One day, when he was finishing school, he saw a film being taken on the street. He became fascinated by observing elements such as taps, felt that he wanted to devote himself to this, and set to work in search of castings upon returning from classes. The results came soon after, at the age of 14, when he participated in one of the most successful series in Spain. Prince (Telechinko).

Since then, the young man living in Madrid has been combining acting with creating content on social networks -reject the term influential personin accordance with Independent—. And everything didn’t go badly at all. Currently, Hamza Zaidi, who was born in Morocco but has lived in Madrid since he was two years old, has accumulated 2.3 million followers on TikTok. with your humorous videos.

In addition, the premiere will take place on December 1st. Eight Moroccan surnames, the return to the big screen of the successful Spanish film saga. Carmen is in it (Elena Irureta) wants to fulfill the last wishes of José Maria, her husband and family patriarch: return Sardinetathe first fishing vessel in its fleet to anchor in a Moroccan port.

On the trip from Cantabria to Morocco she will be accompanied by her daughter Begoña (Michelle Jenner) and her ex-boyfriend Guillermo (Julian Lopez), desperately trying to win back his love. Between cultural clashes, they will also discover the great secret of José Maria.

Ask.- Why did you decide to join the film?

Reply.- I received an offer by email, made two castings and it went very well with a character that has a lot to do with my life. The boy speaks Spanish, but lives there, in Morocco. It was interesting for the film, I think The character greatly enriches the plot. He is a translator, he meets with the main characters, immigrants from Spain, and acts as a mediator. I liked the way it was written.

IN.- Did you manage to watch the film? Your opinion?

A.- Yes, we were able to see it in the summer. This makes for a very cool storyline because it starts with Julián and Michelle, who are from Cantabria and are very conservative, they have a very extremist mentality, and when they come to Morocco, you can see them breaking their stereotypes: They think that they will be robbed, that everything is deserted, that everyone is terrorists.…little by little they learn what Morocco is. The film has a vengeful tone to it, not to mention it is entertaining and makes people laugh all the time.

IN.- Previous parts of the saga broke records. Do you think this will help combat racist prejudice?

A.- Yes, sure. Because of the way it ends. Shows type a mentality that actually exists, although it makes it a caricature. They eventually discover that we are neighbors, much more alike than we thought, and that we have been living together for a long time.

IN.- Is the spectrum of roles opening up for racialized actors or are stereotypical characters still prevalent?

A.- Little by little. I was lucky to see the projects France and the USA and in comparison we are behind, it is clear that there are two generations of Moroccans ahead. This is where we begin to take our place. When I was 14 years old when I started filming the first series, I played a child jihadi. Next, Ignorance of bloodWith Paz Vega and Juan Diego BottoSame thing: he was a jihadist and had to kill. I started out very strongly in these stereotypical roles and realized that once that trend wore off, people stopped calling me for jobs. castings, because Moroccan profiles were no longer interesting. Since I liked translating, I started with social networks. But at the same time, I was lucky because I was hired from Netflix in Crime Readers Clubwhat comes first slasher Spanish is created by the platform. I really liked it because my character was streamer named Koldo, and his life is similar to mine. And for the first time in my entire acting career, I didn’t play a Moroccan character as such, I was just a Basque boy who had nothing in common with the stereotypes that are always imposed on us. Also I really liked it because finally I didn’t have to fake an accent., something I’m almost always asked about, even though I’ve been here all my life. It’s shocking to have to put on such an emphasis to fit in.

IN.- This is a very volatile sector.

A.- Fully! This is difficult even with any recognition. I have a colleague who suddenly won the Goya revelation and did not work that same year. I think that The key to this is that you find your space..

IN.- What’s your gap?

A.- I have a mini computer with Cayetana Guillen Cuervo and with Ayoub El Hilaly, we’ve created a very cool energy there, we actually have SL together where we create projects, ideas we have, we like artificial intelligence, going off the beaten path… we meet when we can and write. We’re starting with short films so we don’t break the bank and hope that production companies will be interested in forming a team.

From the first role in Prince then Rosa Estevez When the casting director signed him, he remembers the experience of seeing his face everywhere in advertising every day. These days, he tries to try new and different projects as he believes that this is what every good actor should strive for. Additionally, he notes that comedians tend to be pigeonholed, which is something he doesn’t want to happen to him due to his social media content. “TO Kim GutierrezFor example, in Spain he is only called to act in humor, but in France he acts more in dramas. You have to be careful when you are labeled. Yeah Jose Mota suddenly he created a drama, it would be strange for me, because all my life I laughed with him on New Year’s Eve,” he reflects.

IN.- Do you remember the time when your social networks they exploded?

A.- I was still training and doing theater and started trying when Instagram started 15 second videos, but what He beats me This came much later. It wasn’t until 2015-2016 that a video comparing Spain and Morocco went viral overnight, although it also didn’t get a million views, but 10,000, when I was getting about 2,000 views a day. And the persistence I’ve shown since then has kept me going… until in the video I said the phrase “What is wrong with you?“This phrase made me semi-famous, I said it in a Moroccan accent and people at the time thought it was very funny. And I took advantage of this, I even produced sweatshirts and caps. There were people like Brows, who became famous overnight thanks to the Bad Bunny video. It’s hard, but mine was more progressive.

“There was a time when I had 1 million subscribers, people knew me… and I had 20 euros in my account.”

Hamza Zaidi

IN.- What do you think about the best and worst networks?

A.- When I reached a million subscribers, I remember that I was already known on the street, but I had 20 euros in my account and my friends invited me. Previously, the number of subscribers and money were not proportionalcompanies didn’t even invest. The best thing is that you can make money if you set it up well and manage it well, which was not the case five years ago. They also invite you to the places you get status, although it is sometimes tiring. The worst thing is solitude, you go to a cool place and you can’t be calm, everyone is looking at you, sometimes they record you…

IN.- Raise money for child victims of Gaza. Do you think content creators have a responsibility to use their speaker for something like this?

A.- Everyone does what they want. It comes to me because I know where everything comes from. The last few weeks have been an incredible disaster, but I support for Palestine long before that. People with large numbers of followers do not participate because they will be scattered. You must be clear about what you are going to say, this is a topic you need to be careful with. I reject that innocent people are dying under the pretext of searching for certain people when it is clear that they are seeking to leave an empty territory and create a new country. I have a collection because it is minimal, I have many Muslim followers from the East… Our grandparents also faced similar things and we feel identified, but a lot of people aren’t even close to that and aren’t going to take a stand. Sooner or later they will find out from the networks what is happening, we are spectators of genocide.