L.A.-based Outsider Pictures has boarded Jonás Trueba’s “You Have to Come and See It” and “The Romantic Exiles.” Both films – produced by Madrid-based Los Ilusos Films – will be released in the U.S. in late Spring 2023.
“Outsider Pictures has already released [Trueba’s previous film] ‘The August Virgin’ in the U.S. in 2020,” points out producer Javier Lafuente, Praising the idea of a unique double-bill that should certainly satisfy arthouse lovers.
“You Have to Come and See It,” about two couples in their thirties pondering life and clocking in at just 64 minutes, premiered at Karlovy Vary in July to appreciative reviews, with Variety calling it “a rich and refreshing meditation on friendship, philosophy, art and ping-pong that suggests no film needs to run much longer than an hour.”
“As sociable and swiggable as a draught or 10 of sweetly fortified wine,” continued the review.
“In fact, it’s an aperitif that proves so satisfying, so simple and sunny and sage, that you might find yourself filling up on its drowsily erudite, oddly nourishing pleasures and forgetting about lunch altogether.”
Outsider Pictures’ CEO Paul Hudson closed the deal with Luis Renart of Bendita Film Sales.
“Jonás Trueba, in collaboration with his usual actors and crew, has once again created a playful story with regard for small details that makes it fit well with ‘The Romantic Exiles,’” he said.
“I have released shorts with features before, so I think releasing two short stories together is a variant on that theme. It’s also a throwback to how films were released in the golden age of Hollywood, so why not?”“For me, Jonás makes films that excel in picking out details of life that when added together make for something familiar yet well observed, dramatic but also comical. I think the success of ‘The August Virgin’ in France opened the eyes of the film community and Karlovy Vary’s selection of ‘You Have to Come and See It’ was a recognition that his work is gaining importance.”
Trueba, born in 1981, made his directorial debut in 2010 with “Every Song Is About Me.” Awarded at San Sebastian and Karlovy Vary, he is a co-founder of Los Ilusos Films.
In “The Romantic Exiles,” a road movie with a melancholic, Rohmer-like twist, Spanish filmmaker focuses on three friends jumping into an old van and trying to reunite with women they cannot forget – for various reasons and with varying levels of success.
Although Trueba shot “The Romantic Exiles” seven years earlier, he notices a connection between his two films.
“Both films were born in a very intuitive, almost spontaneous way. We shot them very fast, joyfully, but in very different circumstances,” he states.
While “The Romantic Exiles” tries to capture a sense of a fleeting love, as well as the end of youth and the end of summer, his latest feature was heavily influenced by the pandemic, he said, mentioning “the sadness and estrangement it generated in all of us.”
“One is more youthful and the other one more mature, but both share a certain humor and melancholy. Also, both star Vito Sanz and Francesco Carril, and seeing them change and age a bit can be interesting as well,” he adds.
“I always wanted to make films that ‘dialogue’ with each other or even contradict each other. For us, making films is a way of being in the world, of growing together.”
Lafuente adds: “They are made by practically the same technical and artistic team. They resemble life, or at least a fragment of life.”
“Reaching and connecting with viewers in such an important country is certainly a big challenge for these two simple films. Films that are not so much about elaborate plot or storyline, but about creating a space in which we can all coexist and share thoughts.”