The Perlak program of the 69th edition of San Sebastian Festival will showcase a total of 15 films from filmmakers like Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Todd Haynes, François Ozon and Paul Verhoeven, joined by important contemporary filmmakers, such as the last Golden Palm-winner Julia Ducournau, Céline Sciamma, Sean Baker and Joachim Lafosse. The writer Emmanuel Carrère will present her second fiction as a director, while the debuts by Shipei Wen and Charlotte Gainsbourg will also screen.
The comedy Competencia Oficial from Argentine directors Gastón Duprat and Mariano Cohn will open Perlak in competition. In the tragicomedy set in the world of cinema, Penélope Cruz plays an eccentric filmmaker alongside Antonio Banderas and Oscar Martínez in their respective roles of Hollywood actor and a radical thespian.
The section will close with the documentary The Velvet Underground that premiered at Cannes Film Festival, in which Todd Haynes analyzes the significance of the famous rock band fronted by Lou Reed.
Perlak is a selection of the year’s best films, not yet screened in Spain and critically acclaimed and/or winners of awards at other international festivals. The films compete for the City of Donostia / San Sebastian Audience Award, which comes with two prizes for the distributor of the film in Spain: one for best film (50,000 euros) and the other for best European film (20,000 euros).
Perlak Films at 2021 San Sebastian Festival
COMPETENCIA OFICIAL
GASTÓN DUPRAT (ARGENTINA), MARIANO COHN (ARGENTINA)
Country(ies) of production: Spain – Argentina
Cast: Penélope Cruz, Antonio Banderas, Oscar Martínez
OPENING FILM (IN COMPETITION)
In search of significance and social prestige, a billionaire businessman decides to make a film to leave his mark. To do it, he hires the best: a stellar team made up of the famous filmmaker Lola Cuevas (Penélope Cruz) and two renowned actors, both enormously talented, but with even bigger egos: the Hollywood actor Félix Rivero (Antonio Banderas) and radical thespian Iván Torres (Oscar Martinez). Both legends, but not exactly the best of friends. Through a series of increasingly eccentric challenges set by Lola, Felix and Iván must face not only each other, but also their own legacies.
THE VELVET UNDERGROUND
TODD HAYNES (USA)
Country(ies) of production: USA
CLOSING NIGHT FILM
Not in competition
The Velvet Underground created a new sound that changed the world of music, cementing its place as one of rock ’n’ roll’s most revered bands. Directed by acclaimed filmmaker Todd Haynes, The Velvet Underground shows just how the group became a cultural touchstone representing a range of contradictions: the band is both of their time, yet timeless; literary yet realistic; rooted in high art and street culture. The film features in-depth interviews with the key players of that time combined with a treasure trove of never-before-seen performances and a rich collection of recordings, Warhol films and other experimental art that creates an immersive experience into what founding member John Cale describes as the band’s creative ethos: “How to be elegant and how to be brutal.”
SPECIAL SCREENINGS
DRIVE MY CAR
RYUSUKE HAMAGUCHI (JAPAN)
Country(ies) of production: Japan
Cast: Hidetoshi Nishijima, Toko Miura
Not in competition
Yusuke is a stage actor and a stage director. He is married to Fukaku, who works as a playwright. Although they have a happy marriage, Fukaku suddenly disappears, leaving behind a secret. Two years later, Yusuke lands a job as the director of a theatre festival and heads to Hiroshima, driving his car. There, he meets his exclusive chauffeur Misaki, a woman of few words. While spending time with her, Yusuke learns things he has ignored.
TITANE
JULIA DUCOURNAU (FRANCE)
Country(ies) of production: France
Cast: Agathe Rouselle, Vincent Lindon
Not in competition
Following a series of unexplained crimes, a father is reunited with the son who has been missing for 10 years. TITANE: A metal highly resistant to heat and corrosion, with high tensile strength alloys.
IN COMPETITION
BENEDETTA
PAUL VERHOEVEN (NETHERLANDS)
Country(ies) of production: France – Netherlands
Cast: Virginie Efira, Charlotte Rampling, Daphné Patakia, Lambert Wilson, Olivier Rabourdin
In the late 15th century, with plague ravaging the land, Benedetta Carlini joins the convent in Pescia, Tuscany, as a novice. Capable from an early age of performing miracles, Benedetta’s impact on life in the community is immediate and momentous.
