French-Argentinian actress Anais Weill (“Emily in Paris,” “Black Box”) and Spain’s Dariam Coco (“Money Heist,” “Welcome to Eden”) are set to star in Spanish-U.K. sci-fi thriller series “Border Station.”
Top Spanish indie producer-distributor Vertice 360 is teaming with Madrid’s Anacaona Productions and London-based Born Wild to co-produce the project, which is at development stage.
The six-episode, one hour TV drama was created by Born Wild founder Anthony Alleyne (“Sunburn”). Anacaona’s Vianessa Castaños has been tapped to serve as showrunner and lead writer, alongside France-based author Geoff Dupuy-Holder (“Dark Sense”).
A historical spy thriller, with time-travel elements, “Border Station” will follow Beatriz (Dariam Coco), a struggling black jazz singer from Zaragoza who feels her luck is about to change when she’s booked to perform at an opening ceremony of the Canfranc International Station.
A strategic point during WWII, set in the Spanish Pyrenees, near the French border, Canfranc was frequented at that time by Nazi, Francoist and allied army forces and the French resistance.
When Beatriz’s big break is disrupted by a freak accident, she’s thrown back in time to November 15, 1941, in the middle of the war, along with Julia (Anais Weill), her estranged ex and a scientist, with whom she has deep, unresolved issues. Beatriz will have to confront her deepest fears to save Julia and return to the future.
“’Border Station’ is a gripping tale of survival and internal character growth, underlined by the indomitable power of music,” producer Alberto Rull, EVP production and content at Vertice, explained.
“With Beatriz assuming a false identity, her journey forces her into displaying resilience she never knew she had. As the first Spanish series with a black woman as protagonist, it breaks new ground in terms of representation,” he added.
Producers will be pitching the series next week as part of Conecta Fiction 2023’s Pitch Music sidebar in Toledo, Spain. Anais Weill is expected to join the “Border Station” representatives on the stage, whose aim at Conecta is to meet French producers, local broadcasters and international distribution companies as potentialpartners.
“’Border Station’ is since its conception an organic co-production and a multi-language series, both because of the story set in a unique location during WWII that brings together people from all over the world, and the use of the music, a universal language as a main protagonist,” Rull said.
The series is scheduled to roll in Spain’s northeastern region of Aragon and France, in Spanish, French and German languages. Producers plan its delivery by late 2024/early 2025.
Part of the Squirrel Media Group, Vertice 360 has a very active presence in the international market with several co-productions in development with European partners.
Madrid-based Anacaona focuses on developing original film and TV projects for the Spanish and global marketplaces that give a protagonism to underrepresented ethnic, cultural and racially diverse communities.
Set up to produce genre content, Born Wild is run by Alleyne, who is represented by Gersh and Zero Gravity Management in Los Angeles.
Vertice and Born Wild teamed last year to co-produce YA drama series project “Motorway,” created by Spanish writer-cartoonist Victor Sánchez.
Conecta Fiction & Entertainment 2023 runs June 26-29 in Toledo, the capital city of Spain’s Castilla-La Mancha region.
