From ‘Offworld’ to ‘El Presidente’ Season 2 and ‘Limbo,’ Titles at Iberseries & Platino Industria

John Hopewell
·8 min read
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Upping the ante on its inaugural edition, the 2nd Iberseries & Platino Industria will unveil about 50 drama series, whether via first episodes (Capítulo Uno, Segunda Ventana), or showreels or trailers (Upcoming…).

Following a breakdown of titles, and showreel highlights in showreels, featuring some of the most anticipated titles from Spain and Latin America, as well as recent hits:

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Capitulo Uno

“El Encargado,” (Star Original Productions/The Walt Disney Company Latin America)

Anybody who caught neighbors’ standoff dark comedy “The Man Next Door,” a 2010 Sundance winner from “Official Competition” directors Mariano Cohn and Gastón Duprat could imagine they will tear with relish into dramedy of a concierge who uses his access to clients intimacy to control their lives. Iberseries marks the first market screening of the half hour which headlines Argentine star Guillermo Francella as a concierge from hell battling plans to be sacked. Star+ bows “El Encargado” on Oct. 26.

“Limbo,” (Star Original Productions/The Walt Disney Company Latin America, Pampa Films, Gloriamundi Producciones)

Created by Mariano Cohn and Gastón Duprat, the first original from Disney’s Star+ streaming service in Latin America, and the only Latin American series in main competition at last October’s Canneseries. Due to bow on Star+ on Sept. 28, the second chance psychological drama turns on Sofia (Clara Lago), 28, a young millionaire heiress who abandons her party party nightclub life in Madrid to go back to Buenos Aires, bury her father and face her past, herself and her condescending brothers.

“Offworld,” (“Apagón,” Movistar Plus+, Buendía Estudios)

Movistar Plus+ big early fall swing, and a big hit at San Sebastian where it world premiered on Sept. 23. Five stories written and directed by top movie directors – Rodrigo Sorogoyen, Raul Arévalo, Isa Campo, Alberto Rodríguez and Isaki Lacuesta – set in a world where a huge solar storm sparks a massive power outage, but richly different in settings and genre. In the first, to screen at Iberseries, and a “political thriller,” says creative coordinator Fran Araujo, Sorogoyen (“As Bestas”) and scribe Isabel Pena depict Ernesto, a harried deputy director of Madrid’s Civil Protection and Emergencies Unit, reacting with to a completely unforeseen potential general grid failure. Shot with Sorogoyen’s kinetic energy and a completely convincing downbeat realism.

“Osel,” (HBO Max, Mr. Monkey-New Frequency)

The latest from Spanish-Argentine director Lucas Figueroa (“Despido Procedente,” “Because There Are Things You Never Forget”), a four-part doc-series on the life story of Osel Hita Torres, identified at two months as the reincarnation of a revered Tibetan lama. Narrated by the protagonist and a chance for him to step back from the polemics over his decision at the age of 18 to return to his family in Spain and become drummer and filmmaker. Bows on HBO Max on Nov. 3.

“El Presidente,” Season 2 (Gaumont, Kapow, Fabula, About Entertainment)

The first TV work from Argentine Academy Award winning screenwriter-director Armando Bo, a co-scribe on “Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance),” Season 1 also marked Amazon’s first Chilean Original, the first international series from Pablo and Juan de Diós Larrain’s Fabula to employ talent from all over Latin America, and “Narcos” producer Gaumont’s first TV co-production with Latin America. In Season 2, Sergio Jadue (an extraordinary Andrés Parra) recounts the epic rise of Jean-Marie Havelange to president of FIFA over 1974-1998, at huge personal and ethical cost.

Segunda Ventana

“Cecilia,” (Paramount Global Distribution)

On Paramount Plus’ first drama series slate for Latin. America, an upscale family dramedy starring Mariana Treviño produced by VIS and Oficina Burman, with a second season going into production his January.

“Demente,” (Mega Global Entertainment)

A 140-episode crime thriller from top Chilean broadcast network Mega about the investigation of an abduction, starring Benjamín Vicuña (“Vis-a-Vis”) and released in March last year.

“Desalma,” (“Unsoul,” Globo International Distribution)

Created by Ana Paula Maia, and originally launched in 2020, and renewed for a second season, which bowed this April, a well regarded supernatural thriller set in a rural town of startling traditions.

“Días mejores,”(Paramount Global Distribution)

First seen at March’s Málaga Festival, produced by VIS and Madrid’s Zeta Studios (“Elite”) for Prime Video, a therapy group drama directed by Alejo Flah (“Sexo fácil, películas tristes”) and led by “Velvet” star Marta Hazas.

“Dos años y un día,” (Atresmedia)

An Atresplayer Premium penitentiary comedy launched in July starring Arturo Valls (“Camera Café) from Atresmedia TV, Globomedia, Estela Films, Pólvora Films and La Coproductora.

“Los Enviados,” (“The Envoys,” Paramount Global Distribution)

An action thriller led by two Vatican envoys marking the first title out of the gate from an exclusive deal between VIS and Juan José Campanella, writer-director of the Academy Award winning “The Secret in Their Eyes.”

