The World of Mateo (El mundo de Mateo)

Director: Mariano Hueter,  Producer:  Writers: Mariano Hueter and Ezequiel Goldstein, Production: Idealismo Contenidos and Virrey Films, Country: Argentina, Language: Spanish, 2019, 16×30′, Rights: Ready Made: UK, France, Italy, French-speaking countries, German-speaking countries, Hungary, Bulgaria, Poland, Spain, Scandinavia and ex Yugoslavia. Format: World

In a town far from the big city, we meet Mateo, an introverted 16-year-old tormented by hallucinations since his mother abandoned him for no apparent reason. Mateo suffers from these “absences” due to post-traumatic stress caused by a complex family breakup. His passive and introverted attitude leads him to be the object of bullying and harassment at his school. But everything changes when Lucho, his relentless stalker, disappears under mysterious circumstances. Lucho is one of the most respected teenagers at school, and after not returning home, his mother begins a desperate search to find him. Tension soars when Lucho’s lifeless body is found in the basement of Mateo’s house, making him the main suspect.

In this thriller full of twists, Mateo is arrested by Commissioner Ledesma, who believes he has a case against him. At the police station, he suffers an intense hallucination that triggers an obsessive search for the truth. Destroyed visions, a secret cabin in the forest and a disturbing video lead Paula, the school’s brave educational psychologist, to delve into the depths of this enigma. Paula (along with Alejo, Mateo’s father)is the only one who believes in the young man and tries to prove that he had nothing to do with Lucho’s death.
The enigma is further complicated when a hidden audio recorder is discovered in Mateo’s house, suggesting a sinister plot. But nothing is what it seems, and each answer triggers new unknowns.

Things take a mysterious turn when Alejo, Mateo’s father, confesses to Lucho’s murder. Alejo says that, tired of Lucho’s harassment of his son, he decided to kill him in an act of extreme violence. In this way, Alejo hopes that they leave his son alone. However, when challenged by Lucho’s mother Celina’s determination to discover the truth, it is revealed that Alejo’s self-accusation was false. On the way to deciphering the enigma, Paula and Mateo discover that the latter’s hallucinations are key to understanding what really happened.

With a surprising revelation, the series reveals that Mateo’s mother left her home due to a deadly illness, wanting to protect her son from her painful deterioration. Mateo’s mother did not abandon them, but instead, she decided to leave to die alone and not leave that sad image for her son. But was Lucho’s death really a tragic accident or is there something more sinister hiding beneath the surface? How are these two worlds linked?
Despite an apparent resolution, the truth remains elusive, as Lucho’s bicycle appears in a mysterious cabin far from Mateo’s house, raising even deeper questions about this mystery shrouded in family secrets, conspiracies, and the struggle of a young man to clear his name in a world that has condemned him.
What is the hidden truth behind this case? Is it possible for a teenager to discover truths that should never have been revealed?

Cast