Penelope Cruz Tears Up While Accepting Special Honor at San Sebastian Film Festival

Ed Meza @edmezavar Juan Diego Botto’s feature film debut is a heart-breaking social drama and scathing critique of the neoliberal structures that have resulted in a catastrophic eviction crisis in Spain, where more than 400,000 people have been forced out of their homes over the past decade. “On the Fringe” screens in the Zurich Film Festival’s country focus sidebar, New World View, which this year showcases works from new Spanish filmmakers. The impressive achievement, which premiered in Venice, grew out of a conversation Botto had with friend Penélope Cruz after she saw a play he had written and was starring in. She suggested he write a script for a project they could do together, perhaps a relationship drama, something to do with jealousy, the Argentine-Spanish multi-hyphenate recalls.

Falling somewhere between Ken Loach’s most recent films about poverty (Sorry, We Missed You; I, Daniel Blake) and a telenovela, On the Fringe, Juan Diego Botto’s debut as a director sets out to give a snapshot of Spain’s eviction crisis. An end-title tells us that around a hundred households are evicted every day in Spain, but the story could be told in any city where jobs are scarce and wages are falling – in other words, almost anywhere.

Tom Cruise allegedly built a soccer pitch to "woo" David Beckham for the Church of Scientology. The 'Mission: Impossible' actor was reportedly keen to introduce famous faces to the faith, with the sportsman and his fashion designer wife Victoria Beckham at the top of his list, so it was agreed to have a "professional-grade" pitch constructed at the Gold Base headquarters in California in order for the Hollywood star to have a reason to bring the former England player to visit the site with him. Mike Rinder - a former high-ranking officer in the church - wrote in his new book 'A Billion Years: My Escape From a Life in the Highest Ranks of Scientology': [Tom] was doing his best to court celebrities other than those with whom he was working on films.

Colombian filmmaker Laura Mora has clinched the Golden Shell in the main competition of the 70th San Sebastian Film Festival with her latest feature The Kings of the World (Los reyes del mundo).

Guy Lodge Film Critic Colombian director Laura Mora’s coming-of-age drama “Kings of the World” has taken the Golden Shell for Best Film at the San Sebastian Film Festival, marking the third consecutive year that a female filmmaker has taken the top prize at the Spanish fest. Longer report to follow; full list of winners below. OFFICIAL SELECTION PRIZES Golden Shell for Best Film: “Kings of the World,” Laura Mora Special Jury Prize: “Runner,” Marian Mathias Silver Shell for Best Director: “A Hundred Flowers,” Genki Kawamura

Liza Foreman Liam Neeson and Diane Kruger turned out at the San Sebastian Film Festival on Saturday to support the world premiere of Neil Jordan’s “Marlowe,” which closes the festival tonight. Jordan and William Monahan’s adaptation of John Banville’s novel “The Black-Eyed Blonde” centers Raymond Chandler’s famous detective Philip Marlowe, and – like Chandler’s books – is set in 1930s Los Angeles. Jordan said it was confusing to call it a film noir. “First of all, it’s shot in color,” he said. Even though it is set in the past, it’s a futuristic film that provided his reference point for the look of this one.

Miguel Herran had a big premiere this past weekend at the 2022 San Sebastian Film Festival!

Anna Marie de la Fuente Vying for the top Gold Shell at the 70th San Sebastian Film Festival, Basque native Mikel Gurrea’s debut feature “Suro” stems from Gurrea’s experience working in the cork forests north of Catalonia. He had just finished his studies and was at a loss when his then girlfriend’s parents suggested he work in the forests where they stripped cork from the trees. “I discovered a fascinating world that stayed with me; the work is tough but you’re in the middle of nature,” he said. “It was also a good workout!” he added. “Suro” revolves around a young couple, Helena and Ivan, who decide to leave Barcelona and start anew on the land that Helena has inherited. Ivan takes it upon himself to join the workers and learn how to strip the bark from the cork trees that now belong to them. But their contrasting viewpoints will jeopardize their future as a couple, the film broadening its sweep to examine modern-day capitalism and the rights to private property.

