72nd San Sebastian Festival - 20/28 September 2023
71SSIFF - 22/30 September 2023
Official
Sponsor
Sponsor
Media
Partner
Partner
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).
Calls for entries Log-in to MY FESTIVAL
Complete this form with your details for accessing the contents reserved for registered users.
Enter your email and press send. You will receive a link through which you can reset your password
Complete this form with your details for accessing the contents reserved for registered users.
Agenda
...
Programme and tickets 
Search 
The Act of Killing. Cinema and global violence
Co-organizer:
With the collaboration of:
Films
Films
The Act of Killing. Cinema and global violence
The Act of Killing. Cinema and global violence
Contemporary retrospective
Contemporary retrospective
Francisco Vargas
Mexico
2016
98 min.
The double life of Don Plutarco, his son Genaro and grandson Lucio, poor rural musicians who support the peasant rebel movement to overthrow the tyrannical government in Mexico.
Julio Medem
Spain
2016
115 min.
A documentary by Julio Medem questioning himself and others about the past, present and future of the Basque Country, using an enormous amount of footage of interviews carried out on Basque people and archive material.
Hany Abu-Assad
Netherlands - Israel - Germany - France - Palestine
2016
90 min.
Two young Palestinians, Khaled and Said, friends since childhood, are recruited to immolate themselves in a Tel Aviv suicide attack. But things don’t go as planned and they are separated from one another. Each must face up to his fate and his convictions.
Christian Petzold
Germany
2000
102 min.
Clara and Hans are left-wing German terrorists wanted by the police for almost fifteen years. Their increasingly rebellious daughter Jeanne begins to pose a threat to their security when she falls in love with a boy she meets on the beach.
Paul Greengrass
UK - Ireland
2002
110 min.
Documentary-style drama showing the events that led up to the tragic incident on January 30, 1972 in the Northern Ireland town of Derry when a protest march led by civil rights activist Ivan Cooper was fired upon by British troops, killing 13 protesters and wounding 14 more.
copyright for AD VITAM DISTRIBUTION
© copyright for AD VITAM DISTRIBUTION
Rithy Panh
Cambdia - France
2003
101 min.
During the 4-year reign of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia, a quarter of the country's population was exterminated. In a paranoic system that saw enemies everywhere it turned, any sign of dissidence was enough to wind up in Security Prison S-21. The stars of the film (real S-21 guards and survivors) speak openly about their experiences in that hell.
copyright for AD VITAM DISTRIBUTION
© copyright for AD VITAM DISTRIBUTION
Hubert Sauper
Austria - Belgium - France - Germany
2004
111 min.
In the 60s, a new fish was introduced artificially into Lake Victoria as a scientific experiment. Consequently, the Nile perch extinguished almost the entire stock of the native fish species; the voracious predator multiplied so fast that today its white fillets are exported all around the world. Huge hulking ex-Soviet cargo planes come daily to collect the latest catch in exchange for kalashnikovs and ammunition.
Pete Travis
Ireland - UK
2004
106 min.
Written and produced by the director of Bloody Sunday, Paul Greengrass, this movie recalls the terrible terrorist attack which took place in Omagh on 15 August 1998, when a Real IRA bomb literally massacred innocent people in the city centre. Jury Prize for Best Screenplay at the San Sebastian Film Festival in 2004.
Bahman Ghobadi
Iran - Iraq
2004
95 min.
In a village in Iraqi Kurdistan, on the border between Iran and Turkey, the villagers desperately search for a satellite dish in order to obtain news of the impending American attack on Iraq. Golden Shell for Best Film at the San Sebastian Film Festival in 2004.
Mahamat-Saleh Haroun
Chad - France - Belgium - Austria
2006
96 min.
Chad, 2006. After a forty-year civil war, the radio announces the government has just amnestied the war criminals. Outraged by the news, Gumar Abatcha orders his grandson Atim, a sixteen-year-old youth, to trace the man who killed his father and to execute him.
Hilla Medalia
Israel - USA
2007
75 min.
