| |
| 08/24/2006 |
SIXTEEN FILMS TO COMPETE IN THE OFFICIAL SELECTION
|
Sixteen films will compete in the Official Selection of the San
Sebastian International Film Festival from 21st-30th September.
John Boorman, Bahman Ghobadi, Carlos Sorin, Tom DiCillo, Agnieszka
Holland, Marion Hänsel, Nick Broomfield and Hirokazu Kore-eda
are some of the accomplished directors whose new movies will compete
for the Golden Shell and other official awards at San Sebastian.
The Official Selection will be rounded off with two out-of-competition
screenings: the latest creation by Lars von Trier, who has taken
a break from his American trilogy to surprise us with a Dogma
comedy, Direktøren for det hele / The Boss Of It All; and
the homage to Joaquín Jordá, with his posthumous
Más allá del espejo.
Three of the competing films in the Official Selection will also
contend for the Altadis-New Directors Award and the Montblanc
Award for New Screenwriters: Lo que sé de Lola / Ce que
je sais de Lola, Mon fils a moi and Vete de mí.
|
COMPETITIVE OFFICIAL SELECTION
|
|
EL CAMINO DE SAN DIEGO
Argentina
Director: Carlos Sorin
Cast: Ignacio Benítez, Carlos Wagner La Bella, Paola Rotela
A young man from the Misiones province is Maradona-crazy. When
television announces news of Diego’s critical condition
due to a decrepit, drug-beaten body, his admission to a clinic
and likely move to Cuba, the boy decides to head for Buenos Aires
to give his idol a statue carved in wood. The footballer and his
roller-coastering health are nothing but an excuse for Carlos
Sorin, director of Historias mínimas (Minimal Stories)
and Bombón, el perro, to bring us a peculiar road movie
demonstrating his unbeatable talent for portraying characters
and minimal stories. |
| |
|
|
COPYING BEETHOVEN
USA – UK – Hungary
Director: Agnieszka Holland
Cast: Ed Harris, Diane Kruger
Only days after the premier of his Ninth Symphony, Beethoven
needs help to put his scores to paper, and the conservatoire
sends young music student Anna Holtz to help him. Having mastered
the composer’s irascibility, the two forge a passionate
artistic and emotional bond. Ed Harris and Diane Kruger bring
life to the couple in this intimate tale from the director of
Total Eclipse and The Third Miracle.
|
|
|
|
|
DELIRIOUS
USA
Director: Tom DiCillo
Cast: Michael Pitt, Steve Buscemi
A luckless photographer striving to snapshot the stars hires a
young down-and-out wannabe actor to help him. But their initial
camaraderie soon turns to jealousy and vengeance when the boy
falls for a popstar. A dramatic irony-packed comedy on chance,
friendship and the hollowness of fame from one of the most distinguished
American independent movie directors, Tom DiCillo (Living in Oblivion,
Box of Moon Light). |
|
|
|
|
FOREVER
Holland
Director: Heddy Honigmann
Père Lachaise in Paris is the eternal resting place for
many, including Jim Morrison, Proust, Apollinaire, Modigliani,
Yves Montand and Simone Signoret, María Callas, Méliès,
Ingres... alongside several other anonymous people. Most are visited
by their loved-ones or admirers, and sometimes an observant onlooker
rescues them from oblivion... A creative documentary discreetly
and endearingly approaching a wide variety of subjects, filmed
by one of the foremost European experts on the genre. |
|
|
|
|
GHOSTS
UK
Director: Nick Broomfield
Cast: Ai Qin, Zhan Yu, Zhe Wei, Man Qin Wei
On 5th February 2004, 23 illegal Chinese immigrants died on the
north coast of England while cockle picking. One of the few survivors
of the tragedy, Ai Qin personally stars in the tale of his journey
from China to England and the harsh working conditions she is
obliged to face in the effort to secure a better life for her
son. A movie based on real events shot on the border between fiction
and documentary by one of genre’s leading renovators, Nick
Broomfield, director of the controversial Kurt & Courtney.
|
|
|
|
|
HANA
Japan
Director: Hirokazu Kore-eda
Cast: Junichi Okada, Rie Miyazawa
Kore-eda, who formerly presented Afterlife (winner of the Fipresci
Award) at San Sebastian in 1998, is back with a big studio (Shochiku
in this case) movie in which he seems to abandon his intimate,
almost documentary cinema to bring us a classic jidaigeki: the
tale of a samurai run to seed who abandons the countryside for
the city with the aim of avenging his father’s death.
