Actor Willem Dafoe is featured on the poster of the San Sebastian Festival’s 68th edition, set to run from September 18-26. In 2018 the Festival launched a new line of posters with a composition combining photography and illustration and presided over by a figure from contemporary cinema. The actress Isabelle Huppert opened the series at the 66th edition and last year it continued with Penélope Cruz. The poster was created by the San Sebastian studio Patio based on an image by the photographer Martin Schoeller.
Nominated four times for an Oscar and three times for the Golden Globes, in 2005 Dafoe received the Donostia Award in recognition of a career including collaborations with the filmmakers Michael Cimino, Martin Scorsese, Oliver Stone, John Waters, Paul Schrader, David Lynch, Alan Parker, Abel Ferrara, Lars Von Trier, Wes Anderson, Sam Raimi, Sean Baker and Robert Eggers, among many others.
Dafoe visited San Sebastian for the first time in 1988 to present The Last Temptation of Christ (Martin Scorsese). He returned in 1997 to accompany the movie Victory (Mark Peploe), a competitor in the Official Selection, and once again in 2005 to collect the Donostia Award, Festival’s most important honorary accolade at a gala including the screening of Before it Had a Name (Giada Colagrande)”. His last visit was in 2014 with Pasolini (Perlak), directed by Abel Ferrara.
“It is an honor for the Festival that one of the world’s best actors, with whom we have enjoyed an affectionate relationship lasting for many years, has accepted to be the image of the San Sebastian Festival’s 68th edition.”
Director of the San Sebastian Festival, José Luis Rebordinos.
The Festival has already announced the opening film of its 68th edition, Rifkin’s Festival (out of competition), directed by Woody Allen and shot in the city, presentation of the Donostia Award to the North American actor and director Viggo Mortensen, accompanied by the screening of Falling, his debut as a moviemaker and six films which will compete for the Golden Shell: In the Dusk (Sharunas Bartas), Asa Ga Kuru / True Mothers (Naomi Kawase), Dasatskisi / Beginning (Dea Kulumbegashvili), Été 85 / Summer of 85 (François Ozon), Nakuko wa ineega / Any Crybabies Around? (Takuma Sato) and Druk / Another Round (Thomas Vinterberg).