Lester Hamlet announces Tú, the Cuban telenovela we've been waiting for in 2020

January 10, 2020

With Lester Hamlet, the director of films like Casa Vieja and Fábula, we spoke exclusively about his first telenovela.

From cinema to the small screen travels Lester Hamlet to direct Tú, a novel that, barely a month into filming, already awakens many expectations.

On social media, through the profiles of the actors and actresses and the filmmaker himself, clues have been appearing that are making it popular even before entering our homes.

―What can you tell us in advance about this series? What's it about?

―It's a novel where the main setting is the world of the deaf, the world of otolaryngologists, but a specialty that involves cochlear implants, which are the ones that restore hearing to children, so imagine from that center how many emotions revolve around it. It's a series where there will also be love, where there will also be evil, jealousy, intrigues, but it has that more scientific base, a very beautiful environment. But above all it's going to be a series of performances, of actors, of very significant characters. We're doing very strong work with the characters and they're enjoying it to the fullest, because I have a wonderful cast.

―Can you mention some names?

―There's Michaelis Cué, who plays Doctor Gonzalo, who is the character who opens the novel. Alicia Echevarría also accompanies me, with whom I already have Fábula, I have the privilege of counting on Deysi Granado in one of the main roles, Gabriel Wood who will be the protagonist doctor. Many other actors are also accompanying me like María Eugenia Barrios, Gretel Cazón, Daysi Quintana, Leo Benítez, Armando Miguel, Yasbell Rodríguez. There are Néstor and Luisa María Jiménez, Fernando Echevarría, Isabel Santos, it's a wealth of actors that adorn each chapter for me.

"It's going to be a very musical series, as I tend to be. I have some of the cast members singing, including Alicia, Bárbaro Marín, there's the debut of an actress I've wanted to work with for a long time, Marta Montalvo, who has wonderful work in the series."

―Networks are already buzzing with news that we'll see the popular singer Haila María Mompié act. Are there more surprises like that?

―There are many special appearances, for example, Telmary is invited and has already filmed one of her scenes, Haila María Mompié, Luna Manzanares, El Chacal, Michel Mirabal, the plastic artist, who will have very nice roles and everyone does things completely removed from their work in real life. They're people I have a different kind of relationship with, but since I know their desire to act, I've invited them to one chapter, two or three scenes, brief characters, that will be enhanced by them.

―So you've managed to draw out the theatrical fiber in all of them…

―No, they've managed to draw out the emotional fiber in me, it's been very surprising. At this point I've only filmed with Telmary and it was impressive.

―Are you satisfied with what's happening?

I'm very happy with how things are turning out. It's a telenovela from the Production Company, it's supposed that Tú will be the novel of 2020, the finale…

―It's your first telenovela…

―This is my telenovela. I don't think I'll make another one. Television requires a pace that I find very hard to understand, to face. I do it with great pleasure and I enjoy it very much, but I prefer the tempo of cinema, a bit more relaxed, a bit more… to put it some way, respectful of creation. Television scares you because of how fast and dynamic it can be and you don't have the opportunity to go back… Maybe I'll do another one, you know everyone says this is the last thing I'll do and then they come back… I don't know, right now I think it will be my only telenovela.

―And why did you decide to take on this series?

―I wasn't very sure about doing it, but I fell in love with the atmosphere of the novel, the world of the deaf, being able to have actors speaking sign language, I confess that's what made me fall in love, there are many scenes in the school, we have the advisory of Tati, one of the wonderful teachers there. In the cast I have two children, which is very difficult work, there's Edgar Quintero and Alexander, who have truly been two revelations for me, because I never thought I'd be lucky enough to find so much talent in such young children and truly every day with them has been wonderful.

―How much of the cinema's aesthetics have you brought to television?

―Everything. I don't know how to do anything else. If there's a way to do television I don't know it. What I've done in my life are movies. It's the first time I've approached television and besides, I'm not a telenovela viewer, so I keep doing what I believe I know how to do, I keep setting up the cameras the way I always have. I also have the presence of Ariel Navarro, who is my cinematographer, with whom I'm very happy because he supports me in all these more cinematic craziness, to put it some way, and I work with lenses, depth of field, framing, camera movements, we'll see what comes out of that.