Juan Pablo Di Pace, best known to American audiences for his role in Fuller House and as a contestant on Dancing with the Stars, has stepped behind the camera for his feature directorial debut with Before We Forget.

The film is a coming-of-age drama inspired by Di Pace’s own adolescent experiences and explores the nuances of queer first love through a dreamy, musically-infused lens.

Set in 1997, Before We Forget follows Matias, an Argentinean teen and aspiring filmmaker played by Santiago Madrussan, who enrolls in an arts-focused boarding school in Italy.

There, he meets Alex, a charming Swedish student played by Oscar Morgan, whose confidence and rebellious streak quickly catch Matias’s attention.

Their connection deepens after Alex is expelled and invited Matias to spend Christmas at his family’s estate, leading to a relationship that hovers between friendship and something more.

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The film balances the tension of longing with the beauty of self-discovery, drawing comparisons to Call Me by Your Name and Heartstopper for its emotional delicacy and visual warmth.

Originally titled Duino, the story unfolds like a symphony—literally.

Di Pace has cited Claude Debussy’s Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun as a major influence, and says the film’s structure mirrors that of a classical composition, with crescendos of emotional release.

Di Pace also plays the adult version of Matias, now a filmmaker in Buenos Aires struggling to finish a romantic screenplay.

The film jumps between past and present as a now middle-aged Matias receives an invitation to reconnect with Alex (played as an adult by August Wittgenstein) 25 years later.

One of the film’s most talked-about scenes features a quiet but powerful monologue by Araceli González as Matias’s mother, who offers a wordless but heartfelt acceptance of her son’s identity.

Di Pace based the scene on a real conversation he had with his own parents, replicating their exact words to emphasize the importance of subtle, authentic validation.

“I’m very proud of it,” Di Pace told HuffPost. “If that scene didn’t work, the whole movie wouldn’t work.”

Though Before We Forget is rooted in personal memory, Di Pace is clear that it isn’t a direct autobiography.

Still, the emotional vulnerability he brings to the project lends it a rare intimacy, giving it what many critics have called a “symphonic” quality that sets it apart from other queer films in the genre.

Di Pace developed the film with longtime friend and co-director Andrés Pepe Estrada, and shot much of it on location at the United World College campus in Trieste, Italy—his own alma mater.

While continuing to act, Di Pace has said he is now focusing more on writing and directing, with two new scripts underway, one of which delves into magical realism.

“I love films that have a strong queer element,” he explained, “but they’re about something else too. People are so moved by these stories. I’d like the lines to blur and not have it be a niche thing.”

Before We Forget is currently playing in select theaters across the U.S., expanding from its initial New York and Los Angeles releases.

With its lush score, heartfelt performances, and deeply personal core, it’s a tender, romantic ode to the queerness of memory—and the memories that shape who we become.

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