People

Italian producer Alessandro De Rita is attending Conecta 10 in search of co-production partners for a premium documentary project focused on one of the most mysterious stories in Latin American popular culture: the disappearance of Marcela Basteri, the mother of internationally renowned singer Luis Miguel, in the mid-1980s.

The project, based on an original idea by Ercole Rocchetti, will explore the case through the testimonies of the singer’s family in Italy and will include exclusive private footage of Marcela Basteri. De Rita is developing the documentary in collaboration with TV Loft, a platform specializing in investigative journalism.

“This is a project with a true-crime angle,” De Rita explained. “It is a mysterious story, and we want to investigate it in Spain and Mexico. The goal is not to reach Luis Miguel, who has already made clear that he does not want to speak about it, but rather to find new voices, new points of view, and people who have never spoken before. We also have footage of his mother that has never been seen.”

De Rita has built a solid career working with major companies such as Mediaset and Fremantle across both fiction and documentary productions. More recently, he produced a documentary for Disney+ on iconic Italian performer Raffaella Carrà, filmed across Spain, Italy and Latin America.

Part of Marcela Basteri’s story was previously portrayed in Luis Miguel: The Series, the Netflix drama that brought renewed international attention to the singer’s life and family history. However, De Rita believes the new documentary can bring fresh elements and a different investigative perspective to the story.

“With this series, we want to create something truly premium, with a high budget and a film director attached — something of real quality,” he said. “We are looking for partners in Latin America, particularly in Mexico, Puerto Rico and Argentina, as well as broadcasters or platforms interested in joining the project.”

According to De Rita, conversations have already begun with HBO Max and Fremantle in Mexico, as the team continues to seek strategic partners capable of supporting the project’s international scope and ambition.

The disappearance of Marcela Basteri remains one of the most debated and unresolved episodes surrounding Luis Miguel’s personal life. By combining exclusive material, family testimony and a strong investigative approach, the documentary aims to revisit the case from a new perspective and position itself as a high-end true-crime production with strong appeal for both Latin American and international audiences.