Projects of Maximiliano Dubois and Marcelo Chapps

Ventana Sur, Latin America’s largest film and television market, has announced the lineup of its TV project platform, the Ventana Sur series. The series is packed with 14 titles backed by notable artists from the region.

“Discepolín” was produced by Maximiliano Dubois’ Habitación 1520, the Argentine film institution behind the blockbuster “Gilda” starring Nathalie Oreiro and the Cannes Director’s Fortnight title “Clandestine Childhood.”

For example, the credits of Rio Fundación, which co-produced Mars, include Chile’s first Paramount+ original, Dime Con Quien Andas, the Prime Video play Belco, El Arte de Cajar, and the hit 2025 series Hidden Island.

“Emperor Sol” is supported by Barakacin and Marcelo Chaps, producer of Carlos Saura’s “Zonda”, “Eva y Juan” and director of “Necronomicon”.

Recently, the Netflix title “Miss Carbon,” co-produced by Argentina’s Plensa & Rocca, has become a hot topic.

Project issues are wide-ranging. However, they are broadly connected by a social or political consciousness that influences much of Latin American cinema.

“Currently, societies, especially Latin American societies, still operate in a context of ‘development’ in an improvisational, chaotic, greedy, unaccountable and uncertain manner,” says Ricardo Molinigo, director of Agosto Poti.

Ventana Sur is organized by Argentina’s film and television agency INCAA, ACAU, its Uruguay counterpart, and the Cannes Film Festival’s Marché du Film. The 17th edition will be held in Buenos Aires from December 1st to 5th.

Selected from more than 100 applications, 14 series projects, including five docu-series, were chosen based on their outstanding creativity, technical and commercial quality, and ability to connect with audiences around the world, Ventana Sur’s partners announced on Tuesday.

Let’s take a closer look at the featured titles in the Ventana Sur series.

“Agosto Poty” (“La flor de agosto”, “August Flower”, Ricardo Morinigo, Guarani Estudios, Paraguay, La Carpincho Cine, Argentina)

5 episodes, 1 season

A fiction series inspired by the 2004 Icua Bolaños supermarket fire in Paraguay. More than 400 people died in the fire, in part because the emergency exits were locked to prevent theft of goods. The effects of the fire are still reverberating 20 years later, as cashiers, firefighters, the district attorney and students worked to prevent the tragedy. Directed by Molinigo, who directed the 2021 feature Juventú at Asunción-based Guarani Estudios, the film aims to be an author’s film with commercial impact.

“Diceporin” (Mariano Mucci, Habitacion 1520, Argentina)

6 episodes, 1 season

A dramatic biography of Enrique Santos Disepolo with a unique political edge. A dramatic biography of Enrique Santos Disepolo, one of tango’s greatest singers and married to Tania, a tango composer and lyricist whose social commentary was so virulent that one of its most famous works, 1934’s Cambalache, was banned by the Argentine dictatorship in 1976. The series Mordisquito has already depicted Disepolo in his later years, working as a propaganda writer for Juan Domingo and Eva Perón.

“The Forger” (“Trucho”, Leandro Custo, Santiago Dulce)

It was created by Custo, lead writer of Disney’s Monzón: Knockout Blow, one of the best Latin American series of recent times, and produced by Obra Editorial, whose short story None of That was submitted to Cannes 2023 competition. In “Forger”, Nestor is a master Spanish forger who provides documents to murderers who need to clear their name. But Nestor’s crowning achievement may have been 20 years ago, when he established his own identity as an undocumented immigrant. “The Forger” “depicts the struggles of European immigrants through the eyes of a forger, including the difficulties of obtaining documents, jobs and housing,” says producer Manuel Aguer.

“Fura” (Andres Tudela, Alejandro Quintero, Orion Films, Colombia)

8 episodes, 2 seasons

One Colombian man was richer and more powerful than Pablo Escobar himself. Emerald Emperor Victor Carranza survives 34 assassination attempts thanks to a witch, his allies, and a curse. It is being touted as an action crime drama with real characters and a magic realism twist. From Orion Films, the 2022 feature film “Entrevista Laboral” is produced by Tudela.

“Breathtaking” (“Bocanada”, Sabrina Farzi, Zoël Producciones, Argentina)

Farge says the film is in the spirit of Grey’s Anatomy and New Amsterdam, giving the film a “visceral Argentine identity” as it follows two doctors in search of redemption, humor and cliffhanger love, set in a first care clinic in a modest suburb of Buenos Aires. she added. Faruzi’s latest work is the acclaimed writer-director who has moved from films to series, including the ER drama “El Paraiso” (2011) and another medical drama, “Fronteras” (2014).

“Malena, the Lead” (“Malena, the Lead”, Sebastian J. Fracini, poster film, Navajo film, Argentina, Uruguay)

8 episodes, 2 seasons
An Argentinian comedian develops a series about his life, but is told he can’t act. The result is a bittersweet drama about rejection, resilience, and legacy that blurs fiction and reality. The film stars Malena Ginzburg (En viaje), is directed by Sebastian J. Fracini (Coppola, The Representative), and is produced by Navajo Cecilia Mato (Prime Video’s Porno y Herado) and poster Lucia Lamboli (Today Much at 3). The screenplay was written by Fracini and Maria Paula Putruelli. “What makes this series unique is the fusion of reality and fiction,” says Nato.

