Z365" or "Festival all year round" is the new strategic point of the Festival in which converge investigation, accompaniment and development of new talents (Ikusmira Berriak, Nest); training and cinematic knowledge transfer (Elías Querejeta Zine Eskola, Zinemaldia + Plus, Filmmakers' dialogue); and investigation, disclosure and cinematic thought (Z70 project, Thought and Discussion and Research and publications).
Hosted by the Spanish actor, Eduardo Noriega, and Edurne Ormazabal, the opening ceremony for the 58th San Sebastián International Film Festival was held at the Kursaal last night. Against an original backdrop of opening and closing doors that reflected the motif of the variety of viewpoints to be found in cinema, a series of actors and directors came on stage to present the various sections in this year’s Festival, including the New Directors Award Jury chairman, Hans Petter Molland, who guaranteed that in a week we’d be “falling in love with some new voices”.
The gala also featured the traditional presentation of the International Film Critics award for best film of the year, which went to Roman Polanski´s The Ghost writer. The British actress Olivia Williams picked up the award on behalf of the director from Jan Lumholdt, the vicepresident of Fipresci, and she joked that, for some reason Roman couldn’t be here, and stressed how Polanski was a real auteur in every sense who deserved all the credit for the film’s success.
After the overview of the Festival’s contents, the members of the Official Jury came on stage and Goran Paskaljevic the Chairman of the Jury, encouraged the audience to remember the great French filmmaker, Claude Chabrol, who recently passed away, and who really loved the festival and this town. The proceedings were rounded off by the screening of the Mexican film
Chicogrande, which was personally introduced by its director Felipe Cazals.