On November 3, Barcelona’s Serie Sados Festival bows with Movistar Plus+ and Arte France’s event-historical drama “The Anatomy of a Moment,” now in its 12th edition. An enhanced industry section and a powerful series program catering to a Spanish fan base of over 10,000 on-site and over 200,000 online.
On the industry side, more than 250 decision-makers (150 from Spain), including Arte France’s Alexandre Piel and Movistar Plus+’s Susanna Herreras, will attend the Selierizados Pro Industry Day on November 6 to discuss the session “Arte and Movistar: A Love Story of Co-Productions,” moderated by Variety’s John Hopewell.
Other industry highlights include the upcoming HBO Max Catalan show “Ravalejar,” “Pubertat” (“Adolescence”), and a case study of “The Danish Woman” in Iceland/France (RÚV/SVT/Yle/Arte France). The current state of distribution will be revealed by Javier Esteban of Mediapro Studios, Rebecca Lansley of BBC Studios, and Christian Jockel of Beta Film. 3Cat’s Pío Vernis, Yle’s Jarmo Lampela, and RTVE’s Alberto Fernández will be speaking on the Pubcasters Collaborating and Making Series panel.
The first Mind the Gap co-production session will showcase 10 standout European series, starring star showrunners Alan Ball (Six Feet Under, True Blood), Henriette Steenstrup (Nepobaby, Porni), Benedikt Erlingson (The Danish Woman) and Leticia Dolera (Poubertat). Master class. Other expected stars include Ólafur Dali Ólafsson, Trine Dirholm, Javier Cámara, Joaquín Reyes and Emma Villarasau.
On the festival front, 52 fresh shows will be held in Barcelona, where the festival will run from November 3rd to 12th, and around 30 online shows (from November 10th to 23rd) through Spanish streamer Filmin, six of which will be awarded Best International Series (“The Danish Woman,” “A Better Man,” “A Life’s Worth,” “Reykjavik Fusion,” “Empathy,” “Riot Four films were selected as the Best Spanish Series. (“Anatomy of a Moment”, “The 39”, “Jakarta”, “Argi Goliak”).
Ahead of Serielizados, co-founders Victor Sala and Betu Morello spoke to Variety about how the festival has grown from a university project to a full-fledged international festival for Catalan and Spanish audiences, an online magazine, a talent lab, and a podcast showcase.
This year we are strengthening our international lineup and reach. First of all, could you tell us about how Selierizados was born and the DNA of this festival?
Betu Molero: We started as an online magazine in 2013 as a final year university project. The initial idea was to create an online magazine focused on TV series, with small events, masterclasses, etc. so that showrunners could come and present their shows. So we decided to meet our online audience through the festival. That’s when Victor and I co-founded Serielizados.
At that time, there was no Netflix, Prime Video, or HBO in Spain. I didn’t even know other series festivals like Series Mania existed. In 2015, we invited Dan Harmon (“Rick & Morty,” “Community”) to join us. This was a turning point for us that attracted a lot of media attention and audience awareness. Netflix then landed in Spain in late 2015, followed by HBO a year later. We are currently working with all platforms in Spain to offer a selection of indie shows that people can watch in person during the festival and then online through Filmin a few days later.
Victor Sala: It is important to emphasize that we do not only offer premieres, masterclasses and Q&As. Our goal is to elevate television series to the category of high culture, so in addition to podcasts, we present a wide program of classic documentary series.
Betu Morello and Victor Sala
Can you tell us more about the selection process and your partnership with Firmin?
Sarah: One of the important criteria is that the show premieres in Spanish (or Catalan) in a national series. Additionally, international programs must be distributed domestically within one year. Regardless of genre, we pay special attention to storytelling and curate the best shows and visionaries from around the world.
The selection is made in collaboration with broadcasters and platforms to promote upcoming programming and build word of mouth. However, we will also cover series that are not distributed in Spain. This year, Spain won two of the international series matches. Firmin bought “A Better Man” and AMC “Reykjavik Fusion”.
Morello: Our collaboration with streamer Filmin began in 2020 due to the coronavirus. We wanted the festival to survive despite the pandemic. Thanks to Filmin, we have discovered a new way to run festivals, both on-site and online, for people not only in Barcelona but across Spain. We quickly became one of the largest festivals in Spain, attracting around 9,000 on-site visitors, plus over 205,000 online viewers.
