“Chromosoma 21”, the first series in Chile with actors with Down syndrome as protagonists

Police officers break into a crime scene. Hidden, stained with blood and traces of gunpowder, the main suspect appears, but not just anyone: he is a young man with Down syndrome. This is how it starts “Chromosome 21”the first Chilean series starring actors with this genetic condition.

It is the first time that a series featuring people with Down syndrome is broadcast on open television in Chile, the Latin American country with the highest incidence of people born with this condition, 2.4 per 1,000 births, according to the ECLAMC Latin American Collaborative Study of Genetic Malformations.

It is an eight-episode police thriller that, far from delivering a paternalistic vision, shows them as people “with their lights and shadows,” the director reflects in an interview with AFP along with the cast at the headquarters of Channel 13 in Santiago, where series is broadcast.

“In this series they are not treated as little angels nor are they treated as children, but as adults, as people, with their lights and their shadows,” says Matías Venables, the director of the series of which Three episodes have been broadcast with great success.

Sebastián Solorza, 40, and Pía Urrutia, 29, are the actors with Down syndrome in leading roles.

Solorza plays “Tomy”, the main suspect in the crime that occurs inside a factory and whom the police find in a state of shock.

Urrutia is Cristina, “Tomy’s” girlfriend, with whom she lives a stormy relationship since, as they belong to different social classes, their families oppose their being together.

a learning journey

Matías Venables does not have anyone in his environment with Down syndrome but six years ago he decided to work with people who had this genetic condition.

He thought of a comedy or a drama, but then he opted for a police story to reach a larger audience. And also to be able to talk about Chile today.

“I wanted through this story to also talk about Chile, of today’s Chile. From unequal Chile, where the place where you are born still determines a lot where you end your life and the opportunities you have, “he says, about the two worlds in the plot.

The series was recorded for three months. The cast had to adapt to working with actors with Down syndrome, in a situation not very different, they say, from the special requirements that other actors without this condition also express.

While Pía Urrutia learned her speeches, Sebastián Solorza -who cannot read- had to be guided in his dialogues by the director through a hearing aid.

“For me it was a tremendous challenge but finally it was a joy: Sebastián is very magical, very talented and luminous and as an actor one lets himself be permeated by that energy,” says Gastón Salgado, an emerging actor in Chile, who in the series plays “Beckham”, Tomy’s delinquent brother, the bad example of the family.

The actress Valentina Muhr gets into the shoes of the police who take the case into their hands and tries to understand whether or not a person with Down syndrome can commit a murder and if they are aware of it.

“I had never worked with people with Down syndrome and it was not so different. It was not so different a challenge from working with people with other special conditions, such as mothers or children,” Muhr reflects when speaking to AFP.

Boundaries

The series premiered on October 14. That day was the most commented topic on the Twitter social network as a result of the dilemmas it poses:

How autonomous can people with Down’s syndromeWhat is the criminal responsibility of someone with that condition? Is it legitimate for people with Down syndrome to dream of having a family?

The protagonists of the series themselves deliver their answers. “I can act anywhere, because my dream is to be a Hollywood actor,” says Sebastián Solorza excitedly.

In addition to being an actress, Pía Urrutia participates in a modern dance group that recently appeared in Montevideo, and from Monday to Friday she works as an administrative assistant in a private clinic in Santiago.

“There are people who look at us and tell us: They are actors! And we are capable of giving everything,” Urrutia says proudly.

In spain, Javier Fesser’s film “Champions”, starring the disabled, was a box office success in 2018 and won three Goya awards. In 2021 the Spanish “Valentina”, about a girl with Down syndrome, won the Goya for best animated film.