David Verdaguer, who returns to work with the director after ‘Saben aquell’, stars in this romantic tragicomedy set in Belgium alongside Isabelle Renauld and Amaia Salamanca
Director David Trueba will close the 70th edition of the Valladolid International Film Festival (SEMINCI) on 1 November with the world premiere of his new film, Always Winter / Siempre es invierno, a romantic tragicomedy starring David Verdaguer, Isabelle Renauld and Amaia Salamanca. The Spanish-Belgian co-production adapts the novel Blitz (Anagrama, 2015), written by the director himself, which explores loss and emptiness after a romantic break up and the possibility of a restart, capturing a snapshot of lost love under the filter of humor.
The story follows a landscape architect who travels to Liège for a conference where their relationship comes to an end. Disoriented, he decides to stay alone in the Belgian city to rebuild his future, until he meets an older woman who works as a volunteer at the architecture congress he attends.
With this project, Trueba has broken his rule of not adapting his own novels to the cinema. «I never wanted to take my novels to the cinema», admits the filmmaker, who until now had rejected both his own adaptations and the proposals of other directors. However, Blitz posed a different challenge to him: It’s about something enormously graphic and visual,
which is the perceptible passage of time over people. An element that can be enriched in the cinema and that makes the challenge of adaptation more stimulating».
Trueba’s filmography ranges from comedies to intimate dramas, which stand out for their humanistic look and ability to sensitively portray personal relationships and small moments of life.
Among his most outstanding films are La buena vida (1996), Soldados de Salamina (2003), adapted from the novel by Javier Cercas, and Vivir es fácil con los ojos cerrados (2013), one of his greatest successes with six Goya awards, including best film, best director and best original script.
David Trueba again directs David Verdaguer, after his first collaboration in Saben Aquell, the approach to comedian Eugenio for which he won the Goya prize. «Working with him is like working with slippers at home, because it makes you feel very comfortable. It’s fun and you learn a lot being with him», says the interpreter. Verdaguer is accompanied by the French actress Isabelle Renauld (La eternidad y un día) and Amaia Salamanca (Muertos S.L.). Jon Arias, Vito Sanz and Carla Nieto complete the cast.
The film is produced by Ikiru Films, Atresmedia Cine, Blitz Film AIE, La Terraza Films and the Belgian Wrong Men, with the involvement of Atresmedia, the collaboration of Netflix, funding from ICAA and support from ICEC. The producer of Ikiru Films, Edmon Roch, deems it an «irresistible romantic tragicomedy that blends humor with the refreshing sensation of embracing».
Blitz is «one of the most intimate and personal novels by David Trueba; an original story full of nuances that talks about human relationships and how love can resurface unpredictably», concludes Jaime Ortiz de Artiñano, general director of Atresmedia Cine. Distributed in Spain by Bteam Pictures, Siempre es invierno will hit theaters on November 7.