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Spain’s “The Interregnum” was named the winner of SeriesMakers, receiving the Beta & Kirch Foundation Award which carries a cash prize of €50,000.

SeriesMakers is a creative initiative headed by Laurence Herszberg, general director of Series Mania, and Ferdinand Dohna, head of content & co-production of Beta. It was launched in 2022.

The winning team will have a chance to work closely with Beta’s Content and Co-Production Division to develop a pilot script and a full package. Co-development means that it is very likely that Beta Film would handle International distribution if the series were to go into production.

Created by Simón Casal and produced by Mariela Besuievsky at Oscar winning Tornasol Media (“The Secret in Their Eyes”), the six-episode show jumps to 2031, when the E.U. faces a decisive referendum to approve an AI system that would replace human judges.

As Inma and Lyda, the ‘Yes’ and ‘No’ campaign managers, battle for victory,...

Latido Films, a Spanish sales firm, is making waves in the worldwide film business by landing large distribution deals for a wide range of films. From dark comedies and thrillers to horror films, the studio is expertly navigating an industry still splintered in the aftermath of the pandemic.

Latido recently announced sales for five independent films, showing its ability to connect with viewers in diverse countries. Among these works is Carlos Marques-Marcet’s award-winning dark comedy musical They Will Be Dust. The film, which won the prestigious Platform Award at the Toronto Film Festival, chronicles the emotional journey of a terminally sick woman as she makes an end-of-life decision and the impact it has on her family. It has already been sold in Bulgaria, Taiwan, and Japan, and critics have praised its moving and relatable storytelling.

Another standout is A Whale, a supernatural thriller about Ingrid, a talented assassin with...

Leading Spanish sales agent Latido Films has closed a wide range of deals on several of the big indie titles in its catalog, including Carlos Marques-Marcet’s Spanish dark comedy musical “They Will Be Dust,” Pablo Hernando’s Sitges player “A Whale” and Bartosz M. Kowalski’s terrifying Polish thriller “Night Silence.”

Having recently won the Toronto Film Festival’s prestigious Platform Award, Marques-Marcet’s “They Will Be Dust” has sold in Bulgaria, Taiwan (Sky Digi) and Japan (M-Pictures).

In the film, Claudia is diagnosed with an incurable illness and decides to end her life on her own terms at a clinic in Switzerland. Her husband of more than 40 years cannot imagine life without her and it’s up to their adult daughter to mediate the situation. Despite the film’s heavy synopsis, “The only sadness that comes from ‘The End’ here is that the film itself has concluded,” reads its Variety review.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has been all the rage, and a reason to start raging about their impact for some, in Hollywood. So it was no surprise that Iberseries & Platino Industria put new technologies, led by AI, but also digital doubles, center stage on its fourth and final day.

The big event for Spanish- and Portuguese-language content in Madrid, Spain featured a session with experts to explore opportunities and risks. The panelists were Clara Ruipérez, director of legal strategy for content, brands and digital transformation at Telefonica, Ignacio Lacosta, founder of XReality Studios, Undersecretary of Culture Carmen Páez, Óscar Olarte, co-founder & CEO of Mr Factory, and Curro Royo, screenwriter (HBO/Max Spain series Like Water for Chocolate) and vp of Dama, which manages the remuneration rights for audiovisual creators in Spain.

“This technology leaves creators behind,” warned Royo. “The monster has been fed with our work,” and “it has come to stay.

Would you rather be judged in court by a human or by artificial intelligence? That was one key question in focus on Wednesday night at the Iberseries & Platino Industria conference and market in Madrid.

Platino Educa, the educational platform of the event, screened the new film Artificial Justice (Justicia Artificial) from Spain and Portugal. Written and directed by Simón Casal, it stars Verónica Echegui, Tamar Novas, Alba Galocha and Alberto Ammann.

“In the near future, the government aims to replace judges with artificial intelligence software, pledging to effectively automate and depoliticize the justice system,” explains a synopsis. “Carmen Costa, a distinguished judge, has been invited to assess this new procedure. However, when the software’s creator is found dead, she realizes her life is in danger and that she will have to fight the powerful interests that are at play in the highest echelons of the state.”

The audience gave...

La mente humana vs la inteligencia artificial. © AContracorrienteFilms

Se ha publicado el primer tráiler de la película española “Justicia Artificial”, un thriller político, con referencias al cine negro, ambientado en un futuro cercano que plantea el dilema moral entre la mente humana versus la inteligencia artificial, en el ámbito de la administración de justicia.

En “Justicia Artificial”, el gobierno español anuncia un referéndum para aprobar la introducción de un sistema de Inteligencia Artificial en la Administración de Justicia. El sistema promete automatizar y despolitizar la justicia sustituyendo, en la práctica, a todos los jueces y juezas del país. El referéndum desata una encarnizada campaña electoral en la que se enfrentan dos bandos: el Gobierno en alianza con la tecnológica creadora del sistema, y el Poder Judicial, que defiende el carácter exclusivamente humano de la justicia.

La película, dirigida por Simón Casal (“Lobos Sucios”), que coescribe junto a Víctor Sierra (“La...