Hollywood has spent decades telling audiences what happens after people say “I do,” and sometimes the results ain’t pretty. Writer-director Claudia Cifuentes‘ romantic drama After the Wedding looks to attack the “happily ever after” story with nuance and passion while leaving the possibility of some broken hearts in its wake.
After the Wedding follows Diego Diaz (Chilean actor Nick Puga). Diego is in the sixth month of his marriage to Mariana (Edy Ganem), their relationship spanning six years. As one of the film’s characters says: “the honeymoon is over.” With his life all laid out before him – engagement, marriage, children soon to follow – Diego is starting to feel post-wedding malaise. When he travels to Miami for a friend’s wedding – his wife to accompany him later – he takes up with an adventurous bartender named Vanessa (Kandis Fay), leaving him to wonder if he’s made the right decisions in life. The trailer shows off the film’s Latino influence and sultry Miami setting with a Spanish-language soundtrack, plus shots of the ocean and nightclubs galore. It also takes the typical romantic drama about male anxiety and gives it an energetic shot in the arm.
After the Wedding is a labor of love for its writer-director and producer, sisters Claudia and Karina Cifuentes. The daughters of Guatemalan immigrants, the sisters used Kickstarter to raise the $40,000 necessary to shoot the feature in Miami Beach. This is Cifuentes’ directorial debut after years working in the film industry. The two were also fortunate to attract the attention of rising Mexican actress Ganem, who showed a flair for fantasy with 2015’s Ana Maria in Novela Land and is now tackling romance with harsher consequences. It seems like Ganem continues to be attracted to novela-esque material, as she previously mentioned in a 2015 interview.
After the Wedding is available to stream or download via Vimeo and on August 18, 2017 will hit Amazon and iTunes.