Started in TC Television, He continued his acting path until he reached Telemundo and Netflix, and now it will also be on the platform streaming hbo max. Ecuadorian actress Joselyn Gallardowho has silently managed to reach representative spaces for artists, is the protagonist of WelcomeBacka short film directed by Tiffany K. Guillen and which is available to users of the service streaming in United States.
Gallardo, who was part of the cast of the production Without breasts there is paradise, puts herself back in the shoes of a Latin American woman, but with a completely different life from her previous job. On WelcomeBackGallardo plays Rosa, a mother who tries to flee with her daughter from Venezuela after being persecuted by the country’s authorities, after she and her partner were organizers of protests for the rights of its citizens.
The film has also participated in various film festivals and has even been nominated in some for its competition, including the College Television Awards and the Athena Film Festival. Among the awards she has received, Gallardo managed to win as best actress for her role in the short film at the Mammoth Film Festival.
The director has also been nominated for a student Emmy, has been an HBO semifinalist and winner of the Miami Herald Silver Knight.
“This has been a production that, when I made it, I said: ‘I went through so many things, that it wasn’t easy to record it, and it doesn’t finish giving me good news.’ But, as I have said before, the work that is done with dedication, with love, with discipline, never fails to give you good news”, says Gallardo.
How was the call for the casting and the process prior to your selection for the cast?
I was just in Quito and Alejandra Corral, an actress and producer, who had also been called for the casting. She tells me that they were looking for the protagonist of a short film that seeks to tell a little about the history that Venezuela is experiencing today; she tells me a little about my character, Rosa, and I asked her to send me the casting and if you could send me a bit of the script to learn about the character and the story. He sends it to me; I fell in love with the character. I knew that they were “casting” heavy actresses, very talented from the country, and that it was going to be a challenge.
And as I have always said, I castings they give me a lot of anxiety, they bring out all my insecurities, but I also see the fun side and the opportunity, and the humble side, because I say to myself: “If this character arrived, I receive him with the humility with which I should receive him, and play a little”. So, that’s what I did, I looked for many things in the character. I always say that this makes me laugh a lot castingbecause I found so many things about the character, and when they called me to call back with the director, he turned the character into a completely different thing. And that’s when I reaffirm my work.
We are like a team behind, like a car. You think you are the only main piece, and the castings for me they are that. The director transformed my character, guided me, gave me ideas to do the casting. And two or three days later she called me to tell me that the role was mine, that I was the Rosa she was looking for.
Who is Rosa in the story?
The protagonist is a Venezuelan woman who, together with her husband, organized protests in a very difficult stage in Venezuela, where they demanded freedom, rights and all the things that we as humans believe are given to us because that’s the way it has to be, but in reality many do not. So, along with her daughter, she runs away to the United States; but from there they deport her and return her to Venezuela. And there they already have to see the short film so as not to damage the story.
His daughter, in fiction, is the Ecuadorian Marina Lalama…
It’s marvelous. I always told her parents, who always accompanied her, that she is a diamond in the rough and that this girl has her innate talent. It is wonderful to work with her, her experience was incredible. We finished shooting super late and she was still super excited, more than all of us. It was a pleasure working with her. (Rosa) She is one of my characters that plays mom, I haven’t always played mom, and she (Marina) made it very easy. She made the character have a lot of fun, that she found many nuances. She is a very organic girl as an actress, so a very nice job was done with her.
Before she played Colombian (Without breasts there is paradise) and now personifies a Venezuelan woman. How do you take on that challenge?
