James Franco, winner of the Golden Shell for The Disaster Artist (2017), returns to the Official Selection of San Sebastian International Film Festival with Zeroville, another movie set in the film world. The 67th edition of San Sebastian International Film Festival will also include films by six filmmakers as yet to compete at the San Sebastian Festival: Louise Archambault, Guillaume Nicloux, José Luis Torres Leiva, Ina Weisse, Adilkhan Yerzhanov and David Zonana.
Fourteen first or second films by European, American and Asian filmmakers have been selected to compete for the Kutxabank-New Directors Award at the 67th San Sebastian International Film Festival.
Fifteen Spanish films including ‘La hija de un ladrón (A Thief’s Daughter)’, ‘La trinchera infinita (The Endless Trench)’ and ‘Mientras dure la guerra (While at War)’ will compete for the Golden Shell at the 67th edition of the San Sebastian Festival. In addition, Daniel Sánchez Arévalo will present ‘Diecisiete (Seventeen)’ out of competition and ‘La odisea de los giles (Heroic Losers)’ by Sebastián Borensztein will have a special screening
Parasite by Bong Joon Ho which won the Golden Palm in Cannes, Les Misérables, the first feature film by Ladj Ly and Amazing Grace, the Aretha Franklin gospel concert documentary, are among eight films that will compete for the City of Donostia / San Sebastian Audience Award decided by the audience at the 2019 San Sebastian International Film Festival.
Penélope Cruz will be all over the 67th San Sebastian Festival. The Spanish actress will receive the Festival’s important accolade, the Donostia Award – recognizing the career and contribution of great figures to the world of cinema since 1986, and her image is featured on the Festival poster.
The 67th edition of the San Sebastian Festival and Filmoteca Española will dedicate a retrospective to the Mexican director Roberto Gavaldón.
Between Two Waters (Entre dos aguas)[/caption]
Between Two Waters (Entre dos aguas) by Isaki Lacuesta won the top prize, Golden Shell for Best Film at the 2018 San Sebastian International Film Festival.
In the film, Isra and Cheíto are two Roma brothers: Isra was sent to prison for drug dealing and Cheíto signed up for the Marines. When Isra is released from prison and Cheíto returns from a long mission, they return to San Fernando. The reunion between the siblings brings memories of their father’s violent death when they were only boys. Twelve years have passed since La Leyenda del tiempo (The Legend of Time), Lacuesta’s film when Isra and Cheíto were teenagers. Now Isra returns to San Fernando to recover his wife and kids. But will he manage to go straight in a place with the highest unemployment rate in Spain? Their search for redemption, their need to sort out their lives and to find reconciliation between them unites Isra and Cheíto once again.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGGEWF_CFxs
Bicycle Thieves (Ladri di biciclette) (1948), by Vittorio De Sica, an emblematic film of Italian neorrealism and considered one of the best movies in the history of cinema, will open Klasikoa, a yearly rendezvous with a restored classic at the San Sebastian Film Festival.
The film, considered one of the best movies in the history of cinema, winner of an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1949, chronicles the misfortunes of a man on his first day at work whose essential element for keeping his job is stolen: his bicycle. André Bazin, in his famous analysis of the film, in his work What is Cinema?, describes it as cinema in its pure state and concludes on the subject of the plot: “in the world in which this workman lives, the poor must steal from each other in order to survive.”
The film has been restored by the L’imagine Ritrovata laboratory, part of Italy’s Fondazione Cineteca di Bologna, a global benchmark in film research, conservation and restoration. The restored copy was presented in the Cannes Classics section at the last Cannes Festival, followed shortly afterwards by its screening at Bologna’s Il Cinema Ritrovato Festival, as part of its Ritrovati e Restaurati 2018 / Recovered & Restored 2018 section.
