News

Argentina’s most bankable star, Adrian Suar, has wrapped his directorial debut “30 Noches Con Mi Ex” (“30 Nights With My Ex”) to which FilmSharks has snagged worldwide rights. The Buenos Aires-based sales and production outfit has already sold remake rights to Conchita Taboada of Spectrum Films for Mexico and to Italian producer Alessandro Usai of Colorado Films.

Disney’s Star Distribution holds the theatrical distribution rights for Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and Bolivia, while Cinecolor snapped up rights to Peru, Chile and Colombia. FilmSharks handles theatrical distribution for Mexico, Brazil and all rights for the rest of the world.

Fledgling Disney streaming service Star Plus took all Latin American pay-tv and SVOD rights.

“We are so happy to be working on Adrian’s new film again,” said FilmSharks CEO Guido Rud, adding: “As most people are aware, his films have consistently topped the box office in South America and all his films...

HBO Latin America veterans Luis S. Peraza, president of networks, and Roberto Rios, corporate vice president of original production, will depart at the end of February, WarnerMedia Latin America announced Thursday.

Peraza is part of the founding team that launched HBO in Latin America in 1991 and is a pioneer of the local audiovisual industry. He was responsible for development of the first premium local content in the market, investing in original programming and discovering new talent.

Original content overseen by Peraza includes “Epitafios,” “Mandrake,” International Emmy winner “Sr. Avila,” International Emmy nominees “Sons of Carnival,” “Capadocia,” “Profugos,” “Psy,” and “The Bronze Garden,” as well as hundreds of hours of series, movies, documentaries and animation specials that were broadcast in Latin America and the rest of the world.

Peraza assumed the role of president of networks for HBO Latin America in 2014 and was responsible for overseeing original productions, content acquisitions, programming and on-air,...

Pamplona, Spain — Few events were more anticipated at Conecta Fiction than the joint keynote delivered by HBO Latin America’s Roberto Ríos and HBO España’s Miguel Salvat. The room was packed,some attendees caught it from a screen outside.

That’s a sign of the draw of HBO’s brand in Spanish-language programming and of Ríos and Salvat. When it comes to Spanish-language premium TV series both executives are pioneers and now institutions. Ríos’ credits at HBO date back at least to the 2008-released “Alice” and Season 2 of “Epitafios,” produced with Pol-ka, the first ever premium limited TV series in Spanish bowing way back in 2003.

Salvat was the driving force behind two of Spain’s very first scripted premium series: “Whatever Happened to Jorge Sanz?” and “Crematorium,” released at Canal Plus España over 2010-11.

One of the keys to understanding a Svod platform is its slate of projects in productions,...

Pamplona, Spain — Forging a new axis in the Spanish-speaking TV world, Warner Bros. Itvp España and top Argentine production house Pol-ka have joined forces to create an eight-episode dark comedy thriller.

Symptomatic of the fast-forming new Spanish-language TV landscape, where series from Spain now rank consistently among the most watched on Svod platforms in Latin America and Latin American stars are ever better known for Spanish audiences, the still-to-be-titled series’ action will take place between Spain and Latin American. The show boasts a pan-regional cast.

The project will also combine traditional linear broadcast and Svod play, while generating social media content in line with the new consumer habits of an ever more diversified and segmented audience, the partners confirmed in an announcement made out of Conecta Fiction.

“This agreement is another step forward in our bet on breaking frontiers and developing formats with Latin America, here via an alliance with Pol-ka,...

Pamplona, Spain — Taking a new expansive step as an international content player, top Argentine production house Pol-ka, has optioned small-screen rights to “El cielo a tiros,” the latest novel from “Rosario Tijeras” author, Colombian novelist Jorge Franco.

Pacted via Scenic Rights, the deal sees Pol-ka planning to shoot a drama series based on the book in Medellín, Colombia in 2020.

“El cielo a tiros” will become the first Pol-ka series produced entirely outside Argentina, marking part of a long-term expansion at the Adrián Suar-headed company as it adapts to the challenges and opportunities of a new TV landscape.

Published in 2018, “El cielo a tiros” turns on the children of Medellín’s drug lords of the 1990s, following one, Larry, who returns to Colombia after 12 years abroad to reclaim his father’s remains from a mass grave. He reencounters his childhood best friend, Pedro, and his mother, a former Colombia beauty queen,...

Miami — Boldly taking on the challenges of TV’s future as it turns 25, Argentina’s Pol-ka Producciones, one of Latin America’s few historic independent TV companies, is turning to the past.

Shooting from Jan. 2, but set in Buenos Aires from 1936 to 1945, “Argentina, Land of Passion and Revenge,” intertwines the contrasting fates of three emigrants who flee Europe for Argentina. Torcuato mixes in high-society; Bruno, his brother in arms in Spain¡s Civil War before an act of extraordinary treachery on Torquato’s past, suffers far worse luck; and Raquel, a Polish ingenue, even worse, ending up in a brothel.