“Los herederos de la tierra,” (“Heirs to the Land,” Diagonal TV)

First seen on Netflix this April, but with Atresmedia and Catalonia’s TV3 holding second windows. Produced by Banijay Iberia’s Diagonal TV, an involved historical melodrama set in turbulent late 14th century Barceloan, turning on Hugo, taken in by Arnau Estanyol, hero of “Cathedral of the Sea.”

“Madame Requin,” (3C Films)

Directed by Argentine auteur Alberto Lecchi and showrunner Gustavo Corrado , billed as a “political, financial and erotic thriller,” turning on a woman’s desperate attempts to save the banking empire she’s inherited.

“Memorias de Idhún,” (Banijay Rights)

An animated series adaptation for Netflix from Banijay’s Zeppelin TV of the first fantasy novel from a trilogy written by Spain’s Laura Gallego.

“La mujer del diablo,” (Televisa, Univisión)

One of Vix+’s earliest swings, bowing in July, a crime thriller from Leonardo Padrón, behind Netflix’s “Palpito,” produced by Patricio Will’s W Studios, turning on a humble primary school teacher pursued by a powerful criminal.

“Natural Law,” (Movistar Plus+ International)

Produced by Portugal’s Arquipélago Films for public broadcaster RTP,  a drama about a violent crime in a small provincial town, created by Edgar Martins and Rui Cardoso Martins, and directed by João Nuno Pinto (“Mosquito”). Opening last November’s OnSeries, “Natural Law” bowed on RTP in January. 

“Los Prisioneros,” (EO Media Distribution)

Backed by Latin America’s Movistar, produced by its then exec Joanna Lombardi and Parox, a series which begins with legendary Chilean post-punk band Los Prisioneros publishing its first album as dictatorships fall across Latin America. Directed by Colombia’s Carlos Moreno (“Dog Eat Dog”), Peru’s Salvador del Solar (“Magallanes”),

“Rapa,” (Movistar Plus+ International, Beta Film)

Created by Pepe Coira and Fran Araujo, produced by Movistar Plus+ and Spain’s Portocabo, a series which takes a cobwebbed genre – a rural murder mystery – and then tears up the rule book. Javier Cámara, star of Pedro Almodóvar’s “Talk to Her,” headlines a breakout hit.

“Señorita 89,” (Fremantle)

Bowing late Feb., Lucia Puenzo’s follow-up to “La Jauría,” from one of the most ambitious axes in the Spanish-speaking world: Fabula, Fremantle, Starzplay and Pantaya. Here, in an outwardly plush thriller, Puenzo expose the circles of gender abuse, like Dante’s version of hell, at a beauty pageant training school.

“Ser o No Ser” (RTVE)

Produced by The Mediapro Studio and its subsid Big Bang Media, on the trials and tribulations of a 1-year-old trans boy.

“Supernova,” (Kapow)

Produced by Argentine powerhouse Kapow and Grupo Octubre for Prime Video, a nearly thirtysomething four-part dramedy co-written and co-directed by New Argentine Cinema leading light Ana Katz (“Sueño Florianópolis”).

“Ultimo Primer Día,” (EO Media Distribution)

Directed by Diego Palacio, chief creative officer at Argentina’s Storylab, produced by Storylab for Flow, a procedural sparked by the disappearance of a student at an exclusive college on the coast.

”Yrreal,” (“Unreal,” RTVE)

Winning a development deal from RTVE’s online youth platform Playz at 2020’s Conecta Fiction, a bungled kidnap comedy drama, written by Paula Sánchez and Alberto Utrera.

Upcoming

HBO Max Latin America

Marcelo Tamburri, head of scripted development at HBO Max Latin America will present a showreel of soon-to-bow series. Watch out for “Sierra Madre,” directed by Jorge Michel Grau (“Somos Lo Que Hay”), staring Tessa La (“After Lucia”), and the anticipated Season 3 of stylish and anguished procedural “The Bronze Garden,” whose first installment, directed by Hernán Goldfrid and Pablo Fendrik  ranks as one of HBO Latin America’s greatest achievements.

Star Original Productions

Potential highlights on the slate, presented by Mariana Pérez and Leonardo Aranguibel, VPs at The Walt Disney Company Latin America., taken “Nada,” an Argentine series co-starring Robert De Niro from Cohn and Depart, and “Pancho Villa. El Centauro del Norte,” from BTF Media, which from brief excerpts shown at Conecta Fiction looks like a large scale and brutal take on the icon of the Mexican Revolution.

VIS

VIS senior VPs Laura Abril and Federico Cuervo will unveil a trailer of “Bosé”, the bio-series of the famed singer and his battle for freedom from the hidebound conservatism of his time., both as an artist and person. Paramount+ handles global distribution, Shine Iberia and Elefantec co-produce.

Atresplayer Premium 

The ambitious SVOD service will unveil a trailer of its first try crime doc series  “No se lo digas a nadie,” about a young murderer who shared his crime through WhatsApp with his best friend.

HBO Max 

Miguel Salvat, HBO Max commissioning editor Iberia, will also unveil a trailer – here for its HBO Max’s first Spanish toon series, the adult animation comedy “Pobre Diablo” about an Antichrist whose real interest is starring in a Broadway musical.

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