‘The Aspirant’, ‘Red Hangar’ among pitches at inaugural Iberseries co-pro forum

Ten feature projects were pitched at Iberseries & Platino Industria’s first features co-production forum in Madrid supported by Secuoya Foundation, Spain’s producers’ rights collection society EGEDA, Ibero American producers’ federation FIPCA, and the city government.

The event wrapped on Friday (October 6) and the pitch selection comprised eight narrative features, a documentary, and an animated feature. Qualifying projects needed to have 30% of financing in place.

Save Me From Myself (Sálvame De Mí) is a dramedy directed by Uruguay-born Max Zunino, a best fiction winner at Guadalajara Film Festival with Open Cage, and a Fipresci Prize recipient at Montreal World Film Festival, both in 2014. Mexico and Los Angeles-based Irreversible Pictures is producing in co-production with Cielo Content, 2Hand Productions, and TDO Media.

It follows Ana, a woman in her thirties going through an existential crisis. Without a stable job and mourning the loss of her mother in a car accident, Ana journeys to the idyllic beaches of Tulum in Mexico to reset her life. When she discovers her sister is about to get married to a charro, a Mexican cowboy, Ana finds a purpose and decides to stop the wedding.

Psychological horror The Aspirant centres on two boys’ first day at a macho high school where they must endure a tough initiation. Spain’s Smiz and Pixel, Kabiria Films and La Bestia produce. The Aspirant was named best project at Sitges FanPitch (formerly Sitges Pitchbox) and will be the first fiction feature of Spanish documentarian Juan Gautier.

The Last Circus is a family drama with action elements and is produced by Mexico’s Guannaby Films and Colombia’s Dynamo. Celso García, winner of the Glauber Rocha Award at 2015 Montreal World Film Festival for dramedy The Thin Yellow Line, will direct the story of a traveller artist who tries to revive his lost family circus after he inadvertently finds a priceless jewel.

In The Middle Of The Day’s Darkness (A Plena Oscuridad Del Día) will be directed by Facundo Escudero, whose Broken took part in this year’s Tallinn Black Nights’ Goes to Cannes Showcase. The project blends thriller and psychological drama elements and follows a recently retired university professor who suspects she may have Alzheimer’s and decides to act when a serial killer strikes.

Nicolás Münzel’s Argentinian outfit Pensilvania Films (Escudero’s Two Faced-God) produces in partnership with Uruguay’s U Films (Lorena Muñoz’s I’m Gilda).

Red Hangar (pictured) is a political thriller directed by Juan Pablo Sallato and inspired by the autobiographical chronicle Disparen a la Bandada (Shoot The Flock) by Chilean writer Fernando Villagrán.

The story takes place in the early days of Augusto Pinochet’s Chilean dictatorship in 1973 as the life of a former head of Air Force intelligence is turned upside down when he is ordered to participate in the military coup. Chile’s Villano and Argentina’s Brava Cine produce.

Other titles at the event are backed by the likes of Mapa Films (Spain), Salamandra Producciones, Greenlight México, Pimienta Films (Mexico), Sueko Films, Murdoc, La Productora Films (Uruguay), and Zeppelin Studio (Argentina).

The Iberseries event hosted a large agenda of activities including screenings of first episodes of upcoming TV series and features, conferences, keynotes, sneak peaks of upcoming features, and the MAI (Ibero American Audiovisual Market).

Organisers said the third edition of Iberseries registered more than 2,000 industry delegates coming from 40 countries representing 650 companies, 160 buyers, and 178 projects at different stages of development and production.

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