BICYCLE THIEVES (LADRI DI BICICLETTE)
VITTORIO DE SICA (ITALY)
Cast: Lamberto Maggiorani, Enzo Staiola, Lianella Carell, Elena Altieri, Gino Saltamerenda
In post-war Rome, Antonio, an unemployed worker, lands a simple job putting up posters on the condition that he has a bicycle. With great difficulty, he manages to buy one, only to have it stolen on his first day of work. This is the start of an adventure whereby Antonio will try to recover his bicycle, with his son Bruno, while his wife Maria waits at home with their other child. Desperate, Antonio tries to steal a bike, but is arrested by the police.
Bad Times at the El Royale[/caption]
The world premiere of Bad Times at the El Royale, directed by Drew Goddard and starring Jeff Bridges, Chris Hemsworth, Jon Hamm and Dakota Johnson, will close the Official Selection of the San Sebastian International Film Festival’s 66th edition, out of competition. This is Drew Goddard’s second film, following his first feature, The Cabin in the Woods (2012).
Goddard, who penned the scripts for Cloverfield (2008), War World Z (2013) and The Martian (2015) and has produced TV series including Lost or Alias, boasts a cast headed by Donostia Award winner Jeff Bridges, Chris Hemsworth (Thor, The Avengers), Dakota Johnson (Fifty Shades of Grey, Suspiria) and Jon Hamm (Mad Men, The Town).
In the film, seven strangers, each with a secret to bury, meet at Lake Tahoe’s El Royale, a rundown hotel with a dark past. Over the course of one fateful night, everyone will have a last shot at redemption… before everything goes to hell.
The soundtrack of the film, which brings seven strangers together in a rundown hotel on Lake Tahoe, is composed by Michael Giacchino (Jurassic World, Coco, Up) and its director of photography is Seamus McGarvey (Godzilla, Nocturnal Animals, Darkest Hour).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQmOaJciI7Q
QING FENG DE WEI DAO / BREEZE[/caption]
The French film, Les Météorites / Meteorites and the Chinese film, Qing Feng De Wei Dao / Breeze, complete the New Directors selection at the 66th edition of the San Sebastian Film Festival.
A graduate from La Fémis, Romain Laguna (Montpellier, France) has directed the short films À trois sur Marianne (2012), Run (2013), Bye Bye mélancolie (2014) and J’mange froid (2015). His first feature film, Les météorites / Meteorites, focusses on a 16 year-old girl who is spending the summer in a town in the South of France and works in a theme park.
Kun Yang, from a small city in the South-West of China’s Yunnan province, studied film directing at the Beijing Film Academy. Qing Feng De Wei Dao / Breeze, his first feature film, revolves around a man’s homecoming journey from Yunnan to the town of his birth.
These two productions join the New Directors selection, which also includes the following titles: Oreina (The Deer, Koldo Almandoz), La camarista (The Chambermaid, Lila Avilés), Apuntes para una película de atracos (Notes for a Heist Film, Elías León Siminiani), Serdtse Mira / Core of the World (Nataliia Meshchaninova), Ama Doren / Hold my hand (Ismet Sijarina), Un om la locul lui / A Decent Man (Hadrian Marcu), Para la guerra (To War, Francisco Marise), Boku wa Iesu-sama ga kirai / Jesus (Hiroshi Okuyama), Julia y el zorro (Julia and the Fox, Ines María Barrionuevo), Der läufer / Midnight Runner (Hannes Baumgartner), Neon Heart (Laurits Flensted-Jensen), The Third Wife (Ash Mayfair) and Viaje al cuarto de una madre (Journey to a Mother’s Room, Celia Rico Clavellino).
This section, forming part of the Festival’s commitment to upcoming film talents, is a platform that lends visibility to their films. The last three winners of the Kutxabank-New Directors Award have been released in Spain: Le nouveau / The New Kid (2015), Park (2016) and Le semeur / The Sower (2017).
LES MÉTÉORITES / METEORITES
ROMAIN LAGUNA (FRANCE)
Nina, a 16-year-old girl, dreams of adventure. Meanwhile, she spends the summer between her village in the south of France and the theme park where she works. Just before meeting Morad, a teenage boy from an Algerian family living in the nearby council houses, Nina sees a meteorite falling from the sky which it seems only she can see… like an omen.
