The latest films from Edward Berger, Gia Coppola, Costa-Gavras, Mike Leigh, Diego Lerman, Joshua Oppenheimer and François Ozon will compete for the Golden Shell alongside the debuts from Laura Carreira and Xin Huo, in the Official Selection of 72nd San Sebastian Festival to take place September 20-28, 2024.

Pamela Anderson, Jamie Lee Curtis and Dave Bautista star in The Last Showgirl, new feature film by Gia Coppola about a seasoned showgirl who must plan for her future when her show closes after a 30-year run.

Edward Berger, whose All Quiet on the Western Front, earned several Academy Awards, including Best International Feature Film, will compete with Conclave. Here Ralph Fiennes plays a cardinal who is tasked following the Pope’s sudden death with supervising the conclave from which his successor will be chosen.

In When Fall Is Coming (Quand vient l’automne), starring Hélène Vincent, Josiane Balasko, Ludivine Sagnier and Pierre Lottin, François Ozon tells the tale of a retired woman whose life changes on meeting a man, her friend’s son, recently released from prison. This will be the French moviemaker’s sixth participation in the Official Selection, where he won the Golden Shell and Jury Prize for Best Screenplay with Dans la maison / In The House (2012) and the Special Jury Prize with Le refuge (2009).

Also featuring in the Official Selection for the first time is Britain’s Mike Leigh with Hard Truths, starring Marianne Jean-Baptiste and Michele Austin, about the everyday life of a London family, addressing such issues as family relations, mourning and mental health.

The Official Selection will also show The End, the first inroads to fiction films by Joshua Oppenheimer. Tilda Swinton, Michael Shannon, George MacKay, Bronagh Gallagher and Tim McInnerny star in the dystopian musical following a wealthy family who survive in a bunker two decades after the world has ended.

Having written the screenplay for titles including Shower (1999), Kung Fu Hustle (2004), Curiosity Kills the Cat (2006) and The Monkey King (2014), Xin Huo (Beijing, 1980) makes her debut behind the camera with Bound in Heaven. The Chinese director tells the tale of a terminally ill man and a young girl trapped by violence as they set out on a race against the clock through different cities.

The competition will also include Serpent’s Path (Hebi no michi), a movie from Kiyoshi Kurosawa (Kobe, 1955) about a man hell bent on revenge for his daughter’s brutal murder. Shot in French and starring Ko Shibasaki, Damien Bonnard and Mathieu Amalric, Kurosawa brings a new version of the homonymous movie he himself helmed in 1998 and which was programmed ten years later as part of San Sebastian Festival’s themed retrospective Japan in Black.

Diego Lerman (Buenos Aires, 1976) returns to the competition for the third time with El hombre que amaba los platos voladores, a film about Argentinian television’s best known audiovisual recording on the existence of alien presence starring Leonardo Sbaraglia, Sergio Prina, Osmar Núñez and Renata Lerman.

72nd Sebastian Festival Official Selections

BOUND IN HEAVEN
XIN HUO (CHINA)
Country(ies) of production: China
Cast: Ni Ni, You Zhou
This film narrates the poignant tale of a terminally ill man and a woman caught in violence, weaving through their fugitive journey after an unforeseen incident. It is a story of a love that survives the ravages of death and a fleeting revelry of life amidst the shadows of death.

CONCLAVE
EDWARD BERGER (GERMANY)
Country(ies) of production: UK – USA
Cast: Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow, Isabella Rossellini, Sergio Castellitto
Conclave follows one of the world’s most secretive and ancient events – selecting a new Pope. Cardinal Lawrence is tasked with running this covert process after the unexpected death of the beloved Pope. Once the Catholic Church’s most powerful leaders have gathered from around the world and are locked together in the Vatican halls, Lawrence finds himself at the centre of a conspiracy and discovers a secret that could shake the very foundation of The Church.

EL HOMBRE QUE AMABA LOS PLATOS VOLADORES
DIEGO LERMAN (ARGENTINA)
Country(ies) of production: Argentina
Cast: Leonardo Sbaraglia, Sergio Prina, Osmar Nuñez, Renata Lerman, Maria Merlino, Daniel Araoz, Mónica Ayos, Norman Briski, Agustín Rittano
1986. Journalist José de Zer and Chango, his cameraman, set out for La Candelaria (Córdoba) on receiving an unusual proposal from two shady characters. Arriving in the village, there’s nothing much to see, only a scorched field surrounded by hills. What happened next was the work of a genius in the art of exaggeration with a hidden talent: the ability to create the best known audiovisual recording on the existence of alien presence in the history of Argentinian television.

