Juan Alia (left) and Samuel Castro (right)

Source: Courtesy of Iberseries & Platino Industria

Juan Alia (left) and Samuel Castro (right), directors of Iberseries & Platino Industria

Argentina’s Natalia Smirnoff and Alberto Lecchi and Money Heist’s Alejandro Bazzano are among the directors with projects selected for Iberseries & Platino Industria’s Co-production and Financing Forum, which is takeing place in Madrid from October 1-4.

The fourth edition of Iberseries & Platino Industria, an industry meeting point for the Spanish and Latin American cinema and TV sectors, will host more than 2,000 professionals from 50 countries this year.

The Coproduction and Financing Forum features 10 film and 11 TV series projects.

They include veteran Argentinian filmmaker Alberto Lecchi’s A Distant Place, with an attached cast that includes Ernesto Alterio and Soledad Villamil. The production is a collaboration between Argentina’s Twin Latin Films, Spain’s Filmmakers Monkeys and Chile’s Rizoma Producciones.

The film tells the story of the relationship between a virtuoso pianist and a history teacher as they fight for a second chance at love before a devastating illness pulls the musician away from reality.

Smirnoff is attached to (Im)perfect Mom, inspired by the best-selling memoir Drunk Mom by Jowita Bydlowska. It is being supported by Colombia’s Laberinto Producciones and Ganas Producciones, along with Argentina’s Tarea Fina. 

Alejandro Bazzano, known for directing episodes Money Heist, Scar and Inés of My Soul, is set to direct his first feature, La Imagen De Un Crimen (The Image Of A Crime). Produced by Spain’s Bixagu Entertainment, the black comedy with thriller elements follows a 70-year-old retired air traffic controller whose obsessive nature leads him to believe he’s discovered the scene of a crime.

Another selected project, Wildness, is directed by Claudia Huaiquimilla and Joanna Lombardi. The crime romance will explore the explosive consequences of a fateful encounter between a down-and-out  model living in Paris and a young surfer caught up in the world of drug trafficking. It is a co-production between Peru’s El Árbol Azul and Chile’s Family Story House.

The remaining film titles are The Invisible War, lead-produced by Mexico’s Gefilte Films; Blessed Mary (Spain’s TV On); Justino (Brazil’s Mercado Filmes and Portugal’s SPi Filmes); Mi Otro Verano (Spain’s D’Sierto Films, Link-up Production, 39 Escalones Films and Uruguay’s Mother Superior); My Little Justice League (Uruguay’s Lavoragine Films); and Queen of the Woods (Argentina’s Libre Cine, Spain/Argentina’s Non Stop Studios and US’s Bosco Entertainment).

All of the projects have budgets of up to €2.3 million.