The truth is that, when we launched WelcomeBack, I said that it was a complete honor for me to be able to wear the colors of Venezuela. It is complex: it is the second time that I play a character that is not from my country, and the country allows me and gives me that opportunity. With Martina it was the same, I played Colombian; and here, like Rosa, I play Venezuelan. This is the fun of being an actress, being able to dress as whoever you want, how you want and wherever; and I received it like that, I received it as a challenge, I received it as a responsibility, I took it with all the law; and dressing myself as a Venezuelan, and not only as a Venezuelan, but as a Venezuelan and from that country and from the pain and anguish and from everything that they, as a brother country, are experiencing, was a responsibility, a challenge. And nothing, I hope that, when they see it, they can enjoy it, and also see and be able to give their opinion and feel if I did a good job, and if I was really able to give the public a little bit of what they are experiencing right now.
Being on HBO Max is also opening the door to future local artists…
Yes, I have always said it, the country has a lot of talent, not only in acting, it has wonderful directors, incredible writers, incredible screenwriters, it has characters that generate wonderful content. We are a country with a lot of talent. Today I was just thanking because I have received many messages of congratulations, and I made a post in my stories saying that I was very grateful and that these congratulations are not only for me, but for an entire country. These small steps, I know they are small compared to the big steps that perhaps other people are taking in other countries, but this for me is a small window where they see us. These windows are the chance that they see us, that Ecuador is on the map, that it is on the field and that we have talent.
off screen
During the time of the pandemic, Gallardo stayed in Ecuador with his family. Although he has not been linked to local productions (the last television intervention he did was in If possible, from Ecuavisa), has taken up new projects for his personal and professional growth, but in other areas.
“The pandemic brought me back to my family and I was able to have a lot of time with them; it also brought me back to many things. I’m studying psychology. It opened the doors for me to do some business of my own: today I am dedicated to a well-being line together with my best friend, who is also my partner, and very soon she is going to leave. They are my undertakings. Indeed, I am going again, my plans include going to Colombia and then to Mexico”, says the 30-year-old artist.
The director
Tiffany K. Guillen is the director, producer and screenwriter of the film Welcome Back. Born in the United States, the daughter of Venezuelan migrant parents, Ella Tiffany assures that the education she received from her at home and the culture linked her to Venezuela from an early age. “My mother is Venezuelan and she gave me a very Venezuelan education. She took me to Venezuela to visit our family 2 to 3 times a year and so she became my second home,” she says.
She further maintains that “having lived in the United States with immigrant parents, I often think about how my destiny has been impacted by migration. It has been difficult to watch my family struggle to stay on their own land that they do not want to leave. They want to stay there, they love their home but eventually it may be that if things don’t get better, they may have no choice but to leave. Many close friends and family had to leave and I have witnessed the hardships they had to face.”
The short film that takes place in fiction in Venezuela but was recorded in two other countries. “We ended up shooting 90% of everything in Quito and the rest in Los Angeles. The movie starts with Rosa and Sophie being deported and this part we had to shoot in the United States,” he says.
“When I decided to become a filmmaker, I promised myself that I would only do it if I could tell stories that could help others. As a filmmaker, I feel that telling human stories with a social message is much more than my job, it is my responsibility. We have this wonderful platform that allows us to have a voice on behalf of those who have been silenced and put a face to those who feel invisible. Film is one of the arts where a lesson can be disguised as entertainment, while at the same time inciting discussions that may never have taken place,” Tiffany K Guillen, director of Welcome Back.
Tiffany mentions that the decision to shoot the production in Ecuador was made by a friend who lives in the Ecuadorian capital. “The last time I came to Quito in 2016, while walking through the city, I felt that certain parts resembled Venezuela. I even felt that it smelled like Venezuela. It made me feel nostalgic. I remember saying: I would do anything to make a movie here. When I decided to go ahead with this film, I knew that if I wanted to authentically portray the world of Venezuela, I needed a location that could provide the aesthetic reality we were looking for. A lot of people can’t believe the extent of the situation in Venezuela, so I knew I had to do a good job of not just telling them, but showing it. It was about finding the right places in Quito that we were finally able to find,” she says. (AND)
Source: Eluniverso
Paul is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment and general news. He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established herself as a respected voice in the industry.
