Federico Durán Launches El Sol Ermitaño at San Sebastian With 'Lovers Go Home!'
Colombian producer Federico Durán has launched a new production company, El Sol Ermitaño, at the San Sebastian Film Festival in Spain. He remains a shareholder in Rhayuela Films, his previous company. The announcement was made as the festival’s 74th edition runs Sept. 18-26 Variety.
The new company’s lead title is Lovers Go Home!. It is directed by Juan Sebastián Mesa and stars Ángela Cano and Dave Dewar. The story follows a virtual relationship between a webcam performer living in Medellín and a U.S. war veteran.
Alejandra, played by Cano, is a single mother working in a webcam studio. She forms a deep online bond with a disabled veteran in the United States. The film runs 114 minutes, according to festival listings San Sebastian Film Festival.
Lovers Go Home! is a four-country co-production between Colombia, Canada, Spain and France. The co-producers are El Sol Ermitaño and Rhayuela Films in Colombia, Potenza Producciones in Spain, Dublin Films in France and Camera Oscura in Canada. Support has come from Colombia’s FDC, Ibermedia, Spain’s ICAA, Nouvelle-Aquitaine in France, and Telefilm Canada and SODEC in Canada.
It screens on Sept. 22 at Tabakalera as part of WIP LatAm, a showcase for unfinished Latin American films seeking sales agents, distributors and festival slots. The section previously hosted the project at its Europe-Latin America Co-Production Forum in 2022. Films in the showcase compete for the WIP LatAm Award, worth $34,466 (€30,000) Variety.
Mexican filmmaker Tatiana Huezo is among the other directors competing for that prize this year. A win can pay for editing, sound, colour and other finishing work. That makes this week decisive for small teams.
Durán’s new slate extends beyond one title. It includes The Awakening (El Despertar), the posthumous film by Jaime Osorio Márquez, which Cinecolor will release theatrically in Colombia on Oct. 29. It also includes La Unión, the recently wrapped debut feature from Catalan director Cordelia Alegre, made with Rara Colectivo Audiovisual in Colombia and Dos Soles Media and WKND in Spain.
What makes this stand out is the continuity. Durán is not leaving his old company behind. He is adding a new one while keeping a stake in Rhayuela, and carrying filmmakers and projects across with him.