“Mars” (“Marte”, Victor Vidangosy, Trapo Films, Rio Foundation, Chile)

6 episodes, 1 season

The synopsis reads: “In a town nestled between the world’s driest desert and a state-of-the-art observatory, a school’s competition to travel to Mars ignites the hopes of its young residents.” Julia (age 15) is determined to win, but her life takes a tragic turn when her mother dies in a mysterious accident. Amid grief, anxiety, and the rise of organized crime in her town, Julia continues to fight for her dream of reaching space. From Vidangossy, co-director of the romantic telenovela “Gemelas” and the medical miniseries “Vidas en riesgo.” From Trapo and Rio from Vidangossy, Chile’s top TV producer.

“My Things” (“Cosas Mías: Los Abuelos de la Nada”, Sergio Costantino, Buen Dia Film, Argentina)

6 episodes, 1 season.

This biographical series focuses on Miguel Abuelo, the founder of Argentine pop-rock from the 1960s to the 1980s, leader of Los Abuelos de la Nada, and author of such hauntingly beautiful songs as “Jimno de mi Corazon.” He was a charismatic showman who burned brightly for a short time until his untimely death. The film will be directed by Costantino, who has already directed the documentary film “Buen dia, día” about Abuelo.

“Nothing But Glamor” (“Puro Glamor”, Aloma Rodriguez, Lupita Falk, Chile)

8 episodes, 2-3 seasons

The first scripted series by Chilean-Spanish team Lupita Falk. The team will be led by those who previously directed Chile’s prime-time hits such as “The Voice” and “Got Talent.” A comedy written by Aloma Rodriguez and adapted from her own book. The story follows Violeta, a freelance cultural journalist and mother of three, as she juggles work, family, and finding a new home in Zaragoza, Spain. “This is an epic story of daily life balanced only by humor and kindness,” the producers say.

documentary

“The Crimes of French Women” (Director/Producer: Miguel Ángel Rocca, Maximiliano Mastrangelo, Pensa & Rocca Cine y Aires Films, Argentina)

4 episodes, 1 season

A true crime series with a twist. After his daughter is raped and murdered, Jean-Michel Bouvier campaigns for justice, pushing for reform of Argentina’s criminal law, and takes on the defense of accused Santos Clemente Vera. Bouvier and his daughter “shared a deep social consciousness,” the directors say, “and their passion for more than just investigating unsolved crimes. This documentary depicts a father who transforms pain into a form of resistance and a tireless search for the truth.”

“Emperor Sol” (Alejandra Almiron, Barakacin, Anok Film, Argentina)

4 episodes, 1 season

In 2020, an authoritarian cult leader chooses a select group of people to wait out the end of the world in the Cordoba Mountains and unleashes their demons, while he confronts his own son. “In the midst of an era of digital gurus, spiritual influencers, and the promise of easy success, Emperor Sun presents a deeply relevant story about how the power of charisma and pseudoscience destroys people’s lives,” says Shaps.

“In Body and Soul” (“No Corpo e na Alma”, Theresa Jessourun, Kinofilmes Produçoes, Brazil)

3 episodes, 1 season

This miniseries reconsiders the events that culminated in Brazil’s 1964 military coup from the perspective of a former political activist who participated in the student movement and armed struggle. “The purpose of this series is to contribute to strengthening Brazil’s democracy through reflection of the people who lived through this period,” says creator and director Jessouron (“Point Blank”). The documentary will expand beyond Brazil and will also be screened in Scandinavia and Arte/ZDF throughout Latin America.

“The Paradise” (“El Paraíso”, Claudio Araya Silva, Diablo Cine, Wanz Films, Bolivia, Mexico)

The series is based on more than 30 years of research, documenting how cocaine became a political and military tool across Latin America, and tracing the hidden alliances between governments, intelligence agencies, and criminal networks that shaped the origins of the drug trade as a system of power. It features real-life testimonies led by Theo Ronken, whose decades of research forms the backbone of the story. “The Paradise” is “not about the glamor of the drug trade, but about the machinery behind it, the alliance that rewrote the continent’s reality,” Alaya Silva told Variety.

“Sing, you bastards!” (“Canten P*tos” Nestor Frenkel, Criatura Cine, Uruguay)

6 episodes, 2 seasons

It is especially popular among football clubs in Buenos Aires and Montevideo, where popular songs are given new lyrics and sung by the assembled fans. “From music to soccer, this documentary series also explores historical and cultural issues such as violence, masculinity, homophobia and xenophobia,” says Frenkel. From Uruguay’s Criatura Cine, founded in 2019, the producer of last year’s “La Búsqueda De Martina” directed by Marcia Faria.