An immersive room located in the Chacarita neighborhood, with images of a forest and the pleasant sound of birdsong, is the ideal setting to chat with Federico D´Elia. Despite having been giving interviews for several hours, the jovial actor and producer does not lose his enthusiasm and professionalism when talking about the series “A Lion in the Forest”. Written and directed by Mariano Hueter, he stars in it alongside Julieta Cardinali, Carolina Kopelioff, Julián Cerati and Lucio Eliemain cast to which are added the special participations of Guillermo Arengo, Valentina Bassi, Raúl Rizzo and María Leal. This Argentine production, the result of the collaboration between Flow, Kuarzo and Idealismo Contents, offers a different narrative by focusing on the current issue of autism. For this, it has, a very important fact, the specialized advice of the TEActiva Civil Association, an NGO that works throughout the country to raise awareness about this problem.
The plot follows little León, nine years old, diagnosed with ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder), who due to his condition and a particular incident faces exclusion from the educational institution in which he is enrolled. His parents, played by Cardinali and D’Elia, undertake a both personal and social challenge to integrate the child into a society, in this unique case, a small coastal community, which usually carries prejudices and stigmas about everything related to what is different and , especially, problems related to neurodiversity.
Filmed in natural settings in Pinamar, between the forest and the sea, but in winter, sending eight episodes, it uses that environment and the prevailing climate to emphasize the emotional journey of the characters.
News: What interested you about the project?
Federico D’Elía: First, the group that was going to do it. I had already worked with Mariano in the series “El mundo de Mateo”. I knew his way of working, his vibe, his desire, which I like a lot. Also those of other people in the production. Later, it had the peculiarity of being recorded in Pinamar. That thing of moving en masse with the entire team, being there for three weeks, all the time, and leaving the logic of recording in a studio in the city seemed like an interesting plan to me. Finally, the topic of autism is not talked about as much and I understood that it was a good way to do it because the books were very pretty, very sensitive, very simple. At the same time, it also scared me a little because I was wondering if I was being treated well. But the director told me, not only about the specialized advice, but that it was a project he had for years, which was very personal because his nephew is autistic. The most beautiful thing about all this is that when the filming ended, I told myself that I had not been wrong to accept. Not only because I had a good time doing it, but I think we have something nice on our hands. Although I saw very little of the finished thing, what I could see, I really liked, so I’m very happy.
News: How much did you know about autism?
D’Elía: I have friends who have children with autism, of different grades. In reality, I am an empathetic person when it comes to these issues, I like to listen and understand. But fundamentally I tried to put myself in the place of a parent with an autistic child who lives day to day, who asks, who learns. I even asked myself what I would do if this happened to me. I was also interested in the wear and tear that these parents suffer.
News: Which should not be easy to navigate.
D’Elía: The series puts the magnifying glass on this family for fourteen days. Parents, their two children, one of them autistic, the other not and a teenager, who already has a complex history. They continue to be surprised because every day something new happens that sometimes has to do with their child and other times, with the environment. They decide to escape from the city thinking that the solution is somewhere else, but the further you get from the world, where there are more possibilities to face it, sometimes it gets worse. Because in reality the solution or no solution is to commit to what is happening to them and, from that place, try to find themselves. The most interesting thing about this is that people pay attention to what is different or what makes us uncomfortable, and ask themselves, what is wrong with us? How do we articulate it?
News: One of the atavistic problems of society is that everything different makes us uncomfortable.
D’Elía: It is like that, just like that. I think that’s what it is and it sounds ugly to say uncomfortable because when it’s a problem like that it shouldn’t bother us, but the reality is that it makes us uncomfortable and scares us. But it is with everything, not only with autism, it is with homosexuality, with children who have Down syndrome, with everything unknown, with what does not belong to me, with what is not mine and is not my little world. In reality, what one would have to have is a lot of awareness that this is not chosen, this comes, this is so. In that sense we would have to be much more curious. I hope this series awakens that curiosity. By awakening it, I am convinced that we will understand those who are going through these situations. I always say that hiding problems only brings you more problems. I’m not saying you have to be proud of that, but it’s already here, it’s not that I bought it, brought it and now I have to see what we do. Of course, there are also responsibilities. Don’t blame: I have an autistic son, and all this happens to me. You have to know how to differentiate to be able to solve things. Lack of understanding is a global problem.
News: What do you think of this world that is so technological, so mediated, and apparently so communicated?
D’Elía: Precisely, having all the tools to be much more connected, we are much less so. We are losing sensoriality. We recommend not leaving a voice message but writing it in just three short words, and we get offended if they leave us an audio message that lasts several minutes. I don’t want to be an old fool, but before we got by, we had to invent and imagine and there was a world in all that. What is happening now is also very good, there are things that are spectacular, I mean, the fact that they are recording me at this moment is spectacular. Then there’s what we do with it. A little bit of what I was just talking about about what we do with a child who has autism. We have to take responsibility for that, we have to take charge. We use it well, or we use it badly.
News: The interesting thing is that you don’t avoid the issue. I understand, you believe that we are all responsible and should get involved.
D’Elía: Of course, even if everything is very dizzying. You have to find the point of not being left out, and what is a lot, what is little, and what is good and what is bad. I’m no expert, but we’re getting carried away. Nobody remembers each other’s phone number. This text message thing, or spoken messages. I like to listen and understand what someone wanted to tell me, that there are no misunderstandings, that there is no indefinite sensation, not knowing what it means that they said OK. I prefer a tone of voice, a conversation, a more human communication makes us understand each other better.
News: This year he did a strip for eltrece and now a series that can be seen on Flow. Are the platforms enemies of open TV?
D’Elía: The thing is that the platforms should not feel like enemies, on the contrary, when they appeared, for me, they were great friends because they demanded quality and, of course, they did not depend on the rating. Then, you said, this is going to enhance what we already had like over-the-air TV. In that sense, what is fiction disappeared, the platforms remained and we had the misfortune of the pandemic, which for me deceived this business because they thought that we were going to stay in front of a screen for our entire lives and suddenly the confinement ended . In this country we have to start thinking about how we make it work here.
News: What do you suggest or advise to someone who wants to act in Argentina today?
D’Elía: I don’t like to advise, but if you want to act in Argentina or whatever you want to do, but with the work of the actor in particular, try not to give up quickly. Because it is very frustrating, since there is no work, then you get frustrated quickly, since it is you, your body, your emotions. All of that quickly bores into you and you have to give it a go and move on. The desire, follow it as far as you can. And if it really makes you happy to be an actor, but you don’t have a job and you’re starving, don’t be a professional actor, go drive a taxi or whatever you have to do to get home, and keep doing it. theater in a plaza, or in an independent theater. But don’t abandon that because what I am convinced of is that when you find what you like, you have to stay there. Which doesn’t mean you live off of it, but you have to continue. It’s not easy to find what you like, be able to do it and make a living from it.
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