Modi – Three Days on the Wing of Madness, Johnny Depp’s second movie as a director, has been added to the Official Selection of the 72nd San Sebastian Festival in out-of-competition.
Other movies added to the festival include the documentary Lumiere! The Adventure Continues (Lumière!, l’aventure continue) by Thierry Frémaux joins the Special Screenings; plus Bagger Drama by Piet Baumgartner, and My Eternal Summer (Min Evige Sommer), the debut from Sylvia Le Fanu, complete the New Directors section.
Modi – Three Days on the Wing of Madness marks the return to directing by Johnny Depp, who made his debut behind the camera with The Brave (1997) and received the Donostia Award for his lifetime achievement at the San Sebastian Festival in 2021. Riccardo Scamarcio plays the Bohemian artist Amedeo Modigliani in the film also also featuring Stephen Graham, Al Pacino and Antonia Desplat. The film, a tale of art, love and rejection, follows a 72-hour whirlwind of chaotic events through the streets and bars of a Paris torn apart during World War I.
Thierry Frémaux, General Delegate of the Festival de Cannes and Director of the Lumière Institute, returns to San Sebastian to present Lumiere! The Adventure Continues ( Lumière!, l’aventure continue). This is the sequel to Lumière! The Adventure Begins (Lumière! L’aventure commence) (2016), a journey through the universe of the founders of cinema narrated by Frémaux.
OFFICIAL SELECTION – Out of Competition
Modi – Three Days on the Wing of Madness
Johnny Depp (USA)
Country(ies) of production: UK – Hungary – Italy
Cast: Riccardo Scamarcio, Stephen Graham, Al Pacino, Antonia Desplat
Not in competition
A seventy-two-hour whirlwind in the life of bohemian artist Amedeo Modigliani, known as Modi to his friends, follows a chaotic series of events through the streets of war torn Paris in 1916. On the run from the police, his desire to end his career and leave the city is dismissed by fellow artists Maurice Utrillo, Chaim Soutine and Modi’s muse, Beatrice Hastings. Modi seeks advice from his art dealer and friend, Leopold Zborowski — however, after a night of hallucinations, the chaos in Modi’s mind reaches a crescendo when faced with an American collector, Maurice Gangnat, who has the power to change his life.
OFFICIAL SELECTION – Special Screenings
Lumiere! The adventure continues (Lumière!, l’aventure continue)
Thierry Frémaux (France)
Country(ies) of production:
Special Screenings
Not in competition
The sequel to Lumière! L’aventure commence / Lumière! The Adventure Begins reveals another hundred Lumière films, all immaculately restored, and aims above all to explore more deeply the history of the invention and affirmation of cinema in the world. This new feature-length film, following the great success and worldwide release of its predecessor, will confirm to audiences everywhere that the roots of the greatest and most beautiful works in the history of cinema lie in its origins, which are both profoundly French and truly international.
NEW DIRECTORS
Bagger Drama
Piet Baumgartner (Switzerland)
Country(ies) of production: Switzerland
Cast: Bettina Stucky, Phil Hayes, Vincent Furrer
A family finds it difficult to talk about feelings, love or intimacy. The family business demands their full attention: renting, selling and repairing excavators. Everyone has to pitch in. When the daughter has a fatal accident, the family stops functioning. The son would rather go to the USA than take over the company. The father takes a liking to the new choir director and the mother suddenly finds herself alone.
My Eternal Summer (Min evige sommer)
Sylvia Le Fanu (United Kingdom)
Country(ies) of production: Denmark
Cast: Kaya Toft Loholt, Maria Rossing, Anders Mossling
Fifteen-year-old Fanny and her parents retreat to their summer house, embracing familiar routines: reading, swimming, and walking. Beneath the quiet simplicity, an unspoken grief lingers—they know it will be her mother’s last summer. As they try to seize the days they have left together, the family navigates the delicate balance between cherishing the present and facing what’s to come.