By Gary M. Kramer –
Writer/director Lucas Santa Ana’s cleverromantic comedy, #300Letters, which played at Frameline earlier this summer, is now available on demand. The film has Jero (Cristian Mariani) coming home from a workout to find his partner Tom (Gastón Frías) is gone and ghosting him on their anniversary. Jero soon experiences the five stages of grief. As a way of explanation, Tom has left a box of 300 letters recounting his side of their relationship. As Jero starts reading Tom’s missives, he learns that his ex thinks he is childish and superficial. He also learns that Tom was no saint, lying to him and cheating on him (at least once).
#300 Letters cannily lets viewers process Jero’s breakup in ways that illuminate the relationship, from the irresistible sex to the first “I love you,” to moving in, and other milestones. The filmmaker spoke with me for the San Francisco Bay Times about his new romance.
Gary M. Kramer: What inspired this film? Did you go through a breakup and need to understand it?
Lucas Santa Ana: Not really. I did have a breakup, which was the start of the idea. A boyfriend of mine left me. He was an artist, singer, and writer. [His ex authored the novel, Memories of a Teenager, which Santa Ana adapted for a 2019 film; it’s available on Netflix.] When he broke up with me, he just left home. He was going to leave me with “a performance.” That idea gave me the idea of someone leaving with “a performance.” I also wanted to show how the gay community in Argentina is divided—the queens and jocks talk about each other with prejudice and discrimination. The poets don’t go where the jocks go. Poets think that the jocks are hollow, which is not true. I’ve been going back and forth between both tribes and the prejudices each have are sad.
Gary M. Kramer: Jero, the jock, and Tom, the poet, are attractive opposites, but they can’t seem to stay together. What observations do you have about their characters and their relationship?
Lucas Santa Ana: The flashbacks show Tom’s side of the relationship—what he thinks and sees. Sometimes you can see what Jero thinks or remembers, but it’s tainted by Tom’s side of the story. Everyone wants to like Tom, but he’s not a good guy. We always see the jock being the asshole, but poets can be assholes too. Jero looks confident, but when you see him, you realize he is not that confident. When he speaks with his friend Esteban (Bruno Giganti), he says, “Maybe I did something wrong,” but he didn’t do anything wrong in the relationship. Tom is the one who is crazy. I do think they have real chemistry. They like each other’s bodies. I think that they can be together, but Tom doesn’t allow himself to do that because of his prejudice about Jero. Whenever Tom’s friend Q (Jorge Tefs) asks Tom, “What do you feel about Jero?” Tom doesn’t give a straight answer. He doesn’t allow himself to like Jero. If he would be more open to what other people feel, they could be together.
Gary M. Kramer: Can you talk about your visual approach to making a film about loss, isolation, and connection? You use split screens and you shoot Jero in a way that has viewers “sitting” with him as he reads the letters.
Lucas Santa Ana: I didn’t want for the audience to be “over” or “under” the character, but at the same level so they can relate to him—except in the end when he is reading all the letters and the camera moves to the side, to show what is a breaking point for him.
Gary M. Kramer: The film features many scenes of Jero shirtless. Was this objectification deliberate?
Lucas Santa Ana: Christian [Mariani] is objectified because it is Tom’s side of the story, and Tom objectifies Jero. That is why he is always shirtless.
Gary M. Kramer: This film is an anti-valentine, and the characters debate about being romantics. Do you consider yourself a romantic?
Lucas Santa Ana: I have not been in love for so long I wouldn’t remember what “romantic” is. [Laughs] Before I did this film, I was alone for 15 years. I don’t know why. No one fell in love with me, and I wasn’t in love with anyone. I forgot what it is to be romantic. I feel a lot like Tom in the film at some points. But I do feel like Jero sometimes, too. Romance is thinking about the other person and trying to make the other person feel loved. That can take any form. I try to be a good companion and want the same thing for me.
Gary M. Kramer: How would you react if your “ex” left you 300 letters about your relationship? Or would you be the one writing the letters?
Lucas Santa Ana: At some point, I’d probably be the one leaving the letters. If someone did that to me, I would just throw them away. I wouldn’t read them. I’m lying. I would definitely read them in one night. It wouldn’t take me 10 days to read them like Jero does.
© 2025 Gary M. Kramer
Gary M. Kramer is the author of “Independent Queer Cinema: Reviews and Interviews,” and the co-editor of “Directory of World Cinema: Argentina.” He teaches Short Attention Span Cinema at the Bryn Mawr Film Institute and is the moderator for Cinema Salon, a weekly film discussion group. Follow him on X @garymkramer
Film
Published on November 20, 2025
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