Spain is in high profile at this year’s MIPCOM CANNES as Country of Honour. We heard from four Spanish companies ahead of their visit to the French Riviera.
Movistar Plus+ is looking for partners in Cannes
MOVISTAR Plus+ is the Telefónica-owned subscription platform. It was born out of the merger between Canal+, and Telefónica’s Movistar TV in 2015 and is the largest subscription television provider in Spain with close to four million subscribers.
According to Fabrizia Palazzo, distribution manager at Movistar Plus+ International, the most important viewing trends in Spain are more or less in line with regional and global tastes: “I would say long-running Spanish drama and crime drama in general are very strong, alongside mystery content. Mature content like history, drama, mystery and thrillers have all been particularly successful.” He adds: “Movistar Plus+ produces 10 Premium TV shows per year, all of them quality series in terms of production and the uniqueness of the subject matter and storylines.”
Palazzo says that most of those shows are a good fit with global audiences, and they manage to achieve that without losing their Spanish identity. “In terms of the national audience, our comedies work very well, and I’d highlight Little Faith and Dead & Co. as being perfect examples. Little Faith was also adapted for the German market, which means that the IPs that Movistar Plus+ produces can also travel to other countries as formats.”
Dramas and thrillers including Riot Police, Hierro, Marbella and La Mesías are also popular with domestic viewers, as well as on the international market. “They have been very well received, both in terms of international sales and at festival screenings.”
At MIPCOM CANNES, Palazzo and the Movistar Plus+ team “are open to building new business relations with partners all over the world. Movistar Plus+ is always open to exploring different ways of co-operating with strategic partners.”
In terms of new content, Movistar Plus+ is presenting its third-quarter slate in Cannes, which includes long-awaited drama series The New Years. Spanish film director and screenwriter Rodrigo Sorogyen’s The New Years is co-produced Movistar Plus+ and partner Arte France. It went into production in October last year, shooting in Madrid, Lyon (France) and Berlin (Germany). The series is produced in collaboration with Madrid-based independent production house Caballo Films.
It is also introducing Querer, a four-episode courtroom drama that was selected to be screened at the San Sebastian Film Festival.”
Ánima Kitchent on the lookout for co-pro partners
Established in 2002, Ánima is a family entertainment company headquartered in Mexico City, with studios in Madrid, the Canary Islands, and Buenos Aires, specialising in 2D and CGI animation. It is the parent company of Anima Kitchent, based in Madrid, whose primary output is movies, music and entertainment. Miguel Aldasoro, international sales and co-production director of Anima Kitchent, will be showcasing the pre-school 2D comedy series Tippi T-Rex at MIPCOM CANNES, alongside the second season of the highly successful 3D series Cuquin.
“With 26 episodes of Tippi T-Rex already set for completion and available by Q4 2024, we are taking a different approach from the outset and are currently looking for co-production partners to support us in the production of the second half of the planned episodes. We have the flexibility to decide whether it will be programmed first on television, or debut on digital platforms to evaluate its performance,” Aldasoro says. “The project has been made to be adaptable and versatile for whichever broadcast window will benefit the series the most, whether it’s on broadcast television, or in the digital environment. In terms of our overall offering for MIPCOM CANNES, we are presenting content that fits both traditional programming needs and the new demands of digital platforms, ensuring that our productions are attractive and accessible to different markets and platforms.”
Anima Kitchent has also partnered with Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) for the second season (20 x 5’) of Cuquin, a 3D adventure comedy series, currently in production at the company’s studios in the Canary Islands. “MIPCOM is one of the most important markets globally for our industry, and the fact that Spain has been selected as the country of honour is a great opportunity for us. It gives greater visibility to content produced in Spain generally and to Ánima Kitchent. This allows us to present our products to potential clients, distributors and international buyers, facilitating the shows’ commercialisation on a global level.”
Online dating show heads Filmax MIPCOM CANNES slate
Dating In Barcelona will be the biggest fiction series for Barcelona-based distributor and producer Filmax at MIPCOM CANNES this year, according to the company’s head of international sales and co-productions, Ivan Diaz.
The series is about the ups and downs of online dating – a mix of comedy, romance, and drama, produced by TV3. “We’ll be presenting six new episodes at the market, plus the six that we produced last year. This is a very cool and sweet romantic show set in Barcelona – a truly great setting. We’re producing it for 3CAT – the public Catalan audiovisual network – and Amazon Prime Spain,” Diaz says.
“Another big offering for our clients at MIPCOM CANNES will be Matador, a documentary about Ilia Topuria, the Georgian/Spanish UFC world champion. He’s an incredible character with great determination, courage, and strong values. He’s already a big international figure, and he’ll be even bigger around the MIPCOM CANNES dates, as his next title fight will happen at the end of October in Abu Dhabi. He’ll be defending his World UFC belt for the first time.”
Matador is an Señor Mono production for Movistar+, launched country-wide in Spanish cinemas in September this year.
“We’re also very active in animation, as we’re producing 52 episodes and a feature film based on the [popular toy and animation franchise]Superthings. We’ll be making an announcement at MIPCOM CANNES about the international distribution of the TV series, as the first episodes will start broadcasting on RTVE in September,” Diaz says. “And finally, as producers, we’re about to start producing The Nameless for Movistar+. It’s one of the biggest and most ambitious TV shows being produced in Spain this year, and it’s a new take on the story that Jaume Balaguero directed as a [horror]feature film for Filmax some years ago.”
Secuoya’s new sales and production division makes MIPCOM CANNES debut
Secuoya Studios MIPCOM CANNES slate includes new title Los 39, which tells the story of the 39 men left behind by Christopher Columbus on the island of La Hispaniola after discovering America. The company is also bringing to Cannes Terra Alta, based on the award-winning novel of the same name; noir thriller Matices; and Arcadia, where the past comes back to shatter everyone’s lives. “All of our shows feature top national and international talent, including Elsa Pataky, Luis Tosar, Hugo Silva, William Levy and Miguel Bernardeau,” Secuoya’s head of international co-productions, Maria Garcia-Castrillon, says.
Based in Madrid with a number of international headquarters, Secuoya Studios launched its new European sales and global co-production division in the second quarter of this year. García-Castrillón was the division’s first named director.
“We are also in the final months of shooting La Encruzijada, based on the show The Brave and The Beautiful,” García-Castrillón says. “And in terms of our catalogue, Zorro and Montecristo are our two most popular titles.” Co-produced with Secuoya and William Levy Entertainment, Montecristo is the Mexican streaming television miniseries based on Alexandre Dumas’ 1844 novel The Count of Monte Cristo.
“New feature films include Invasión, La Bandera, Padres and El Cuento del Lobo,” Garcia Castrillon says. “As with our TV shows, our feature films also feature well-known national talent, and we are continuously embarking on new projects.”
In Spain, Zorro is currently available on Prime Video; Montecristo on Movistar+; and Campamento Newton – a sci-fi adventure series co-produced with Secuoya Studios and Dopamine – on Disney+. “Our latest shows, including Matices and Terra Alta, will be introduced to the market at MIPCOM CANNES, and alongside these new productions, we will also be looking for co-production possibilities to expand our slate for 2025/2026.”
