Cohans prep Pineiro adaptation 'Betibu'

RIO DE JANEIRO -- Miguel Cohan, director of "No Return," is working on a new project, "Betibu," an adaptation of Argentine Claudia Pineiro's latest novel. "Betibu" is set up at Argentina's Haddock Films, the co-producer of 2010 Oscar winner "The Secret in Their Eyes" and Viggo Mortensen-starrer "Everybody Has A Plan." Cohan is working on the screenplay with sister Ana Cohan, co-scribe of "No Return," and Pineiro. A thriller, "Betibu" turns on an ageing, jaundiced crime journalist, a famous woman writer and a thrusting young journalist who investigate a suspected murder in a gated community outside Buenos Aires. "The story is a crime suspenser set in the backrooms of journalism," Haddock topper Vanessa Ragone told Variety at the Rio Festival market. Miguel Cohan could well make "Betibu" his sophomore outing, Ragone said. Project is co-produced by Gerardo Herrero and Mariela Besuievsky's Madrid-based Tornasol Films, which co-owns Haddock. It is skedded to shoot second half 2012 in Buenos Aires and, most probably, Spain's Ciudad de la Luz studios. Argentine broadcaster Telefe will associate produce. Budget is "big by Argentine standards, mid-budget by Spanish standards," Ragone said. Haddock optioned Pineiro's second novel, which became Marcelo Pineyro's 2009 Argentine B.O. hit "Thursday's Widows." "No Return," Cohan's debut, shared the Golden Spike at Spain's Valladolid fest, establishing Cohan as a director to track and specialist in drama thrillers. "Betibu" explores a similar register. The Rio Festival runs Oct. 6-18. Contact the Variety newsroom at news@variety.com