Films from Isabella Eklöf, Kitty Green, Kei Chika-Ura, Xavier Legrand, Christos Nikou, Tzu-Hui Peng and Ping-Wen Wang join the list of Golden Shell competitors at the 71st San Sebastian Festival. In addition, the French film A Real Job (Un métier sérieux), directed by Thomas Lilti, will be part of the special screenings of the Official Selection.
Following the critically acclaimed Apples, director Christos Nikou second movie and first English-language film, Fingernails, stars Jessie Buckley, Riz Ahmed, Jeremy Allen White, Luke Wilson and Annie Murphy in a thought-provoking romantic drama about an institution that tests the presence of romantic love between couples.
A Journey in Spring (Chung xing), the first feature film from Taiwanese filmmakers Tzu-Hui Peng and Ping-Wen Wang that follows a man overcome with remorse as he mourns his wife’s death.
Japanese filmmaker Kei Chika-Ura’ second film, Great Absence, follows a young actor reconnecting with his father after the disappearance of his second wife; Isabella Eklöf’s second movie as a director, Kalak, follows a Danish nurse who moves to live in Greenland; and The Royal Hotel, the second film from Kitty Green starring Julia Garner and Jessica Henwick as two backpackers who take a job in a pub in the remote Australian Outback.
Xavier Legrand will compete for the Golden Shell with The Successor (Le successeur), the tale of a designer who discovers a terrible secret in his family home when his father dies.
The Festival also adds a special Official Selection screening of the film A Real Job (Un métier sérieux), directed by Thomas Lilti starring actors François Cluzet, Adèle Exarchopoulos and Vincent Lacoste portraying everyday life at a French school.
CHUN XING / A JOURNEY IN SPRING
TZU-HUI PENG (TAIWAN), PING-WEN WANG (TAIWAN)
Country(ies) of production: Taiwan
Cast: Jason King, Kuei-Mei Yang, Wei-Hua Lan, Shu-Wei Chang, Chiasui Chen, Jack Kao
An old man with a limp, Khim-Hok, has depended on his wife over the years. They live in an old house on the urban fringe of Taipei. After his wife suddenly passes away, Khim-Hok puts her into an old freezer and goes on living a seemingly peaceful life. But their long-estranged son and his new partner suddenly appears, so Khim-Hok has to face his wife’s death when the end finally comes.
FINGERNAILS
CHRISTOS NIKOU (GREECE)
Country(ies) of production: USA
Cast: Jessie Buckley, Riz Ahmed, Jeremy Allen White, Luke Wilson, Annie Murphy
Anna and Ryan have found true love. It’s been proven by a controversial new technology. There’s just one problem: Anna still isn’t sure. Then she takes a position at a love testing institute, and meets Amir.
GREAT ABSENCE
KEI CHIKA-URA (JAPAN)
Country(ies) of production: Japan
Cast: Mirai Moriyama, Tatsuya Fuji, Yoko Maki, Hideko Hara
Actor Takashi has been estranged from his father Yohji, a retired university professor, ever since the tumultuous divorce with his mother ripped the family apart 20 years ago. They remain barely in contact until one day, a call from the police prompts Takashi to visit Yohji, who is struggling with dementia in his home in southern Japan. Upon arriving, Takashi discovers Yohji’s second wife Naomi is missing. Asked where she went, Yohji replies she committed suicide. Takashi must find out if there is any truth to his father’s words.
KALAK
ISABELLA EKLÖF (SWEDEN)
Country(ies) of production: Denmark
Cast: Emil Johnsen, Asta August
Jan is on the run from himself after being sexually abused by his father. Living in Greenland with his little family, he yearns to be a part of the open, collectivist culture and become a Kalak, a ‘dirty Greenlander’.
LE SUCCESSEUR / THE SUCCESSOR
XAVIER LEGRAND (FRANCE)
Country(ies) of production: France
Cast: Marc André Grondin, Yves Jacques, Louis Champagne, Anne-Elisabeth Bossé, Blandine Bury
Ellias Barnès, 30, is the newly-announced artistic director of a famous Parisian fashion house. But as expectations are high, he starts experiencing chest pain. Out of the blue he is called back to Montreal to organise his estranged father’s funeral and discovers that he may have inherited much worse than his father’s weak heart.
THE ROYAL HOTEL
KITTY GREEN (AUSTRALIA)
Country(ies) of production: Australia
Cast: Julia Garner, Jessica Henwick, Toby Wallace, Hugo Weaving, Ursula Yovich, Daniel Henshall
Americans Hanna and Liv are best friends backpacking in Australia. After they run out of money, Liv, looking for an adventure, convinces Hanna to take a temporary live-in job behind the bar of a pub called ‘The Royal Hotel’ in a remote Outback mining town. Bar owner Billy and a host of locals give the girls a riotous introduction to Down Under drinking culture but soon Hanna and Liv find themselves trapped in an unnerving situation that grows rapidly out of their control.
UN MÉTIER SÉRIEUX / A REAL JOB
THOMAS LILTI (FRANCE)
Country(ies) of production: France
Cast: Vincent Lacoste, François Cluzet, Louise Bourgoin, Adèle Exarchopoulos, William Lebghil, Lucie Zhang
Special Screenings
Not in competition
It’s a new school year. Benjamin is a PhD student without a grant. Given his lack of future prospects, he accepts a position as a contract teacher in a Parisian middle school. Without training or experience, he soon realises just how tough the teaching profession can be in an education system crippled by a chronic lack of resources. With the support and commitment of the other teachers, and a bit of luck, he will reconsider his vocation.
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