Artworld thriller “Triptych” from Studio TF1’s Kubik Films. RTP-backed Afro-Portuguese music drama Dark Hope and Sirāt producer Corte y Confección de Películas’ new drama Naked are among the standout entries in this year’s Connector Magaluf Mallorca.
The 10th anniversary edition of Conecta Fiction & Entertainment, to be held from May 25th to 28th at Magaluf Beach in Calvia, Mallorca, Spain, will see 26 projects from Europe and America participate in international pitch sessions, spanning drama series, comedies, direct-to-stream movies, and vertical series.
Across the selection, one clear consistency is identity under pressure. “Naked” tackles eating disorders, beauty standards, and familial silence. The film Nana, directed by Marcos Callejo, depicts the artistic and sexual awakening of a young painter through the bond between him and his charismatic classmate. Produced by Loba Loba, “Adopted Girls” follows Chinese-Spanish adopted children who confront their origins and belonging.
More comic registers carry the same tension elsewhere. “Breakdowns” by Argentina’s Lab Producciones is about a woman who reunites with her childhood friend after being released from a psychiatric hospital, only to discover that their seemingly functional lives are marked by their own obsessions. Carla Staño’s Chilean project Intense examines motherhood as both desire and rejection, while Uruguayan Carlos Morelli’s Playing Away explores adolescence, migration, and the torn mother-daughter bond through soccer.
Some of the lineup’s most distinctive titles are based on real-life material. Guillermo Chapa’s Triptych centers on a young Spanish businessman who was Francis Bacon’s last lover, but Bacon’s hidden relationship with the artist resurfaces 25 years later when he becomes the victim of Spain’s biggest modern art theft. “Papa Bus” was inspired by Dutch psychiatrist Jan Bastians, whose controversial LSD-assisted treatment of World War II and Holocaust survivors attracted international attention.
Recent history also influences the Ukrainian-German drama “Why Didn’t Boris Worry?” It is set during the 2004 Orange Revolution and Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Mexico’s “Greatest Hits” and the RTP-backed “Dark Hope” offer two music-driven projects in different sonic ranges to the lineup. One uses Spanish songs as the catalyst for a story of love, loss, and emotional memory, and the other follows a young Afro-Portuguese musician who is drawn into the music business and criminal underworld after the murder of his best friend.
Created by Anne Perello, “Naked” is a combination of Menorca-based Empatic and Corte y Confección de Películas, and is an offshoot of Oliver Laxe’s “Sirāt,” winner of the Cannes Jury Prize and six-time Goya winner.
In the film series, Callejo’s youth drama “Nana” is one of the projects realized with the support of strong advance operators, including local broadcasters IB3 and TV3 and Spain’s leading independent platform Filmin.
Connector’s projects are competing for cash, services and market access, including €3,000 ($3,492) prize money from the Spanish Film Board and Triodos Bank, Dolby Atmos sessions from Warner Music, Acorde catalog music support, post-production services from New Art, and invitations to BAM, SANFIC Industria and Estonia’s TV Beats Forum.
Events from Inside Content Organized as part of Conecta’s event Conecta Magaluf-Mallorca, with the support of Calvia City Council, ITS, ICIB, Mallorca City Council, Palma City Council and IB3, it strengthens the Forum’s focus on European and American industry.
Learn more about some of the best projects from Conecta’s 10th edition.
pitch drama series
“Dark Hope” (Elisa Generoso, Diogo Gazella Carvalho, Portugal/Germany/Cape Verde)
Produced by Portugal’s Das Filmes, Germany’s Signed Media and Cape Verde’s KS Cinema, the drama project follows Kessa, a young Afro-Portuguese musician who is drawn into the music business and criminal underworld after the murder of his best friend. “‘Dark Hope’ is an expression of belonging through music,” said co-creator Diogo Gazella Carvalho.
