Yes, he sees life as a comic book. For that is where man finds his goodness as one eighth of nine siblings, the kind that nurtured him as a child. Fesser returns with Campeonex, “x” added because this time the game is all about video games and mental and physical disabilities. It opens in theaters on August 18. An inclusive and positive presence Javier Fesser (Madrid, 1964)and fun to piss off.
Do you see life as a comic book?
The truth is yes, because I learned to tell stories with comics. First of all, I am interested in the reality that cartoons have.
It is true that he also made a cartoon, and it is quite moral: “The usual capacities of human beings are to be angry, always wanting to win, and distrust.” Is this the message?
It’s not moral, it’s true: we see this every day at sporting events.
In the second minute of the tape, he is released by one of his glorious characters. Are your players happy?
Very happy. Joy is one of the general characteristics of these so-called mentally retarded people. They take every opportunity to celebrate.
Are you completely sure about this?
Yes, you laugh all day while working with them. They are people who accept themselves in a very mature way. They are so used to oscillating between differences that they constantly teach us lessons about how to accept others for who they are. They do not envision the concept of “different”.
And so they don’t classify or label, isn’t that more and more important? Don’t you notice that people are starting to doubt more and more of what is different?
They do not have very important prejudices, they do not reveal their bellies for the photo, they are relaxed and happy. made a summary Gloria Ramos (Collantes in the movie): In an interview, they asked how he felt when he met her. Brianeitor (the soul of the movie is a video game creator youtuber who suffers from muscle atrophy and can barely move his head, is strapped to a chair and respirator for life, whose sight is shocking). And Gloria replied: “I am very impressed because nobody warned me that he is from Almería and I am spending the summer in Almería! (Lots of well-deserved laughter, hahahaha)”. And all this was said with the absolute truth and candor: This movie It’s like a synthesis of what you’re talking about.
Everything we are and the places we go are closely connected with the first years of our lives.
Fesser argues that “intellectual capacity is overrated”. Should we listen to our hearts and emotions more to be a little happier?
I think that we encode our inner peace with the grades they get in mathematics without questioning whether our children are happy while playing. Is my son growing up, learning to be a better person, is he trusting others? Intellectual disability is associated with an enormous emotional capacity: If you’re having a bad day and you need a hug, they’ll appreciate it more than anyone else. “Disabled” for what? We all have disabilities.
The smartest beings are usually not the most emotionally prepared, so why should that be the case?
When you have a limitation, you have to work much harder on another ability, and when that limitation is intellectual, you have to balance your emotions to take care of others. But in this heartfelt understanding, prejudices or prejudices do not interfere: they do not enter the equation.
Javier, why are you repeating? Champions It has contributed a lot to the integration of the disabled with cinema, what else? champion?
Because I wanted to introduce the functional disability. And search for the reality of these people in their world: family, work centers, love affairs. The interest created by the public with the first one gave us the opportunity to examine this issue in depth.
What happened in your life between the ages of zero and 15 that caught you so much?
Everything, everything that comes after. I would even say between zero and 8 years. It is clear that everything we are and the places we reach are closely linked to the early years of our lives, where our personality, fears, interests, talents and inadequacies are shaped; and I realize this clearly and therefore I am very grateful for the love my parents and siblings have given me for being born into such a big and beautiful family.
This film especially (I’m not talking about all your movies) you’re totally childish: is that how you like to look at life?
I love seeing it like this. That childhood gaze, which is very similar to that of the very old people in the film, is a curious and disinterested gaze, not conditioned by your experiences or expectations. When the soul is new, everything flows cleanly and transparently.
Aren’t your children (three, the eldest, Claudia Fesser, the villain in this movie; the other two guest stars) not ashamed of some of the things their fathers did?
The truth is, no. My youngest son, Javi, and I did a TV series when he was one year old: our poolwere one-minute episodes based on Warner cartoons. You can’t imagine how much fun we had.
Javier, how much weight does religion play in its formation?
I’ve studied Catholicism a lot, both at home and at school. And I was very faithful: the official altar boy of my neighborhood (Salamanca/Retiro) church. And when I was 13, it often crossed my mind to become a priest. At the age of 14 I made a change: I stopped needing the idea that someone superior, that is, God, was watching over me, and began to work on a tremendous belief in man and in love between people.
So did he switch from Catholic monotheism to humanism?
That said, it’s too big for me, but there’s still so much of all that training, it’s so hard to get rid of it. I was lucky to be educated by my family out of love, in the light of faith, not the guilt and darkness I portray. Path.
Once they realized this trust, their barriers disappeared.
He owes his father his witty vein and his mother his kindness, but…
My mother is still there, she will be 101 years old, and she is the most modern of the whole family: her head is best furnished and her memory is vast.
But have you ever had an enemy?
No, as far as I know. I’ve never worked to have it. And I don’t feel like anyone’s enemy.
Being the eighth of 9 siblings, are you smart or are you defeated?
No. The point is: either you were fast or you didn’t eat; You were either going to the bathroom quickly or you had to stand in line. But I am very grateful for all this: Such a large family with limited resources has given us all so much flexibility to adapt to changes. Instead of never going to the beach or eating at a restaurant in the summer, it made us very hungry. And another very interesting issue is the different perceptions and memories we have of the same reality.
What did you do while the others were playing football?
It was so bad that nobody wanted me on their team, so I started playing basketball and then I had a great gym teacher who introduced me to athletics. He was my coach and I became the Spanish champion in the 50m hurdles and long jump, junior category.
Wow, is that why the Champions switched to athletics in this second installment?
Look, I never thought about it, but yeah, sure, how it won’t be there. I made this movie with this philosophy of my coach: When someone trusts you, the things you can give are incredible. Once they realized this trust, their barriers disappeared. Everything that appears in the movie, even the most absurd, of asking a police car to stop and pick you up like it’s a taxi comes from reality: I didn’t invent anything.