Hana is a reflection on violence, love and life, told with real
humour and featuring an excellent cast of actors and actresses
drawing a fine line between reality and portrayal.
|
|
|
|
|
KARAULA / BORDER POST
Croatia-Bosnia and Herzegovina-Macedonia-Slovenia-Serbia-UK-Hungary-Austria-France.
Director: Rajko Grlić
Cast: Toni Gojanović, Sergej Trifunović, Emir Hadžihafizbegović,
Verica Nedeska
1987. It’s the seventh year anniversary of Tito’s
death and official celebrations paralyse the country. A military
detachment on the Albanian border is on standby due to strong
rumours of movements by Albanese troops preparing to invade Yugoslavia.
If the truth be told, the soldier in charge of the post has cancelled
all permits for far more prosaic reasons. An X-ray of a multiethnic
group, obvious parabole of the falling apart of Yugoslavia, directed
at a jaunty speed that doesn’t give the spectator a minute’s
rest. |
|
|
|
|
LO QUE SÉ DE LOLA/CE QUE JE SAIS
DE LOLA
Spain-France
Director: Javier Rebollo
Cast: Michaël Abiteboul, Lola Dueñas, Carmen Machi.
León is a solitary man with no job or friends. He cares
for his elderly mother until she dies. To relieve his loneliness,
he likes to rifle through his neighbours’ mail, listen in
on conversations and watch the coming and going of passengers
at different stations. One day a noisy Spanish girl called Lola
moves into the area, drawing his full attention. This Spanish-French
co-production marks the feature film directorial debut of the
Madrileño Javier Rebollo, also director of the shorts En
medio de ninguna parte (1997), El equipaje abierto (1999), Diminutos
del calvario (2001), segment of the film El preciso orden de las
cosas, and En camas separadas (2003). All of these films star
the actress Lola Dueñas, who similarly heads the line-up
of Lo que sé de Lola. This movie will compete for the Altadis-New
Directors Award and for the Montblanc Award for New Screenwriters.
|
|
|
|
|
MON FILS A MOI
France
Director: Martial Fougeron
Cast: Nathalie Baye, Victor Sevaux, Olivier Gourmet
A middle-class family in a small provincial town. The father is
a university lecturer and the mother an OTT housewife, while the
elder daughter is about to start university and the younger brother
goes to school and takes piano lessons. The apparent family normality
splits at the seams with the discovery that the mother has an
ambigious love-hate relationship with her son that drives the
boy crazy. This isn’t a case of child abuse, but a detailed
study of the conflictive psychology of a mother and the defensive,
desperate reaction of her son. This movie will compete for the
Altadis-New Directors Award and for the Montblanc Award for New
Screenwriters. |
|
|
|
|
NIWEMANG / HALF MOON
Iran-Irak-Austria-France
Director: Bahman Ghobadi
Cast: Allah Morad Rashtiani, Faegh Mohammadi, Mahammad Saeid Mahammadi
The old Mamo, a famous, greatly admired Kurdish musician, decides
to travel to Iraki Kurdistan with ten of his sons to play in a
concert. Both voyage and concert are possible thanks to the fall
of Saddam Hussein’s government. Having waited for seven
months for the permit to travel, Mamo tries to have a female singer
called Hesho accompany them, despite the fact that it is forbidden
for women to sing. Mamo is decided to go ahead with his plan,
even if it means doing so illegally. Bahman Ghobadi (winner of
the Golden Shell in 2004 with Turtles Can Fly) surprises us once
again with this emotional tale of a people asserting its right
to exist. |
|
|
|
|
ORAE DOIN JUNG WON / THE OLD GARDEN
South Korea
Director: Im Sang-Soo
Cast: Ji Jin-Hee, Yeom Jeong-A
The 80s in a South Korea under repressive dictatorship that reads
spy infiltrated by the communists from the North into every rebellious
student or socialist militant. The hero of the story leaves his
girlfriend to sign up for active militancy, only to be arrested
almost immediately, judged at a farcical trial and condemned to
life imprisonment. Although the political moment plays an extremely
important part in the tale, it takes second place to the overlying
viewpoint of the woman abandoned by her boyfriend. Fifth film
from the highly appreciated Korean director Im Sang-soo, maker
of A Good Lawyer’s Wife and The President’s Last Bang.
|
|
|
|
|
SI LE VENT SOULÈVE LES SABLES
Belgium – France
Director: Marion Hänsel
Cast: Issaka Sawadogo, Carole Karemera, Asma Nouman Aden
The desert eats away at the land. The endless dry season has
caused the village well to run dry. The livestock is dying.
