Mipcom Title ‘The Castle’ Shapes Up as Another Hit From ‘La Bola Negra’ Producer Movistar Plus
Movistar Plus’s ‘The Castle’ follows a police investigation into a prostitution and human trafficking network in Spain, told through the perspectives of a police inspector, a Colombian woman brought to work in a brothel, and the brothel owner. The series examines how sex trafficking is organised as a business and the culture that allows it to operate, and has been warmly received at the San Sebastián Film Festival.
Set between 1999 and 2004 or 2005, the drama is Isabel Peña’s first series as creator, working with co-writer Eduardo Villanueva and director Elena Martín. It is partly inspired by Mabel Lozano’s novel ‘El Proxeneta’. Claudia’s notebook records 4,304 clients; a prosecutor estimates she earned more than €200,000 for her owner, yet after over two years he claims she still owes him €300.
- ‘The Castle’ portrays Spain’s sex trafficking trade through three perspectives.
- Claudia’s account records 4,304 clients over more than two years.
- The drama was among the best received Spanish titles at San Sebastián.
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Spain’s prostitution and human trafficking networks involve the recruitment and exploitation of people, often for profit. The story is set around the turn of the century and follows a police inspector investigating one such network alongside a Colombian woman made to work in a brothel and its owner.
The series looks at how the operation is run as a business and at the social conditions that let it continue. Its background includes the imbalance between the money Claudia earns for her owner and the debt he says she still owes her, a dynamic that can help keep exploited people under control.