Yahoo Finance Amazon Prime Video to Bow Juanpa Zurita Docu ’13:14,’ Produced by Eugenio Derbez’s 3Pas Studios (EXCLUSIVE)
Amazon Prime Video is bowing a new Amazon Original feature-length documentary, “13:14,” produced by Eugenio Derbez and Ben Odell’s 3Pas Studios. The doc, starring content creator and actor Juanpa Zurita, will debut exclusively on APV next year where it will be available in 240 countries and territories worldwide.
“13:14” follows Zurita’s journey as he leads reconstruction efforts after the devastating earthquake that struck Mexico in 2017 at exactly 14 minutes after 1 pm, hence the title.
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When the earthquake lays waste to the capital and various towns in Mexico, Zurita uses his influence to galvanize help from friends that include actors, singers, content creators and several others to raise funds and help in the reconstruction process. While managing to secure the help of Mexico’s leading architects, Zurita and his team’s inexperience in managing a reconstruction effort lead to a series of challenges, including charges of pocketing the funds they helped raise.
But the team’s perseverance in building homes for the people in the town of Ocuilan in the state of Mexico proves their detractors wrong.
Director Santiago Fabregas (“El Encierro,” “Taco Chronicles”) has pieced together more than 150 hours of unseen footage and three years of material to make the doc.
“The team behind this project is excited to tell this story that happens in a transcendental moment for Mexico,” said Javiera Balmaceda, head of original content for Spanish-speaking Latin America at Amazon Studios. “Zurita is one of Mexico’s and Latin America’s most renowned personalities and his passion to help and build a team that could finish the project is a story that deserves to be told to the world,” he added.
“It’s a story of resilience and vulnerability in every sense, and it was a long and tedious road,” said Zurita. “During the process we only focused in communicating advances and results, but few people know the real story. And now the world will finally know the full version,” he added.
“At the end of the day, we managed to rebuild a complete community with the families of Ocuilan, showing what can be achieved when we join forces. After all, it’s worth going through any storm if you do things the right way, and if you put your heart into it,” Zurita asserted.
“At 3pas we’ve been building out a robust unscripted business for the last five years and are always looking for stories like this one,” said Odell, adding: “We were captivated by an influencer who gets in over his head trying to help his community; it’s not just about what he accomplished (and the many others who helped him) but the mistakes he made along the way and the unforeseen obstacles he faced.”
“This is a true-life coming-of-age story with universal themes of resilience and redemption that took place in a very dark and difficult moment for Mexico. We are grateful to Amazon for supporting us on this journey,” Odell said. Amazon Prime Video is home to Derbez’s reality series “Viaje con Los Derbez” and competitive comedy show “LOL: Last One Laughing.”
Derbez, Odell, and 3Pas head of Spanish productions Javier Williams, along with Arco Entertainment’s Zurita and Brenda Tubilla, serve as executive producers. Visceral, 3pas Studios’ production services company, will handle physical production.
3Pas Studios is in post on both “The Valet,” a remake of the French comedy “La Doublure” with Derbez, Samara Weaving, and Max Greenfield for Lionsgate and Hulu, and “Aristotle & Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe,” a co-production with Big Wing, Lin-Manuel Miranda and the director Aitch Alberto.
Not to be outdone by Netflix, Amazon Prime Video continues to ramp up its content development and production in Mexico and the rest of Latin America. In mid-November, Amazon Studios head Jennifer Salke said that the company was committing $300 million dollars to developing original content in Mexico for the next three years.
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