What Spanish market Iberseries and Platino Industria offers the international screen sector

The fourth edition of Iberseries and Platino Industria, the largest Ibero-­American showcase of the audiovisual industries of Spain, Portugal and Latin America, is taking place in Madrid from October 1-4.

The event includes the Ibero-­American Audiovisual Market (MAI), pitching sessions, co-­production forum, industry panels and conferences, as well as screenings of upcoming film and TV productions. It is held as a joint venture between the Secuoya Foundation and Spain’s largest rights collection agency EGEDA, in collaboration with the Ibero-American Federation FIPCA.

It has also established partnerships with similar events including the Berlinale Series Market, Ventana Sur and Rio2Content.

The Co-Production and Financing Forum for features and series is the cornerstone of the event. Supported by ICEX Trade and Investment, a department of Spain’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Business, 10 features budgeted up to $2.5m (€2.3m) and 11 series budgeted up to $12.8m (€11.6m) will be showcased to potential co-production partners.

Movie stars

The 10 features are: Guerras Invisibles (translation, ‘Invisible Wars’), produced by Spain’s Pixel Video and Dit Services; Blessed Mary (Bendita María), produced by Spain’s TV On; Justino, produced by Mercado Cultural from Brazil; The Image Of A Crime from Spain’s Bixagu Entertainment; (Im)Perfect Mom, produced by Colombia’s Laberinto; My Other Summer by Spanish outfit D’Sierto Films; My Little Justice League(Mi Pequeña Liga De La Justicia) from Uruguay’s Lavoragine Films; Savages from the Fahrenheit outfit in Peru; A Distant Place, produced by Twin Latin Films from Argentina; and Queen Of The Forest (Reina Del Bosque), produced by Libre Cine, also from Argentina.

Samuel Castro, co-director of Iberseries and Platino Industria with Juan Alia, believes attracting private financing to the sector is pivotal to its growth. “We were the first event in Spain to invite private funds interested in investing, among other key decision-makers,” he says of how Iber­series and Platino Industria is leading the way on this strategy.

Industry executives from close to 50 countries will attend the event, including from Spain, Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, the US and Chile.

The Platforms and Producers pitch sessions will see 159 projects presented in private meetings to potential international partners from companies including 3Pas Studios, Amazon MGM Studios/Prime Video, Ánima, BBC Studios, Dopamine, Gaumont, Paramount, Secuoya Studios, Sony Pictures International Productions, Sony Pictures Television, Telemundo Studios and Warner Bros Discovery.

Additionally, the Iberscreenings sidebar will feature exclusive presentations and premieres of the first episodes of anticipated series and previews of feature films, and MAI will provide meeting and networking points for buyers, sellers, institutions and companies. More than 150 buyers are confirmed to attend MAI 2024, including acquisitions executives from US outfits Max, AMC Networks and Paramount, as well as Italy’s Mediaset, multinationals Sky and Fremantle, and Spain’s Movi­star Plus+, Latido Films, Filmax and Film Factory.

Panel discussions

The conference programme will feature a keynote from veteran US media executive Evan Shapiro titled ‘Thriving in Ibero-American markets in the user-centric era’. Furthermore, Ibermedia’s Elena Vilardell, Creative Europe Media’s Peter Andermatt and ICAA’s general director Ignasi Camos will participate in a conversation called ‘Funding opportunities from a public perspective’, while France Télévisions’ Morad Koufane, RAI’s Michele Zatta and RTVE’s Rafael Bardem will provide insight for the panel in their discussion ‘What are buyers and commissioners in Europe looking for?’.

Other leading professionals attending the event include Screen Capital’s Joyce Zylberberg, Dopamine’s Fidela Navarro, Creativity Capital’s Patrick Fischer, 3Pas Studios’ Leonardo Zimbron, Amazon’s Pablo Iacoviello, Max’s Alberto Carullo, Infinity Hill’s Axel Kuschevatzky and The Mediapro Studio’s Fernando Gonzalez Molina.

A core initiative of the event’s professional training platform is the Showrunners Workshop, with nine projects in development selected. The titles hail from Argentina, Chile, Spain, the US, Mexico, Peru, Dominican Republic and Uruguay. Completing the event’s educational offerings is a professional training course on artificial intelligence.