The Co-Production & Financing Forum will take place Sept. 30-Oct. 1, with private one-to-one meetings for features on Sept. 30 and series on Oct. 1 in Madrid For the first time in the five-year history of the Iberseries & Platino Industria’s Co-Production and Financing Forum, a selection committee has been formed, comprising Ventana Sur/BloodWindow founder Bernardo Bergeret, showrunner Joanna Lombardi and TV Film International partner Karina Dolgiej. According to the forum’s general coordinator Rodrigo Ros, the new committee “shortlisted 40 projects based on viability, international potential, solid financing plans with at least 30% financing secured, international partner appeal, co-production potential, relevant team experience and distinctive market appeal.” Looking back at the forum’s past five years, Ros pointed out that nearly 20 feature and series projects presented in the past have secured financing, been produced and released across Ibero-American territories. Among the TV projects are Rodrigo Susarte’s “Patagonia” (Chile-Spain), premiering in Spain on Movistar Plus+ with international distribution by ZDF Studios; “Past Waters” (Portugal-Spain); and Katherina Harder ‘s Chilean period drama “The Danger of Loving You,” produced by Parox and which premiered on TVN Chile in August.
Feature successes include Lucia Puenzo’s “Pepita, the Pistolera,” which will have its world premiere at Iberseries; Uruguayan survival thriller “Hunting and Fishing”; “The Stories” from Spain’s Aquí y Allí Films and Sideral and “Red Hangar,” directed by Juan Pablo Sallato, which premiered at the Berlinale and was selected as Chile’s Goya entry. Last April, it swept the 41st Guadalajara Film Festival. This year’s crop presents a diversity of genres, “spanning true stories, horror, folk horror, comedy, family and sports dramas, historical stories and thrillers, reflecting a deliberate commitment to variety rather than a single market direction,” Ros said.
Perhaps the dominant genre is the mystery crime thriller, led by Anonymous Content Spain’s exorcism thriller “1999” which already has a berth at Sitges, followed by social thriller “Carreau” (“Carro Seco”) where a vigilante attacks crooked property owners and “The Blind” which explores unseen supernatural threats. Chile’s Emmy-winning Hernán Caffiero directs “The Unwelcome,” a supernatural thriller series starring Alfredo Castro (“The Prince”) and Benjamin Vicuña. Animated series “Archipelago” stands out as the clearest world-building project, combining dystopian science fiction, adventure, piracy and supernatural powers.
It also reflects animation’s strong international co-production potential. Docu series “Sign You Bastards!” is the outlier, using music and football culture to explore a highly specific but internationally adaptable phenomenon. The Co-Production Forum will take place Sept. 30–Oct. 1, with private one-to-one meetings for features on Sept. 30 and series on Oct. 1.
Produced by Anonymous Content España and Coming Soon Films, the thriller follows Abel, a Barcelona man investigating a childhood exorcism who spirals into paranoia and madness. Backed by an ICEC/GAC script grant, it has attracted distributor and platform interest. Selected for Sitges’ Fantastic 7, Eurogenre and BIF Market, the film draws on real events.
Casademunt calls it “a fast-paced story of suspense and terror” exploring the unsettling reality of exorcisms in Catalonia. French company Halley Production joins Spain’s Los Hermanos Polo Films and Lastcrit as a co-producer. Supported by ICAA, IVC and TV3, pic combines social urgency with dark humor.
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