Lucio Castro’s directorial debut End of the Century (Fin de siglo), which had its world premiere at the Film at Lincoln Center and MoMA’s New Directors/New Films last spring, will have its Los Angeles premiere at the Outfest LGBTQ Film Festival this Friday, July 19.

Winner of the Best First Feature Award at Frameline San Francisco International LGBTQ+ Film Festival, and the Best Argentine Film Award at the Buenos Aires Film Festival (BAFICI), End of the Century opens Friday, August 16 at the IFC Center in New York City, Friday, September 20 at the Nuart Theatre in Los Angeles, and Friday, September 27 at the Opera Plaza Cinemas in San Francisco, followed by other U.S. cities.

In his alluring debut feature, Castro offers both a sun-soaked European travelogue and an epic, decades-spanning romance. When Ocho (Juan Barberini), a 30-something Argentine poet on vacation in Barcelona, spots Javi (Ramón Pujol), a Spaniard from Berlin, from the balcony of his Airbnb, the attraction is subtle but persistent. After a missed connection on the beach, a third chance encounter escalates to a seemingly random hookup. But are these two merely beautiful strangers in a foreign city or are they part of each other’s histories—and maybe even their destinies?

Castro deliberately parses out mystery after mystery, leading the audience on a journey of discovery as the two leading men discover themselves and each other. With sumptuous lensing of a Barcelona summertime and tangible chemistry between the actors, End of the Century is a love story that echoes across time.

Director Lucio Castro was born in 1975 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. In 2000, after graduating from Centro de Experimentación Cinematográfica (C.I.C.), he moved to New York to pursue a second degree at Parsons School of Design. He has been working as a menswear designer and making short films since then. His latest short film Trust Issues was presented at the Cannes Film Festival 2018. End of the Century is his debut feature.