“Pastoral” (Samuel Jefferson, Pierre Puget, Germany)
In “Idyll”, a cozy crime show with high-tech elements, a British and German retired couple investigating a murder in Mallorca find themselves living in a VR retirement simulation. The newly launched BRAINS Narrative Studio in Berlin is looking for a Spanish minority co-producer to bring its early development project to Conecta.
“Naked” (“Nua” Anne Perello, Spain)
Set between Mallorca and Barcelona, “Naked” combines Menorca-based Empatic (producer of “Favàritx” and co-producer of Goya-nominated “Rock Bottom”) and Corte y Confectión de Periculas, whose credits include Leticia Dolera’s Cannes-winning “Perfect Life” and Oliver Lacks’ “Sirāt.” The project, currently in development, is also supported by Serializados and Institut d’Estudis Baleàrics.
“Papa Bus” (Kellen Wiseman, Israel/Netherlands/Germany)
The English-language limited series from ZOA Films and The Ripple Effect follows Jan Bastiens, a Dutch psychiatrist who treated traumatized World War II survivors with LSD starting in the late 1950s. Structured as a Dutch, German and Israeli co-production, it is seeking creative partners, broadcasters and development funding in regions relevant to the story. The research team describes this as “a true story that almost no one knows.”
“Refined Taste” (“Morro Fino”, Rodrigo Martín Entrans, Pedro García Rios, Spain)
Founded in 1990, Dexiderius Producciones builds on the creators’ previous collaboration on “Asuntos Internos,” which won the RTVE award at Conecta Fiction Reboot 2020 and was subsequently produced by RTVE and Mediacrest. This six-part drama follows a young chef who becomes the apprentice and memory holder of a food inspector in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease, turning gastronomy into emotional memories.
“Triptico” (Guillermo Chapa, Spain)
Shifting between thriller and romantic drama, “Triptych” depicts two little-known real-life events: Francis Bacon’s last romance in Madrid and Spain’s greatest modern art theft. The project has a Series Mania Writers Campus Lab pedigree and is looking for co-producers, broadcasters and platforms, and some of the story’s settings could include a British connection.
pitch comedy series
“Breakdowns” (“Brotes”, Sofia Celske, Jimena Aguilar, Florencia Sokol, Argentina)
“Breakdowns,” from Buenos Aires-based Rabo Producciones, founded by “Los Simradores” and “El Gerente” writer Patricio Vega, follows 33-year-old Francisca as she leaves a psychiatric hospital and reunites with friends who live functional lives while hiding her obsessions. Selske previously produced “Naturaleza Muerta” for WarnerMedia Latinoamerica.
“Emmanuel Krauss, Heartbreaker Woman” (“Emmanuel Krauss, Le Tombeur de ces Dames”, Caroline Tracanelli, France)
Cannes-based TDCB Productions will produce a bilingual French-Spanish drama about a failed Spanish con man who moves with his mother into a luxury house on the Riviera to seduce wealthy widows. The project is seeking a Spanish co-produced anchor for a darkly humorous story about loneliness, manipulation, and the need for significance.
“Intense: To Be or Not to Be” (“Intensas: ser o no ser”, Carla Stagno, Chile)
Motherhood puts pressure on two lifelong friends as they approach 40. One can have children, but does not want to. The other desperately wants to get pregnant but cannot. The comedy, backed by Chile’s Fondo Audiovisual de Escritura, is targeting Spanish-speaking co-producers and platforms. It’s by Mazal Producciones, whose recent credits include Prime Video’s “Secretos de Familia” and Netflix’s “Al Sur del Corazón.”
“Mallorca, Things to Do” (Clara Fior, João Tomás Martínez, João Furlana, Spain)
In the overheated and overcrowded island of Mallorca, three unstable women accidentally kill a tourist while stealing electricity, and drag two more women into a cover-up. Developed after Serializados Kick and PROMercat, the project is from Bastera Films, the Mallorcan film company that produced 2025 Toronto’s Fipressi Award-winning Forastera.