EL LUGAR DE LA OTRA
MAITE ALBERDI (CHILE)
Country(ies) of production: Chile
Cast: Elisa Zulueta, Francisca Lewin, Marcial Tagle, Pablo Macaya, Gabriel Urzúa
Chile, 1955. When the popular writer María Carolina Geel kills her lover, the case captivates Mercedes, the shy secretary of the judge in charge of the case. After visiting the writer’s apartment, Mercedes begins to question her life, identity, and the role of women in society as she finds an oasis of freedom in that home.

HARD TRUTHS
MIKE LEIGH (UNITED KINGDOM)
Country(ies) of production: UK – Spain
Cast: Mariane Jean-Baptiste, Michele Austin, David Webber, Ani Nelson, Sophia Brown, Tuwaine Barrett
Life’s a constant struggle for Pansy. Racked with physical and mental pain, her dealings with the world are channeled through anger and confrontation: she argues with her family, her dentist, her doctor, the girl at the supermarket checkout… Curtley, her husband, has been at a loss as to how to deal with her for a long time while Moses, her son, lives in his own world, hardly says a word and spends his days aimlessly wandering the streets of the city. Only her loving sister Chantelle understands her and is able to help her.

SERPENT’S PATH (HEBI NO MICHI)
KIYOSHI KUROSAWA (JAPAN)
Country(ies) of production: Japan – France
Cast: Ko Shibasaki, Damien Bonnard, Mathieu Amalric
In the suburbs of Paris, Albert, a freelance reporter, vows to take revenge for the brutal murder of his young daughter while Sayoko, a Japanese female doctor, assists him in his quest for revenge. With Sayoko’s skillful guidance, the two get closer to the truth behind Albert’s daughter’s death, but it turns out that a mysterious cult and human traffickers are involved in the case. When they finally get close to the truth, Sayoko’s real intention is revealed…

LAST BREATH (LE DERNIER SOUFFLE)
COSTA-GAVRAS (GREECE)
Country(ies) of production: France
Cast: Denis Podalydès, Kad Merad, Angela Molina, Charlotte Rampling, Hiam Abbass, Karin Viard, Marilyne Canto, Agathe Bonitzer
In a kind of philosophical dialogue, Doctor Augustin Masset and renowned writer Fabrice Toussaint discuss life and death… A whirlwind of encounters in which the doctor is the guide and the writer, his passenger, led to confront his own fears and anxieties… A poetic ballet, where each patient is a tome of emotions, laughter and tears… A journey to the throbbing heart of our lives.

ON FALLING
LAURA CARREIRA (PORTUGAL)
Country(ies) of production: UK – Portugal
Cast: Joana Santos
On Falling tells the story of Aurora, a Portuguese warehouse picker working in a vast fulfilment centre in Scotland. Trapped between the confines of her workplace and the solitude of her flat share, Aurora seeks to resist the loneliness, alienation and ensuing small talk which begin to threaten her sense of self. Set against a landscape dominated by an algorithm-driven gig economy, designed to keep us apart, On Falling explores the silent, vital struggle to find meaning and connection.

WHEN FALL IS COMING (QUAND VIENT L’AUTOMNE)
FRANÇOIS OZON (FRANCE)
Country(ies) of production: France
Cast: Hélène Vincent, Josiane Balasko, Ludivine Sagnier, Pierre Lottin
Michelle, a model grandmother, is enjoying peaceful retirement in a Burgundy village, close to her best friend Marie-Claude. On All Saints’ Day, her daughter Valérie arrives to drop off her grandson Lucas for the school holiday week. But nothing will go to plan.

THE END
JOSHUA OPPENHEIMER (USA)
Country(ies) of production: Denmark – Germany – Ireland – Italy
Cast: Tilda Swinton, George MacKay, Moses Ingram, Michael Shannon
The End is a Golden Age musical about one of the last families on earth. After the sudden arrival of a stranger, Girl, threatens Mother and Father’s family’s luxurious compound deep underground, Son begins to question their seemingly perfect existence.

THE LAST SHOWGIRL
GIA COPPOLA (USA)
Country(ies) of production: USA
Cast: Pamela Anderson, Kiernan Shipka, Brenda Song, Billie Lourd, Dave Bautista, Jamie Lee Curtis, Jason Schwartzman
A seasoned showgirl must plan for her future when her show closes abruptly after a 30-year run. As a dancer in her fifties, she struggles with what to do next. As a mother, she strives to repair a strained relationship with her daughter, who often took a backseat.