It can be difficult to get an audience to the theater to watch two episodes of an unknown show from Denmark or South Africa. Our partnership with Filmin allows us to make bolder editorial choices.
Sarah: The online showcase was a great way to democratize the festival.
It sounds like you have a particular preference for Scandinavian content, as four out of six competing international shows (The Danish Woman, Reykjavik Fusion, A Better Man, A Life’s Worth) are fully or partially Scandinavian.
Sarah: Last year there were three Nordic series and Sweden’s ‘Pressure Point’ won the best series. Following last year’s Thomas Vinterberg, this year we are pleased to host a masterclass by Benedikt Erlingsson (The Danish Woman) and Henriette Steenstrup, whose series Nepobaby is screened in the out-of-competition Panorama category. We are also pleased to be organizing the Mind the Gap co-production pitch in collaboration with the Gothenburg Film Festival, the Swedish Institute and the Embassy of Sweden in Spain.
It’s quite a coup to have Alan Ball join the master class…
Sarah: Yes, it’s a real pleasure and honor, especially to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Six Feet Under finale. This invitation was shared with the Geneva International Film Festival. We focus on working closely with other European and Spanish film and television festivals.
What do you say about Spain’s lineup?
Sara: In the early days of Selierizados, we focused on international shows and showrunners. We were very fortunate to have Dan Harmon, David Simon, Vince Gilligan, and Jesse Armstrong. But now that Spanish drama has grown by leaps and bounds in storytelling and visuals, it’s important for us to also focus on Spanish content.
Morello: Netflix’s incredible “La casa de papel” (“Money Heist”) was a turning point in 2019. After that, we just followed the impressive growth of the Spanish series.
Sarah: This year we have selected 10 Spanish shows, 4 of which are participating in official Spanish competitions. We wanted to open with a very stylish political biopic, The Anatomy of a Moment, which reflects the highly successful partnership between Arte France and Movistar Plus+ that has brought us many great series in recent years. And “Jakarta” comes from one of our favorite showrunners, Diego San Jose. He won Best Original Screenplay last year for “Celeste.” We conclude with “Sense FilTRES” (3Cat), a young adult Catalan show centered on the life of a young trans man, his physical identity, and self-actualization using social media and video game avatars.
Another novelty this year is the presence of two Basque series showcasing the efforts of regional broadcaster EITB and the fruitful results of incentives in the Basque region. The world premiere of “Argi Goliak” (starring Itziar Itunho of “The Money Heist”), a quirky comedy about a professional voice-over professional, will be screened, followed by “Zer Ahoak” (“The Empty Mouth”) in San Sebastian.
I think documentaries also have a special place in Selierizados…
Sarah: Yes, there is an increased focus on docu-series at festivals. This reflects the growing demand for the streamer format. This time we’ll be looking at five titles: ‘The Agent’ (NRK), ‘The Black Swan’ (DR), ‘La Fugida’ (3Cat), ‘Nazi Cartel’ (Sky Showtime) and ‘Missing in Murcia’ (Movistar Plus+).
The first Mind the Gap co-pro pitch session expands the scope of the industry division Serielizados Pro. What prompted this decision?
Sara: Our ambitions for Serielizados are twofold. One is that we want to increase the number of people who can physically attend the festival and enjoy Filmin at home. Another of our goals is to increase our relevance in the audiovisual industry in Spain and Catalonia.
Morello: The Catalan government has increased funding for Catalan series and co-productions (as reported by Variety). We felt this was an opportunity to build on this momentum and create a boutique professional event, customized for people to develop quality conversations, rather than a series-mania type mega-event.
Sara: Unlike the rest of Europe and the US, where original products have declined by more than 20%, Spain is still enjoying a boom. For example, it’s interesting to see that HBO Max is partnering with 3Cat to produce three new Catalan-language shows: “Ravalejar,” “Pubertat,” and “In Vitro” (currently filming).
Another feature regarding the Spanish market, which will be discussed by the Spanish Commissioner at the Industry Promotion Day, is the co-production between national broadcaster RTVE and local stations. Two years ago at our festival we had “This is Not Sweden” (co-produced with Catalonia’s TV3 (now 3Cat)). Last year we presented “Dieciocho” (co-produced with À Punt Media from Valencia and IB3 from the Balearic Islands), and this year we are presenting the Basque series “Zeru Ahoak”.
What’s next for Serielizados? Molero: The next step could be going into production. We have projects in mind that include documentaries. It’s still early days.
(This interview has been edited for clarity)
