Ana begins to disappear. At first glance it’s not noticeable since his disappearance started with his toes, but he fears it will go further. The doctor confirms that he suffers from invisibility, a condition that usually affects older people but that also begins to manifest itself in young people. She has been working for years for a famous artist who remains anonymous: Bassil. Now the doctor recommends that he change his life to prevent his invisibility. With this unusual starting point, the series Déjate ver (four of its six episodes are already available on Atresplayer) explores how strange life is between comedy, drama, surrealism and irony. Her story takes place in an alternate reality, but one so similar to ours that the viewer can mirror the wonder with which Ana views the world.
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The creator of this unique proposal is Álvaro Carmona (Utrera, 39 years old). His career is almost as unusual as his new series. In 2013, the video Huesca, the World Capital, which he recorded with Tomàs Fuentes, made him a viral phenomenon. He previously worked as a scriptwriter for sketch shows and with Andreu Buenafuente. He has written and directed short films and comedy shows and even presented a program on philosophy on La 2. In 2018 he premiered his first series, Gente Speaking (also on Atresplayer). This earned him an International Emmy nomination in the short format category. “My career is crazy. The other day someone said on Twitter: “I started following this guy because of the video of the rappers in Huesca and now he’s doing series.” It’s really crazy. I have always looked for what my heart dictates and that is worth putting in the effort, for things that interest me. “Anyone who says this guy who joked with the guitar is now directing and wants to do an indie series, but he also does conceptual work… That’s pretty strange,” he says in an interview with EL PAÍS via Video call at the end of September.
To prevent déjate, Carmona laid down several rules. The first was that the story didn’t take place in this reality. “I thought one way for the viewer to understand that from the start would be to make the main plot something that doesn’t happen in this world. When we have the freedom to be creative, a cocktail of the things that interest us emerges. “I really like magical realism, funny dialogues and the world of art… Another rule I set for myself was that the series should convey the message of how strange life is today,” he explains.
The beginning disappearance of the protagonist (played by Macarena Sanz) and her life change serve the screenwriter to deal with various topics. “I’m very interested in the expectations of people doing things, which is sometimes very difficult. Sometimes we think that the universe has to give us something back after we create something, although sometimes it is more important to create the thing itself. I was also very interested in the subject of art, because sometimes there are a lot of working people behind a big name,” he explains.
Macarena Sanz, protagonist of “Déjate ver”, at one point in the series.
Let yourself be seen is an author series. Álvaro Carmona wrote the film alone (with the help of two script consultants Ana Boyero and Ignasi Taltavull), directed it and is responsible for it from start to finish. “Creating an author series involves an exorbitant, devastating amount of work. The series starts with me on the laptop, people and teams who work a lot pass by, they go to other projects, the series premieres and I’m still here, talking to you about the series. It took a lot of time and work for many people, and I witnessed the entire process. I write it, I direct it, I edit it, I’m in post-production… on a physical level it’s quite difficult. But you can put the topics that interest you on the table. I’m not afraid of someone saying, “I’m not interested in this show.” I understand, it’s like liking or disliking someone. I tried to make a series that I would like to watch. I wanted to do something special, something that hasn’t been seen often, something special and unique.”
When Ana changes jobs, her new job is to manually add the points that the printer doesn’t do. As a perfectionist, she places a few accents in appropriate places, for which she will face her boss’s disapproval: her job is to add points, not correct them. Another time she and a friend attend a lecture by an anthropologist, which the man gives on playback. The series features absurd humor that, through the silence and gaze of the protagonist, highlights the curiosities hidden in the little things of everyday life. There is also a reflection on the world of contemporary art. “I’ve done artwork, some exhibitions… I think there’s a certain fear of approaching contemporary art in a natural way,” says the comedian. “I liked looking at it in a natural way, without snobbery. In exhibitions and museums you often see children saying: “That’s cool, wala!” because they see it without cynicism and don’t judge it.”
The writer and director Álvaro Carmona is the creator of the series “Déjate ver”, broadcast by Atresplayer. Pictured on a street in Born in Barcelona at the end of September. Gianluca Battista
This is his first job since his International Emmy nomination, an achievement he says he sometimes forgets about. “But nothing has changed. Now, as a director, I’m only interested in directing the things I write, and as a writer, I’m only interested in writing things I’ll direct. I would be very embarrassed to direct a script written by someone else. But even if they hadn’t nominated me, I would have still tried to do this series. In fact, it’s not about someone achieving success. I find it more interesting to explore creativity from the frustrating side.” He learned a lot from his time as a program author: “You build a lot of muscle because it’s a volume job, not a quality job.” It doesn’t matter if that today’s program was a nine; If tomorrow is a five, we’re doing a bad job. It is important that every day is a seven in order to remain constant. It’s a very tense job and that makes you more decisive.” The fifth episode of Déjate shows the world of television from the inside.
Both “People Talking” and its new creation are stories that have had an impact, but they remain outside of mass and commercial channels. “You could say that they are niche series, although I never think of them as such when producing them. It’s what I want to tell, and I’m telling it. “These are things that I would like to see and that I don’t usually see in audiovisual media.” Carmona believes that in recent years Spanish television is opening up to more innovative proposals and giving a voice to authors. “Just as those responsible in the industry are often criticized, we must evaluate the cracks through which special projects are increasingly slipping through. There have been more author projects in recent years than in the previous decade. Ultimately, the industry is a transatlantic one that rotates very slowly; it cannot make a curve from one year to the next. “We have shown that we can do standard things perfectly, now it is time to say that we also have interesting voices that we can give space to,” he emphasizes.
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