The San Sebastián International Film Festival in the Basque Country starts tomorrow from September 20th until September 28th. The festival comprises more than twenty sections including the official competition, the retrospective and the new proposals.Among the numerous prizes that will be awarded on the festival’s final day, the Donostia Award, an honorary prize, will be presented to Cate Blanchett and Pedro Almodóvar, and their latest works “Rumours” (2024) and “The room next door” (2024) will be screened respectively.
The opening film is “Emanuelle” directed by Audrey Diwan. The main competition lines up 22 films including “The end” by Joshua Oppenheimer produced, among others, by Flaminio Zadra for Dorje Film and with the contribution of the Ministry of Culture and “Modi – Three Days on the Wing of Madness” directed by Johnny Depp, starring Luisa Ranieri and Riccardo Scamarcio, produced by ILBE, Barry Navidi Productions, IN.2 Film. It will be distributed in Italy by Be Water.
This year’s Retrospective is dedicated to Italy and is called “Italia Violenta”. It includes 22 films in the crime genre that offer an accurate portrait of the country. There are numerous titles by Pietro Germi, Elio Petri, Francesco Rosi and the more recent “Buongiorno, notte” (2003) by Marco Bellocchio, “Gomorrah” (2008) by Matteo Garrone and “Last night of amore” (2023) by Andrea Di Stefano.
For the Perlak (transl. “pearls”) section, which includes the best titles of the year, stand out the 2024 Golden Palm winner “Anora” by Sean Baker and “Parthenope” by Paolo Sorrentino, coming to Italian cinemas from October 24th.
In Zabaltegi-Tabakalarera, the section containing the most uninhibited titles, stands out “April” by Dea Kulumbegashvili, already in Competition at Venice 81, winner of the Special Jury Prize and produced by Luca Guadagnino.
Finally, in the Horizontes Latinos section among the 14 titles stands out “Most people die on sundays” by Iair Said co-produced by Luigi Chimienti and Alessandro Amato for Dispàrte.
For further information and to consult the complete programme click here: 72nd San Sebastian Festival
Photo credits: David Vives on Unsplash