QING FENG DE WEI DAO / BREEZE
KUN YANG (CHINA)
Having left Yunnan, his native city, Yu Zhao moved to Beijing, where he has lived for more than thirty years. Since his retirement, his only occupation has been helping his son in the house and looking after his grandson. When Yu Zhao returns to Yunnan with the intention of starting a new life, he finds that things, his relatives, friends and loves of the past are no longer the way he remembered them. Everything has become colder and more routine. The people he knew now have their own lives and the dream of a new love disappears too. Gradually Yu Zhao realises that Yunnan is no longer his true home, and he decides to return to Beijing.
Sophia Lamar in I Hate New York[/caption]
Made in Spain, the showcase of the Spanish films at the 2018 San Sebastian International Film Festival will spotlight eleven productions, including films by directors Daniel Calparsoro, Isabel Coixet, Álex de la Iglesia, Ramón Salazar and David Trueba. The Festival will also serve as the framework for presentation of the documentary Querido Fotogramas, directed by the Brazilian filmmaker Sergio Oksman.
Among the first works are Mi querida cofradía, by Marta Díaz de Lope Díaz (Ronda, Málaga, 1988), winner at the Malaga Festival of both the Silver Biznaga for Best Supporting Actress (Carmen Flores) and the Audience Award; and I Hate New York, by the journalist and filmmaker Gustavo Sánchez (Úbeda, Jaén, 1978), produced by the Bayona brothers.
Also part of the selection are Diana Toucedo (Pontevedra, 1982) who, having worked on sixteen feature films as an editor and having directed the non-fiction feature En todas as mans, debuted in feature films with Trinta lumes / Thirty Souls, premiered in the Panorama section of the Berlinale; and Les distàncies (Distances) by Elena Trapé (Barcelona, 1976), recipient of the Golden Biznaga for Best Spanish Film and of the Silver Biznagas for Best Director and Best Actress (Alexandra Jiménez) in Malaga. Trapé’s first film, Blog, was selected for Zabaltegi-New Directors eight years ago at the Festival, landing a special mention from the RTVE-Otra Mirada Award.
Having worked on eight feature films as an editor, works which have coexisted with her involvement in the film pedagogy project Cinema en curs – which has its corresponding event in San Sebastian through Tabakalera and the Elías Querejeta Zine Eskola (Zinema (h)abian) – Meritxell Colell (Barcelona, 1983) has now directed her first feature film, Con el viento / Amb el vent. Having been selected as a project by the Cinéfondation, the work premiered in the Forum section of the Berlinale. Colell will participate with her second feature film project, Dúo, in the Festival’s Europe-Latin America Co-Production Forum.
Among the films by long-standing directors are El aviso (The Warning), the latest work from Daniel Calparsoro (Barcelona, 1968), whose films have been presented in Cannes, Berlin and Venice, as well as at the Festival; The Bookshop, by Isabel Coixet (Barcelona, 1960), winner this year of the Goyas for Best Film, Director and Adapted Screenplay; Perfectos desconocidos (Perfect Strangers), latest proposal from the filmmaker Álex de la Iglesia (Bilbao, 1965), a frequent participant in San Sebastian Festival’s Official Selection with several films including La comunidad (Common Wealth, Silver Shell for Carmen Maura), Las brujas de Zugarramurdi (Witching & Bitching) and Mi gran noche (My Big Night); La enfermedad del domingo (Sunday’s Illness) by Ramón Salazar (Málaga, 1973), participant in the Panorama section of the Berlinale; and Casi 40 (Almost 40) by David Trueba (Madrid, 1969), the sequel of his first work, La buena vida (The Good Life), winner of the Jury Special Prize in Malaga. Trueba’s previous feature, Vivir con los ojos cerrados (Living is Easy with Eyes Closed), competed in San Sebastian’s Official Selection and won six Goya awards, including Best Film.
