LOS ANGELES — Independent bilingual comedy Comedia Del Adri has won Best TV Pilot and Best International Film at the Comedy Film Festival, as well as the Audience Award at FilmGate Miami, ahead of its Hollywood premiere at the TCL Chinese Theatre.
The Spanish-English series, written by and starring Adrian Manzano and directed by Chase Bradburn, will screen September 12 as part of the inaugural Indiewood Film Festival.
The 30-minute pilot is designed as the first episode of a nine-episode series following Adri, a middle-aged Mexican-Colombian comedian rebuilding his life and career in Mexico City. His relationship with Bella, a younger German woman, brings questions of family, identity and cultural differences into the story.
Manzano stars as Adri alongside Dilara Foscht as Bella, Alejandra Herrera as Maria, Byungsun Kim as Ramon and Mabel de la Luz. Manzano and Samira Mekibes Meza serve as producers.
The TCL Chinese Theatre screening takes place three days before the start of Latino Heritage Month on September 15 and is part of the inaugural Indiewood Film Festival’s independent film and television program.
Manzano said the project’s bilingual format and focus on Latino characters were central to its development.
“We’re making this show while ICE raids are tearing through our neighborhoods and Latinx families are living in fear of being separated,” Manzano said. “Getting to tell our own stories, in our own languages, and to laugh at ourselves instead of being laughed at, matters more right now than it ever has.”
Manzano, a Queens, New York native, is a writer, actor and filmmaker whose previous credits include the feature Sex, Love & Salsa, which received awards at international festivals including the Montreal Latino Film Festival and Stattkino Festival in Zurich. The film is currently in development as a television series.
His other credits include writing and directing The Gradua and writing Ilegítimo, which was sold to Panama’s Jacobo Silvera Productions. In 2026, he appears in Hard Redemption with Lou Ferrigno and Dustslickers.
The Hollywood screening gives Comedia Del Adri a showcase at one of the city’s best-known theatrical venues following its recent festival recognition.
‘COMEDIA DEL ADRI’
Indiewood Film Festival
September 12, 2026
TCL Chinese Theatre — Hollywood
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