Cameras are rolling on Operation TAP (Operação TAP), a Portuguese-language feature Netflix is financing with producer SPi in Portugal, the streamer’s newsroom confirmed on 3 November 2026. The title is Netflix’s first local feature in the country after the series Glória. João Nuno Pinto (Mosquito, 18 Holes to Paradise) directs a script by Pedro Lopes, Miguel Rico and Marina Preguiça Ribeiro. Rui Pedro Silva, Afonso Pimentel and Victoria Guerra lead the cast. A release window was not given.
Key facts
- Operation TAP / Operação TAP: Netflix’s first Portugal feature; SPi (SP Televisão) producing
- Director João Nuno Pinto; writers Pedro Lopes, Miguel Rico, Marina Preguiça Ribeiro
- Cast: Rui Pedro Silva, Afonso Pimentel, Victoria Guerra
- Premise: loosely based on a 1980 TAP hijacking by a 16-year-old en route to Madrid ($10m demand in the official synopsis)
- Status: shoot underway as of 3 November 2026; release window undisclosed
For European streamer buyers and Portuguese producers, the move extends Netflix’s Portugal slate from series into features with the same house that made Glória. Primary confirmation sits on the Netflix newsroom page and SPi’s own release the same day; C21Media carried the shoot notice on 5 November.
Production and creative team
Netflix’s synopsis places the action in 1980: an armed teenager hijacks a plane bound for Madrid, demands $10 million and holds passengers and crew through a night that the platform describes as turning from threat toward empathy between hijacker and hostages. SPi chief creative and strategy officer Pedro Lopes, who is also one of the writers, told the company site the film sits in a country “emerging from a revolution” and frames the story as a reflection on Portuguese character in which empathy prevails over violence.
SPi was founded in 2017 as SP Televisão’s international brand. Beyond Glória, its slate cited by C21 and SPi includes Codex 632 (with RTP and Globoplay), Vanda (with Legendary and Spain’s La Panda) and Cold Haven (with Iceland’s Glassriver). Lopes was appointed SPi’s chief creative and strategy officer in late June 2026, C21 notes, with a brief to strengthen the company’s international position.
What is not known
Budget, shoot length, incentive draw, language mix for global delivery and a premiere or platform window are not in the Netflix or SPi releases. The film is described as loosely based on the 1980 events; the companies have not published a legal or historical advisory beyond that hedge. Cast roles beyond the three named leads are not listed in the newsroom note.
Related FilmBunch coverage of Iberian production and streaming windows includes Spain’s ICAA general aid awards, South Investors Week in Cádiz for 2027 and La Bola Negra at the BFI London Film Festival. More under Distribution & Streaming.
Our reading
Netflix is extending a proven Portugal series partner into features rather than importing a foreign banner for a local shoot. Financiers and sales agents should treat Operation TAP as a platform original with a clear territorial first, not yet as a dated release. The next evidence is a wrap notice, a festival or global premiere slot, and whether SPi’s other international titles convert into further Netflix Portugal features.