Co-writers Mark Duplass and Natalie Morales depict a modern-age bond in this touching SXSW Audience Award–winning film, told entirely across screens.

Adam (Duplass) lives in Oakland, California, with his husband, who has signed him up for two years’ worth of weekly Spanish classes. The lessons are taught online by Cariño (Morales), who is in Costa Rica. Adam’s not quite sure how these classes fit into his laissez-faire, leisurely lifestyle, but when the unexpected upends everything, Cariño becomes the friend Adam didn’t think he’d need.

Language Lessons plays out entirely within the rectangular frames of screens, apps and devices, making it a compelling exploration of how we click and connect in today’s pandemic-addled world. Duplass (The One I Love, MIFF 2014; Safety Not Guaranteed, MIFF 2012) and Morales (Parks and Recreation, Dead to Me) – the latter making her directorial debut – have a disarming, natural chemistry, and their conversations have all the texture of real life: gaps, silences and sudden, unexpected revelations. What emerges is a heart-meltingly relatable platonic rom-com that distils what we’ve lived through this past year: what are the various shades that love can take, and how do we collapse emotional distance across geography, especially when the worst happens?

“Poignant, funny and emotionally resonant, Language Lessons organically develops a heartfelt friendship while its cast exudes warmth and charisma … Easily one of the best, and most surprising, films to be released this year.” – Screen Rant

Presented by Campari