Humor, the ‘medicine’ with which he overcame the coronavirus

Fernando ‘El Flaco’ Solórzano, although born in Cartagena, is already considered one more Caleño, not only does he live in Cali with his wife Lorena Altamirano, he also has a gastronomy business and is one of the so-called Guardians of Life, a series of leaders who work in the municipalities of Cali to promote the new norms through art, in their case, through theater.

It amuses him to think that a soap opera that aired 20 years ago, like “Pedro, El Escamoso”, will once again have an impact on people, which he attributes to the scripts, but above all to the characters: Doña Nidia, the pastor Gaitán, the Señor Perafán, El Mompirri, Mayerli and Pedro himself, played by Miguel Varoni.

Nothing more different from him than his character, René, “very lonely, always looking for affection, love, but very bad in his relationships, which kept him frustrated and embittered, until the arrival of Pedro, who became his best friend and changed a little.

Solórzano says that this telenovela, which lasted about 700 episodes, “we have recorded and recorded and that it is never finished”, is refreshing for the present moment, because “humor has always been a medicine for our realities which are so difficult, that calms and connects us with other things, gives us a healthy recreation from home “.

However, he agrees with colleague Miguel Varoni that reruns are not the most acceptable, “the national channels are going through a very difficult time, not in terms of audience, but in advertising, which has dropped a lot, prices are no longer . from before, and they have to publish productions that they already had and that do not involve any cost, but for us, the actors, the directors, the screenwriters and all of us who make up the production team is tenacious because publishing ‘Pedro, El Escamoso’ is equivalent to being told: “What a pity, but for now we will not produce” “, says Solórzano.

As he says, “it is not that the production of national television is over, but that the time has come that – with the Coronavirus – nobody knows what will happen. We understand that there may be a new epidemic of the virus, so the channels say “because we will start a production with this situation, that surely there will be prolonged isolation and everything is hampered”. I think it will continue until next year ”.

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He himself was diagnosed in July, along with his wife, with the virus, and luckily they both got over it.

He clarifies that the actors, for the repetitions of productions in which they participate, receive a sort of collection from Public Broadcasting Right, through a company of actors, but do not receive royalties, “they have eliminated them. Royalties are granted when a channel sells a production to other international channels, which buy the rights of actors and directors, but no channel recognizes us. If they did, it would be the best thing that could happen to us, because it would alleviate the pension and unemployment problems that we don’t have, but the channels, I don’t know why, don’t want to give the twist arm with respect to that “.

He feels lucky to have a job that fills him with satisfaction in the midst of the pandemic.

“We are doing very interesting work with Guardianes de Vida and the office of the mayor of Cali, in Comuna 18 (southwest). I work in the neighborhoods of Altos de Santa Elena, Alto de la Cruz, El Jordán and Brisas de la Chorrera. On October 31 at the Public Library we presented the work of each group. It is a sort of sensitization of the community regarding the new norms, the care of life, the promotion of civilization, the protection of the territory ”. He recounts that several artists come with their knowledge to Cali communities and form musical groups, fine arts, home and community gardens, body readings or stage groups, among others, and create people through art to connect more with the care of self.

He has a production pending with Caracol, who does not know when he will start the recordings “right now everything that will be produced in Colombia is stopped, Argentina and Mexico are producing, here the biosecurity protocols are so complicated that no one dares”.

Fernando Solórzano and his wife have a business in southern Cali called La Chorisserie, and one of their specialties is the famous choripán.

In sentences

“Lorena and I have had the Coronavirus. On July 27, they gave us the diagnosis. He was a very strong pale, but we are already recovering ”.

“The pandemic brought me to Cali to work with the mayor’s office, I’m working on a strategy called Guardians of Life. With this we are trying to raise public awareness, with the new normal. An invitation to take care of yourself, care for the family and those around us. It is a strategy in which I involve acting, as it is based on art ”.