This month a new youth series Tele Rebelde began broadcast
of Deporte & Amor (Love and sports) with 14 chapters and under the general
direction of Roly Peña and will be broadcast during the month of August.
Aware of the creativity and talent of Roly Peña in any artistic
endeavor is a good reason to watch television, without mumbling, watching the
small screen to see what’s new by this young director and actor. In fact, there
has been expectation regarding Deporte & Amor, a series by young people Tele
Rebelde began to transmit and that will continue Tuesdays, Wednesdays and
Thursdays during the month, always at 7:00 pm.
This time Peña again relies on the
enthusiastic team who worked with him in Cocoverde (Green coconut): Pablo
Javier López (co-director); Huberto Valera (direction of photography, together
with Roberto Mera); Reynaldo Sehwerert (edition); and Esteban Vázquez
(soundtrack with Rubén Gómez). The team now adds Loly Atencio, as general
producer, Carlos González, assistant director and Jorge Luis Rojas (Rojitas) who
composed the original score. A similar situation is found with the cast that
could make us think that Peña is married to these young people, but to relieve
doubts he points out:
“When the script writers of Deporte & Amor,
Leandro Martínez and Felipe Espinet, were in the seventh chapter we began proper
casting. We wanted actors who were the right ones, to have a racial balance, to
have different backgrounds, to avoid homogeneity, although at the end they
should all have a smooth style. Here are some who have worked with me, and
others who do it for the first time. There was nothing premeditated”.
Of course, most are very young. The list is
headed by Lucila Juan Herrera, Yadier Fernández Tamayo and Alain Aranada Pérez.
Yuny Bolaños, Heidi González, Vladimir Escudero, Yipsia Torres, Ihosvany Carmona,
Sureidis Amador, Raúl Lora and Leidys Díaz and others who are more well known
like Armando Tomey, Abel Rodríguez and María Karla Fernández who support them.
They are all involved in the story based on the original idea by Italo
Martinenghi who approached the Casa Productora de la TVC (Production House of
Cuban Television) – in charge of proposals such as Viva Cuba, Al compás del son
(To the beat of the son) and El caballero del rey (The King’s Knight), according
to Pablo Javier López.
The plot evolves around volleyball where
Cuban plays an important role and is a refreshing environment to promote values
of friendship, love, solidarity, sense of belonging, honesty and loyalty to a
cause that, at first, seems impossible”, Pablo Javier explains.
“The story begins when a young athlete, team captain, suffers a serious injury and must abandon a sport that is his life. However, he has the opportunity to become the trainer of a weak hotel team, challenged to win the championship of hotel staff.
TOURISM
The background of Deporte & Amor is tourism
and Roly Peña explains why. “We usually see tourism workers with benefits and
not with sacrifices. When this industry is mentioned, it is always done so with
statistics and we forget the human element that is people who are hard working
and human, with a great feeling of solidarity that is evident, for example, by
its support of sick children.
On the other hand, the images available are
wonderful due to their locations. They leave behind the Havana of always, with
tenements, and helps from the point of view of staging; and that is something
the television viewers will appreciate. There is nothing to be frightened of. It
is very important for us to give a view of Cuba, revealing the different strata
of our society seen through tourism that, in addition, is essential to the
development of the country”, expresses this actor remembered for his
performances in El eco de las piedras (Echo of the stones), Una novia para David
(A girlfriend for David) or La vie en Rosa, as well as his performances in the
styles of Enigma de un Verano (Enigma of a Summer) and Sabor Bohemio (Bohemian
flavor).
Assuredly, when the television viewers see
the finished product of Deporte & Amor they will remember that Peña – who
recently concluded a children’s series with Pablo Javier called Pequeñines
(little ones) that is in editing process at the moment – is very happy. And that
is the case, somewhat, but there were times when all he wanted to do was finish
it rather than the virtuosity of the mise-en-scène, that is fatal”. And
then…? I ask him and he answers:
“There were a few setbacks; we were unable
to count on specialists from INDER – although we insisted very much – to help
the actors play volley ball demanded by their roles. Therefore, we were always
inventing; filming tourist installations was also complicated…however, we did
what we could. Luckily we never lacked love. We were boosted by the enthusiasm
of the team and the contagious spirit of the actors.
“It was finished because there was an strong script (like it or not) that was constantly checked to know where each actor was, what to do in each case, because pre-recording work was done very seriously and had been rehearsed to the point of exhaustion; also, editing had been thought of from the beginning”.
