‘Witness 36,’ From the Mediapro Studio’s Oficina Burman, Wins Series Mania Award at Berlin’s Co-Pro Series

variety.com:

Berlinale Series Market’s annual project pitching event. The prize consists of an invitation to the production’s team to present again at the industry centrepiece at next month’s Lille-based get-together, the Series Mania Forum’s Co-Pro Pitching Sessions. “Witness 36” joins 15 other projects at the Pitching Sessions as a sixteenth project presented out of competition in partnership with the Berlinale Co-Production Market.

The Award seems particularly appropriate, given to one of Latin America’s most prominent filmmakers, who broke out internationally with a double Berlin Silver Bear win in 2004 for his fourth feature “Lost Embrace,” but who has embraced premium drama series creation without giving up his cinema career.

Berlin also saw him announce in 2017 that Mediapro had taken a stake in his TV company Oficina Burman, one of its earliest projects, “Yosi, the Regretful Spy,” proving a standout in the 2022 edition of Berlinale Series.

Produced by Buenos Aires-based Oficina Burman, part of The Mediapro Studio – with Burman serving as creator, showrunner, director and producer, “Witness 36” is also written by Natacha Caravia (“Mary & Mike,” “Yosi”) – whose short story, “Protected Identity,” was inspiration for the show – and Oficina Burman head of content Juan Matías Carballo, who has written TV series “The Roar of the Butterflies” for Star+ and “El Amor Después del Amor” for Netflix. “Witness 36” picks up on the espionage set-up of “Yosi,” but also echoes reflections on the role of fiction which appear in other Burman tiles.