– The upcoming crime thriller, set against the backdrop of the famous San Fermín festivities in Navarre, is an original idea by Natxo López and stars Clara Galle and Álvaro Cervantes
Actress Clara Galle and actor Álvaro Cervantes (© David Herranz)
The Movistar Plus+ platform has launched a new project, Iruña 97, which will begin filming next Tuesday, 7 July – the day of the “Chupinazo” that marks the start of the world-famous San Fermín festivities in Pamplona – and will continue for 15 weeks in the same city and in the province of Vizcaya. This production is based on an original idea by Natxo López (series Stolen Away and Entrevías), co-written with Marina Parés and David Pérez Sañudo (both winners of the Goya for Best Adapted Screenplay in 2021 for Ane Is Missing, directed by Sañudo). Sañudo, whose most recent film was The Last Romantics was selected for the New Directors section at San Sebastián, and whose film Sacamantecas is due for release (read more), will direct the series.
Comprising six 45-minute episodes and set, as the title suggests, in 1997, the series is a thriller that reconstructs the criminal investigation carried out by a municipal police officer (played by Clara Galle, known for Raising Voices and Esa noche) and a National Police inspector (played by Álvaro Cervantes, Goya winner for Best Supporting Actor for Deaf, who this year starred in Balandrau: Where the Fierce Wind Blew) in the midst of the San Fermín festivities. The cast also includes Pablo Gómez-Pando (currently on the big screen with a brief but gripping appearance in La luz), Karra Elejalde (Goya winner for Spanish Affair and Even the Rain), María Pujalte (recently in the series Gangs of Galicia), Itsaso Arana (The August Virgin, seen this year at Cannes in Aquí and Strawberries), Josean Bengoetxea (recently in Jone, Sometimes), Paula Usero (Solos en la noche), Patxi Freytez, Josu Iriarte, Fernando Albizu, Ainhoa Santamaría and Miriam Rubio, among others.
The plot begins with an unidentified body found at the foot of Pamplona’s city walls. The authorities dismiss it as just another accident during the crowded San Fermín festivities, but Amaia, a young municipal police officer, believes it is a murder. Ignoring her superiors, she involves Julio, a national police homicide detective who has just returned to the city. Despite their differences – rooted in their contrasting social backgrounds – they join forces to investigate a case that proves far more complex than anyone expected. Their investigation unfolds in a divided city, where the euphoria of the festivities coexists with the threat of terrorism, in the year when the kidnapping of young Basque politician Miguel Ángel Blanco by the terrorist group ETA changed Spanish society forever.
Iruña 97 is produced by Buendía Estudios Bizkaia in collaboration with Movistar Plus+, with Tomás Silberman and Pepe Ripoll serving as executive producers. Movistar Plus+ International manages its sales.
(Translated from Spanish)
