Fernando Epstein: Last News

Emiliano De Pablos Celebrated Uruguayan producer Fernando Epstein, co-founder of Mutante Cine, one of Latin America’s key arthouse outfits, is entering into TV fiction creation with thriller drama series “La tinta invisible” (“The Invisible Link”).The show is a two-season series based on two novels by Uruguayan author Eduardo Mariani that go through part of the recent history of South America, linked to Europe through the exile of some of its characters.The project, at an early development stage, will be pitched at the Co-Pro Series session during the 6th edition of Conecta Fiction & Entertainment forum, which runs June 21-25 in Toledo, Spanish region Castilla-La Mancha’s capital city.Toledo will be “The Invisible Link’s” first participation in the international market. Epstein has been a film producer and editor since 2000, with more than 50 credits and several awards at A-class festivals, having produced and edited significant Latin American titles such as “Whisky” and “Gigante.”“After 20 years as a producer and editor of auteur films, I found in the series format the possibility of adapting the work of Eduardo Mariani, a Uruguayan author whose narrative force combines thriller with drama in a story that takes place over 40 years,” Epstein told Variety.Epstein has teamed with “Manny’s Garage Sale: A Hitchcock Knot” co-scribe Janine Zaruski to write “The Invisible Link.”Set up at Mutante Cine, the project tells the story of two opposite and complementary characters.

Holly Jones “The Invisible Ink,” a drama from Uruguay’s Mutante Cine co-founder Fernando Epstein (“Whisky”) and Cannes Camera D’Or winning Guatemalan director César Díaz (“Our Mothers”), was first pitched to international markets at last year’s Conecta Fiction & Entertainment’s Co-Pro Series session, where it won double. It retained its momentum as it swept up a €50,000 Beta Development Award last month at Series Mania Forum’s Seriesmakers strand. “The truth is, when I found out about the award, I was very flattered. We have something strong on our hands,” Epstein told Variety. “I don’t want to fail to mention the excellent program devised by Series Mania and Beta Group, from the virtual talks to each session with our mentors; everything was impressively rich and generous.”

A project from Finland and a Belgium-Uruguay co-production have won the Seriesmaker initiative here at Series Mania.

Emiliano De Pablos Uruguay-based Agustina Chiarino, one of the drivers of the new Latin American cinema industry and at the forefront of pan-regional co-production, is kicking-off early projects at her recently launched production-distribution company Bocacha Films.  Chiarino attended last week’s Malaga Film Festival edition to present Pablo Solarz’s official section contender comedy “Desperté con un sueño” (“I Woke Up With a Dream”), which she produced at Mutante Cine, the Montevideo-based outfit Chiarino and editor-producer Fernando Epstein co-founded in 2011. After “I Woke Up With a Dream,” two feature debuts are finishing production stage under the Mutante Cine brand: Vanina Spataro’s “Naufragios,” teaming with Kino Films in Argentina, and Sebastián Peña Escobar’s documentary “The Last” in partnership with Paraguay’s La Babosa Cine. 

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent Series Mania, Europe’s biggest TV fest, and German film-TV powerhouse Beta Group has revealed the 10 projects in the first edition of Seriesmakers, unveiling what must be one of the most talent-packed project lineups at any festival, film or TV, in 2023, A mentoring program for filmmakers making their TV creator debut, Series Mania features in development drama series from “Compartment No 6’s” Juho Kuosmanen, ‘Bang Gang’s’ Eva Husson and “Birds of a Passage’s” Ciro Guerra and Cristina Gallego. Also in the mix is “Amigas,” the first TV project of Beatriz Seigner (“Los Silencios”), one of Brazil’s foremost young movie directors, “The Invisible Ink,” teaming Cannes best first feature winner César Díaz (“Our Mothers”)and New Uruguay Cinema founding father Fernando Epstein; and Indian arthouse filmmaker Pushpendra Singh, who scored with Berlin Encounters’ title “The Shepherdess and the Seven Songs.”

Holly Jones Opening up to works from over the whole of Latin America, this year’s Sanfic Industria Series Lab will highlight series currently in development from Uruguay’s Fernando Epstein, Argentina’s Laura Farhi and Peru’s Paola Terán.Epstein’s “The Invisible Ink” proved one of the big winners at June’s Conecta Fiction, marking the first TV work from the renowned Uruguayan film producer (“Whisky,” ”Gigante”).Penned by Farhi, a writer on “Soy Tu Fan,” “Soy Luna” and “Intertwined,” “The Big Leap” won the Filmarket Hub 2022 International TV Pilots Contest.Terán, an assistant editor on Diego and Daniel Vega’s Locarno Fest winning “El Mudo,” will direct “Nobody Rests At Home.” The eight works selected for this year’s Series Lab will be announced during a PUC Film Festival Lima press conference on Monday.Agustina Lumi and Alejandra Marano co-ordinate the Sanfic Series Lab. 2022’s hybrid edition of Sanfic Industria runs over Aug.