CASI 40 (ALMOST FORTY)
DAVID TRUEBA (SPAIN)
Lucía was a successful singer until separation of the duo that had made her a sensation and earned her fame drove her to a somewhat marginal position in the industry. Now she lives a more stable life, married and with two children, retired from the world of show business. But the plans of an old boyfriend from the days of her youth to make a small concert tour of several Spanish cities give her the excuse to get back onto the road. About to turn 40, the two will have to bear the intimate price of giving up on their life ideals.
CON EL VIENTO – AMB EL VENT (FACING THE WIND)
MERITXELL COLELL (SPAIN – ARGENTINA – FRANCE)
Mónica, a 47 year-old dancer, receives a phone call from Spain: her father is seriously ill. Twenty years down the line, she must return to the remote Burgos town of her birth. By the time she gets there, her father is dead. Her mother, to whom she has hardly spoken in all these years, asks her for help to sell the family house. Winter arrives. The perpetual silence, the extreme cold, and having to deal with her family will be harsh trials for Mónica, who will take refuge in the place she knows best: dancing. The film combines dance, documentary and independent film to construct a singular tale of family ties and relations in a universe of women.
EL AVISO (THE WARNING)
DANIEL CALPARSORO (SPAIN)
We are in 2008. Young Jon is a mathematical whiz kid obsessed with numerical reasoning. He’s a genius whose schizophrenia has deprived him of a promising scientific career, so that he has to make do with a job in a photocopying shop. One night like many others, on leaving work, Jon and his best friend, David, head for a petrol station to buy drinks for a dinner with Andrea, a childhood friend of both and the girlfriend David is about to propose to. David goes into the shop while Jon waits for him in the car. Just then there is a robbery and David is hit by a bullet that leaves him in an irreversible coma. From then on Jon will stop taking his medication and, crippled by guilt, start looking for meaning in his friend’s murder. He investigates past robberies until finally finding a common mathematical pattern to them. Continuing with this logic, he comes to the conclusion that Nico, a 10 year-old boy, will be murdered in the same place.
I HATE NEW YORK
GUSTAVO SÁNCHEZ (SPAIN)
New York, 2007-2017. Over a decade, and filming only with a home video camera and no script, the director delves into the private world of Amanda Lepore, Chloe Dzubilo, Sophia Lamar and T De Long; four artists and transgender activists from the city’s underground scene. Little by little, their testimonies reveal fragments of a past –sometimes dramatic, always fascinating and simply extraordinary– that formed their identities and transformed their lives. Their words, fears and hopes take the audience from an outsider’s point of view to being emotionally invested in their destiny.
LA ENFERMEDAD DEL DOMINGO (SUNDAY’S ILLNESS)
RAMÓN SALAZAR (SPAIN)
Driven by her husband’s diplomatic career, Anabel dedicates her life to philanthropy. Her selfless devotion to helping others has increased her popularity, and she is the go-to person in her exclusive circle when it comes to obtaining donations for humanitarian organisations. It is precisely at one of these charity dinners that she runs back into her past on recognising one of the waitresses providing the catering service as being her daughter Chiara, the girl she had abandoned at the age of eight and whom she hasn’t seen for thirty-five years. It’s no chance she’s there; Chiara has been looking for her. Mother and daughter embark on a journey into the past, alone, with a hard road before them in the attempt to recover thirty-five years in barely ten days. Or that’s what Anabel believes. The thing is that this journey has a hidden purpose for Chiara. And when Anabel discovers it she will have to make the most difficult decision of her life, after which she will never be the same again.
LES DISTÀNCIES (DISTANCES)
ELENA TRAPÉ (SPAIN)
Olivia, Eloy, Guille and Anna travel to Berlin to surprise their friend Comas with a visit for his 35th birthday. He doesn’t give them the welcome they expected and during the weekend their contradictions grow and their friendship is put to the test. Together they will discover that time and distance can change everything.
