Pablo Larraín's My Sad Dead moves from Golden Shell race to Netflix in days
Pablo Larraín has turned three ghost stories into a nearly three-hour film that will fight for San Sebastián's top prize — then arrive on Netflix as a four-part series just days later.
My Sad Dead, known in Spanish as Mis muertos tristes, holds its world premiere in the official competition at the San Sebastián Film Festival, according to Netflix. The festival run comes first. The streaming release follows on 24 September 2026, when the story drops as a miniseries, meaning a short series that tells one complete story across a set number of episodes. Deadline
At the centre is Ema. She is a 60-year-old doctor, recently retired, who can see and hear the dead. Played by Mercedes Morán, Ema is trying to come to terms with her mother's death and loose ends in her own life, the festival's synopsis says. San Sebastian Festival
The project draws on three stories by Argentine writer Mariana Enriquez. Enriquez co-wrote the screen version with Larraín, Guillermo Calderón and Anastasia Ayazi, according to recent trade reporting. The cast is led by Morán alongside Dolores Fonzi, Alejandra Flechner and Carolina Álvarez. Variety
It is Larraín's first shoot in Argentina. The series version was produced for Netflix by his brother Juan de Dios Larraín and their company Fabula. The festival version runs close to three hours and is listed as an Argentine film in the official competition, meaning it is in the running for the Golden Shell, the festival's top award.
The timing is tight. The 74th San Sebastián Film Festival runs from 18 to 26 September 2026 and is showing 263 titles from 47 countries. Larraín arrived at the festival on 19 September for the premiere. Netflix has described the project as a psychological horror.
What makes this stand out is the double life. One cut plays as a cinema contender. The same material plays as television. For viewers, this means two ways in: a festival film for now, and a four-episode watch at home from 24 September.
