CONFESSIONS – OFFICIAL TRAILER from Digital-Reign on Vimeo.
*We spoke to veteran Hollywood producer Evette Vargas about her award-winning fantasy project “Confessions,” a one-hour, supernatural, sci-fi thriller series, that explores the “multi-layered facets of sin and atonement,” per the official synopsis.
Vargas explained to EUR’s Ny MaGee that the series is inspired by “the confessional” as part of her Catholic-Latina upbringing.
“Basically, just confessing your sins out loud to a priest who represents God and then receiving, I mean, most of the time, the penances are in the form of prayers. How many Hail Marys? How many different prayers? And sometimes it’s more than that — actions that you take. But that will cleanse your soul, and you will atone for your sins through that process. I was just always fascinated with that idea,” she said.
Here’s the “Confessions” synopsis: After committing a sin in heaven, an angel (a former Spanish conquistador) is banished and he must roam the earth until fulfilling his penance, which is to compel sinners to carry out a penance of their own — to right their wrongs and cleanse their souls. The fallen angel has been earthbound for 500-years, attempting to get back to heaven to reunite with his wife. Initially, he contacts sinners by using the one thing they all possess — a phone.
Watch the trailer above.
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Vargas noted that the lead character, Manuel, is a former conquistador who “doesn’t know how many sinners he has to do this for to basically fulfill his penance and return to Heaven in the arms of the woman that he loves — his soulmate. An indigenous woman to whom he was married. He ended up marrying an Aztec indigenous woman that he met while he was a conquistador. And instead of actually ravaging her village, she and he, they joined forces to save the village.”
But there’s just one problem … Manuel’s best friend Juan is also in love with Laura. “So he sends Manuel off on a mission. While Manuel is away, Juan moves in on Laura, and she sends him off. And through that process, Juan ends up killing Laura. And he frames Manuel for her murder,” Vargas explained.
We don’t want to spoil too much of the tale, but Vargas tells us that when Manuel comes back to earth as an angel, “he gets into Juan’s head and haunts Juan. Juan ends up committing suicide,” and “that’s the sin that Manuel did while he was in angel form, and that’s why he’s kicked out of Heaven and given this penance,” she revealed.
“Confessions” takes place in the present day, and Vargas said viewers get to “visit this backstory.”
“Manuel wants more than anything to return to Heaven and reunite with his wife Laura, who he believes is there. But in the present day, he’s lonely. He’s been here for 500 years. He’s wrestling with his faith, but he has two confidants,” Vargas said. “One is a female priest who knows his entire story, and all of his backstory. And one of the things that Manuel definitely has to do here on Earth is that he does need to confess his own sin. But he isn’t ready to do that,”
According to Vargas, the driving engine of the story is “Manuel disrupting the lives of the sinners.”
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“Manuel is not always going to succeed. I think that’s also unique. We haven’t really seen it quite that way,” she added.
“So in each episode or just about each episode, we will meet a new sinner,” Vargas shared. “And it’s always going to be a mystery. We’re not going to quite know what it is. There’s always going to be a twist and a turn.
“There’s the Seven Deadly Sins and many more. And the sins themselves, they’re all going to be unique. We’re diving into all of these other possibilities and just realities of life,” she explained.
As Vargas put it, “Confessions” is a “half-century-old love story” about “these two energies” who were “always meant to be together,” she said, adding, “And regardless of what time period it may be, or what life cycle they may be in, they’re meant to meet again. And hopefully, learn from their past and get it right.”
Vargas described “Confessions” as “a multicultural series” with Latino actors leading the cast.
“I’m very excited about that. In terms of the genre, and also the narrative, again, we don’t always see people of color in a supernatural drama, or supernatural thriller. So I’m incredibly excited about our people being able to see themselves, ourselves, in this kind of narrative,” she said.
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“I’m also excited about the conversation of sin and atonement. I really do believe, just from my experience of people who have watched the proof of concept and even the short, that it really does inspire people to really take a deeper dive. It’s thought-provoking.”
“Confessions” does not yet have a release date. She hopes it inspires viewers to “come to grips” with their personal “shortcomings.”
“I believe it will allow people to examine their lives and move and really be inspired to move forward with purpose, hopefully get it right this time,” Vargas said.
Follow Evette Vargas on Instagram for “Confessions” updates.
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