And, referring to the libretto, it
is always interesting to discover how Leandro and Felipe managed to write it in
four hands. “Everything flowed marvelously. We were helped by the fact that we
were friends with excellent communication”, the first and director of Mi Musa
(My muse), Las vacas no comen helechos (cows don’t eat ferns), Un día perfecto
para un pez plátano (A perfect day for a banana fish) and Cerquita del Vedado
(really near Vedado).
“When they asked me to do the script I did a first draft and latter added
Felipe. Between the two of us we planned the series in a general sense then
divided it into chapters and highlighted the big events. In truth we designed it
as a map. When all this was solved, one would write a chapter while the other
rewrote them. After it was almost complete, we prepared a workshop and the final
script was done,” Leandro explains and Espinet adds: “ We proposed a series that
was always up beat and fast, to have constant movement and I think we got it”.
SPORTS, LOVE, CONTRADICTIONS
Carlos, Lucía, Mario, Cuqui, Patricia…are
young people like many others who stroll along the Malecón or in the beach; but
they are not perfect and that makes them believable and richer. At least that is
how Leandro and Felipe wrote them. To make this come true on screen is the task
of the actors directed by Roly Peña.
Yakier, who we are seeing as Lieutenant
Méndez in Novenario (Novena), is Carlos Díaz, the young athlete that must give
up volley ball and become a trainer. “It is a complex role, because the
frustration leads him to drink. “Carlos was very demanding and was difficult to
make sound true. I had to do hard pre-taping work”, assures Fernández Tamayo who
came from FEU (Federation of University students) amateur group of artists. He
has acted in Cocoverde, Aficionada a la fotografía (Photography amateurs) and La
última niebla (The last fog) and will soon appear in Oh, La Habana under the
direction of Charlie Medina.
Assuredly the role played by Yuny Bolaños
will capture most affection in Deporte & Amor. The reasons are offered by this
young woman who has been seen in A moverse (Moving) and Cocoverde and who we
will see soon in the film Páginas del diario de Mauricio (Pages in the diary of
Mauricio). “Cuqui is an extrovert waitress, loud, excitable, kind feelings and a
bit absent-minded. She is like a little wild animal. She has relations with a
tourist in the series who is very methodical, played by Pomares with whom she
will tragic meetings”.
For her part, Heidi González, the nurse in
Punto G (Point G), insists that her Patricia is completely different to the
heroine seen in Destino prohibido (Forbidden destiny). “Patricia is a dancer
working in one of the hotels. She is a very open young woman who thinks she is
experienced and knowledgeable about life. She becomes a bit negative. This role
has allowed me to do two things that I love: act and dance”.
Yhosvany Carmona (Doble juego [Double
game], A pesar de todo [In spite of it all], Cocoverde, ¿Dónde está mamá?[Where
is mother?]) was in a similar situation because he couldn’t fulfill his dream of
singing and acting. “I play a young man from Pinar del Río who goes to Varadero
to become a singer. His desires separate him from his family who want him to
become a cowboy. “When I read the script, I thought it was unbelievable to such
a point that I rejected the project of Al compás del son (To the beat of the
son), because my eyes clouded over”. Carmona interprets four of the six themes
composed by Rojitas for Deporte & Amor: Por amor (For love), El chequendengue
(untranslatable), Solo (Alone) and Caminos encontrados (Crossroads) with eight
more short cuts that make up the CD recorded by EGREM entitled Para que llueva
en La Habana (Rainfall in Havana)”, commented Juan Carlos Rivero, arranger of
most songs
Freddy who plays Yhosvany in the series is
one of the points of a love triangle between him, Susy, played by Sureidis
Amador, and Roly defended by Raúl Lora who is always shadowing the former. Susy
and Patricia, Amador says, are like ying and yang but, in contrast to Patri,
Susy is naïve, tender and a bit unsure of herself. “She is the typical dancer
most people imagine”.
Yipsia Torres will be remembered from Video
de familia (Family video). She also worked in Páginas del diario de Mauricio and
will work in the soap Oh, La Habana written by Abraham Rodríguez. “I play a shop
assistant called Barbarita. She is very efficient, a reputable worker until
Olguita appears, a kitchen chef. They call her Barbie because she believes it”.
“After an actor has an experience such as this, under the precise direction of Roly Peña, just thinking when an other opportunity will come to work with him. I hope the television viewers enjoy Deporte & Amor.