‘Isabel’s’ Daniela Ramirez to Star in Claudia Huaiquimilla’s Upcoming ‘La Isla’ (EXCLUSIVE)

Chiles Daniela Ramirez, International Emmy-nominated for her performance in HBO Maxs three-part limited series Isabel: The Intimate Story of Isabel Allende, is attached to star in the upcoming sci-fi thriller series La Isla.

The series will be directed by Claudia Huaiquimilla, among the pioneering Mapuche filmmakers emerging from Chile who made her international debut with her well-received pics, Bad Influence and My Brothers Dream Awake, the latter premiering at the 74thLocarno Film Festival.

Among the stellar Chilean projects being presented at Conecta Fiction, the premier television event taking place in Toledo, Spain, La Isla received the highest grant given out by Chilean goverment org CNTV last year. Sales agent Esperanza Garay has also signed on to rep the film.

We were surprised that CNTV chose to fully support our project, it feels more like a European or American series, said producer Pablo Diaz, CEO of Rio Estudios, who describes it as a series that poses questions on humanity, where we come from, our connections to the universe.

Set in 1992 Patagonia, the series revolves around the disappearance of a Spanish tycoons heir. What is initially suspected to be a kidnapping gives way to a more disquieting discovery: a secret island inhabited by aliens.

Felipe Carmona, whose directorial debut Penal Cordillera participated in San Sebastian Festivals WIP sidebar last year, is currently writing the scripts for the six-episode series.

According to Diaz, the island is based on an urban legend in the fjords of Chile where an enigmatic island, called Friendship Island, is said to surface on occasion and is inhabited by aliens.

The second season will be set on a similar mythical island in Spains Canary Islands, called the San Borondon island, where a portal to another dimension is said to exist.

The cast includes four Spanish characters so were seeking a Spanish co-producing partner aside from pre-sales, said Diaz who hopes to start shooting the series by March or April next year on the island of Chiloe and other similar islands in southern Chile.

Rio Estudios recently produced the first Chilean series for Paramount+, romcom Dime Con Quin Andas, which airs on ViacomCBS-owned Chilevisin in Chile and streams on Paramount+ across Latin America.