The Other Way Around, the new feature by Jonás Trueba, starring Itsaso Arana and Vito Sanz, will enjoy its world premiere in the Directors’ Fortnight of the 77th Cannes Film Festival. Therefore, as things stand, this makes the Madrilenian helmer the only Spanish filmmaker to be showing a film at this year’s French gathering.

Penned by the director himself as well as by the lead actors, the film was shot in Madrid last autumn and tells of how, after 15 years together, Ale and Alex organise a party to celebrate their breakup… This announcement leaves their loved ones bewildered, although they stand firm in their decision to split up. Or perhaps they don’t?

“I think my previous films did have some humour to them, but with The Other Way Around, I felt like making more of a straight-up comedy. The premise revolves around an idea that’s a bit paradoxical – a couple who decide to celebrate their breakup,” states the director in a press release. “It was also a good excuse to once again get Itsaso Arana [whom we saw recently in her directorial feature debut, The Girls Are Alright [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by David Trueba, Jonás’s uncle, last month at Málaga] back together as the lead couple, and to work with the dream team, as always: these are cast and crew I’ve been working with since my first film. The feeling of getting older together is exciting. And presenting our work in the Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes is an absolute joy because it’s a place that has always thrown its weight behind independent cinema and values that are important to us,” he sums up.

Jonás Trueba has directed Every Song Is About Me [+leggi anche:
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scheda film], selected in competition at San Sebastián and winner of the Awards for Best Director and Best Film at Cinespaña in Toulouse; The August Virgin [+leggi anche:
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scheda film], Special Mention in competition at Karlovy Vary and nominated for the César Award for Best Foreign Film; Who’s Stopping Us [+leggi anche:
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scheda film], Special Jury Prize in the Karlovy Vary competition and Best Director Award at Cinespaña in Toulouse.

In addition, Trueba is one of the founders, alongside Javier Lafuente, of Los Ilusos Films, a production company with which he has staged all of his movies and with which he produced The Girls Are Alright (2023), the feature debut by Itsaso Arana, which also took part in Karlovy Vary. 

The Other Way Around is a production by Spanish outfit Los Ilusos Films, and France’s Les Films du Worso and Arte France Cinéma, and it will hit Spanish cinemas on 30 August, courtesy of Elastica.