REFÚGIO DO MEDO premieres on January 29 on RTP

On January 14, Cinema S. Jorge, in Lisbon, hosted the preview of the series REFÚGIO DO MEDO, whose international name is COLD HAVEN. This is a co-production between Portugal and Iceland, bringing together SPi, RTP, and Glassriver. It is scheduled to premiere on January 29 and can be watched on Thursdays at 10:30 p.m. on RTP1 and is available in its entirety on RTP Play.

At the event, where most of the Portuguese cast had the opportunity to watch the first episode for the first time, the reactions were unanimous regarding the quality of this production.  Pedro Lopes, in his speech, began by saying that, initially, “this was an unlikely co-production, but everything went very well, and the goal is to maintain these partnerships.” The General Director of Content for the SPTV Group also revealed that, when COLD HAVEN premiered in Iceland, around 400,000 people watched the series and that it remained at the top of the Icelandic streaming platform's TOP list for eight weeks.

João Maia Abreu, Head of Business and Co-Productions at SPi, also had the opportunity to state that co-productions are a reality and that “Portugal already knew this, but increasingly the rest of the world knows it too. And we at SPi have more projects that we want to follow this path as well! This is proof, if there were any doubts, that Portugal produces fiction of the highest quality. We have the professionals, we have the stories that make us dream, we have a spectacular country in terms of production competitiveness."

REFÚGIO DO MEDO tells the story of Maria (Maria João Bastos), a Portuguese woman who emigrates to Vestimannaeyjar, a small and remote island in Iceland, in search of a better life for herself and her teenage daughter, Bela (Catarina Rebelo). Far from a past marked by domestic violence and deep secrets, Maria seeks freedom and a place where she can be herself. Six months after her arrival, Maria is found dead. Her violent death shocks the isolated community and exposes the secrets that everyone keeps. The investigation is led by Soffía (Kristín Þóra Haraldsdóttir), an Icelandic detective who, as she delves into the case, faces her own turning point, leading her to try to balance her professional duty with the ghosts of her past.

The main cast includes Maria João Bastos, Catarina Rebelo, Ivo Canelas, Mauro Hermínio, Cleia Almeida, Kristín þóra Haraldsdóttir, and Viktor Benóný Benediktsson, who are joined by Portuguese actors Rui Morisson, Madalena Almeida, João Villas-Boas, Rui M. Silva, Matilde Breyner, Anna Svava Knútsdóttir, Õrn Gauti Jóhannsson, and Sveinn Ólafur Gunnarsson. The series is directed by Arnór Pálmi Arnarsson and Tiago Alvarez Marques and created by Filipa Poppe, Joana Andrade, and Sveinbjörn I. Baldvinsson.