‘Volverás’, by Jonás Trueba, wins the award for best European film at the Cannes Filmmakers’ Fortnight | Culture

You will return, by Jonás Trueba, was awarded this Wednesday with the award for best European film at the Cannes Filmmakers’ Fortnight. The distinction has been awarded since 2003 and is the second time that a Spanish film has won it, after obtaining it last year creature, by Elena Martín Gimeno. You will return It was one of the 22 productions (not only European) that have been screened in 2024 in this competition parallel to Cannes. And although this section does not have an official list of winners, two unofficial awards are given: one is this one chosen by a jury made up of four members of the European arthouse cinema association The Europa Cinemas Label, so You will return At its launch, it will receive the support of these theaters, which total 3,121 screens in 783 cities in 39 countries.

For the award jury, which was announced at the Fortnight’s closing ceremony, “Jonas Trueba’s film, well directed and nuanced, has an unusual premise: it tells the story of a couple who adopts a novel ritual (… ). Humorous and intelligently written, the film’s circular structure manifests generosity of spirit in its inspiring look at human relationships. “It’s a nice positive light and we think it will appeal to audiences across Europe.” As the statement points out, You will return, Trueba’s eighth film, is a self-parody, incisive and playful comedy because it tells how a couple decides that to celebrate their separation after 15 years of relationship, they are going to throw a big party, against the opinion of those around them. You will return (which opens in Spain on August 30) marked Trueba’s first presence in Cannes.

The film is co-written by Trueba (Madrid, 42 years old) and the two leading actors, Itsaso Arana and Vito Sanz, who play, respectively, a film director and an actor who follow an old advice from the bride’s father: in case of breakup, big party. Trueba mixes real-world friendships with film ones, which includes his own father, Fernando Trueba, as the director’s father. Even the house in which this character lives is very similar to that of the Trueba family. “Everything fits in naturally, and what’s more, the boutade of the party really occurred to my father. And I was very clear that I wanted him to embody it a little in the wake of the classic Hollywood comedy, that the one who matters is the father of the bride,” he said in Cannes before the first screening of the film.

In that same talk, Jonás Trueba ironically said: “When I saw it for the first time in its entirety, it seemed like a film about a depressed director telling the story of two depressed characters trying to make them not so depressed.” From Madrid, by phone, after the award announcement, the filmmaker confesses himself happy and is committed to the importance of humor. “I try more and more to make films that go towards the light, to try to concentrate on the good. Like what Jonas Mekas said: ‘You have to focus on beauty and good, because evil and ugliness take care of themselves.’ So I like that the award jury recognizes this effort, that they support films with vitality and a certain light. And in Cannes they understood that it was very important to me that the vicissitudes of that couple made them laugh.”

And given the impulse that will have You will return with the award, explains: “For films like ours (from the production company Los Ilusos), it becomes complex to reach the general public in depending on which countries and depending on which theaters. And that the award makes the path easier is great.” For the first time in his filmography, which includes a César Award nomination for The virgin of August, which was a success in France, a work by Trueba has an international sales agency. “The entire Cannes experience has been very pleasant. From the first showing, I have felt that the audience was inside the film, and the laughter, and the silences in the final part. “We have received sales proposals and in the conversations during the event I have enjoyed the congratulations.”

Before Creature in 2023 and You will return This year, in previous editions this award was won by the French a nice morning, by Mia Hansen-Løve; the italian For Chiara, by Jonas Carpignano, or the Turkish mustang, by Deniz Gamze Ergüven.