There was a time in Spain when Nevenka’s name made headlines day in and day out in a fierce debate that today would be fought in completely different terms. Much has changed in that country to which 24 years later the former councilor of the Ponferrada city council returns. He returns with the same discretion with which he left after facing infinite levels of society after denouncing the then mayor of his city, Ismael Álvarez, for sexual harassment. The film by Icíar Bollaín, I’m Nevenkahas given her back her story, has brought her back to her country -even if only temporarily- and has given her a standing ovation from the audience of the San Sebastian Festivalwhere, however, he has avoided posing on the red carpet.
© @iciarbollain_soynevenka
© GTRESSIt was an unprecedented case in the public sphere, both because of the step forward of the victim and because of the political relevance of the accused. All of this unleashed a media boom that Nevenka dealt with as best she could until she couldn’t take it anymore. Justice ended up agreeing with her after a harsh process that ended up isolating her in her own city. After leaving the Ponferrada town hall, where he had been a Finance Councilor, he was unable to find work. The stigma ended up outweighing the sentence that supported her, so it was she, and not her attacker, who left Spain to start a new life in the United Kingdom.
Her first destination was Chester, a town called Wrexham where she initially went for three months, but ended up finding the tranquility she needed so much with her partner Lucas, her great support since then. There he got a job in a chicken factory and later in a Fish and Chips. It was no problem for her, with a degree in Economics and experience in public administration, to get behind the bar of an establishment. He was happy, he improved his English and turned the page on a painful chapter for which society would still take decades to compensate him.
© @iciarbollain_soynevenkaFinally, he ended up in Ireland, where he created a home with Lucas and the twins they had, whom they named Neo, after the protagonist of Matrixand Lee, after the famous actor Bruce Lee. In Dublin he now has his life and a job at the aeronautical company Airbus, where they finally valued his resume and nothing more. Meanwhile, Nevenka, with help, has been managing and overcoming her pain and Spain has evolved. He does not consider moving back to his country, but at least he receives applause and not murmurs around him.
© @iciarbollain_soynevenka
© @iciarbollain_soynevenkaAlready in 2004, Juan José Millás shed light on the story in the book There is something that is not as it tells me: the case of Nevenka Fernández against reality, where he collects his testimony and the chronicle of the judicial process. 17 years later, the production company Newtral released a documentary about his case that put him back in the spotlight, but also forced us to revisit it with the perspective of the 21st century. Now, Icíar Bollaín’s film brings to the cinema the story that Nevenka still finds difficult to tell in public, because she is not very fond of interviews or talking about herself. In the end his voice, in whatever form it may be, has been heard more than two decades later.
