South Boost: María Ripoll and Max Lemcke Feature in a Project Lineup Reflecting Andalusia’s Growing TV Ambitions

South Boost is expanding its role as a development platform for Andalusian TV producers, bringing six projects to Cádiz in search of production partners, broadcasters and platforms.

Now in its third edition, the initiative received 36 submissions, up from 22 in 2025 and 15 in 2024. Organizers expanded the selection from five projects to six, reflecting what Carles Montiel, director of the South International Series Festival, describes as an emphasis on projects with a realistic path to production.

“From the very beginning, what we have been trying to select are projects that we think are doable, realistically doable,” Montiel says.

Among this year’s selections is “La playa de los alemanes,” a seven-part thriller created by Silvestre García and developed by Cádiz-based Intuitivofilms with Cahuenga Filmmakers.

María Ripoll (“Un asunto privado”) is attached as executive producer, showrunner and episodic director, alongside director David Valero Simón (“Enemigos”).

Set on Cádiz’s Atlantic coast, the story begins with a woman’s body discovered during a tuna catch. A police detective and an heiress of German descent uncover secrets involving the heiress’s family and its Nazi past.

“That contrast opens up many possibilities for developing the characters and bringing an emotional dimension to the thriller,” Ripoll says.

Ripoll points to a landscape where fishing communities, luxury villas and World War II bunkers coexist. “As a director, I’m attracted to exploring what lies beneath the beauty of that landscape,” she says.

Following a period of development, the project is beginning its outreach to potential producers and broadcasters. “The pilot is our strongest calling card,” Ripoll says. “We’d love them to read it and feel the same need we did to find out what happens next.”

Spanish filmmaker Max Lemcke (“Casual Day”) is attached to direct Seville-based Spal Films’ “Algo malo va a suceder,” a four-part psychological horror thriller inspired by a 1970 family murder in Tenerife. A documentary crew returns to the crime scene with the family’s sole surviving daughter, stirring memories and unsettling phenomena.

“The heart of the series is the house where the murders took place. It’s not just a physical space, but a container of time, a prison for memories,” Lemcke says.

Odeón Studios’ “Los extranjeros,” created by Julio Blez and Hugo Baena, combines murder mystery and sci-fi. Set in an Andalusian mining town in the late 1980s, the eight-episode series follows an investigation into a British mining magnate’s death and a Super 8 film revealing underground life.

Two comedies offer contrasting takes on Andalusian life. Enciende TV’s six-seg “Folklóricas,” from Fany de la Chica and Miguel Ángel Parra, reunites four faded copla stars for a TV documentary in 1991, reigniting old rivalries. Magnetika Producciones’ six-part “Lo de siempre” follows a Portuguese entrepreneur reopening the only bar in Valdemedio, a fictional village in western Andalusia near the Portuguese border, where residents resist change.

Completing the lineup is “Colombine,” a six-chapter historical drama from Almería-based 32 Historias Producciones, written and directed by Kurro González and produced by Francisco Conde, the team behind “La zona vacía.” It connects journalist and women’s rights advocate Carmen de Burgos with a librarian protecting her books from Francoist censorship in 1939.

“This year’s South Boost selection confirms the vitality of Andalusia’s audiovisual industry, with an extraordinary diversity of formats, subjects and genres,” says Alejandro Ávila, coordinator of the festival’s SUR and South Boost sections. “The region has not only tremendous creative talent but also a competitive production sector capable of bringing its creators’ projects to life.”

The six contenders will compete for the Andalucía South Boost Award before a jury comprising Canal Sur deputy director Isabel Cabrera, Goya-winning production manager Manuela Ocón, Andalucía Film Commission president Carlos Rosado and Studio60 creative director Enrique Pérez, Flipy.

The initiative’s first winner, Gibraltar-set thriller “La Roca,” returns for an industry case study ahead of a Cádiz shoot. The six-part drama is being developed by Womack Studios and Diffferent Entertainment with Canal Sur, director Alexis Morante and patron Ronan Bennett (“Top Boy”).

“Without South Boost, they probably would never have been able to reach the right production companies or, in this case, Canal Sur,” Montiel says.

Other industry strands include SUR, showcasing Andalusian-linked productions such as Netflix’s “El cuco de cristal,” Disney+’s “Olivia,” Atresmedia’s “La Nena,” Movistar Plus’ “La más grande,” “100 años de copla” and “La foto del azulejo.”

South Connect, meanwhile, will bring Andalusian producers and audiovisual professionals together with national and international industry players, including a Danish delegation exploring co-production opportunities.