72nd San Sebastian Festival - 20/28 September 2023
71SSIFF - 22/30 September 2023
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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).
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Agenda
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Programme and tickets 
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Zabaltegi - New Directors
Films
Films
Anja Murmann
USA
91 min.
A story of three friends on an existential journey. Niki, a young Danish woman, becomes the spontaneous lover of two brothers, Paul and Julian, without there being any special tension between the three. Thanks to an inheritance left to the brothers, they have no money problems and live a happy-go-lucky life in New York. However, the dark side of their personalities appears when they run out of money. An outsider takes an interest in Niki and she tells him bout her childhoos tragedy, which lies at heart of her relationship with Paul and Julian.
Yolanda Garcia Serrano, Juan Luis Iborra
Spain
90 min.
Esperanza is a delightful fun-loving professor who turns forty sorrounded by her gay friends. However, she feels lonely, as does her best friend, Ramón. After being involved in an accident, Esperanza gets in touch with a masseur, Roberto, to help with his rehabilitation. Ramón falls madly in love with Roberto, but the feeling isn't mutual. Esperanza is concerned with her friend's love-life and tries to find him a partner; but when Roberto finally starts payinmg attention to Ramón, this neglects his friendship with Esperanza. In spite of it all, she stands by her friend when he is later abandoned. both of them realise that nothing is more important than friendship, and hope is not lost in someday finding the perfect man.
David Menkes, Alfonso Albacete
Spain - France
102 min.
Victoria, anda and Carla are three women with three things in common: they're young, they live in Madrid and their respective love lives are a mess. However things change ever so slightly with the arrival of the mysterious Roxy Foxy, a famous porno queen who's in town to promote her latest work, The Killer Cactus, a gore movie banned in the United States which has become a cult in Europe. But Roxy is really hiding an important secret that's ticking away like a great big atomic bomb.
Katja Von Garnier
Germany
109 min.
An invitation to play at a Policeman's Ball gives the four jailbird members of "The Bandist" all-female rock group, Emma, Luna, Angel and marie, the chance to make a run for it. Taking off through Germany with a cynical inspector hot on their heels, they take a not-so-reluctant handsome American tourist, West, as hostage. They also accidentally realise their dream of making the big time when a greedy record executive jumps at the chance to make money from their sudden stardom, even using their mug shots for a marketing campaign.
Tom Collins
Ireland
80 min.
Maureen, a young Irish woman from Donegal, moves to Northern Ireland and settles down in Bogside, a Catholic neighbourhood in Derry. Her aim is toguarantee a future for her son and to meet Barry, her husband-to-be. However, Maureen finds that life in derry is not as attractive as she had expected. It's the 60's. the beginning of the troubles in Northern Ireland, and Bogside is non other than the setting for one of the worst incidents. The friendship of two "bogwomen", as the women from Bogside are called, makes Maureen's life a little brighter.
Ah Nian
China
86 min.
This is a film about the love stories of urban youth in modern China and their relationship with their parents and grandparents. Ma Hong, a popular music recorder, is in love with a young girl, who is in turn the mistress of a Singaporean businessman. Their liaison runs parallel to the affair of Ma's gran with a Russian musician.
Beto Gomez
Mexico
80 min.
Defeated after a thirty-year struggle with US immigration agents, "El Pachuco" returns to his hometown, only to find that some of his friends are dead anthe ones who are left, such as the faithful Chavita, have handed their sould over to tequila. This is the eve of All Saint's Day, the most deeply rooted festival in Mexico. "El Pachuco" and Chavita wind up in the squalid local jailhouse with a bunch of characters (a truck driver, a gringo tourist, the village idiot, a frustrated rock n' roller) who are pieces in the puzzel of a Mexico steeped in tradition, corruption and machismo.
Enrique Gabriel
Spain
90 min.
Out of work electrician, 44-year-old Juan Gutiérrez heads for Madrid to find a job. Soon out of money and energy, but too proud to accept favours or crawl back to his wife, he hits rock bottom and takes to the streets. In spite of the fact that he's not really too keen on foreigners, he makes friends with Andy Cardoso, a quick-witted, optimistic Caribbean mulatto who handles his plight of clandestine immigrant the best he can, and the two of them get up to all sorts of adventures.
Andres Wood
Chile
90 min.
