Spain’s Ana Rujas, best known for co-creating and starring Atresmedia successful series “Cardo” while praised for her lead performance in Los Javis and Movistar Plus+ “La Mesías,” is attached to topline boxing TV drama bioseries “Rosa.”
Set up at Studio TF1’s Madrid-based Kubik Films, “Rosa” is one of the finalist projects to compete at the Pitch Co-Pro Series hosted by this year’s Conecta Fiction & Entertainment.
The series is created and written in part by María Cantuel and executive produced by Fernando Sánchez-Cabezudo at Kubik Films, the production company founded in 2011 by his brothers Jorge and Alberto Sánchez-Cabezudo, creators behind feature “The Night of Sunflowers” and TV dramas such as “Crematorium” (Canal+), “La Zona” (Movistar Plus+) and “See You in Another Life” (Disney+).
“Rosa” tells the story of María Jesús Rosa, a pioneer of women’s boxing in Spain, winner of the WIBF World Light Flyweight title in 2003 and also a four-time European flyweight champion, who became the first European and world boxing champion in the country.
Despite her achievements, Rosa was forgotten and unrecognized. She hung her gloves when she became pregnant.
She died of cancer in 2018 at the age of 44 and was posthumously inducted into the International Women’s Boxing Hall of Fame.
“Although the plot takes place in the world of boxing, the series is a story of characters that takes us on a journey through a love story and addresses social issues such as overcoming adversity and success in an era – the 1990s and 2000s – when Spain was not ready to accept female success,” said Fernando Sánchez-Cabezudo.
“It also aims to highlight the support of the people who believed in her, four male figures who accompanied her to the end. And to serve as a mirror for new generations, reflecting on the concept of success and paying tribute not only to Mari, but to all women who have paved the way in different fields,” he added.
The project received the Lab Opera Prima prize from Barcelona film school Escac in 2024, earning the Escac Award for Best Pitch at the Sitges Film Festival.
Kubik Films will be presenting “Rosa” at the upcoming Conecta Fiction edition, seeking international support. Since a small part of the series takes place in the U.S. and Germany, the company is looking for allies in those territories.
“Although Rosa felt she never received the recognition she deserved, she was finally inducted into the Las Vegas Hall of Fame after her death. That part of her story holds a very special value,” the series’ executive producer argued.
Rosa also fought at the Karlsruhe Arena in Germany in September 2005 for the world flyweight title against Germany’s Regina Halmich. One of her most important fights and the last of her career, was watched by two million TV viewers in Germany and not broadcast in Spain.
The ninth edition of Conecta Fiction & Entertainment, the Europe-Latin America TV and networking forum, runs June 16-19 in Castilla-La Mancha’s city of Cuenca, a one hour train ride east of Madrid.
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