Starring Benjamín Vicuña (“Vis a Vis”), and requiring 100-meters of 1930s’ Buenos Aires street facades on a 1,200 square-meter set in Pol-ka’s Estudios Baires, plus 100 extras for the arrival of the boat about from Europe, “Argentina” is one of Pol-ka’s big fiction bets for 2019, indeed one of its biggest...

Los Cabos, Mexico — The 7th Los Cabos Festival, the most industrially-minded of Mexico’s film events, was the first to take place in full-blown digital Ott revolution.

Two TV panels, the biggest ever at Los Cabos, packed out by some of the foremost Latino TV and Ot show-runners, producers and directors, debated the huge, multi-faceted and still fast-evolving impact the digital platforms are having, and will have, on the industry. The result was maybe the most intense industry debate Los Cabos has ever seen. Eight takeaways:

1.Latin America Gets What It Needs

The panels underscored the huge paradigm shift in just a few years. For decades, Latin American TV production was dominated by free-to-air networks, producing in-house, producer Alex Garcia reminded a Los Cabos industry audience. Independent production companies – Mexico’s Argos, Argentina’s Pol-ka and Underground – were huge exceptions, their fortunes tied to producing for specific broadcasters. Then came the pay TV revolution.

Cannes — Two of the power axes on the new worldwide TV production scene, Argentina’s ElTrece, Pol-ka, Cablevision on one hand and Mediapro Group-Oficina Burman on the other, have pacted to produce together a brand new dram series, scheduled to air from 2019.

The series turns on the campaign of a man who runs for the presidency of his country. Humberto Ortega, who co-wrote with “La Casa de Papel’s” Alex Pina on series such as “El Barco” and “Los Serrano,” is writing the screenplay for the series.

“Dominated by imposture and pressures, both self conceived and external,” a press statement reads, the candidate will suffer deep transformation, discovering his true self, as his ambitions conflicts with traditional ethics. Corralled, seemingly facing inevitable defeat, or so his team thinks, he will find a way, however, to face up to adversity.

That solution will no doubt cast caustic comment on the way...

HBO Latin America has greenlit a second season of Argentine thriller series “The Bronze Garden” (“El Jardin de Bronce”), which has aired across 50 HBO international markets, including HBO Spain and HBO Nordic.

The eight-episode thriller centered on an architect in desperate search for his four-year-old daughter who vanished with her babysitter in a Buenos Aires subway. He is aided by a brilliant, if unconventional, private detective.

Co-produced with leading Argentine production company Pol-ka, the second season is based on a new set of scripts by Gustavo Malajovich, author of the eponymous bestseller which inspired the first season, and scribe Marcos Osorio Vidal.

Production kicks off in Buenos Aires in August. Joaquin Furriel reprises his role as the architect who in this new season helps resolve a case that had gone cold. Hernán Goldfrid and Pablo Fendrik direct the series once more.

Luis F. Peraza, Roberto Ríos and Paul Drago of...

HBO Latin America is marking its first foray into Colombia with the series “Mil Colmillos,” in conjunction with Rhayuela Films. Jaime Osorio, best known for his suspense thrillers “El Paramo” (“The Squad”) and “Siete Cabezas,” will co-direct the series with Pablo Gonzalez (“Cord”).

Osorio and Guillermo Escalona co-wrote and co-created “Mil Colmillos,” roughly translated to “A Thousand Fangs,” which refers to the violence and brutality that beset Colombia in the past, according to Osorio.

Series turns on an elite military command on a mission to kill off the enigmatic leader of an unidentified squad roaming the jungles of Colombia.

Plans are to film the eight one-hour episodes back-to-back in multiple locations in Colombia, including the capital of Bogota and the Amazon jungle.

“Mil Colmillos” will rank among HBO Latin America’s biggest productions, given the logistical challenges of some of its remote locations and the cast and crew Osorio is currently assembling.

Shows about tracking down serial killers can make for some exciting television as almost anything can happen and even main characters have a guarantee that they’ll see the end of the season. Epitafios spent its first season tracking down a killer who escaped from a hostage situation and then transitioned to double-twist plot where the protagonist is assigned to investigate crimes she had a hand in (a la Dexter). The first season was so packed with twists, that the second had a lot to live up to, but it never really captures the same gruesome spirit.

Julio Chavez and Cecilia Roth return as Renzo Marquez, a semi-retired detective, and homicide detective Marina Segal, on a case set off by the appearance of a man who seems to have clawed his way from the ground. Their relationship has expanded noticeably since the events of the first season, and their back-and-forth...