Passport to Love is one of our favorite times of the year. We love a moment where you can imagine that you’re off to another country, another life, and falling in love in the process. What can we say? We are hopeless romantics.
And we’re big on female friendships.
This past week Hallmark announced that they will be kicking off the Passport to Love season with two all-new movies from stars Alison Sweeney and Ashley Williams. The two star in the new, original movies To Barcelona, With Love and To
Barcelona, Forever, which kick off the Hallmark Channel’s annual Passport to Love programming event on Saturday, June 7, and Saturday, June 14 (8 p.m. ET/PT).
The clues had been coming. We just hadn’t seen them.
“Working with Ashley on these projects has been a dream come true. I loved working in Spain and meeting so many incredibly talented people who helped us make this all possible,” Sweeney began. “Craig Baumgarten and I have done a lot of these movies – but working with Ashley as a producing partner and an actress, it has also been entirely delightful!! She is so talented and funny and delivers such a heartfelt performance in both movies. I felt so lucky for every scene I had with her!”
“Ali and I came up together in soaps and I’ve always admired her talent, wisdom, prolific career. She’s the kinda gal who celebrated my wins and noticed my strengths,” Williams shared. “We realized a few years ago that our strengths may even complement each other and started looking for something to work on together. Developing, prepping, shooting and posting these movies by her side was like finding a partner I never knew I needed. We both approach our work with ferocious dedication, tireless innovation, and we keep each other humble and always remember to laugh. I couldn’t be more proud of the movies we made with this creative spirit and have a feeling they are the first of many. Can’t wait for you all to see and feel the joy we experienced!”
We love that both comments are lifting each other up and that these two seem to have a genuine love for each other.
The movies, To Barcelona, With Love and To Barcelona, Forever, sound like our cup of tea. We’re excited to see the road that they take, the drama that ensues, and the friendship that remains supreme.
But what are these movies about, you ask?
In To Barcelona, With Love, Sweeney plays Erica, an American expat living in Barcelona who translates novels into Spanish, though her dream is to be published herself someday. Anna (Williams) is the American author of the book Barcelona, Mi Amor that became a big hit after Erica’s translation. Due to its local popularity, Anna comes to Barcelona for a book signing event. Her arrival not only catches the attention of local bookstore owner Nico (Alejandro Tous), for whom Erica has long had feelings, Anna’s appearance at the store threatens to bring to light Erica’s secret – she took liberties with her translation to improve the story and infuse it with the local authenticity it was missing. As the two women become friends over the course of Anna’s visit, they ultimately help each other embark on a path to find their true happiness.
To Barcelona, Forever begins five months later and follows Erica and Anna as they are happily navigating new chapters in their lives. This time the friends find themselves traveling outside the city of Barcelona to a charming village where a misunderstanding leads to unexpected romance for one of them.