“The Collectors” (“Los Cobradores” Andres Sánchez Belzunces, Camilo Fonseca, Spain/Colombia)
Combining social realism and dark humor, the story centers on Miguel, a debt collector with a gambling addiction who is caught between a loan shark, impossible collections, and a family that has lost faith in him. The Spanish and Colombian projects are produced by La Guapa Media.
Pitch directly to streaming movies
“Adopted Girls” (“Adoptadas”, Xiaomei Espiro Rocero, Angeles Maeso, Spain)
Loba Loba, the production company founded by Spanish actors Inma Cuesta and Angeles Maeso, is developing a story about three Chinese-Spanish women who were adopted under China’s one-child policy. The possibility of Liu returning to China following the death of her father raises questions of racism, abandonment, and belonging. This project participated in the Spanish Film Academy’s Summer Campus.
“Dog Rose” (“Rosa Canina”, Sofia Martel, Spain)
Supported by Mallorca’s Espai Temp and supported by an ICAA script development grant, this forward-thinking development draws Lena into a world of luxury where an inheritance is shaken by a disappearance. Now that the script is complete, the project is looking for a European co-production partner.
“Greatest Hits” (“Grandes Éxitos”, Leonardo Linkowski, Aro Vazquez, Mexico)
Blockmedia’s music fiction project comes together at a live music bar run by Alex, a failed musician who sees his life as a record. Some have the biggest hits, while others are just fillers. Sony Music Latin has partnered as a strategic music partner, providing rights, synchronization and oversight expertise, as well as potential access to talent from its roster.
“Horns” (“Toro”, Arturo Luis Serrano, Toni Bestard, Spain)
Pamplona San Fermines’ journey turns dangerous as the friends evade a police checkpoint, become trapped in an isolated dehesa, and are chased by a huge wild bull. This survival horror film is the work of two Goya-nominated Spanish short film veterans with years of festival pedigree and who turned bull-running iconography into primitive genre material.
“Why didn’t Boris worry about anything?” (Eugen Tunik, Ukraine/Germany)
Set during the 2004 Orange Revolution and Russia’s war in Ukraine, the project focuses on Boris, who hides evidence of his father’s corruption as a teenager and faces the consequences decades later. The work was produced by Prokino in cooperation with DIM Filmhouse in Kiev and Berlin.
“Nana” (Marcos Callejo, Spain)
An LGTBIQ+ youth film produced by Principal Segona Films, Cinetica Productions and Daksa Productions, the project is built on a Balearic, Catalan and Valencian production axis, with a strong support network including regional institutions and broadcasters.
“Playing Away” (“El otro mundial”, Carlos Morelli, Uruguay)
When a 15-year-old soccer player is forced to leave Uruguay for Madrid with his abandoned mother, the sport becomes a test of loyalty, anger, and adaptability. This project is from U Films. Screenwriter and director Carlos Morelli previously broke out with “Mi Mundial,” which aired on HBO in Busan, and ticket sales for Cunema were strong in Uruguay.
“To Catch an Old Lady” (“Amparo, pero no Olvido” Luis Miles, Spain)
A lonely elderly woman decides that prison may be her best chance to reunite with her only friend, so she attempts to commit a crime serious enough to land her in prison. Winner of La Traca’s comedy feature script competition and produced with the support of an AGADIC writing grant, this dark comedy is produced by Galician film company Trevoir.
“Tribe” (“Plemię”, Olga Czydas, Poland)
After a sex scandal with a student upends her life, Ella flees Poland with a friend and carries her mother’s ashes to Albania with her two sisters. Produced by Furia Films, this road movie turns shame, desire, and sadness into the driving forces behind an uneasy alliance of women across Eastern Europe.
“What You Did” (Julian Camilo Sánchez, Colombia/USA)
Arturo, a hacker trading in stolen cell phone data, receives a device containing a murder video and is drawn into a revenge trap. This English-language thriller posits digital anonymity as a gateway to brutality, voyeurism, and the buying and selling of private lives. The project is 60% funded and is backed by Plot Twist Capital and Magic Trick.
