Sanfic Industria Bows Anticipated Chilean Series ‘Poemas Malditos,’ ‘Cecilia la Incomparable’ (EXCLUSIVE)
Unfolding alongside Chile’s Santiago International Film Festival (SANFIC), Sanfic Industria runs August 20-26, promising a busy schedule that includes Iberoamerican Works in Progress (WIP) and a variety of labs that encompass fiction, documentaries, genre films, sustainable development, series, women producers’ projects, XR etc. Some of the 11 sections will be in a hybrid or online format.
At its July 19 press conference, Sanfic Industria head Gabriela Sandoval will highlight the premiere of two hotly anticipated Chilean series that will screen at the annual event.
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Both shows are expected to debut later this year on Chilean television before passing on to streaming platforms. Recipients of the Chilean National Television fund, both deal with women’s themes in distinct genres.
“We are very excited at Sanfic Industria to premiere these two series for the public. “Poemas Malditos” (“Cursed Poems”) will be shown in its entirety with all four episodes and “Cecilia la Incomparable” will showcase the first 50-minute episode,” said Sandoval.
“Poemas Malditos” comprises four episodes of seemingly disparate stories that intersect in the last episode to present a gripping thriller set in the early 20th century. Marking its Latin American premiere at Sanfic Industria, the limited series has participated in the 73rd Berlinale Series Market Selects program and the Cinema Jove fest in Valencia where it won for its production design and music.
“We’re still in talks with free-to-air stations and a couple of streaming platforms in Chile,” said showrunner Juan Ignacio Sabatini, whose multiple credits include series “Sitiados,” “La Caceria” and whose feature debut, “Matar a Pinochet,” vied for a Premio Platino in 2021.
Inspired by the Lira Popular, a poetry style that combines true cases from 19th and 20th-century crime reports with stories handed down orally through generations, “Poemas Malditas” features strong female characters in chronicles of mystery, horror and suspense.
Created by Paula del Fierro and Enrique Videla – who both worked on “Dignity,” “La Jauría” and “Los Prisioneros” – and Miguel Angel Rodríguez (“Los Prisioneros”), it is described thus: “A woman persecuted under suspicions of witchcraft, the daughter of a possessed young woman, two women living a secret love affair, and a man tormented by his demons who ends up participating in a massacre. Four stories intersect to narrate an electrifying thriller set in the early 20th century.”
Marking its world premiere at Sanfic, “Cecilia la Incomparable” by actress-director Vane Miller, is a musical bio-series about the controversial singer Cecilia Pantoja Levi who was considered ahead of her time, breaking from the musical folklore traditions of music in ‘60s Chile to sing and compose in English and Italian, aside from Spanish, and growing a massive fanbase.
She was only in her early 20s when she reached her career peak, winning the prestigious Viña del Mar award that took her to the Benidorm Music Festival and a tour of Spain that allowed her to find her true self, Miller told Variety. She came back sporting an androgynous look that conservative Chile frowned on, she said. “Her story is not only told, but sung in this series,” said Miller.
The soundtrack includes Cecilia’s most renowned songs while also reviving some of her original compositions, such as “Los Amantes,” “La Cita,” and “Hoy Día Fue el Adiós.” Two of these songs, “Me Voy,” sung by Fran Valenzuela, and “Jauría de Mujeres” performed by Mon Laferte, were composed by Cecilia during her incarceration and were recorded especially for the series.
According to the synopsis, the series spans “her overwhelming success at Viña del Mar to her tour in Spain and the tragic story of her first great love; from fame and fortune to losing everything and facing ruin; from the tremendous affection of the people to being beaten and attacked due to her sexual orientation; from total freedom on stage to ending up in jail and never being able to sing again.”
TVN plans to air the two one-hour episodes in October to coincide with Cecilia’s 80th birthday.
Meanwhile, Sanfic Industria’s XR section, now on its second year, will feature an array of national and Latin American Virtual Reality experiences for free. These new realities represent the future of audiovisual storytelling, ranging from virtual reality to augmented reality and mixed reality. The section provides a showcase for emerging Latin American voices in the metaverse.
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