Presentation of Rubén Sánchez’s film La verbena in SOHO ST ( LONDON)

The film director reveals his favourite London place that has been the inspiration for his next production ‘A tu vera’.

Alexandra Harlow – 1 Jun 2025.

The production is an aesthetic, narrative and conceptual bet that focuses on the reunion of Alex and Marc, marked by two events that impact both characters. On the one hand, Gabriel D’Almeida plays Alex, a young man who is about to become a father and who struggles with the acceptance of his homosexuality. On the other hand, Robin Reese gives life to Marc, his best friend, who brings with him news that they both must come to terms with. Throughout the film, the characters evolve, revealing their secrets to accept themselves…

The director of Furias, Rubén Sánchez, has finished shooting his new project, the medium-length film “La Verbena”. The story stars Alex, played by Gabriel D’Almeida, who also starred in the 2019 film “Matthias & Maxime,” directed by Xavier Dolan, and Marc (Robin Reese). It is also produced by Carla Sanchez, who makes her feature film debut with a plot that addresses LGBTQ+ issues.

One summer night in Barcelona, Alex and his girlfriend Anna (Aida Quintana) organize a reunion with a group of friends at a festival. Marc unexpectedly returns from London at that time to meet Alex, an old friend of his in England. However, as the story unfolds in seventeen precise minutes, it is discovered that Anna is pregnant, which provokes a mixed reaction of jealousy and joy in the British actor. But what Alex’s girlfriend doesn’t know is that Marc and the father of her future child are more than friends, and that during their stay in London they had a secret relationship. This unconfessed homosexuality of Gabriel D’Almeida’s character creates in the viewer a sense of uncertainty about his future, as he is about to become a father and start a family. Everything will change for the character when it is revealed that Marc is HIV positive, and that he is about to become a father and start a family.

La Verbena is an immersive story that tests the relationships between the characters, revealing in depth the hidden secrets of each cast member in a short space. This party is not only a time to get together with friends, focused on having a good time, celebrating reunion and making new friendships, but also the means through which closeness becomes a space for revelations that can change each one’s destiny: from Anna’s pregnancy to Marc’s jealousy and the subsequent revelation of the Brit’s HIV, to Alex’s fear and ignorance.

But not only that: through this brief encounter between acquaintances, Rubén Sánchez seeks to capture and convey the idea of the stigma that weighs on people with HIV, a secret that often generates great rejection among people, regardless of their condition. He also explores themes such as the protagonist’s undisclosed marital status, homosexuality and how words can change a person’s life forever. “I think cinema can change our perspective on many things,” the director told the press.