YLE Drama, the production arm of Finnish pubcaster YLE, is teaming with Santiago de Chile’s Parox to develop TV series “Invisible Heroes,” a political drama-thriller set during Chile’s 1973 military coup.
Designed as a six-hour mini-series, “Invisible Heroes” is scheduled to roll June-September 2018, spoken in Finnish, Spanish and English and shot on locations in Chile and Helsinki.
Co-written by playwrights Tarja Kylma and Manuela Infante Guell, the real-facts-inspired drama follows Tapani Brotherus, a rookie Finnish diplomat that hides political refugees in his residence when General Augusto Pinochet’s tanks appear in the streets of Santiago.
Tapani works in secret, not only from the Chilean military junta, but also from the media and the Finnish government, which proclaims a neutral and passive political position. While Tapani risks his career and his family’s safety by hiding refugees at home, the Finnish press accuses him of doing nothing.
“Invisible Heroes” is one of the ten international TV drama projects selected for pitching at Conecta Fiction, the pioneering Latin America-Europe co-production forum which runs June 20-23 in Galicia’s Santiago de Compostela, northwest Spain.
As relationships between diplomats and embassies play an important part in “Heroes,” co-production looks logical. “There’s a need for actors from different countries, including Finland, Chile, Germany, Sweden, Spain, France, U.S., Canada and Netherlands,” said YLE’s head of drama, Jarmo Lampela.
“’Invisible Heroes’ talks about people who risk their lives and careers while helping those who suffer – an universal theme. The genre is more or less a political thriller, so we strongly believe it has an own style and tone which could appeal to broad audiences around the world,” he added.
YLE produces annually about 80 hours of drama, and is an active player in the co-production field. Recent co-production projects include “Bordertown,” produced by Federation Ent. and Fisher King Productions and picked up by Netflix. YLE is also developing Mediterranean noir series “Paradise” with Spain’s Mediapro.
Run by Sergio Gándara and Eleonora González, Parox has produced feature film, TV series and documentaries since 2005. TV fiction hits include Chilean network TVN’s “El reemplazante” and “Los archivos del Cardenal” plus local adaptations of both HBO’s “In Treatment” and Juan José Campanella’s Argentine comedy “El hombre de tu vida.” Last year, it co-produced TV series “Bichos raros” with Argentina’s Atuel.
Parox also developed for NBC an English remake of TVN’s sci-fi TV series “Gen Mishima” in partnership with Sergio Aguero (“Red Band Society”) and “Numbers” showrunner Ken Sanzel.
