Sally Wainwright, Ólafur Darri Ólafsson, Trine Dyrholm to Attend Barcelona Serielizados Festival Which Reveals Its International Series Competition (EXCLUSIVE)

Serielizados, the fast-expanding series festival due to unfold in Barcelona over Nov. 3-12 and on the streaming platform Filmin Nov. 10-23, has upped its international stakes for its 12^th edition, as seen in its international competition, unveiled this Tuesday.

Bafta Award-winning showrunner Sally Wainwright (“Happy Valley”,”Gentleman Jack”) will hold a masterclass and introduce her latest TV show “Riot Women,” one of six international series set to have their Spanish premiere at the festival, with two-episode sneak-peeks.

A female empowering comedy drama “Riot Women” – created, written, and executive produced by Wainwright – turns on five menopausal women who form a punk rock band, which soon becomes a catalyst for change in their lives. The British series will launch on BBC in October and at a later date on BritBox in the U.S. and Canada. Mediawan Rights handles sales.

“Riot Women” is wild, hugely original and entertaining. We love it, and we’re sure it will have a big impact on our audience,” said Serielizados co-founders Betu Molero and Víctor Sala, who underscored that last year’s best screenplay and young jury award went to “True Love,” another British series about a group of resourceful friends in their seventies.

Another heart-warming show to be showcased in Barcelona is Canadian dramedy about mental health “Empathy,” recipient of an audience award at Series Mania. The show created by and starring Florence Longpré, a queen of Canadian dramedy,  is playing on Bell’s streamer Crave in Canada, and Canal+ in France. Production outfit Trio Orange handles global distribution.

In line with their strong taste for Nordic drama – ““Forbrydelsen” and “Borgen” are references for us in Spain, both creatively and industry-wise” says Molero – no less than four Nordic premium series will also make the competition cut.

In a strong year for Icelandic scripted content, the dramedy “The Danish Woman,” in which Trine Dyrholm plays a retired secret agent who can’t help meddling into her neighbours’ affairs, will be repped at the festival by the Danish actress and Icelandic writer-director Benedikt Erlingsson. The RÚV/Arte France show, handled globally by The Party Film Sales, was first showcased in Series Mania’s International Panorama.

Mixing crime and refined cooking, “Reykjavik Fusion” – tagged as “Breaking Bad’ meets ‘The Bear” – will land at Serielizados straight from its Canneseries world premiere. Star actor Ólafur Darri Ólafsson who plays the charismatic chef and ex-convict trying to rebuild his life and reputation, will attend the Spanish event, next to co-writers and producers Jónas Margeir Ingólfsson and Hörður Rúnarsson of Act4. The Síminn-Arte France co-production sold by the Mediapro Studio worldwide, will bow on AMC+ in Spain.

“A Life’s Worth,” a third Nordic series backed by Arte France, will be introduced at Serielizados by hot writer Mona Masri (“Snabba Cash,” “Copenhagen Cowboy”). The gripping drama, about a group of Swedish soldiers struggling with the complexities of war in the Balkans in the 1990s, screened earlier at Series Mania and Sarajevo Festival’s Avant Premiere Series. Viaplay Content Distribution handles sales.

Rounding out the selection is Norway’s triple Canneseries winner “A Better Man” starring Anders Baasmo as a misogynist online troll, forced to face his own prejudice. The limited series, co-produced by NRK and ZDFneo, was sold by Beta Film to Spain’s upscale streaming service Filmin.

“As always, we’re showcasing the best of the best shows from around the world, with a special attention to storytelling, whatever the genre, and visionary works” said Molero and Sala.

Jury members for the International Competition include Javier Giner, creator of the Disney+ hit “I, Addict,” which scooped best Spanish series at Serielizados 2024, actress Iria del Río from Prime Video’s zombie thriller “Apocalypse Z: the Beginning of the End,” and screenwriter Paloma Rando, attached to Netflix’s upcoming “Aquel” and the Almodóvar biopic docu series “Pedro x Javis” a Movistar Plus+ Original.

At the non-competitive Panorama strand, international series selected include the Belgian hit “Putain,” acquired by Filmin for Spain and Portugal, the British heist drama “The Gold,” penned by Neil Forsyth for Paramount+, and the BBC, Swedish drama “Vanguard,” a Golden Nymph best series at Monte-Carlo TV Festival, and Canneseries buzz title “Nepobaby” from Norwegian star actress-showrunner Henriette Steenstrup (“Pørni”).

“We’re big fans of Henriette and selected “Pørni” for our festival in 2021. Between her, Sally Wainwright, and Mona Masri we’ll have amazing female showrunners on site,” Molero underscored.
Completing the first batch of Serielizados foreign entries are the documentaries “The Agent: The Life and Lies of my Father” from Norway (best docuseries at Canneseries) and the U.S. satire “¡Casa Bonita Mi Amor!” by Arthur Bradford.

On the national front, the festival will invite its 9,000 visitors and 205,000+ online fans to a special screening of the cult Catalan series “Ventdelplà” created by Josep Maria Benet that took TV3 by storm two decades ago and ran across its 365 episodes over 2005-2010. 

As a favoured promotional window for the most anticipated local series, Serielizados will also showcase Sept. 25 in the Mooby Aribau cinema in Barcelona, a sneak-peek of HBO Max España’s “Pubertat-Secrets, Lies and Human Castles”  from Canneseries winning writer-director actress Leticia Dolera (“Perfect Life”), her latest “look at lost love between parents and their teenage children and how it might be rediscovered,” according to a logline from sales agent Beta Film. 

Next to the festival, the industry sidebar Serielizados Pro (Nov. 5-7) to be attended by around 300 delegates, will host this year the first international co-production pitch platform Mind the Gap. At it, 10 carefully selected projects with international potential will be showcased to a room of professionals and receive feedback from an international jury.

The projects will be announced next week. Serielizados’ full program, including the national series competition, is set to be unveiled later this month.