Veneno (TV series)


Veneno is a 2020 Spanish biographical television limited series, created by Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo for Atresmedia. The series, which tells the life and death of Spanish transgender singer and television personality Cristina Ortiz Rodríguez, better known by the nickname "La Veneno", is based on the biography ¡Digo! Ni puta ni santa. Las memorias de La Veneno by Valeria Vegas.
The full season was scheduled to be released on March 29, 2020 on private streaming platform Atresmedia Premium but, due to the 2019-20 coronavirus pandemic, production and post-production could not be completed. Thus, only the first of eight episodes aired on that date. The second episode aired on June 28, 2020.

Background

In May 2019 it was announced that Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi were in talks to produce, write and direct a biopic about the life of Spanish transgender TV personality "La Veneno" for Atresmedia. In November 2019 the cast was confirmed, with Jedet, Daniela Santiago and Isabel Torres being selected to play the main character, Cristina Ortiz, in the series. The selection was very well received by the general public who thanked the duo for choosing three genuine transgender women to play a transgender woman. Filming began on December 16 in Isleta del Moro, a small town in the province of Almería. Production later extended to Adra, Valencia and the Community of Madrid and was scheduled to last four months, ending in March 2020. Production was shut in early March due to Spain's national lockdown, decreed on March 14 and caused by the 2019-20 coronavirus pandemic, which had already infected over 5,000 people by that date.
On January 17 and 25, the first two teasers were posted on social media. On January 28 it was announced that the series would be released on Atresmedia Premium in March 2020. The official release date was revealed on February 14. The series' poster was revealed on March 6 with the final trailer being released a week later.

Synopsis

Veneno focuses on the life and death of one of the most important and beloved LGBT icons in Spain, known as La Veneno. Despite being known for her charisma, and a fun personality, La Veneno's life and death remains an enigma. This story tells the experiences of a struggling transsexual woman, who achieved fame with television appearances in the 90s and conquered the audience with a unique vision of the world. Throughout his life, the LGBT story in Spain is narrated from the 1960s to the present day.
The series follows the story of Valeria Vegas, a journalism student who never understood why people called her by a name that was not her own, the same thing that happened to Cristina, by then misnamed “Joselito” and the same one she had they have to survive a cruel and violent childhood under the Spain of the 60s. Two women who were born in very different times but who end up united forever when Valeria decides to write a book about the life of the iconic Cristina, La Veneno. The series also talks about the importance and relevance of the mass media, how they can popularize or marginalize in just one second.

Context

Spain, 1990s. The last decade of the first millennium was an amazing and turbulent one for Spain. The 1992 Summer Olympic Games were held in Barcelona transforming the city in its whole and showing the world the new open and democratic Spain after the Francoist Dictatorship, the 1992 Universal Exposition was held in Seville and Spain started an internationalitzation process to let the world know the country. Tourism raised and so did the economy. What visitors did not know is that the country was in a process of moral reconstruction after a 35-year totalitary dictatorship. A lot of people were still fanatics of those kind of politics. The mentality of the dictatorship included press and personal censorship, repression and persecution of minorities or left-wing people. After this dark period the social movement popularly known as "Movida Madrileña" started. This movement consisted in making use of the freedom you had been deprived. Music, press and people could now express themselves completely without being afraid of being taken to prison nor being assassinated. Thus, Madrid became this liberty paradise within Spain, filled with parties, wild life and cultural activities of all kind of ideologies. The democratic transition started in the 1980s even though, as said, the essence and soul of Franco was still present even though he was dead. The first five years of the 1990s decade in Spain were a dark life-changing period for the counrty due to the huge amount of corruption scandals, terrorist attacks and due to the assassination of three 14-year old girls in the province of Valencia. The girls were kidnapped in November 1992 by two young men after they both agreed to take them to a youth discotheque in Picassent. They were taken to a ruined rural house in the middle of the hills in Tous where they were raped, tortured and killed. Through the research, the discovery of the bodies in January 1993, its respective funeral and judgment, the media was always present since one of the girls' parent recurred to the press in first instance to find them. When it was revealed that the girls thumbed to go to the club, women's liberty was reduced considerably due to all the terror this action generated now. The essence of freedom in Spain declined and social cronic shows started appearing on national television.
One of the most popular ones and the most important was :es:Esta noche cruzamos el Mississippi|Esta Noche Cruzamos el Mississippi, hosted by journalist Pepe Navarro. This TV show mixed humorous sketches and news of social chronicle. It is mostly known because of its humor and in major part due to the exhaustive investigation and following of the triple crime known as the Alcàsser Girls murder. El Mississippi, aired on Telecinco, became the most-watched late night show in Spain. In April 1996 journalist Faela Sainz, had to make a reportage for Navarro's show. After being scammed in her first try of making a reportage in Chueca, Sainz drove to the Parque del Oeste to film how prostitution took place in Madrid, to show the world something that was still very mute in the press. Separated in two "districts", the park was filled with transgender and non-transgender prostitutes. The journalist, alongside a camera and audio man, interviewed some of them. At one point she interviews Cristina Ortiz Rodríguez which adopted the alias of "La Veneno" due to the 1976 Los Chunguitos track "Dame Veneno". The interview with La Veneno aired on live television on April 15. The audience constantly asked the show when she was going to make an appearance. After two weeks insisting, Ortiz made an appearance on the show on April 29, 1996 and became a regular member of the crew. Her undeniable beauty, unbeliably raw stories, soez language, light and sense of humor cautivated the public, making Navarro's show reach 8 million viewers every time she made an appearance. La Veneno became one of the first transgender people to show Spain the raw but true reality of prostitution, poverty and minority disrespect even in an own family. Since that moment, she became an instant LGBT icon in Spain and a voice for all transgender and homosexual people who have been repressed for their personal identity. When Esta Noche Cruzamos el Mississippi ended in 1997, La Veneno did two R-rated movies, released an EP and continued appearing in other television shows like La Sonrisa del Pelícano or Sálvame. In 2003 she enters prison due to fraud. After being released from prison in 2006, transgender University of Valencia student Valeria Vegas meets La Veneno and become close to each other. In October 2016 La Veneno's memories "¡Digo! Ni Puta ni Santa. Las Memorias de la Veneno", written by Vegas, were released.

Release and reception

Since the release of the series' first episode on March 29, 2020 the number of subscribers to Atresmedia Premium grew 42%, reaching 3.3 million subscribers. Veneno had the best debut of a series in the platform's history and is the most-watched programme on Atresmedia Premium being 10 times more watched than any other show on it to date.

Critical reception

Veneno received universal acclaim from critics upon release. Several critics named the series "a must see", "a moving and complex story within a brilliant fiction that is emotional and necessary", "an interesting and risky proposal about the Spanish icon" as well as "a work of art". The first episode was named "an excellent presentation letter". The general public thanked the series for giving visibility to trans people; also mentioning the greatness of the production and photography. A Twitter user said: "I defend my right to have this series hurt me, it hurts you, I am excited at the same time that it excites you and allows me in these times to continue reflecting on the degree of humanity that exists in each one of us".

Cast