The star player in a small neighbourhood from Santiago de Chile is offered a bribe and the possibility of playing professional football. A boy from Northern Chile wins a classic neighbourhood "pichanga" football contest -the kind that can last all afternoon- but loses the few pesos he had in the process... A city kid finds himself stranded in a remote corner of the southern island of Chiloé on the day of the Chile's World Cup qualifying match. The only television in the area is at the hose of the Serón sisters. As the local men gather to catch the game, the sisters argue over which of the two will introduce the young Francisco to sex.
Eduardo Milewicz
Argentina
100 min.
Fed up with life in Buenos Aires and with her problems with men, Laura decides to go and live in southern Argentina. She is accompanied by Muriel, her 8-year-old daugther and narrator of the story. On the way, Laura and Muriel get out to take a picture and the car, poorly parked, slides into a lake, together with their life savings. They take refuge in an abandoned hotel, home to Mirta and her two daugthers. Mirta, as opposed to Laura, never dreamth of living in the South. The hotel was her husband's project, but he took off after the place caught fire a few days before it was opened. The two women have very different personalities but find they have a lot in common, so they decide to rebuild the hotel.
Juan Jose Campanella
Argentina - USA
90 min.
Jack Morrisey and Vicky Rivas, a pianist and his sultry, smouldering singer, act at the Blue Cat Lounge. They seem to have it all: they are talented, handsome and very much in love; but so far every choice Jack has made in life has landed him farther and farther from the things he wanted to give Vicky. Until now, when Jack and Vicky have the chance to make the money that would change their lives. It all seems so simple, until love walks in and blows everything away.
Joe Mantello
USA
110 min.
Eight gay friends leave the big city for a three-week break. They get together in a rambling Victorian lakeside mansion belonging to Gregory, a choreographer who can't come to terms tieh the fact that his body is ageing. the holidays see how eight men fall into love, out of love, hurt each other and make up. Couples blossom and wither, as they indulge in their fancies, make jokes and mutually support each other. Nothing will be the same after these three weeks in th country and none of them will ever forget the wonder of love and the grandeur of the human spirit.
Farhad Mehranfar
Iran
90 min.
A civil servant from the Ministry of Culture travels to isolated villages with his mobile movie theatre to show films to the locals. One day, he decides to take his young son with him and they arrive at a village where he screen his film to an audience that had never seen a movie before: the novice spectators are so much in awe that not even the rain can stop them from seein it right through the end. The visitors run into a typical problem: a young girl doesn't want to marry the older suitor chosen by her family. During their short stay, the father and son grow closer as they develop a deep bond with the villagers.
Diego Arsuaga
Uruguay
94 min.
In the 1940's, luxurious Buenos Aires residence owner Isabel Orvillán hires detective Carlos Souto to go to Montevideo and bring back the husband she has been maintaining for years. Quirós is now the owner of a sleazy cabaret joint where a certain sector of the period society get together to dance tangos, drink and buy love. Souto is unsuccessful in his task and Quirós is urged to invest money he doesn't have in a business. On returning to Buenos Aires, Souto finds Isabel and her maid dead and promptly does an about-turn to Montevideo where he suspects the culprit is to be found.
Nicolas Winding Refn
Denmark
105 min.
Frank is a small-time pusher who sels drug together with his friend Tomy. The heroin is supplied by ans ex-Yugoslav dealer, Milo, but one of the deals goes wrong and Frank is busted by the police. He is released because of lack of evidence, only to find that he owes a very big debt to Milo, who has given him two days to collect the money that will save him from a 9mm bullet.
Oskar Roehler
Germany
82 min.
The tragically comic and exasperating situation of a cute young couple from Berlin (Romeo and Juliet), who want to spend a few days away. A crisis arises in their relationship during the journey: he treats her as if she were his own personal property, underestimating her intelligence. After five exhausting days of travelling to and from, they return to Berlin, only to continue arguing ina different setting.
Dervis Zaim
Turkey
80 min.
The big city is packed with tramps, dossers and other down-and-outs. A hobo in one of the oldest parts of Istanbul, Mahsun survives with the help of local fishermen. He steals a car, getting himself into trouble with the police every time another car is stolen. His meeting with a heroin-shooting prostitute only highlights their loneliness. One day, unbearable hunger pushes Mahsun to steal a peacock fron the palace grardens, getting himself into a fine fix in the process.
Thom Fitzgerald
Canada - UK
90 min.
Sweet William is a young gay man who returns home to his dysfunctional family in Nova Scotia after a ten-year absence. The intervening years have transformed him from a chubby, unhappy teen to an older, thinner and wiser young man. However, once he is back home, old ghosts resurface and Sweet William must make peace with his past to carry on with his life.
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