At the beginning of the summer it was revealed that Movistar Plus+ was preparing a docuseries about Alaska’s life. Today all the details were presented at an event organised by the platform at the FesTVal in Vitoria-Gasteiz. ‘Alaska Revelada’, which is what it will be called, will premiere in December after a 4-month shoot in more than 30 locations between Madrid and Mexico. Archive images also appear that serve the main objective, “to review the life and career of the artist, outlining the lesser-known side of the star.” There will be 3 episodes.
‘Alaska Revealed’ has included the testimony of Olvido Gara herself and her closest circle: her mother América, her husband Mario Vaquerizo, Nacho Canut and Bibiana Fernández. As for the personalities who have been able to participate, there are people as diverse as their own careers: Pedro Almodóvar, Miguel Bosé, Raphael, Aitana, Ana Torroja, Topacio Fresh, Fabio McNamara, Federico Jiménez Losantos and Carlos Jean, among others.
At the presentation, Alaska made a few statements: “I have said no many times to making a documentary about my life. I said yes to doing this project when I received the proposal after seeing that it is not a typical documentary. The way of telling it and its point of view won me over.” Pite Piñas, director, added: “I had doubts about how to approach the documentary. The starting point, after having the first conversations with Alaska, was clear and the documentary series is built around a triptych: health, money and love.”
According to Vertele, Alaska has given of herself things she had never offered before: “Pite has read my diaries with my most intimate things because I think it is important for the documentary. After the first session with her I ended up very touched. Having to remove things is complicated.” She has also spoken of modesty: “Reviewing everything has helped me realize how I was in many situations. On the one hand I have seen myself more fragile than I think, but on the other hand also more powerful.” Or of criticism: “Criticism does not affect me, it is the accumulation. As an artist and as a person I have been used to criticism since I was 12 or 13 years old. When you start from there, obviously it is not that you do not care, it is that you have started from the lowest point. You have the feeling that nobody likes you. Yes, they affect you, but you cannot let that condition you (…) It is a confirmation of how bad we human beings often are.”
Jorge Ortiz de Landázuri, executive producer of Movistar Plus+, has explained the importance of Olvido’s involvement in tackling the project: “We want to tell stories of popular characters. These need to endure over time so that they become iconic, and Alaska is one of them. Personal archives are extremely important when tackling these documentaries, but Alaska’s personal conviction was essential to making this documentary series. We counted on her and her point of view to know that we could do it. ‘Alaska Revealed’ must be something unique.”
The Movistar Plus+ press release states that “the documentary series revives, among others, the most transgressive moments of the Movida Madrileña, a time of freedom and debauchery in which Alaska became a muse and experimented with drugs and sex. The documentary series, which traces the unique evolution of the artist and the person beyond the character, approaches Olvido’s very personal relationship with cosmetic surgery and recovers some of the passages in which the artist has managed to rise from the ashes like a phoenix, capable of adapting to all circumstances.”
