Bowing Nov. 3 with Movistar Plus+ and Arte France’s event historical drama “The Anatomy of a Moment,” Barcelona’s Serielizados festival is making a splash for its 12th edition, with a bolstered industry section and a robust series program to cater for their 10,000+ on-site and 200,000+ online Spanish fan base.
On the industry front, more than 250 decision-makers (150 from Spain) will be on hand at the Serielizados Pro Industry Day, Nov. 6, such as Arte France’s Alexandre Piel and Movistar Plus+’s Susanna Herreras who will discuss ‘Arte and Movistar: a Co-Production Love Story,’ a session moderated by Variety’s John Hopewell.
Other industry highlights include case studies on the HBO Max Catalan upcoming shows ‘Ravalejar,” “Pubertat” (“Puberty”) and the Icelandic/French “The Danish Woman” (RÚV/SVT/Yle/Arte France). The State of Distribution will be unpacked by Mediapro Studios’ Javier Esteban, BBC Studios’ Rebecca Ransley, Beta Film’s Christian Jockel, while 3Cat’s Pío Vernis, Yle’s Jarmo Lampela and RTVE’s Alberto Fernández will speak on the panel Pubcasters Collaborating and Making Series.
10 standout European series will be pitched at the inaugural ‘Mind the Gap ‘co-production session, and star showrunners Alan Ball (“Six Feet Under,” “True Blood”), Henriette Steenstrup (“Nepobaby,””Pørni”) Benedikt Erlingsson, (“The Danish Woman”), Leticia Dolera (“Pubertat”), will deliver masterclasses. Other stars expected include Ólafur Darri Ólafsson, Trine Dyrholm, Javier Cámarra, Joaquín Reyes, Emma Vilarasau.
On the festival front, 52 fresh shows will bow onsite in Barcelona, where the festival runs Nov. 3-12, and around 30 online (Nov. 10-23) via the Spanish streamer Filmin, of which six will run for best international series (“The Danish Woman,” “A Better Man,” “A Life’s Worth,” “Reykjavik Fusion,” “Empathy,” “Riot Women”) and four for best Spanish series (“The Anatomy of a Moment,” “The 39,” “Jakarta,” “Argi Gorriak”).
Ahead of Serielizados, co-founders Víctor Sala and Betu Molero tell Variety how the festival has grown from a university project into a fully-fledged international festival, online magazine, talent lab and podcast showcase for Catalan – and Spanish – viewers.
This year you are ramping up your international lineup and reach. Could you first tell us how Serielizados was born and what is the festival’s DNA?
Betu Molero: We started as an online magazine in 2013 as a final year of university project. The original idea was to have an online magazine focused on TV series, with small events, masterclasses etc so that showrunners could come and introduce their shows. Then we decided to get to know our online audience through a festival. That’s when Victor and I co-founded Serielizados.
At the time, there was no Netflix, Prime Video, HBO in Spain. We didn’t even know that other series festival like Series Mania existed. In 2015 we invited Dan Harmon [“Rick & Morty, “Community”]. That was a turning point for us as we attracted a lot of media attention and audience awareness. Then Netflix landed in Spain late 2015 and HBO a year later. Today, we collaborate with every platform in Spain, offering a curated indie program of series for people to sneak peek physically during the festival and a few days later online via Filmin.
Víctor Sala: It’s important to highlight that we’re offering much more than just premieres, masterclasses and Q&As. We showcase a wider program of classics, docu series, on top of podcasts as our goal is to elevate TV series to the category of high culture.
Betu Molero and Victor Sala
Could you detail your selection process and partnership with Filmin?
Sala: One of the key criteria is for the shows to have a Spanish – or Catalan – premiere for the national series, and international shows need to have been distributed in the domestic country within a year. We pick the best of the best shows from around the world, with a special attention to storytelling, whatever the genre, and visionary works.
The selection is made hand-in-hand with broadcasters/platforms to promote upcoming shows and build the word of mouth. But we also pick up series that don’t have distribution in Spain. This year, two of the international series in competition have been acquired for Spain. Filmin bought “A Better Man” and AMC “Reykjavik Fusion.”
Molero: Our collaboration with the streamer Filmin started in 2020 because of COVID. We wanted to make sure that the festival would continue to exist despite the pandemic. Thanks to Filmin, we discovered a new way to run a festival – both on site and online – not only for people in Barcelona, but everywhere in Spain. We soon became one of the biggest festivals in Spain, with more than 205,000 online viewers, on top of around 9,000 onsite.