Anna Marie de la Fuente Woody Allen has announced his retirement from filmmaking. While in Europe to work on his 50th film, Woody Allen told Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia that he intended to retire from making movies and to dedicate more time to writing during his twilight years. What is now set to be his final film is set in Paris and will be shot entirely in French in a couple of weeks. Allen described his upcoming film to be similar to “Match Point,” in that it would be “exciting, dramatic and also very sinister.” Allen recently wrote his fifth collection of humor pieces, “Zero Gravity,” which will be published Sept. 27 by Alianza in Spain. In the U.S., it was published by Arcade and distributed by Simon & Schuster.

Olivia Wilde is looking stunning on the red carpet!

Liza Foreman After wowing a home crowd at the opening night of the San Sebastián Film Festival on Friday, looking dazzling at 48, Spain’s best-known actress, Penélope Cruz, spoke to a packed auditorium at the city’s Tabakalera culture center on Saturday when she was honored with Spain’s National Cinematography Prize. “It is truly an honor for me to receive this National Cinematography Prize,” said Cruz speaking in Spanish.  “Cinema is and has been my passion since I was a child. Since I dreamed in the living room of my parents’ house of worlds to explore beyond our neighbourhood. The streets of my neighborhood sometimes became sets for incredible stories,” she went on. “My childhood was fantasizing about acting, living life so intensely to be able to encompass many lives through dozens of characters.”

Spain on Friday. The actress, 45, showed off her chic sense of style in a in a black dress with a plunging neckline. The tiered circle skirt flared out as she stood on the red carpet while posing for pictures.

Penelope Cruz is taken by surprise as she sees so many fans at the premiere of her new movie, On The Fringe, during the 2022 San Sebastian Film Festival held at Victoria Eugenia Theatre on Friday (September 16) in San Sebastian, Spain.

Olivia Wilde had a warm greeting while arriving in Spain for the 2022 San Sebastian Film Festival!

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent Packing its first full-on onsite edition since the pandemic, Spain’s San Sebastian Festival has never been busier or bigger. 10 Takes on what is shaping up as a vibrant edition:    Playing Off Powerful Market Forces Nine of Netflix’s 20 Top 10 non-English-language films and TV series are sourced from Spain or Latin America. Platforms are battling to tie down talent.  This year, eight movies from Spain and Latin America play in competition alone at San Sebastian, the most important film event in the Spanish-speaking world. The fest’s main sidebar is its New Directors strand. San Sebastian’s focus on the Spanish-speaking world and new talent now aligns with powerful market forces. That fact plays out over the 2022 edition.

Glenn Close had to cancel plans at the 2022 San Sebastian Film Festival due to a family emergency.

Naman Ramachandran Glenn Close, who was due to serve as the jury president at the San Sebastian Film Festival, has canceled her trip due to a family emergency. “I deeply regret that I will not be able to take part in the festival as there has been a family emergency for which I must stay home,” Close said in a statement.

EXCLUSIVE: Oscar-winning Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar will not be making his first English-language feature directorial debut with A Manual for Cleaning Women, which has Cate Blanchett set to star and produce under her Dirty Films, Deadline has learned.

Heavy on Loachian social realism and undergirded by the intensity and heavy stakes of a Safdie Brothers flick, Juan Diego Botto’s gritty eviction thriller “On the Fringe” — produced by Penélope Cruz, who also lends her name to the billing sheet — makes for hard-hitting stuff. Premiering at the Venice Film Festival today in the Orrizonti section, here’s a slice of agitprop that feels as timely as ever, with the energy crisis surging across Europe, the costs of living rocketing from shore to shore, and society’s most marginalized left to pick up the tab.  Anyone with half a heart and half a brain will be quickly won over by its interweaving stories, following three different people in the same Spanish city living under the cold, foreboding shadow of red-stamp eviction notices: though a little baggy in the second act, the first and final thirty-minutes are appropriately earnest and affecting.