Ever since 17-year-old Rachel Levy, an Israeli, was killed four years ago in Jerusalem by a Palestinian suicide bomber, her mother Abigail has found hardly a moment's peace. Levy's killer was Ayat al-Akhras, also 17, a schoolgirl from a Palestinian refugee camp several miles away.
Heddy Honigmann
Netherlands - Germany
2008
96 min.
El olvido (Oblivion) is a documentary about a forgotten city (Lima), a forgotten people (the Peruvians) and a forgotten history (that of Peru). These people, for whom irony is a weapon of survival, have to forget, in order not to give way to cynicism, hatred and grief.
Steve McQueen
UK - Ireland
2008
96 min.
The opera prima from the director Steve McQueen follows life in Northern Ireland's maximum security Maze Prison with an interpretation of the highly emotive events surrounding the 1981 IRA Hunger Strike, led by Bobby Sands.
Jean- Stéphane Sauvaire
France - Liberia - Belgium
2008
98 min.
Africa today. Johnny, 15, a child-soldier, armed to the hilt, is inhabited by the mad dog he dreams of becoming. With his small commando, he robs, pillages, and slays everything in his path. Laokolé, 13, pushing her disabled father around in a rickety wheelbarrow, strives to flee her city, occupied by teenage-soldier militias.
Josu Martínez
Spain
2009
56 min.
Before she turned two, Haize's father, Mikel Goikoetxea, a member of ETA nicknamed "Txapela", was killed by the GAL. With no recollection of the man whatsoever, 25 years down the line she starts asking questions. Piecing together the testimonies of those who knew him, Haize gradually discovers her father and his time.
Philippe Van Leeuw
Belgium - France
2009
100 min.
Kigali, the first day of the genocide. Rwandans are massacring each other and Westerners are fleeing the country. Jacqueline, a young Tutsi nanny for a Belgian family, finds herself abandoned in the chaos. Kutxa-New Directors Award at the San Sebastian Film Festival in 2009.
Janus Metz Pedersen
Denmark
2010
100 min.
In February of 2009, a group of Danish soldiers accompanied by documentarian Janus Metz arrived at Armadillo, an army base in the southern Afghan province of Helmand. Metz and cinematographer Lars Skree spent six months following the lives of young soldiers situated less than a kilometre from Taliban positions.
Danis Tanović
Bosnia and Herzegovina - France - Belgium - UK - Germany - Slovenia
2010
113 min.
Bosnia and Herzegovina, 1991. The communists have fallen from power and Divko Buntic returns to the small town where he grew up to reclaim his family home. After a 20-year exile in Germany, Divko uses his money and connections to forcefully evict his estranged wife, Lucija.
Jordi Ferrer, Pablo Vidal
Spain
2010
82 min.
Morocco doesn't want us to know what's happening in the occupied territories of the Western Sahara - an area separated from the rest of Africa by a wall measuring 2,720 km in length. The Sahrawi people live under constant threat, they can't pronounce the words "Western Sahara" or "referendum", and the situation is known as "the problem".
Eterio Ortega Santillana
Spain
2011
95 min.
A documentary about the end of ETA's terrorist activities that delves into the roots of Basque nationalism and presents a collective portrait of this part of Basque society at a key moment for its future in peace and freedom.
Philippe Faucon
France - Belgium
2011
78 min.
A district in Lille metropolitan area. Ali, Nasser and Hamza, aged 20, meet Djamel, ten years older than them. A clever manipulator, Djamel gradually indoctrinates the youngsters, taking advantage of their letdowns and resentment with a society that from now on none of them want to be a part.
Docs Barcelona
© Docs Barcelona
Emad Burnat, Guy Davidi
Palestine - Israel - France
2011
94 min.
When his fourth son, Gibreel, is born, Emad, a Palestinian farmer, gets his first camera. In his village, Bil'in, a separation barrier is being built and the villagers start to resist this decision. For more than five years, Emad films the struggle, which is led by two of his best friends, alongside filming how Gibreel grows.
Joshua Oppenheimer
Denmark - Norway - UK
2012
166 min.
A documentary which challenges former Indonesian death-squad leaders to reenact their mass-killings in whichever cinematic genres they wish, including classic Hollywood crime scenarios and lavish musical numbers.
