their statements is the difficulties, the desire – sometimes fulfilled, sometimes not – to be directors because they weren’t allowed to, or the obstacles they faced. Even Katharina Kubrick, Stanley Kubrick’s daughter, talks about the marginalization she suffered for being Kubrick’s daughter and a woman.”

“And for me, this is the most significant part: seeing that it’s not a generational thing, it’s something that has transcended decades, generations and unfortunately, is still present today, even though things have improved tremendously,” she said.

So, the challenge is twofold for women. They not only face chauvinistic bias against female directors but against women delving into the field of genre filmmaking.

Speaking about the ties between Spain and Latin America, Guisa said: “There’s definitely a connection—we share not just a language, but a Judeo-Christian imagination: the Virgins, the saints, the Holy Trinity, demons, hell. It’s all perfect fuel for genre cinema. You can see that legacy in Latin American fantasy, from Guillermo del Toro to the short filmmakers who keep the tradition alive.”

“Isn’t fantasy the freest space we have to express ourselves? And isn’t Latin America, by its very nature, a fantastic place? That gives us a powerful space to explore and communicate all kinds of ideas,” Guisa pointed out.

“I’ve long said that Latin America – led by Argentina – has set the standard for genre cinema. When the Blood Window program at Ventana Sur launched, it gave international genre co-productions a major financial boost across the region, sparking exponential growth,” Garcia observed.

She pointed out the example of “When Evil Lurks” (“Cuando acecha la maldad”), by Argentine filmmaker Demián Rugna, which made history at the 2023 Sitges Film Festival when it became the very first Latin American movie to snag the festival’s prestigious best feature film award.

For Henaine, whose third feature “Disappear Completely” Guisa declares the best horror film to come out of Mexico in the past 20 years, his past two comedy films have somewhat informed his venture into genre filmmaking.

“Comedy and horror have a lot in common – they’re also the hardest genres to pull off. One has to make people laugh; the other has to make them afraid. Both depend on creating a real emotional response.”

“As a director, though, I don’t start by asking, ‘How do I make this scary?’ or ‘How do I make this funny?’ I start with the human emotion. If the situation feels real, the fear or the humor follows naturally. Experience helps, of course, but more than genre, what really matters is being an avid viewer of both horror and comedy.”

Speaking about the growing ranks of women in the genre space, Garcia said: “We’re waiting for the next Issa López [“Tigers are Not Afraid,” “True Detective”]. We’re waiting for Laura Casabé [“The Virgin of the Quarry Lake”] to return with another film. Continuity is difficult for any filmmaker – and even more so for women. But we’ve followed these talents from their very first films, and they know this festival will always be waiting for them.”

The Costa Rica Media Market ran over July 14-15.

A confidential report prepared for Iran’s presidency is raising a consequential question for Washington and its allies: Do extraordinary levels of public anger and support for systemic change justify reassessing whether the Islamic Republic may be more vulnerable to regime change than previously believed?

The classified document, titled “What Iran Wants,” reportedly found that only 9% of respondents supported maintaining the status quo, with 53% calling for fundamental or structural reforms and more than 19% favoring changing the political system outright.

Taken together, nearly three-quarters of those surveyed reportedly supported either deep structural reform or replacement of the existing system — findings that could strengthen arguments that Iran’s political crisis has moved beyond dissatisfaction with individual leaders or policies.

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IranWire reported on July 13 that it had obtained the document, which was compiled by Ali Rabiei, President Masoud Pezeshkian’s social adviser and a former government spokesman. It was based on polling conducted by the Ara Opinion Research Center in May 2026 and circulated among institutions within Iran’s governing structure in June, according to the outlet.

Miad Maleki, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Fox News Digital that the report should prompt a fresh assessment of the potential for political upheaval inside Iran.

“If anything, this research understates the depth of Iranians’ rage,” Maleki said. “And that is what makes it remarkable: even a survey prepared for the regime’s own president, by its own pollsters, records anger levels above 63%, well beyond the highest rate Gallup has ever recorded anywhere in the world, alongside 81% struggling to put food on the table and a majority expressing hopelessness.”

Maleki cautioned that polling conducted under an authoritarian government cannot be treated as precise because respondents may fear the consequences of expressing opposition.

“In a police state where expressing the wrong opinion can cost you your job, your freedom, or your life, respondents self-censor, which means these findings are best read as a floor, not a ceiling,” he said.

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The complete survey methodology was not included in the material obtained by IranWire. The report reportedly did not disclose how respondents were selected, who was questioned or whether the sample reflected Iran’s geographic and demographic makeup.

Its findings therefore cannot be independently verified or treated as definitive measurements of Iranian opinion. The report also cannot establish that dissatisfaction will translate into an organized movement capable of removing the government.

