Summer (Estiu)

After an impulsive crime, Júlia, an 18-year-old on the run, arrives in Llocnou de la Mar seeking redemption—but instead finds a tourist paradise ruled by mafias, opportunistic politicians, and powerful figures without scruples. From the beach bar where she works, she becomes trapped in a web of corruption and violence that devours the weakest. Through her eyes, Estiu reveals the hidden face of Valencian tourism and the eternal party fueled by crime.

On Saint John’s Night, as fireworks light up the Mediterranean coast, an 18-year-old girl flees after committing a crime that spirals out of control. This is how Estiu begins—a vibrant, dark, ensemble thriller in which a tourist paradise reveals itself as a trap of corruption and violence.

The protagonist, Júlia, escapes in her old van after taking revenge on her boss, an abuser who has been blackmailing her for months. Together with her friend, El Mono, she has just robbed the bar owned by the man who exploits her, but something goes wrong: she receives threatening messages from her boss and discovers a police car parked outside her home. El Mono, who had gone back to collect his things, dies after falling from his bedroom window. Disoriented and alone, Júlia hits the road and runs.

During her escape, Júlia crosses the Marina Alta and reaches Llocnou de la Mar, where she comes across two terrified German tourists. They have witnessed a brutal murder committed by Viktor, the son of Russian magnate Mikhail Lackh. Júlia does not yet realize it, but by picking up those two strangers she becomes entangled in the Russian mafia’s web.

Júlia tries to disappear by working at a beach bar owned by Lackh. There she meets Rafa, a waiter, and Bilal and Marcel, who work on Lackh’s yacht. Meanwhile, beneath the surface, the town seethes: parties, drugs, money-laundering businesses, luxury developments… and a power struggle between Mikhail Lackh and the mayor, Aitana Peris, who is trying to put a stop to his dealings. Caught in between, Lieutenant Rebeca Cano investigates the murder committed by Viktor.

This three-sided war unleashes a game of blackmail and pressure that plunges the town into violence. The conflict ends up dragging in Júlia and Marcel, bound by a relentless love story, and also Rafa, who is only trying to cling to his youth as chaos devours everything.

Viktor, out of control, begins a chain of violent acts: score-settling, illegal parties that end in tragedy, and an arson attack on a housing development. Each action seeks to erase evidence of his criminal activities and secure the political rise of a candidate manipulated by the Lackhs to challenge Mayor Peris.

The situation spirals: Marcel is arrested for drug and arms trafficking, Bilal dies in a fire, and Rafa ultimately confesses everything to Rebeca Cano, who attempts to bring the Lackhs to trial. But the tentacles of the Russian mafia are longer than one might imagine: Rebeca is removed from the case, and the Lackhs’ candidate wins the local elections.

Júlia settles for visiting Marcel in Picassent prison. The town surrenders to a new dark power, and the summer that promised brightness turns into a descent into an inferno of impunity.

Estiu is a noir tale that forms a vibrant, ensemble fresco of a Mediterranean that dazzles by day and devours by night. A work that combines the energy of the thriller—full of tension and rawness—with the sensitivity of a coming-of-age story through the lives of Júlia, Rafa, and Marcel, caught between desire and violence.

RELEVANT FACTS: Josep Vicent Miralles is a journalist, writer, and screenwriter. With Estiu, an addictive, high-impact novel, he has quickly positioned himself among the best-selling works of fiction in Valencian. The book has also sparked significant interest for being the first noir novel to address the effects of touristification and the links between political, business, and urban-development schemes that extend into organized crime.

AUDIOVISUAL POTENTIAL: TV series, Miniseries, Feature film, TV film.

AVAILABLE LANGUAGES: Valencian.