Hajar Brown stars in ‘In a Minute’: “I don’t want to leave my roots because of housing”

The Spanish actress of Moroccan origin Hajar Brown has regretted that the housing crisis is making it difficult for young people to build a stable life project and has warned that the children of migrants may be forced to abandon their roots and leave the places where their families settled to offer them a better future.

“I don’t want to leave my roots because of housing. “My family has not emigrated so that I too have to leave where I feel and where I belong,” The interpreter has defended herself in an interview with Europa Press, in which she confesses that she has “always” had an “identity crisis.” The young woman stars alongside Luna Pamies in the play ‘In a minute’, by Inmaculada Alvear.

Brown explains that her brother has had to leave Madrid to access housing and maintain a “reasonable” quality of life, a situation that she fears will end up affecting her as well. “I own a house, forget it, never. I only think about the next month and still having to pay the rent“, he laments.

At this point, the actress admits that her only motivation is “to be able to travel”, since she considers that it is more accessible than a home, and adds that the uncertainty of housing also affects not being able to start a family. “Everything about progressing as an individual and doing what all humans have done until now, which is being born, growing, living, having a roof over their heads, is being a bit frustrating.“, he maintains. In his case, he adds, the problem also affects his leisure, his environment and his expectations for the future.

Brown, who works as an engineer and also develops her activity on social networks – where she has more than 100,000 followers – believes that even this situation does not guarantee the economic stability necessary to face the future with peace of mind. “The salary of an engineer now is nothing no matter how much you have studied“, he laments.

In the same interview, Luna Pamies, who makes her theater debut with ‘In a minute’ after having worked in film, also warns of the difficulties that young people face in accessing housing. The actress acknowledges that she lives with her partner in a house that his father left them, but considers it “very impossible” to be able to have her own house in the future.

“I don’t have a house, my mother lives in my grandparents’ house and my parents are not going to leave me a house“explains Pamies, who describes the rental situation in Madrid as “huge.” The interpreter gives as an example the evolution of prices in the province of Alicante, where she is from. “In Orihuela the apartments are 600 euros a rent, which is not that bad, but three years ago they were 400“.

LUNA PAMIES: “THE SITUATION FOR YOUNG PEOPLE IS FUCKED UP”

In addition, he assures that he knows friends who live for rent, as a couple or sharing a flat and who “can’t wait to become independent and be able to live alone.” “The situation for young people is screwed,” admits.

The work ‘In a minute’ addresses issues such as racism, machismo and prejudice through two neighboring couples from different cultures who begin to get to know each other and question the preconceived ideas they had about each other.

Brown considers that the story connects especially with current events and with a society in which, in his opinion, discourses of rejection are intensifying. “I am now seeing a more growing Islamophobia also because it is used as a political weapon“, he states, while denouncing the mixing of concepts such as immigration, crime, Islam and the use of the veil. “The extreme right is doing a good job in terms of disinformation”he states.

CLIMATE OF REJECTION SIMILAR TO THAT AFTER 11M

The actress assures that she perceives a climate of rejection that reminds her of her childhood, after the 11M attacks. “I feel the same atmosphere as when I was little, I feel the same tension. For example, women suffer more because we wear a scarf.“he explains, in reference to the looks and attitudes.

In the professional field, Brown demands a greater diversity of characters for racialized actresses, and remembers that for years she did not dare to express out loud her desire to be an actress because she did not see references that looked like her, at the same time she regrets that she still has to demonstrate that she can play roles that are not defined exclusively by her origin or her religion.

““I would love to play characters that have nothing to do with my origin or my religion,” has exposed. For her part, Pamies plays Elvira, a young woman whose racist thoughts are conditioned by her partner. His character begins to question these ideas when he meets Mal, a Muslim woman, and discovers that the prejudices he has assumed do not necessarily correspond to reality.

“It’s a very beautiful story that I think will make people think,” says Pamies, who especially highlights the moment in which her character confronts her husband for the first time. The actress believes that, although society has advanced, there are still people who remain closed to other realities and defends the need to get closer to other cultures to get to know them better.

“We all have some prejudices“, he acknowledges, before emphasizing that the work invites us to question them and lose the fear of the unknown.