Prepare to have your Netflix queue be overrun with Mexican content. After the success of films like Roma and shows like Casa de las flores and Club de Cuervos, the streaming giant is going full-speed ahead on close to 50 projects produced in Mexico over the next two years. The announcement was made at the FORO conference, where Ted Sarandos, the the chief content officer for Netflix, made it clear that he is committed to producing and backing content by and for Mexicans. “The richness of talent in front of and behind the camera in Mexico was key in our decision to begin our local production strategy with Club de Cuervos four years ago,” Sarandos said. “Since then, we have continued to expand our local investment and continue providing a platform for Mexican talent to be recognized around the world,” he added. The push for more content produced south of the border will be overseen by a new office in Mexico City that’ll open sometime this year.
In addition to previously announced projects like Selena, based on the beloved Mexican-American singer, the upcoming seasons of Casa de las flores and the Leopoldo and Everardo Gout-helmed adaptation of Mark Miller’s graphic novel American Jesus, Sarandos talked about four local films that will be released over the next two years. There’s the Pedro Infante jukebox musical Como caído del cielo, which will star ¡Nailed It! México‘s Omar Chaparro. There’s Fondeados which will mark the directorial debut of Club de Cuervos writer and producer Marcos Bucay. And, as if to show just how broad of a spectrum of projects they’re backing, there’s also the family-friendly Se busca papá as well as the romantic comedy Ahí te encargo.
In terms of episodic storytelling, the streaming giant announced Los corruptores, a thriller series based on the Jorge Zepeda Patterson novel of the same name. Focused on the aftermath of the murder of a famous actress that may or may not have involved men at the highest levels of government, Los corruptores is a potent portrait of corruption in contemporary Mexico. Also announced was the YA series Sofía H as well as Bandidos, a series created by Cuban filmmaker Alejandro Brugués and Colombian director Esteban Orozco. And then there’s El Club, an Argos production that’ll star a slew of young talent, including Alejandro Speitzer, Minnie West, Jorge Caballero, Axel Arenas and Arcelia Ramírez.
Perhaps the most intriguing title being touted at FORO was Rio Grande, Rio Bravo, is an anthology of five documentary shorts produced by Elena Fortes and Daniela Alatorre of No Ficción. Executive produced by Gael García Bernal, the anthology will focus on the US-Mexico border. The series boasts some high profile names including Trisha Ziff, Juan Carlos Rulfo and Everardo González. The latter’s inclusion makes us think his short doc A 3-Minute Hug, which premiered at Los Cabos International Film Festival, may well be part of García Bernal’s project.
To celebrate all of these announcements, Sarandos himself starred in a riff on Carpool Karaoke where he drives around CDMX picking up some of the talent that’s now become part of the Netflix family. So if you’ve ever wanted to see Darío Yazbek Bernal, Diego Boneta, and Omar Chaparro singing along to LuisMi’s “Cuando Calienta el Sol” after teaching Sarandos how to best curse out Mexico City drivers (“Bríncame, cabrón!”), visiting the site where Roma was filmed, and picking up Mariana Treviño after an elote run, this video is for you.