Chile’s hottest writer Julio Rojas (“The Life of Fish”) and Spain’s Goya-winning Belen Cuesta, who stars in “The Endless Trench” and the “Balenciaga” series, are attached to “La Torca del Diablo,” a sci-fi thriller from Chile’s Canal 13 and Spanish producer Miguel Asensio of Tiki Group.
A client of former CinemaChile head Constanza Arena’s new talent agency and project incubator, Agencia La Luz, Rojas created and wrote “Case 63,” Spotify’s leading scripted original podcast in Latin America, with an English-language version in development, starring Julianne Moore and Oscar Isaac. He also co-wrote Pablo Fendrik’s Latino sci-fi series “The Shelter,” among other notable credits.
“The film will be shot in Spain and is aimed squarely at the Spanish market,” said Canal 13’s Matías Ovalle, head of scripted content and executive producer, who conceived the storyline with Rojas. Film is part of Canal 13’s international development and production studio which focuses on making films, series, telenovelas and podcasts for the Mexican, Spanish and U.S. Hispanic markets, said Ovalle.
Tiki Group’s catalog includes all films by Chile-based Sobras Int’l Pictures and Purgatorio. It has produced a series of hits in Mexico, Chile, Spain, Argentina and Peru, and is behind some of the most successful franchises in Chile, including “Que pena tu vida” and “Sin Filtro.” In Spain, it has co-produced a number of films since 2004, including the box office hit “Sin Rodeos,” directed by Santiago Segura, one of the highest-grossing Spanish films of 2019. The Tiki Group also has an office on Easter Island (Rapa Nui), which is in pre-production with Spain’s Secuoya Studios on series “La Isla,” penned by Eligio Montero.
Ovalle and fellow executive producer Asensio, were at the 2ndIberseries & Platino Industria event in Madrid (Sept. 27-30) to seek further partnerships and complete the financing package.
Set in 1882 Galicia, “La Torca del Diablo” centers on a mother who is fiercely determined to protect her daughters against an evil menace that preys on girls in the town. Amid an atmosphere of superstition, religious zeal and ignorance, the townspeople are beginning to suspect that perhaps the threat is not of this world.
