– Directed by Carlos Sedes, Laura Alvea and José Ortuño, the series is based on true events and stars Blanca Portillo, Vicente Romero, Verónica Sánchez, María León, Paco Tous and Hugo Welzel
Verónica Sánchez and Vicente Romero in The Night Marta Disappeared (© Netflix)
Filming has just begun in Seville on The Night Marta Disappeared, a six-part miniseries for Netflix that adapts into fiction a real-life case which shocked Spanish society in 2009 (previously explored by the platform in the three-part miniseries Where Is Marta?, directed by Paula Cons, which shows the devastating impact of the case on those determined to uncover the truth. It has been created and written, with the support of the victim’s family, by Ramón Campos, Gema R. Neira, Salvador S. Molina, Curro Serrano and David Orea Arribas and directed by Carlos Sedes (El verano que vivimos, the series Cocaine Coast), Laura Alvea (La mujer dormida, the series The Snow Girl) and José Ortuño (co-director with Alvea of The Extraordinary Tale and Animas. The Other Side).
The cast features Blanca Portillo (Cannes award winner in 2006 alongside the female cast of Volver, Goya winner for Maixabel -another true story- and recently seen in films such as Escape and Teresa), Vicente Romero (Barren Land, The 47), Verónica Sánchez (the series La favorita 1922 and Red Sky), María León (Goya winner for The Sleeping Voice and who recently appeared in the series Silence and Atasco), Paco Tous (Vírgenes, El cuento del lobo) and Hugo Welzel (Goya nominee for Enemigos and soon to appear in The Black Ball, a feature film competing at Cannes).
The series recounts how, on 24 January 2009, 17-year-old girl Marta del Castillo left her home in Seville to meet a boy and never returned. Within hours, what seemed like a teenage escapade became a national tragedy. What followed was a nightmare for her family: conflicting accounts, false confessions, a body that never appeared, and a justice system that, despite the convictions, was unable to offer closure.
According to the producers, the drama meticulously and respectfully reconstructs everything that happened from the day of the disappearance: the initial investigation, the shifting accounts given by the suspect and his accomplices, the media trial, the relentless search for the body, and above all, the family’s public campaign to ensure the case does not go unpunished. The series also examines how the media fuelled social tension and how Marta’s name became a symbol.
The Night Marta Disappeared is being produced by Ramón Campos of Bambú Producciones (the company behind the successful The Asunta Case, another series based on tragic true events, as well as true-crime documentaries such as El caso Alcasser and Cómo cazar a un monstruo) in collaboration with La Claqueta PC.
(Translated from Spanish)
