San Sebastian Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

Holly Jones Simmering inner turmoil, regret and a relationship on the mend feature as themes in “Little Loves” (“Los Pequeños Amores”), Spanish filmmaker Celia Rico‘s anticipated second feature, which premiered in competition this week at the Málaga Film Festival. Rico’s 2018 feature debut, “Journey to a Mother’s Room,” won the Youth Jury Award at San Sebastian Film Festival, and received a Special Mention in the New Directors competition.

Movistar Plus+ original film and the awaited next feature from Spain’s Iciar Bollaín (“Take My Eyes,” “Maixabel”), has closed its earliest pre-sales, struck by Film Factory Entertainment, including a bellwether deal in France. The deals come as “I’m Nevenka” has wrapped production, shooting in the Basque city of Bilbao before transferring to rural Zamora, western Spain.

Naman Ramachandran A screening of Isabel Herguera‘s San Sebastian winner “Sultana’s Dream” will kickstart the inaugural edition of AniMela, India’s first-ever international festival for animation, VFX, XR, gaming and comics, in Mumbai. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with Herguera, alongside her Spanish and Indian crew, including Indian animation expert Upamanyu Bhattacharyya.

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent In bigger picture terms, the major highlights of Ventana Sur were a masterclass by Cannes head Thierry Frémaux and an impromptu speech by San Sebastián director José Luis Rebordinos, heads of the most important film festivals in the world and Spanish-speaking world, supporting the continued existence of INCAA. There words came after Argentinian President elect Javier Milei had vowed on the campaign trail to shutter Argentina’s state-backed film-TV agency if voted into power. In industry terms, never has Ventana Sur, Latin America’s most important film-TV market, been this big, its final attendance numbers sky-rocketing to 4,300, some 30% up on 2022, beyond even the wildest expectations of organizers, Cannes Marché du Film and the INCAA.

Naman Ramachandran Sarvnik Kaur’s documentary “Against the Tide” has won the Golden Gateway Award at the Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival. The film previously won awards at Sundance, Sydney and Seattle. Diwa Shah’s San Sebastian winner “Bahadur: The Brave” received Mumbai’s Silver Gateway Award.

The San Sebastian Film Festival awarded O Corno (The Rye Horn) with the Golden Shell for Best Film. San Sebastián native Jaione Camborda took the top prize of the night for the feature she directed.

Callum McLennan At this year’s Annecy, the most important animation festival in the world, Basque animations were out in force. With a diverse showcase ranging from the nostalgic cartoon charm of “Conej Steps Out” by student outfit Funnie Fantasies, to UniKo’s tantalising taster excerpts for feminist story “Sultana’s Dream” by Isabel Herguera and the short “Body of Christ” by Beatriz Lumez, Basque animators made a mark. The festival’s spotlight on Spanish female creators further underscored this region’s depth of talent.

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent Spain’s 71st San Sebastian Film Festival is tracking to welcome an even larger industry presence than 2022, currently up 10% in attendance on 2022’s already bullish figures, its status as the biggest movie event in the Spanish-speaking world remaining undiminished. Here are 10 key takes on potential highlights and trends which look likely to shape this year’s edition, running Sept.

Callum McLennan A San Sebastian competition contender, Isabel Herguera’s awaited debut feature film, animated feature “Sultana’s Dream,” (“El sueño de la sultana”), has a first trailer, which Variety can share exclusively. Seen at Annecy as a work in progress, the feminist film will world premiere at Spain’s 71st San Sebastian, becoming the first animation feature directed by a woman to garner selection. Producers of “Unicorn Wars” Abano Producións and UniKo, join El Gatoverde Producciones, Sultana Films and Fabian & Fred, to bring this three-part animated feature, recounting the modern-day vicissitudes of a Spanish artist in India; the travails of real-life feminist thinker Rokeya Hossain; and the story she published remarkably as early as 1905 about Ladyland, where women hold the dominant power.

San Sebastian Fetes Veteran Director Victor Erice

Swedish pic Mother, Couch! starring Taylor Russell and Ewan McGregor alongside Ellen Burstyn is one of the titles San Sebastian has set to compete for its New Directors award during its 71st edition, running September 22 — 30.

Naman Ramachandran Portuguese auteur João Canijo (San Sebastián winner “Blood of My Blood”) has a brace of films at the Berlin Film Festival in 2023. “Bad Living” is in competition while its companion piece “Living Bad” is in the Encounters strand. “Bad Living” follows five conflicted women who are operating an old family-run hotel, trying to save it from going under. The unexpected arrival of a granddaughter to this oppressive space stirs trouble, reviving latent hatred and piled-up resentments. “Living Bad,” which plays out like the reverse shot of “Bad Living,” follows the stories of three groups of guests in the same hotel with glimpses of what transpires in the first film.

