SINCE: 1953
WHERE: Donostia-San Sebastián, Basque Country, Spain
ABOUT THE FESTIVAL
The San Sebastián International Film Festival is one of the most prestigious and important film festivals in the world, held annually in the Spanish city of Donostia-San Sebastián.
San Sebastian’s film program consists of some 200 films selected for six competitive sections (Official Selection, New Directors, Horizontes Latinos, Zabaltegi-Tabakalera, Perlak and Nest) and seven non-competitive sections (Culinary Zinema, Made in Spain, Zinemira, Velodrome, Movies for Kids, Retrospective and Klasikoak).
San Sebastian International Film Festival
María Alché and Benjamín Naishtat, Robin Campillo, Joachim Lafosse, Noah Pritzker, Cristi Puiu and Martín Rejtman will present their latest films in the Official Selection of the 71st San Sebastián Festival, which will be held from September 22nd to the 30th, 2023.
Actor Javier Bardem will receive a Donostia Award at the 71st edition of the San Sebastian Festival. The actor is also featured on the official poster of the festival.
The Colombian film The Kings of the World (Los reyes del mundo) by Laura Mora has won the Golden Shell at San Sebastian Festival’s 70th edition. The film follows five Medellín teenagers from the streets on a desperate journey of survival. Genki Kawamura took the Silver Shell for Best Director for A Hundred Flowers (Hyakka), while the Best Screenplay Award went to Dong Yun Zhou and Wang Chao for their work on the Chao’s movie, A Woman (Kong Xiu); and City of Donostia / Sebastian Audience Award went to Argentina, 1985 by Santiago Mitre.
Filmmaker Carlos Saura, who had planned to present his latest film, The Walls Can Talk (Las paredes hablan), at San Sebastian Festival, will not be able to travel due to a fall suffered at the last minute. The mishap had no serious consequences, but it has prevented him from travelling to San Sebastian.
Blonde, based on the book of the same name by Joyce Carol Oates and starring Ana de Armas as Marilyn Monroe is the surprise film of the 70th San Sebastian Festival. The screening of the film will be attended by Ana de Armas and director, Andrew Dominik.
Actress and Donostia Award winner Glenn Close will preside over the Official Selection jury of the 70th anniversary edition of the San Sebastian Festival. Accompanying her are the casting director and filmmaker Antoinette Boulat (France), the director and screenwriter Tea Lindeburg (Denmark), the producer Matías Mosteirín (Argentina), the author and journalist Rosa Montero (Spain), the filmmaker and visual artist Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese (Lesotho) and the director and screenwriter Hlynur Pálmason (Iceland).
A Woman (Kong Xiu), the latest feature film from the Chinese director Wang Chao, will complete the list of films competing in the Official Selection at the 70th San Sebastian Festival, running from September 16-24.
The World Premiere of Marlowe starring Liam Neeson and Diane Kruger, directed by Irish filmmaker Neil Jordan, will close the Official Selection of the 70th San Sebastian Festival. The world premiere of the film is expected to be attended by the director along with Liam Neeson and Diane Kruger.
Five world premieres will make up the Culinary Zinema section at the 70th San Sebastian Festival, which opens with Mibu. The Moon on a Dish (Mibu. La luna en un plato), taking an in-depth look at the famous Japanese restaurant. Virgilio, a portrait of the chef at the restaurant in Lima, Central, will close the section also including a third documentary, La Huella, historia de un parador de playa, and two fictions, Xiao shan he (Nostalgia) and The Zen Diary (Tsuchi wo kurau junikagetsu).
Thirteen feature films will be showcased in Made in Spain, the non-competitive section for a selection of the year’s Spanish films at the 70th edition of San Sebastian Festival.
Seventeen films – thirteen features and four shorts – make up the Basque participation at San Sebastian Festival’s 70th edition. Zinemira, the section specifically dedicated to Basque cinema at San Sebastian Festival will showcase seven fictions and non-fictions. A total of ten films, four of these, being a world premiere at the Festival, will compete for the Irizar Basque Film Award alongside another six works screening in other Festival sections.
