An Interview with Nacho Carretero of Fariña : Awareness and Activism through Transmedia Storytelling

An Interview with Nacho Carretero of Fariña:Awareness and Activism through Transmedia Storytelling Joanne Britland How does a local, critical news story reach a global audience through cultural production? How might a story's availability on different media platforms generate awareness and activism? In May of 2023, I had the opportunity to explore these topics with Spanish journalist, Nacho Carretero, in a discussion about his book Fariña (2015). Fariña, which means "flour" in the Galician language, is also a colloquial reference to cocaine due to the almost identical appearance of the two. Fariña, the book, is a piece of journalistic nonfiction that investigates the history of narcotrafficking in Galicia and reveals the role of public officials in the illegal trade. As Carretero explains, much of Fariña's global recognition was due to an unfortunate and unplanned event. José Alfredo Bea Gondar, the former mayor of O Grove in Pontevedra (Galicia), sued the book's publisher, Libros del K.O., and Nacho Carretero for Fariña's representation of his involvement in drug trafficking, which led to the sequestration of the book on February 12, 2018. The ban lasted for four months, until June 22, 2018 (Jabois, El País). News of the ban was shared widely via digital platforms, and readers distributed the book through social media applications. In solidarity, bookshops posted photos of the book in their store window. The book quickly became a symbol for "the freedom of speech," with the ban occurring during a week when other high-profile news stories related to censorship occurred, such as the sentencing of the rapper, Valtònic, and the removal of Santiago Serra's "Presos políticos" exhibit from ARCOMadrid. These coinciding cases prompted many to call it "La semana trágica de la libertad de expresión," referencing the 1909 Semana trágica in Barcelona (AP News 2022). The popular resistance against the ban even prompted the Spanish media network Antena 3 to expedite the release of the television adaptation of Fariña, which gave the story more visibility. Scholars such as Stam (2005) and Jenkins (2006) note that when a story originating in one medium is adapted to different formats, it promotes diverse forms of audience engagement. This makes Fariña an apt case study, as Carretero's journalistic endeavor has been adapted into different forms of cultural production: a fictional television series, theatrical piece, and comic. This interview with Carretero explores how Fariña's multiple adaptations and transmedia storytelling foster different forms of engagement with the audience and how this might facilitate political and social activism. In the interview, Carretero provides other examples of journalistic projects that later extended into other formats. These include En el corredor de la muerte (2019), a television series with Bambú Producciones and Movistar+ based on Carretero's 2018 eponymous book, and his current project, the television series Marbella (also with Bambú and Movistar+), an adaptation of a 2021 news article Carretero published in El País with Arturo Lezcano. This interview highlights the increasing recognition of Spanish regional cultural production, in part due to adaptations on multiple media and streaming platforms. By closely working with the creators of the adaptations, many of whom are also from Galicia, Carretero was able to End Page 3 ensure that the Fariña productions remained true to the story's Galician roots. The story, available in various sources of media, revealed a critical situation occurring in Galicia and shared it with a global audience. Fariña and Carretero's other works provide examples of how cultural production can generate awareness and change. Joanne Britland (JB): ¿Cómo fue el proceso de escritura de Fariña? ¿Tenías una idea en mente antes de comenzar a escribir? Nacho Carretero (NC): Sinceramente, no era un plan que tuviera desde un tiempo atrás o algo que siempre quisiera hacer. No es ese proyecto romántico vital que siempre llevé dentro y por fin logré hacer. Sin embargo, sí era una historia que desde muy joven tenía claro que era necesario que fuera contada. Y más bien Fariña, pero sin llamarse Fariña, la historia del narcotráfico en...