Ziad Doueiri
Lebanon - France - Qatar - Belgium
2012
102 min.
Dr. Amin Jaafari is an Arab surgeon who seems to have it all, with a promising career and a position of respect among the Israelis in Tel Aviv. All that changes after a devastating terrorist suicide bombing when his beloved wife, Siham, is found among the dead as the primary suspect. Jury Special Mention at the San Sebastian Film Festival in 2012.
Aitor Merino, Amaia Merino
Spain - Ecuador
2013
94 min.
One day, Asier, a great friend since childhood of the actor and director Aitor Merino, disappeared. He had joined ETA. How do you explain what had pushed him to take a decision even I could hardly come to terms with? Irizar Basque Film Award at the San Sebastian Film Festival in 2013.
Amat Escalante
Mexico
2013
105 min.
Estela is a 12 year old girl who has fallen madly in love with a young police cadet who wants to run away with her and get married. Trying to achieve the dream, her family will have to live with the violence that is devastating the region.
Iñaki Arteta
Spain
2014
102 min.
Direct witnesses of the terrorist attacks that took place in the Basque Country and the rest of Spain during 1980 relate their memories and give their opinions in this documentary.
Pablo Malo
Spain
2014
107 min.
The young Basques Lasa and Zabala, alleged members of ETA, were kidnapped, tortured and murdered in 1983. Twelve years later, lawyers Iñigo and Fede will struggle to identify the murderers, putting their convictions and even their own lives on the line.
Sergei Loznitsa
Ukraine - Netherlands
2014
134 min.
A chronicle of the civil uprising against the regime of president Yanukovych that took place in Kiev (Ukraine) in the winter of 2013/14. The documentary follows the progress of the revolution: from peaceful rallies in the Maidan square, to the bloody street battles between protesters and riot police.
Joshua Oppenheimer
Denmark - Indonesia - Norway - Finland - USA - UK - Israel - France - Germany - Netherlands
2014
103 min.
Through filmmaker Joshua Oppenheimer’s footage of perpetrators of the 1965 Indonesian genocide, a family of survivors discovers how their son was murdered, as well as the identities of the killers. The documentary focuses on the youngest son, who confronts the men who killed his brother.
Daniel Leconte, Emmanuel Leconte
France
2015
90 min.
On the 7th of January 2015, French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo was the victim of a terrorist attack that killed 12 people. The following day a policewoman was shot dead in the street. The 9th of January, another attack targeted French Jews. Four hostages were murdered. This film pays tribute to all these victims.
Xuban Intxausti
Spain
2016
54 min.
The San Sebastian 2016 Europa Transit embassy arrived in Paphos in July. In Paphos, standing to the south of the green line dividing Cyprus in two, the European Capital of Culture was accompanied by the improviser of Basque verse, the bertsolari Amets Arzallus, given that Cyprus too has a tradition of improvised song. On his journey, Arzallus met Cypriot musicians and poets, in addition to victims of the exodus and the relations of missing people. Through his eyes and his poetry, the documentary directed by Xuban Intxausti will discover the reality of Cyprus, its past and its present.
Official Sponsor 
Media Partner 
Official Collaborators: 
Associated Institutions:
Opening hours
Monday to Thursday: 09:00h - 15:00h
Friday: 10:00h - 14:00h
Monday to Thursday: 09:00h - 15:00h
Friday: 10:00h - 14:00h
Suscribe to our newsletter
We inform you that the personal data you provide to us on completing this form will be processed by the San Sebastian Festival as the body responsible for this website. The personal data we request will be processed for the purpose of sending you our newsletter. Authorisation to do so is given through the consent of the interested party. Only the San Sebastian Festival will send you messages and we will not disclose your data to third parties. We inform you that the data you provide to us will be stored in the Mailrelay (email marketing providers) servers, located within the EU. See the Mailrelay privacy policy. If you do not enter the data appearing as mandatory on the form, we may be unable to fulfil your request. You can exercise your rights of access, rectification, limitation and deletion of data at privacidad@sansebastianfestival.com. You can consult additional and detailed information on Data Production in our privacy policy.