Long Awaited Movistar Plus TV Dramas El Inmortal and Rapa Join Beta Film’s Line-Up (EXCLUSIVE)
Germany’s Beta Film has picked up international distribution rights to two anticipated Movistar Plus originals, Canneseries-bound “El Inmortal – Gangs of Madrid” and Galician crime drama “Rapa.”
Sneak peeked at Series Mania, “Rapa” screens at the Malaga Festival on March 22.
The acquisitions form part of an ongoing multi-year distribution-production alliance unveiled in 2019, giving Beta exclusive international distribution rights to about six Movistar Plus series a year.
A Movistar Plus co-production with Telemundo Streaming Studios in collaboration with Banijay’s DLO Producciones, “El Inmortal” inspired by true events, marks a deep dive into a figure and gang which reshaped Madrid’s 1990s criminal underworld.
There, José Antonio, played by Álex Garcia (“Riot Police,” “If I Were Rich”), rises up the ranks to drug lord, through a combination of burning ambition, innocence, and merciless elimination of rivals. But what he cherishes most may just cause his downfall, the synopsis runs.
Created by DLO head José Manuel Lorenzo, eight-episode series see its world premiere in main competition during this year’s edition of Canneseries, which runs April 1-6.
“Rapa” is produced by Movistar in collaboration with Portocabo, the outfit led by enterprising producer Alfonso Blanco, whose thriller series “Hierro” was the most successful Movistar Plus TV fiction last year.
The six-seg drama is set in the most north-western corner of Galicia, where Amparo Seoane, mayor of a small town for the last 30 years and most powerful woman of the region, is murdered.
In the series, “Hierro” and “Riot Police” actress Mónica López plays Maite, a sergeant in the Civil Guard who investigates the crime, which will become an obsession for her and for Tomás (“Talk to Her,” “Sentimental” and “Venga Juan” star Javier Cámara), the only witness to the murder.
Kicking in with Camera trapsing over mist-veiled grass headlands plunging to the sea, as in “Hierro,” the series looks set too make telling use of landscape as metaphor, while portraying a community where everybody seems viscerally frustrated and wants to be somebody or something else. It’s no coincidence that Tomás, a school teacher, begins the series teaching “Madame Bovary.”
Created by “Hierro’s” Pepe Coira and Fran Araújo, “Rapa” will celebrate its world premiere on March 22 as part of the Pantalla TV section of the 25th Festival de Malaga.
“We at Beta are thrilled with the variety of series entrusted to us once again by our partners from Movistar Plus,” said Peter Lohner, Beta’s VP acquisition hispanic and international.
Both series will be highlighted at Beta’s traditional Brunch taking place at this spring’s MipTV on April 5.
The six-hour dramedy “Supernormal” and task force thriller “La Unidad” are both set for new seasons on Movistar Plus, with the latter premiering on March 18. New seasons on both “La Unidad” – produced by Movistar in collaboration with Buendía Estudios – and “Supernormal” -in collaboration with Secuoya – are also part of Beta Film’s MipTV line-up.
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