or


[05/25/21 - 07:01 AM]
"Somos.": James Schamus Unveils His First-Ever Series and the Harrowing True Story That Inspired It
Look for the latest Netflix original on Wednesday, June 30.

[via press release from Netflix]

'Somos.': James Schamus Unveils His First-Ever Series and the Harrowing True Story That Inspired It

James Schamus

creator and executive producer of 'Somos.'

Schamus presents the trailer and key art for his new drama series Somos. premiering June 30

Reading Pulitzer Prize-winner Ginger Thompson's oral history of a little-known 2011 massacre in the Mexican border town of Allende, and of the role the U.S. government played in triggering it, is an experience at once intimate and vast. Hearing the voices of survivors, whether they were perpetrators or victims (and in some cases they were both), is to enter a world paradoxically hidden behind the headlines that purport to inform us about it.

Our drama series, Somos., centers on the days leading up to that terrible event, and on the people whose lives were changed forever by that DEA operation gone wrong. In telling the story, we have two core objectives: to make visible the people our culture often works to erase from our perceptions and memories, and to affirm our co-existence with them. In English, the phrase 'Somos' requires two words: "We are" or "We exist." But in Spanish, one word says it all. I asked if we could add a period after the title so that it reads as an assertion, and not just a title.

Reflecting lives on the screen

Somos.'s characters show another side of a story we've seen so often on screen. Instead of the narco or the cop with the gun, we turn the camera around on the extra in the corner. What's that person's life like? What are they thinking right now? What's going to happen to them? The people who hover around the borders of the screen - those are the people at the center of Somos.

Our hope is that you'll connect with the people of Allende and share in their laughter, their love, their aspirations. In our series, you get to know what's important to a young teenager, a mother, a firefighter, a rancher. We want those things to be important for you too, regardless of the encroaching tragedy.

Engaging reality through fiction

Although Somos. is grounded in true stories, it is essentially a fiction. We didn't want the people in Allende to worry that we might be misremembering or misrepresenting real people. So we took elements from many stories, and then created new characters to enact and expand upon them. In this way, everyone in Allende will still see themselves and their neighbors in the series. But through these fictions we hope to add to their - and to our - shared reality, and in this way help that reality becomes a bigger part of the conversation.

A Mexican & Latin American team

I always knew Somos. should be created by Mexicans and primarily for Mexicans. My role was to serve as a kind of participant-observer, to use my ignorance as a kind of springboard to open space for the extraordinary team behind the series. I was not only new to television production, even after decades in the film business, but new to everything in Mexico. (Happily, the team indulged my painfully slow progress with learning Spanish and my enthusiastically quick progress enjoying the cuisine.)

And thus the whole process was built around empowering our hundreds of colleagues to lift their voices, share their knowledge, and articulate their perspectives and ideas so that every detail rang true. Our writers Monika Revilla and Fernanda Melchor, producer Sandra Solares, directors Álvaro Curiel and Mariana Chenillo, and head editor Soledad Salfate all shared this commitment to collective empowerment. And it is not coincidental that the majority of key creative leaders on the series are women, for it is mainly women who spoke most fearlessly in Ginger Thompson's oral history, and women who continue to lead the effort to memorialize and account for the events on which Somos. is based.

I am grateful to be able to share this amazing project with audiences in Mexico and around the world on June 30.

Find more about Somos. Production Notes, Introduction written by Fernanda Melchor





  [may 2021]  
S
M
T
W
T
F
S
      


· SOMOS. (NETFLIX)





[11/26/24 - 03:01 PM]
Video: New Games, New Stakes - "Squid Game" Season 2 Main Trailer and Key Art "Round and Round" Unveiled
With its premiere just around the corner on December 26, the trailer delivers an electrifying glimpse into the deadly games and gripping character dynamics that await fans worldwide.

[11/26/24 - 02:34 PM]
Video: Paramount+ with Showtime Debuts Official Trailer for Showtime's "Dexter: Original Sin"
The series premieres Friday, December 13 on streaming and on demand for Paramount+ subscribers with the Paramount+ with Showtime plan, before making its on-air US debut on Sunday, December 15 at 10pm ET/PT.