Trusting their instinct, most of the villagers leave and head
south. Despite the threat of war, Rahne, the only literate one,
decides to head east with his three children and his wife Mouna.
A few sheep, some goats and Chamelle, a dromedary, are their
only riches. Rahne and his family travel across hostile lands
under a lethal sun, walking endlessly onwards. SOUNDS OF SAND
is a tale of exodus, survival and hope. It is also a parable
about determination that brings us into the footsteps of Shasha,
a nomad child full of the joys of life, whose tenacity and strength
will conquer her father's love.
|
|
|
|
|
SLEEPING DOGS LIE
EE.UU.
Director: Bobcat Goldthwait
Cast: Melinda Page Hamilton, Bryce Johnson, Geoff Pierson, Colby
French
Amy is a seemingly normal young girl, adored by her parents and
golden-boy fiancé. Her future looks bright until her fiancé
suggests that they tell each other their darkest secrets... things
they have never told anyone. When Amy finally relents and reveals
her secret, everything falls apart. |
|
|
|
|
THE TIGER’S TAIL
UK-Ireland
Director: John Boorman
Cast: Brendan Gleeson, Kim Cattrall
A winner, businessman of the year, is completely thrown on discovering
that he’s being tailed by a man exactly the same as him
who plans to take his place. While trying to prevent his replica
from entering his family circle, he discovers the identity of
his mysterious double. With dashes of thriller, melodrama and
comedy, the director of Deliverance and Excalibur brings us an
original, vibrating tale with all of the knowhow of one of the
great British masters. |
|
|
|
|
VETE DE MÍ
Spain
Director: Víctor García León
Cast: Juan Diego, Juan Diego Botto, Cristina Plazas, Rosa María
Sardá.
Santiago has never played the leading part in anything... not
in theatre, not in the cinema... and not even in his own life.
But he never dreamt that having his 30-something-year-old son
to stay for a few days would change things so radically...
Vete de mí is a "family" masked ball of encounters
and disencounters between the people of the same egoistical sort:
a compulsive liar who finally tips the scales of the already fragile
mental balance of his surrounding relations and a supporting actor
gone to seed who suddenly discovers he's living a lie... A satirical,
bitter comedy on turning 50, losing your job, meeting your son
and wishing for the exact opposite...
|
|
|
|
|
LAS VIDAS DE CELIA
Spain-Mexico
Director: Antonio Chavarrías
Cast: Najwa Nimri, Luis Tosar, Daniel Giménez Cacho, Alex
Casanovas, Aida Folch
After a night out on the town, Celia fails in her attempt to kill
herself on the train tracks. Her life will never be the same again.
Nearby on the very same night, a teenager is raped and murdered.
A policeman, Miguel Angel, who is going through a personal crisis,
will start to investigate the case. The investigation will lead
him to Celia and Agustín, her husband, and to Carmen and
Angela, Celia's two sisters. |
NON-COMPETITIVE OFFICIAL SELECTION
|
|
DIREKTØREN FOR DET HELE / THE
BOSS OF IT ALL
Denmark - Sweden - France
Director: Lars von Trier
Cast: Jens Albinus, Peter Gantzler, Iben Hjejle
A company boss invents a non-existent chairman to serve as a front
when he has to take unwelcome decisions. Putting the business
up for sale, the actor he hires to play the fictitious chairman
and negotiate with potential buyers sees his moral principles
put to the test. This comedy marks a break for Lars von Trier
from his trilogy on America started with Dogville and Manderlay
and a return to the Dogma of his own creation.
|
|
|
|
|
MÁS ALLÁ DEL ESPEJO
Spain
Director: Joaquín Jordá
Joaquín Jordá made this documentary with the testimonies
of people who had suffered the same cerebral dysfunction as the
one he himself had recovered from, demonstrating the extreme fragility
of the human brain. Más allá del espejo is the last
in one of Spanish cinema’s most original filmographies,
the work of Joaquín Jordá in his research of the
border between documentary and fiction, of his own experience
as cinematographic material. The Catalonian filmmaker’s
work includes the movies Dante no es únicamente severo
(1967), Numax presenta… (1979), El encargo de cazador (1990),
Un cos al bosc/Cuerpo en el bosque, (A Body in the Woods, 1996),
Mones com la Becky/Monos como Becky (Monkeys Like Becky, 1999),
De nens/De niños (2003), screened as part of the Zabaltegi
Special Section, and Veinte años no es nada (2004). |
|
|
|
San Sebastian, 24th August 2006 |
|
|
|
|
