Catalan Anna Marchessi (born 30 years ago in Sitges) does not like borders. He never had them though he had being born with cerebral palsy. She studied two careers, went on Erasmus, became a screenwriter, and is now making her debut as an actress twice, but interestingly begins with the same material: Cristina Morales’ novel ‘Lectura fácil’. On the one hand, she is making the premiere of the Movistar + series ‘Fácil’ written and directed by Anna R. Costa, on the other hand she is performing at the National Drama Center. theatrical adaptation albert san john, It will stop at the Teatre Lliure in April.
How were your beginnings in the audio-visual field?
I studied Audio-Visual Communication and when I finished my degree I did a master’s in screenwriting. While looking for an internship, I sent my resume to many producers and only two replied to me, a very small one and Diagonal. I interviewed one of his principals at the university and he remembered me. He was lucky because he got me to jump over that hurdle, which is sometimes very difficult. So I moved from Barcelona to Madrid to start ‘Love is forever’. At a time when I needed change, I craved for experiences because I had had a very complicated surgery and I was on the adventure.
Do you like challenges?
I am always looking for new experiences. In a one-day drama, the screenwriter’s job is very arduous, there is a lot of stress because you have to write a lot of things with a deadline the previous day. But this pushed me hard. At the same time, I combined all these with acting studies. I had always flirted with this topic, but that’s when I got serious.
Now you are preparing your own project, what does it consist of?
They chose me at their Film Academy Residences, and I’m developing a semi-autobiographical series with Ingride Santos. To be able to do such a thing is a dream. My mentor is Borja Cobeaga, who opened the doors to the world of light and color for me.
I don’t know if you read ‘Easy Reading’ back then… I guess you never expected it to be this important to you.
At least I’ll have to book an apartment for Cristina Morales! The truth is, I hadn’t read the book until Alberto San Juan asked us for the play. For the series, Anna R. Costa chose not to do it so as not to condition ourselves.
Why do you think Cristina Morales’ novel is so important?
Because it allows us all to see how constrained we are by the system. That’s why the novel resonated with so many people. You don’t have to be disabled to feel challenged. Actually, I don’t think it’s talking about disability, it’s talking about how the system oppresses all members of society.
There is a lot of emphasis in the series on rules and how each character relates to them.
My character, Patri, loves rules as it seems to him the only possible way to preserve freedom. Patri is very vagrant, but he had to suppress his desires and instincts because he convinced himself that the only way to lead an independent life and adapt to the system was to become one more sheep in the herd. Because otherwise they will take away his sheltered flat and for him that is freedom which is a different concept for everyone, especially for those who live in some kind of prison.
Is the concept of freedom questioned?
It may sound a bit radical, but I think the system is built for our society of talented, well-off, high-status cis straight men. Everything that comes out of there corresponds to people who have to give up more or less things to become parts of the system. In the case of disabled heroes, the process is much more violent because they have to give up more and adapt to a reality, a system that makes no effort to listen to them, to understand them. For the system to adapt to us, we would have to be the opposite of it. In this sense, the series focuses on not losing empathy and listening. That there are no silenced voices, neither as women nor as women with intellectual disabilities.
In the case of heroes, something essential is added: they are poor, without independent resources or a family to support them.
Indeed, they face many discriminations as the poor, disabled and women. When you see them all together, you think: dammit. And that makes you think about what privileged position you find yourself in because we all eat shit more or less.
Did you feel that you were discriminated against in this sense?
I don’t know if I felt more or less discriminated against than others. Each of them has a different life with good and bad lines. Each one fights in his own way. And it’s about what we talked about the system before and how to fit into it. There are always levels. As a woman, you also have to adapt as a member of the LGTBIQ+ collective. Much more if you are a racialized person. And if you’re a woman with a disability, you need to adapt the system to the system, not you. This is a struggle. there is a fight
A few years ago, ‘Champions’ became a blockbuster movie. The difference with a series like ‘Easy’ sucks, right?
These are two very different perspectives from two directors who see the world very differently. I think the good thing about ‘Campeones’ was that it gave jobs to many players with various disabilities and increased visibility. But what’s really powerful about ‘Fácil’ is in its ideology, in what it wants to convey, that it focuses on them, the heroes, presenting their point of view and not the other’s. By showing how they lived, how they felt, what their desires were. You are watching the series and you are not detecting the tag, the obstacle. There is no such thing as disability, it exists because it is a part of women’s lives.