Sometimes it’s hard to bring the audience to a cinema to watch two episodes of an unknown Danish or South African show. The Filmin partnership has allowed us to make bolder editorial choices.
Sala: The online showcase has been a beautiful way to democratise the festival.
You seem to have a special taste for Nordic content as four out of six competing international shows – “The Danish Woman,” “Reykjavik Fusion,” “A Better Man” and “A Life’s Worth” – are either fully or partly Nordic.
Sala: Last year we had three Nordic series in competition and “Pressure Point” from Sweden won best series. After Thomas Vinterberg last year, we’re happy this year to have masterclasses with Benedikt Erlingsson [“The Danish Woman”] and Henriette Steenstrup whose series “Nepobaby” is screening at the out-of-competition Panorama section. We are also pleased to organise the Mind the Gap co-production pitch in collaboration with the Göteborg Film Festival, the Swedish Institute, and Swedish Embassy in Spain.
Having Alan Ball in a masterclass is quite a coup…
Sala: Yes, it’s an absolute pleasure and honor, especially to mark the 20th anniversary of the finale of “Six Feet Under.” The invitation was shared with the Geneva International Film Festival. We make a point of working closely with other European and Spanish film and TV festivals.
What can you say about your Spanish lineup?
Sala: During Serielizados’ early days, our focus was on international shows and showrunners. We were very lucky to host Dan Harmon, David Simon, Vince Gilligan and Jesse Armstrong. But now that Spanish drama has grown exponentially in storytelling and visually, it’s key for us to focus as well on Spanish content.
Molero: Netflix’s phenomenal “La casa de papel” (“Money Heist”) was a turning point in 2019. After that, we just followed the spectacular growth of Spanish series.
Sala: This year we have selected 10 Spanish shows and four are in the Spanish official competition. We wanted to open with “The Anatomy of a Moment,” a very stylish political biopic which mirrors the very successful partnership between Arte France and Movistar Plus+ that has brought us so many good series in recent years. Then “Jakarta” originates from one of our favorite showrunners: Diego San José. He won Best Screenplay here last year with “Celeste.” We are closing with “Sense FilTRES” (3Cat) a young adult Catalan show that centers on the life of a young trans man, his physical identity and self-realization, using social media or videogame avatars.
Another novelty this year is the presence of two Basque series, showcasing the effort from the regional broadcaster EITB and the fruitful results of the Basque region incentives. We are world premiering “Argi Gorriak” (with Itziar Ituño from “Money Heist”) in a quirky comedy about a dubbing professional, and screening “Zeru Ahoak” (“Mouths of Sky”), after San Sebastian.
I believe documentaries also have a special place at Serielizados…
Sala: Yes the focus on docu series has grown at the festival. It reflects the growing appetite for the format on the streamers. We will highlight five titles: “The Agent” (NRK), “The Black Swan” (DR), “La Fugida” (3Cat), “Nazi Cartel” (Sky Showtime) and “Missing in Murcia” (Movistar Plus+).
You are broadening the scope of your industry strand Serielizados Pro with the first Mind the Gap co-pro pitch session. What triggered this decision?
Sala: Our ambitions with Serielizados are two-fold: on one hand, we want to grow the number of people attending the festival physically and enjoying them at home on Filmin. Our other goal is to be more relevant for the Spanish – and Catalan – audiovisual industry.
Molero: The Catalan government has increased funding for Catalan series and co-productions [ as reported by Variety]. We felt it was an opportunity to build on this momentum and create not a Series Mania type of gigantic event, but a tailor-made boutique Pro-event to allow people to develop quality conversation.
Sala: Unlike other territories in Europe and even in the U.S. where Originals have dropped by 20% or more, in Spain, we’re still enjoying a boom. It’s interesting to see for instance HBO Max teaming up with 3Cat for three new Catalan shows: “Ravalejar,” “Pubertat” and “In Vitro” [currently filming].
Another specificity about the Spanish market – which will be discussed by Spanish commissioners at the Pro-industry day – is co-productions between the national station RTVE and regional stations. At our festival, two years ago we had “This is Not Sweden” [co-produced with Catalonia’s TV3 – now 3Cat]. Last year we had “Dieciocho” [co-produced with Valencia’s À Punt Media and the Balearics’ IB3] and this year, we’re showcasing the Basque series “Zeru Ahoak.”
What’s the next step for Serielizados?Molero: Our next step might be getting into production. We do have projects in mind, including documentaries. It’s still early days.
(This interview was edited for clarity)