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent In a sign of a new ebullience in Spain’s film industry, Spain’s Elamedia Estudios, founded by Roberto Butragueño, is launching Sideral, an integrated production-distribution-sales label. It launches with feature “Cheaper Than Stealing” at the Berlinale Co-Production Market. Sideral titles include “In the Sultan’s Bedchamber,” from San Sebastian best director winner Javier Rebollo (“Woman Without Piano”), a Sideral production; “The Fantastic Golem Affairs,” from Spanish duo Burning Percebes, which it is selling abroad; and “I Have Electric Dreams,” Valerie Maurel’s Locarno best director, actor and actress winner, which it will release in Spain. 

Málaga Work in Progress, an Málaga Festival industry centerpiece where productions such as “The Platform” first saw the light of day. Playing in Malaga WIP, “The Platform” was acquired by Latido Film which sold the title to Netflix at Toronto. It has gone on to rank as the third most-watched non-English movie ever on Netflix.    At least three titles – Spanish road movie “Devil Dog Road,” horror pic “The Hidden City,” the neo-noir “Foremost by Night” – boast genre gristle. Some titles turn on gender oppression (“As Neves”), female self-discovery (“Mara’s Vacation”) or sexual diversity (“I Trust You”). Many, especially from Spain, have social-issue overtones.  

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 San Sebastian’s inaugural Creative Investors Conference framed a panel discussion on Storytelling’s New Horizons featuring Phil Hunt of Head Gear Films, Bankside Films and Bohemia Media; Karin Chien of Louverture Films, and dGenerate; and Diana Williams of Kinetic Energy Entertainment. How to navigate new technologies, new ways of thinking and how to broaden storytelling to encompass diversity and different communities were some of the questions posed by moderator Wendy Mitchell.  “We are looking at new ways of thinking: How storytellers and companies can use new technologies, how to look at an industry that’s more sustainable and more reflective of society, as well, today,” said Mitchell.

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 Ecuador’s Ana Cristina Barragán, an alum of San Sebastian’s post-graduate film school Elias Querejeta Zine Eskola (EQZE), has come full circle with her second feature “La Piel Pulpo” (“Octopus Skin”) as it competes at the San Sebastian Festival’s Horizontes Latinos, a year after it participated in the festival’s Work in Progress strand (WIP Latam). A coming-of-age family drama “La Piel Pulpo” turns on twins Iris and Ariel who live with their mother and younger sister on a remote island. Having grown up in this rarified environment with only the mollusks, birds and reptiles for company, the teens are inseparable and have formed a near transcendental connection with nature. Curious about the world beyond their island, Iris hitches a boat ride with a rare visitor to explore the mainland and search for their estranged father. The act of physically separating from her twin brother puts a strain on their relationship.

Ventana Sur, Latin America’s biggest film-TV market.  Co-organized by Cannes Marché du Film, Cannes Film Festival and Argentina’s INCAA film-TV agency, Ventana Sur runs Nov. 28–Dec.2.  Announced Sunday at a San Sebastian press conference, Spanish Screenings on Tour will see five projects or productions-in-post from Spain play at each of four key Ventana Sur forums. These take in animation platform Animation! where five titles will be presented as part of a Spanish Screenings Anímate initiative, its genre market Blood Window (Spanish Screamings), women directors’ project section Punto de Género (Spanish Screenings Perspectives) and TV focus SoloSerieS (Spanish Screenings Series), said Beatriz Navas, director general of Spain’s ICAA film-TV agency. 

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent Austrian director Ulrich Seidl has cancelled his visit to San Sebastian for the Sept. 18 world premiere of “Sparta,” amid allegations of impropriety and child exploitation made against the director. The world premiere will still go ahead at San Sebastian with the film playing in main competition contending for San Sebastian’s Gold Shell. Seidl’s decision comes after the Toronto Film Festival pulled “Sparta” and on Sept. 14, FilmFest Hamburg announced that it would no longer be giving Seidl its Douglas Sirk Award, though it would be screening “Sparta.”

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.

Manori Ravindran International Editor Ulrich Seidl’s “Sparta” has been pulled from the Toronto International Film Festival amid allegations of impropriety and child exploitation against the director, but its premiere at next week’s San Sebastian Film Festival will continue as planned, Variety can reveal. A spokesperson for the Spanish festival tells Variety on behalf of festival management that “Sparta” will remain in competition. Providing a three-point list explaining their reasoning, San Sebastian said “the festival team assesses the films after their viewing according to their interest and quality” and that the event “does not have the ability to judge how a film has been shot and whether a crime has been committed in the course of the filming. If anyone has any evidence of a crime, they should report it to a judge.”

Margarethe von Trotta To Receive Lifetime Achievement Honor At The European Film Awards German filmmaker Margarethe von Trotta will be honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 35th European Film Awards. von Trotta will receive the honor at a ceremony in Reykjavik, Iceland, on December 10 where she will be an honorary guest. Born in Berlin and raised in Düsseldorf, von Trotta started her career as an actress, in theatre and appeared in films by Rainer Werner Fassbinder and Volker Schlöndorff before moving behind the camera in 1978 with The Second Awakening of Christa Klages, her solo debut as a director. In 1981, her film Marianne and Juliane about the “German Sisters” Christiane and Gudrun Ensslin won the Golden Lion in Venice as well as two German Film Awards and an Italian David di Donatello. Previous winners of the European Film Academy’s lifetime achievement award include Agnès Varda and Judi Dench.

