The eternal return to the neighborhood of Ana Rujas: "I am not interested in transgressing or going as a punk at all"

• PAUL R. ROCES

  @pavlinrodriguez

• JAVIER BARBANCHO (PHOTOS)

  @javierbarbancho

  Madrid

Updated Thursday, February 16, 2023-13:09

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• Cardo serial killer: Ana Rujas superstar

Ana Rujas

(Madrid, 1989) walks through the streets of Carabanchel like one of those tourist guides that fill the centers of any European city: stopping at each historical or picturesque point.

But here the story that is told is that of a woman associated with a neighborhood.

The one with the grandmother's portal that she called as a child in one of those matte brick buildings that fill the southern neighborhoods of Madrid (and almost any Spanish city).

.

That of the local

where she spent a good part of her childhood due to "a bit of hippie parents."

What do you feel when you return to these streets, to your neighborhood?

I love that everything is so Madrid, I think it's nice and important to show it and that the whole team came to see my places, my lifelong friends and that they interact with him.

Because that's what

is about , the great audiovisual success of last year in Spain, which today premieres its second season on Atresplayer Premium.

Of the feeling of belonging, as a trace, without dramatizing it, it is already a single shot.

«As a creator and actress, your origins and your roots always mark you, you carry it in your DNA and in your blood.

.

That's over now, even though some of what I learned where I grew up will always be involved."

Why this search to de-dramatize the neighborhood?

We do not want to turn being from the neighborhood into something dramatic, because it is not.

If I had been born in another environment it would be different, and I understand that it is pointed out because reaching this point from a place where not everyone has had that opportunity is important.

It's good to show that there are people in your same situation who come to achieve something, to a place that was more difficult a long time ago.

But you have to de-dramatize it so that it ceases to be important.

I would have liked to have a guide in this profession at 18 years old, but my mother did the best she could

's story

is also an identity crisis, the need to be told of a generation.

In this second installment, redemption appears almost as a religious concept, as the key to integration in a hostile world.

«We are all María [la protagonista] because we do not always fit in.

.

But that's what life is all about, finding your place and knowing why you're here.

Being lost for a while in life is good to find the way.

If you never get lost, you will not find what is really worthwhile and strengthen it.

Do you feel that this is a second chance for you? You have to stop talking about second chances, no one has missed an opportunity.

Everything is learning, you have not failed or done anything wrong in life.

We have simply made decisions that were not appropriate at a time and in the end they help you direct life.

It's just being attentive and smart to correct certain things.

If in my case a second chance is to return to TV, I don't see it clearly.

I have never felt that they gave me a second chance because I have never stopped working. If you look at the 18-year-old Ana Rujas who started in this world, what do you feel towards her? Happiness of the path I am having, because I have worked hard and I I keep doing to move forward.

I am proud of my career because I have always been consistent,

I feel good because everything represents me and is part of me.

If I look at 18-year-old Ana, I see that she has done what she could with what she had and that is why her own path must be honored.

If she had made other decisions, perhaps she would not have made the book either.

[to be released soon] or

.

I have always been very alert to see where I wanted to go.

On this path, the neighborhood and the figure of his mother return as a totemic lighthouse.

«

and accompany me.

My path is this and my mother was the first.

Then I met incredible people because, if you are awake, those people will always be there if you want to learn something along the way.

And, there is also a father.

At the time this visit to Carabanchel takes place, the bar chosen for the interview is closed.

Rujas calls him and the father works as such and finds another place.

As if the adolescent Ana had returned on that call and not the one in her thirties.

That crisis of the 30 that we see in Cardo.

Has Ana Rujas also had it? Yes, when you get older you realize that not everything is the story they told us and that the future is uncertain.

It's also hard to know, especially at 18, what you want, but now after 30 it's easier.

It seems that from very early you have to be clear about everything.

And no. Do you have it now? I want to continue working as I am doing up to now, with people I love and like how they think.

And continue creating, acting and being surrounded by my people.

It is difficult to know what you want at 18 years old, it seems that you have to be clear about everything very soon.

And not

With all this, and without intending to, Ana Rujas and Claudia Costafreda have built one of the most accurate generational portraits of

.

Without trivializing them or maximizing a punk and transgressive image by addressing sexual, mental or work conflicts that until now few people had explored from their perspective: «Transgression is what Claudia and I brought with us, but there has never been a desire to mess it up.

I am not interested in transgressing at all, nor am I interested in going as a punk.

That this causes controversy or is uncomfortable is fine with me.

How do you deal with being told that you have created a generational portrait? That does not bother me at all because we have done it without thinking about it, we only portray our environment, our friends and our families.

We do not invent anything, it is what we see, what has happened to us and what we feel.

And that became a generational portrait because many felt identified.

I guess it's okay for people to identify with it.

And not only from our generation, but also from adults and children. Has our generation lacked this type of story? We needed these stories to be told by people like us, from our generation.

's Key

It is not that it is something unique -which, like everything else, is- nor the best, but rather that they have given us the opportunity to tell ourselves.

If they gave more opportunities to people, we would surely see more diversity and super powerful and beautiful things.

We need to make way for people of our generation or younger to tell us. Is it easier now?

Without a doubt, 10 years ago I would not have been able to tell my story, there was very little diversity.

Cate Blanchett has said it, that things were done before in a certain way.

And it's Cate Blanchett.

Now everything is more open.

And when this talk ends,

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