Still, its findings portray multiple pressures converging at once.

Approximately 64% of respondents reported persistent anger, up roughly 12% points from a previous government survey conducted in December 2025. Half reported hopelessness, approximately 48% reported sadness or depression and about 45% reported persistent fear or anxiety, according to IranWire.

Economic distress also appears central to the public anger.

More than 81% experienced severe or partial difficulty obtaining enough food, while 75% struggled to cover medical costs, IranWire reported. Fifty-four percent said their income did not cover current household expenses, and only 8% reported earning enough to save.

Respondents blamed domestic governance more frequently than international pressure. 46.9% cited government inefficiency as the cause of Iran’s economic problems, 26.3% blamed corruption and 20.7% cited foreign sanctions.

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That finding could be especially significant to the regime-change debate because it suggests many Iranians do not primarily blame outside powers for their deteriorating living conditions.

The document also points to a crisis of institutional confidence. Roughly 60% reportedly distrusted major government institutions, while 61.2% negatively assessed officials’ ability to solve Iran’s problems. Distrust of the government, parliament, judiciary and state television remained above 50%, IranWire reported.

The report’s recommendations, however, reportedly centered on managing dissatisfaction rather than addressing demands for systemic change.

Rabiei urged state institutions to better explain the impact of sanctions, moderate the rhetoric used by officials and religious platforms, present a more inclusive image through state television and avoid policies that place the government in direct confrontation with society.

IranWire’s follow-up analysis argued that the recommendations treated Iran’s crisis primarily as a communications and public-perception problem. The report offered few concrete proposals involving institutional accountability, political liberalization or fundamental economic reform, according to the outlet.

Maleki said the findings were consistent with the expanding scale of unrest, citing demonstrations that spread from more than 80 cities in 2017 to more than 200 cities across all 31 provinces this year, alongside what he described as a quadrupling of strikes.

“Iranians have moved from being skeptical of what another revolution might bring to concluding there is no alternative to one, because reform has proven impossible,” Maleki said.

Yet the report does not resolve one of the largest obstacles to regime change: The Islamic Republic has spent decades building institutions designed to monitor, deter and violently suppress organized opposition.

“This regime was born of revolution, by revolutionaries,” Maleki said. “Preventing and crushing the next one is the one thing they genuinely know how to do.”

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He nevertheless argued that further unrest was inevitable.

“So the discontent will translate into renewed protest,” Maleki said. “The question is not if, but when, and whether anyone is prepared to stand with the Iranian people when it does.”

Published on 17/07/2026 – 16:41 GMT+2•Updated
16:42

Hungary has taken significant steps to restore the rule of law in the two months since Prime Minister Péter Magyar took office, the European Commission said in a report presented on Friday.

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The new government has launched “intense reform efforts”, with several legislative changes already advanced, according to the report, which describes the progress made as “impressive” given the short time since the change of government.

“You have a very radical change compared with last year’s report. Things have moved very, very quickly in the right direction,” a senior EU official told Euronews.

A key development was Hungary’s recent decision to join the European Public Prosecutor’s Office, which investigates and prosecutes financial crimes affecting the EU budget across member states.

The report also highlights progress in several areas, including anti-corruption measures, asset declarations and the work of the Integrity Authority.

Magyar has also dismantled the “Sovereignty Protection Office”, a body established under his predecessor, Viktor Orbán, which could access citizens’ personal data to investigate and sanction alleged foreign agents. The office had been targeted by an EU infringement procedure.

“We see some very positive trends […] in the early weeks of the new government’s mandate, a lot has already been done,” EU Justice Commissioner Michael McGrath said during a press conference presenting the report.

‘Things can’t change overnight’

Despite the reform push, the Commission said significant shortcomings remain in Hungary’s justice system.

“Things cannot completely change overnight,” a senior EU official told Euronews, stressing that many recommendations made in previous years’ reports have yet to be addressed.

One example is the procedure for appointing the Prosecutor General, which remains a concern for the Commission because it could allow undue political interference in individual cases.

The Commission does not rank EU countries’ performance, but publishes dedicated chapters assessing each member state. For Hungary, the remaining concerns include the functioning of the judiciary, corruption risks and unresolved violations of EU law.

Civic space also continues to be classified as “obstructed” in the report. The complexity of registration procedures in Hungary remains a challenge for smaller organisations with limited resources.

The Rule of Law Report could become increasingly important in the coming years, as the European Commission seeks to strengthen the link between compliance with rule-of-law standards and the allocation of EU funds under the 2028-34 EU budget.

Countries that fail to meet these standards could see payments suspended, although Commissioner McGrath stressed that there would be no automatic mechanism triggered solely by the report’s findings.