Actor Álvaro Cervantes (Barcelona, 1989) is a member of the jury of the Lanzarote International Film Festival (FICL) edition that is being held this week on the island. Before receiving him at the pool bar of the Gran Hotel de Arrecife, we are already warned from the event's production that he is a "charming person".
This performer has been nominated for two Goya awards for his role in the films Adú (2020) and El Juego del Ahorcado (2007), but he is also known for re-embodying iconic characters from productions for all ages. At 33 years old, Cervantes confesses to being a lucky professional, "the jobs have been arriving progressively, to the extent that I have been able to take them on, and I feel fortunate, privileged because it is a profession that has not been easy for everyone".
Coffee with ice in hand, Cervantes narrates that he has watched the international short films that have competed in the FIC. "You really see the works in a different way since you have to keep an eye on many places", says the co-star of the Netflix production Eres tú. He not only focuses on the work of his fellow professionals, but also pays attention to details of the composition such as the sound or the script.
"It has been an interesting exercise, especially to delve a little deeper into the viewing, not to remain as a mere spectator, but to go further, because in the end it is about analyzing each work as deeply as possible", he confesses. As a great lover of cinema and in particular of the short film genre, the star of the series Carlos. Rey Emperador (2015-2016) used a projector he has at home to be able to immerse himself well in the works of the participants.
This time the sound is what has gained his attention the most. "It is true that sound is something that you take for granted, but the moment you pay attention to it, you really see beyond, how it tells the story or how it is used at each moment, at what level and how the sound planes are", he explains. "So I think my gaze has not been so much that of an actor, but that of an actor chosen to be part of a jury". It is not his first experience on the other side, but he has already been a jury member at the Málaga Festival.
"It is a great challenge to tell a good story in less time and in the end the script of a feature film also allows you to develop much more, it makes you more flexible", he exemplifies.
Álvaro Cervantes defines himself as a lover of the short film as a spectator. "I remember when they used to publish on DVD, when there were still DVD markets, now it is much more anecdotal, there was a compilation of the ten best short films of the year and I liked to collect them", he points out.
Already in his career as an actor he has also worked in the short film format. "Accompanying or starting the career of a director or friends. I continue to do them and in recent years I have also joined as a co-producer in some short films", he narrates.
That facet as a producer has also helped him to "understand many things" within the profession. For example, "how a team works beyond the acting part, day-to-day things. I have really liked accompanying in that part", attests the actor who gave life to the mythical character of Pollo in the teenage film Tres Metros Sobre el Cielo (2010).
Regarding the possibility of producing his own films, Álvaro Cervantes does not rule out that path, as long as it "happens in a natural way". For him it would be "ideal" to be able to start and develop his own projects.
The irruption of digital platforms
He also does not pose a major concern if his films are seen on large cinema screens or on digital platforms. "I don't think about it when I'm making them. I always think that the film is going to be seen in the best possible conditions. The same will happen with the directors".
"At a technical level, I don't think the conception of a project changes so much and if it doesn't change at a technical level, it changes even less in the work of an actor, in the end when you are in the story and you put yourself in the shoes of that character, you do what you have to do for the story to arrive".
With the irruption of large platforms such as Netflix, HBO or Amazon Prime, "any project can have a very long life in cinemas or platforms in other countries. Now the reach of films and series is very long, it is very large".
Álvaro Cervantes gives as an example moments in which a series "has had a modest run, but then for whatever reason a platform brings it and they are a boom. We are at a moment in the sense that what we are doing in Spain is valued outside as well. At the same time, the public here has re-engaged with the cinema and fiction that is made here".
A film or a series "can generate references, make society imagine possible worlds and that seems very important to me", Álvaro Cervantes
The role that the art of interpretation has in society is fundamental to be able to "travel to other worlds", begins the interpreter. "It is difficult or impossible to imagine something that one has not experienced in one's own flesh or through other lives or stories".
Although he is not an actor of a single role, the most iconic characters for which some followers usually stop him on the street have been his interpretations in the aforementioned film of A3MSC, in the series of Luna where he played a werewolf or in his role as the monarch Carlos V. "I have been told by high school or even university professors that they have shown their students the series of Carlos Rey emperador", he relates.
"I like the point of mutating from one character to another and even changing the physical appearance. It may be at a given moment that there are even people who do not locate me by that character and then they fall. That is the fun of interpretation, it is a game and dedicating oneself to this is also a game of creating illusions".