[11/26/24 - 01:15 PM]
ABC News' "Nightline" Ranks No. 1 in Total Viewers, Adults 25-54 and Adults 18-49 vs. CBS' "After Midnight" and NBC's "Late Night with Seth Meyers"
"Nightline" posted double-digit gains week to week across the board, hitting a 6-week high in overall viewers and 7-week highs in both key Adult demos.

[11/26/24 - 12:03 PM]
Netflix Top 10 Week of Nov. 18: "The Merry Gentlemen" and "A Man on the Inside" Take the Top Spots
Season 2 of the animated series "Arcane" laid siege to #2 (6.4M views), while Season 1 took #5 with 2.2M views.

[11/26/24 - 11:44 AM]
TNT Sports to Debut "Evolve and Flex" with Lance Fresh Friday, Dec. 6, on truTV and Max
The show is hosted by sports-lifestyle expert Lance Fresh and features candid conversations with guests to discuss how life's events have contributed to their sense of style.

[11/26/24 - 11:19 AM]
MGM+ Announces 2025 Premiere Date for "NFL Icons" Season Four
In the upcoming fourth season, the docuseries will feature Pro Football Hall of Famers Joe Montana, DeMarcus Ware, Kurt Warner and Gale Sayers.

[11/26/24 - 10:24 AM]
Video: "Rogue Heroes" (MGM+ 2025 Series) Season 2 Tease
"Rogue Heroes" is a dramatized account of how the world's greatest Special Forces unit, the SAS, was formed under extraordinary circumstances in the darkest days of World War Two.

[11/26/24 - 10:09 AM]
Video: Acorn TV Releases Official Trailer for Second Season of Hit Australian Drama, "Darby and Joan"
The new season debuts with a two-episode premiere, exclusively on Acorn TV, on December 30, followed by weekly episodes through January 27.

[11/26/24 - 10:01 AM]
ABC News Studios Announces Fourth Season of Hit True-Crime Series "Wild Crime," Streaming Dec. 5 Only on Hulu
"Wild Crime: Eleven Skulls" delves into the haunting 2012 disappearance of Samantha Koenig, an 18-year-old Anchorage barista last seen leaving her place of work with an unknown man on a dark winter night.

[11/26/24 - 08:32 AM]
Bravo Greenlights "Vanderpump Rules" Season 12 with a New Group of SUR-vers
In addition, "Vanderpump Rules" will celebrate the past decade of heartbreaks, friendship rifts and scandals with a retrospective special highlighting the past 11 seasons.

[11/26/24 - 08:30 AM]
Video: Paramount+ and Nickelodeon Reveal Teaser, First-Look Images and Premiere Date for "Henry Danger The Movie"
"Henry Danger The Movie" will be available to stream in the U.S. on Paramount+ Friday, January 17, and premiere on Nickelodeon that same day at 7 p.m. (ET/PT).

[11/26/24 - 08:01 AM]
Video: "Makayla's Voice: A Letter to the World" - Official Teaser - Netflix
Makayla is a teenage girl who has spent her life grappling with a rare form of autism that rendered her essentially nonverbal until her parents, filled with unwavering belief in their daughter's potential, embarked on a transformative journey to discover the true depth of Makayla's inner world.

[11/26/24 - 08:01 AM]
HBO Announces Ian Bonhote & Peter Ettedgui's Award-Winning "Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story," Debuting December 7 on HBO and Max
The critically acclaimed film had its world premiere at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival and recently won six Critics Choice Documentary Awards.

[11/26/24 - 08:00 AM]
HGTV Greenlights Gutsy Las Vegas Renovation Series "Sin City Rehab" (wt) Starring Indomitable Designer Alison Victoria
The eight-episode series will document Alison, best known for her Emmy-nominated series "Windy City Rehab," taking the biggest gamble of her career as she expands her successful design business out West.

[11/26/24 - 07:01 AM]
Video: "The Manny" Season 2 - Release Date Announcement - Netflix
A busy executive hires a cowboy to care for her kids in a moment of panic. Little does she know he'll challenge her views of gender roles - and of love.