GUZEN TO SOZO / WHEEL OF FORTUNE AND FANTASY
RYUSUKE HAMAGUCHI (JAPAN)
Country(ies) of production: Japan
Cast: Kotone Furukawa, Ayumu Nakajima, Hyunri, Kiyohiko Shibukawa, Katsuki Mori, Shouma Kai, Fusako Urabe, Aoba Kawai
Three episodes told in three movements to depict three female characters and trace the trajectories between their choices and regrets. An unexpected love triangle, a failed seduction trap and an encounter that results from a misunderstanding lend shape to a triptych connected by memory, deceit and fate.
JANE PAR CHARLOTTE / JANE BY CHARLOTTE
CHARLOTTE GAINSBOURG (UNITED KINGDOM – FRANCE)
Country(ies) of production: France
With the tremor of time passing by, Charlotte Gainsbourg started to look at her mother Jane Birkin in a way she never did, both overcoming a shared sense of reserve. Through the camera lens, they expose themselves to one another, begin to step back, leaving space for a mother-daughter relationship to unfold.
LA CROISADE / THE CRUSADE
LOUIS GARREL (FRANCE)
Country(ies) of production: France
Cast: Laetitia Casta, Joseph Engel, Louis Garrel
Abel and Marianne discover that their 13-year-old son Joseph has secretly sold their most precious possessions. They soon find out that Joseph is not the only one – all over the world, hundreds of children have joined forces to finance a mysterious project. Their mission is to save the planet.
LES ILLUSIONS PERDUES / LOST ILLUSIONS
XAVIER GIANNOLI (FRANCE)
Country(ies) of production: France
Cast: Benjamin Voisin, Cécile de France, Vincent Lacoste, Xavier Dolan, Gérard Depardieu
Lucien is a young unknown poet in 19th century France. He has great hopes and wants to forge his destiny. He leaves the family printing house in his native province to try his luck in Paris on the arm of his patroness of the arts. Quickly left to fend for himself in this fabulous town, the young man will discover what goes on behind the scenes in this world devoted to the law of profit and pretense. A human comedy where everything can be bought or sold, literary success like the press, politics like sentiments, reputations like souls. Lucien will love, suffer and survive his illusions.
LES INTRANQUILLES / THE RESTLESS
JOACHIM LAFOSSE (BELGIUM)
Country(ies) of production: Belgium – France
Cast: Leïla Bekhti, Damien Bonnard
Leila and Damien are deeply in love. Despite his bipolarity, he tries to pursue his life with her, knowing he may never be able to offer her what she desires.
OUISTREHAM / BETWEEN TWO WORLDS
EMMANUEL CARRÈRE (FRANCE)
Country(ies) of production: France
Cast: Juliette Binoche
Best-selling author Marianne Winckler decides to write a book about precarious working conditions and sets out to experience the reality for herself. Without revealing her true identity, she lands a job as a cleaner in a town in Normandy, in northern France, discovering a life ignored by the rest of society where every euro earned or spent counts. Despite the harshness of the situation, the solidarity between colleagues creates a strong bond of friendship between Marianne and her co-workers. Lending one another a hand leads to friendship and friendship leads to trust. But what happens to that trust when the truth comes to light?
PETITE MAMAN
CÉLINE SCIAMMA (FRANCE)
Country(ies) of production: France
Cast: Joséphine Sanz, Gabrielle Sanz, Nina Meurisse
8-year-old Nelly has just lost her grandmother. While helping her parents, she explores the surroundings of the house where her mother, Marion, used to play as a child. There she discovers the treehouse she’s heard so much about. One day her mother abruptly leaves. Nelly meets a girl her own age in the woods and together they set about building a treehouse. Her new friend is called Marion.
RE DAI WANG SHI / ARE YOU LONESOME TONIGHT?
SHIPEI WEN (CHINA)
Country(ies) of production: China
Cast: Eddie Peng, Sylvia Chang, Yanhui Wang, Yu Zhang, Peiyao Jiang, Xin Lu, Yongzhong Chen, Fei Deng
A young man who believes he has caused a fatal accident develops an ambiguous relationship with the dead man’s widow, while a policeman tries to resolve the investigation that will change his life forever.
RED ROCKET
SEAN BAKER (USA)
Country(ies) of production: USA
Cast: Simon Rex, Suzanna Son, Bree Elrod, Ethan Darbone
Mikey Saber is a washed-up porn star who returns to his small Texas hometown, not that anyone really wants him back.
TOUT S’EST BIEN PASSÉ / EVERYTHING WENT FINE
FRANÇOIS OZON (FRANCE)
Country(ies) of production: France
Cast: Sophie Marceau, André Dussollier, Charlotte Rampling
Emmanuèle’s father is hospitalised following a stroke, aged 85. When he wakens, debilitated and unable to fend for himself, this man, curious by nature and with a passion for living, asks his daughter to help him end his life.