MI QUERIDA COFRADÍA (HOPELESSLY DEVOUT)
MARTA DÍAZ DE LOPE DÍAZ (SPAIN)
Carmen, a middle-aged woman from Malaga, Catholic and apostolic, is about to see her lifelong dream come true: to be president of her brotherhood. It will be the first time that a woman will have achieved such an honour. But finally her fellow members decide to choose her biggest rival, a man named Ignacio. Everything becomes even more complicated for Carmen on the day of the Easter procession, when she is involved in a situation she can only get out of with the help of the women around her.
PERFECTOS DESCONOCIDOS (PERFECT STRANGERS)
ÁLEX DE LA IGLESIA (SPAIN)
Four couples meet for dinner on the night of a lunar eclipse. A night of friendship and laughs, until suddenly the idea emerges: Why not do something different? What would happen if we left the mobile phones on the table within reach of everybody? Entire lives shared by everyone as they happen… An innocent game or a dangerous suggestion? Will the group of friends be able to withstand such a degree of sincerity, even if it is only for a time?
QUERIDO FOTOGRAMAS
SERGIO OKSMAN (SPAIN)
The 70th anniversary of the Fotogramas magazine comes in the shape of a sentimental voyage through the history of Spanish cinema thanks to a mosaic of voices represented by people who make films, those who write them and those who consume them. The documentary pays tribute to the readers of Fotogramas helped by the leading figures of Spanish cinema, who will read to the camera the most representative letters received at its offices in the history of the magazine.
THE BOOKSHOP
ISABEL COIXET (SPAIN – UK)
In the late ‘50s, Florence Green decides to make one of her greatest dreams come true: to leave London and open a small bookshop on the British coast. But to her surprise, the decision will trigger all sorts of reactions among the locals.
TRINTA LUMES / THIRTY SOULS
DIANA TOUCEDO (SPAIN)
Alba is 12 years old and eager to discover the unknown, mysterious and fascinating side of death. With her best friend Samuel they enter abandoned houses, wander around rundown villages and make their way into the mountains with their hidden parallel world. A voyage starting from innocence to discover the mystery of the struggle between life and death.
Phantom Thread[/caption]
Paul Thomas Anderson’s Phantom Thread starring Daniel Day-Lewis has been voted Best Film of 2018 by the members of FIPRESCI, the International Federation of Film Critics. The vote was decided by 473 critics from all over the world, who chose this production from among all of the films premiered after 1 July 2017. The other three finalists were Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri by Martin McDonagh (City of Donostia / San Sebastian Audience Award 2017), Zimna wojna / Cold War by Pawel Pawlikowski, Best Director Award in Cannes, and Zama, by Lucrecia Martel.
This is the third time that Paul Thomas Anderson will have received the award in San Sebastian. In 2008 he received the accolade for his film There Will Be Blood and in 2000, for Magnolia. The North American filmmaker has received the Golden Bear in Berlin for Magnolia, the Best Director Award in Cannes for Punch-Drunk Love (2002) and the Silver Bear for Best Director and two Academy Awards with There Will Be Blood.
Since its creation in 1999, the Fipresci Grand Prix has gone to highly-acclaimed filmmakers including Pedro Almodóvar, Michael Haneke, Cristian Mungiu, Jean-Luc Godard, Richard Linklater, Roman Polanski, George Miller, Maren Ade and Aki Kaurismäki.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNsiQMeSvMk
PHANTOM THREAD
PAUL THOMAS ANDERSON (USA)
Renowned dressmaker Reynolds Woodcock is at the centre of British fashion. Women come and go through Woodcock’s life, until he comes across the young Alma, who soon becomes a fixture in his life as his muse and lover. Once controlled and planned, he finds his carefully tailored life disrupted by love. With his latest film, Paul Thomas Anderson paints an illuminating portrait both of an artist on a creative journey, and the women who keep his world running.