One of a Thousand,” 2020 ) or Toronto (Agustina San Martin, “To Kill a Beast,” 2021).Ulises Porra’s second feature “Carajita” won San Sebastian’s own prestigious New Directors strand last year in a competition that also featured Juan Sebastián Mesa’s “The Rust,” his sophomore outing.10 of the 14 projects would be second or third features. Their issues  – and those of more mature directors – are very much of this age: a female friendship tale (“La Hija del General”); Argentine rural queer sensibility (“They Burn in the Same Way”); a woman’s renouncement of family (“Rona”); contemporary solitude (“To Die on Your Feet”).Epitomising a new generation, one project, Manuel Luque’s “Inspection on Earth,” is sci-fi, another “Todo el mundo,” from Argentina’s Agustina San Martín, who caught attention with her atmospheric genre allegory “To Kill a Beast.”San Sebastian 2022 Europe-Latin America Co-production Forum Contenders:“The Blue Flamingo,” (“Voo do Flamingo,” Beatriz Seigner, Brazil)Produced by Brazil’s Abrolhos Filmes and Globo Filmes,and pitched at Rome’s MIA Market in 2020, a drama about a boy, 11, travelling to a largely abandoned beach town to meet his father for the first time.

Rafael Cobos, the co-screenwriter of Alberto Rodríguez’s Goya best picture winner “Marshland” and “The Plague,” one of Movistar Plus’ most ambitious series ever, is getting his own show.   Moving into production on July 18, “El hijo zurdo” stars María León, a stunning 2011 San Sebastian best actress winner for “The Sleeping Voice,” in a series which Cobos describes an “emotional thriller.”Movistar Plus’ newly announced original is not only written by Cobos but co-directed too in the directorial debut of the Seville-based scribe. A six part, half hour drama, “El Hijo Zurdo” is scheduled for release first half of 2023. Movistar Plus Internacional is handling worldwide distribution.

John Hopewell Chief International CorrespondentFernando Franco’s coming of age drama “The Rite of Spring” and Mikel Gurrea’s rural drama “Suro” will vie for the top Golden Seashell at September’s 70th San Sebastian Festival, the highest-profile film event in the Spanish-speaking world. Also making the cut are Jaime Rosales’s female emancipation tale “Wild Flowers” and Pilar Palomero’s teen motherhood story “La Maternal.”The four titles form part of a Spanish film line-up which looks to be “the strongest Spanish movie presence at San Sebastian in the 11 years I’ve been directing the festival,” San Sebastian director José Luis Rebordinos said on Friday.One or two more Spanish films could still be added to the selection, including one more in New Directors, he went on. Galvanizing the selection is new talent.

Christopher Vourlias France’s Manny Films, Austria’s Nabis Filmgroup and Bulgaria’s Are Digital have boarded Sofia Exarchou’s “Animal,” the follow-up to the Greek director’s San Sebastian prize winner “Park.”“Animal” takes place under the hot Greek sun and amidst the sweaty nights of an eternal summer.

San Sebastian ReboundsThrough Thursday, total San Sebastian delegates numbers came in at 3,848, 46.5% up on 2020 and just 11% down on a pre-pandemic 2019. Industry reps drove much of that rebound, San Sebastian welcoming 1,686 this year, compared to 1,185 in 2020 and 1,749 in 2019.

Jamie Lang In San Sebastian to receive the festival’s highest honor, the Donostia career achievement award, American actor, producer and director Johnny Depp has announced his involvement in a new development fund for film and TV projects, headed by his own London-based Into Films and Adolfo Blanco’s Contracorriente in Spain.Depp is becoming something of a San Sebastian regular, having been at the festival in 2020 with “Crock of Gold: A Few Rounds with Shane MacGowan,” directed by Julien Temple

Anna Marie de la Fuente This year’s crop of young outstanding talent has been nurtured at the Tabakalera’s various areas, including the post-graduate film school Elías Querejeta Zine Eskola (EQZE) and the Ikusmira Berriak Residency Program.Marina Palacio (San Sebastian)The San Sebastian native is a Fine Arts graduate whose short film “Ya no Duermo” was created at the Elías Querejeta Zine Eskola and premiered in the Zabaltegi Tabakalera section of the Zinemaldia.

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The director of the San Sebastian Film Festival is standing by their decision to honour Johnny Depp at this year’s fest.

Naman Ramachandran The San Sebastian Film Festival has come out swinging against those who criticized if for bestowing its highest honor, the Donostia Award, to controversial actor Johnny Depp. Among the critics were a group of Spanish women filmmakers who said they were “very surprised” that Depp is receiving the award.

San Sebastian Film Festival has hit back at its critics after taking some flak this week for deciding to give its honorary Donostia Award to Johnny Depp.