This May, SVOD subscription service MHz Choice will premiere the critically-acclaimed dramedy ARDE MADRID: BURN MADRID BURN, starring Debi Mazar, Paco León and Inma Cuesta. Directed by León, best known as the director of the feature film April 9th, this 8-episode limited series, set in Franco’s Madrid in 1961, will be available beginning May 5.
Shot on location in Spain, ARDE MADRID is based loosely on actress and Hollywood star Ava Gardner’s (Mazar) move to Madrid, to flee her husband Frank Sinatra, Metro Goldwyn Mayer, and the paparazzi that followed her everywhere and made her life impossible. In Madrid, Gardner’s only goal was to have as much fun as possible. Extremely beautiful, captivating, intelligent, sexy and free, Ava always did exactly as she pleased, not tied down either romantically or professionally, living a life completely different to that of Spanish woman around her.
Ana Mari (Inma Cuesta), a loyal, conservative spinster with a limp, who teaches young ladies how to be good housewives and mothers, is ordered by Franco to go work as a maid at Gardner’s house in order to spy on her. To do so she will have to pretend to be married to Manolo (León), a petty thief and cocky opportunist, who will become the actress’ chauffeur. Full of himself, thuggish and hard faced, Manolo soon finds himself involved in dodgy dealings with the underworld.
Ava and Manolo’s liberal lifestyle are the exact opposite of Ana Mari’s moral code. Whether it’s the all-night parties that rob their neighbor, exiled Argentinian dictator Juan Perón, of his cherished sleep, or bringing a wasted Ava back to life after nights with the local Dolce Vita crowd at Madrid’s hippest clubs, in all the turmoil, Ana Mari finds herself loosening up and beginning to fall for the craziness as she is compelled to make decisions that shake her solid ideological foundations.
Produced in Spain for Telefonica’s Movistar Plus, ARDE MADRID quickly became the streaming platform’s most binged series after its release. Paco Leon directed, co-wrote with Anna R. Costa and stars in the series along with Inma Cuestra and American actress Debi Mazar (Entourage, Younger). “We loved everything about this series from the minute we first saw it,” said Frederick Thomas, CEO and President of MHz Networks. “The decision to film in black and white really paid off. It vividly captured the Dolce Vita lifestyle of Gardner and the colorful characters of Madrid who surrounded her. For us it’s golden, and we’re delighted it found it’s home on MHz Choice.”
ARDE MADRID: BURN MADRID BURN
8 Episodes
Spain, 2018
In Spanish with English Subtitles.
Original Series by Movistar
