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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Luis Buñuel
France
60 min.
A man and a woman are passionately in love with one other, but their attempts to consume their passion are thwarted by their families, the Church and bourgeois society. This is apparently the central point of a plot which, with strong surrealist influences, goes off in all sorts of apparently unconnected directions. Following documentary footage on the habits of scorpions, a gang of bandits discovers on a rocky seashore a group of chanting bishops. The next arrival is a convoy of soldiers, nuns, ministers and civil cervants who have come to found imperial Rome. When the first stone is being laid everyone?s attention is drawn by the cries of an amorous couple. Separated, the man is carried off by the police. Finally, the survivers of an orgy organized by the Duke of Blangis leave the chateau of Selligny.
Iván Zulueta
Spain
105 min.
Coming home after several days of editing on his latest film, José Sirgado discovers that things aren?t quite the same as they were when he left. First, his former lover?s moved back in; second, and above all, there?s a package waiting for him containing a recorded message and some strange scenes filmed in Super 8 mm.
Claude Chabrol
France-Germany
112 min.
Impeccably bourgeois Catherine Lelievre employs the young, unsociable, resentful and secretly illiterate Sophie as a housekeeper. Sophie meets the local postmistress Jeanne. The two have completely different natures. One is reserved, quiet and introvert; the other, open, talkative and extrovert. Their shared sense of dissatisfaction leads to friendship. Both harbour dark secrets. One was implicated in the death of her father, the other was accused of killing her child. Apart they are peaceful, but together they become deadly. Jeanne, with her psychopathic nature, hates Catherine and her husband Georges because they represent what she would like to be but can?t.
David Cronenberg
Canada-USA
100 min.
At 30, James Ballard and his wife Catherine look for new ways to turn each other on. A car accident takes them into a strange, tortuous world. On his way home after work one night, James hits another car carrying Helen Remington and her husband. Helen?s husband dies instantly and both she and James are badly injured. Immediately attracted to one other, they find that they are oddly sexually aroused by the danger of car accidents. James, Helen and Catherine fall in with a savage, destructive relationship in which sex and death play the major roles. The three meet Vaughan, himself badly disfigured in an accident with a penchant for collecting souvenirs of famous crashes. The most fascinating item in his collection is Gabrielle, a beautiful woman condemned to living in an orthopedic apparatus limiting her movements.
Jo Menell
15 min.
Short film
Short film on women?s attitudes to the male appendage. Women talk about the virile organ while images of numerous penises appear on the screen to the music of John Cale.
Woody Allen
USA
100 min.
An American family on holiday in the Eastern Europe of the 60s, the Hollanders find themselves in deep water when Walter, the father, takes a photograph of a sunset beside a restricted military area. They are obliged to seek refuge in the US Embassy, where they meet a priest who has been in hiding for six years and dreams of becoming a conjurer. The Hollander?s luck now depends on Axel, the Embassador?s incompetent son, who has been left at the helm while his father is out of town.
Leo McCarey
USA
68 min.
The small state of Freedonia is in a financial mess and can only be saved by borrowing from multi-millionaire widow Mrs. Teasdale, whose condition is that crazy Rufus T. Firefly govern Freedonia. Firefly attempts to win the hand of Mrs. Teasdale, as does the Ambassador of the neighbouring country Sylvania, Trentino, who is plotting to grab power of the country. Trentino sends Chicolini and Pinky to find something murky in Firefly?s past with which to discredit him. This doesn?t prevent them from becoming ministers of his high-upness Firefly.
Rémy Belvaux, André Bonzel, Benoît Poelvoorde
Belgium
95 min.
A mock documentary showing us the life of Ben, a kind young man, lover of good food, wine, painting... and murders. We follow his progress through the images of Rémy, André and Patrick, the TV team behind the making of the film. Ben kills professionally, coldly and cleanly. He has his own theories on how to do away with each person according to their age, sex and social class.
Marco Ferreri
France-Italy
135 min.
Four middle-aged men, a pilot, a businessman, a judge and a chef, shut themselves away in a mansion surrounded by enormous amounts of food, excellent wines and prostitutes. They are bored with life and hope that the passage to death will be more pleasant this way. This is the start of an orgy at the end of which each and every one of them will quite literally burst.
Todd Solondz
USA
134 min.
The three well-off Jordan family sisters are still trying to find their bliss. At 30, Joy still hasn?t found Mr. Right, making her married sister Trish secretly despair that Joy won?t ?have it all? the way she does, while the best-selling author, Helen, is set on the tracks of a terrible angst. Meanwhile, their parents are discovering that the Golden Years aren?t what they?re chalked up to be. Then of course, there?s Trish?s repressed psychiatrist husband, Helen?s strange neighbour, and the Russian cabbie who singlemindedly pursues the American dream while he follows Joy?s classes for adults. Suddenly, an anonymous phonecall changes everything.
Ulrich Seidl
Austria
125 min.
It?s a stifling hot weekend in the suburbs of Vienna, somewhere between the autobahn, the hypermarkets and the new housing estates. During these dog days of summer, six interwoven stories unfold, revealing a world of disillusionment and lonely souls. In these hours of listlessness and melancholy the characters give in to the sun in shorts and bikinis. The nights become fuelled with alcohol, sex and music. With no respite from the oppressive heat, tension gradually builds and the atmosphere fills with aggression, fury and contained violence; it?s only a matter of time before everything explodes. A look into a vulnerable, intimate and harsh world.
Wesley Ruggles
USA
87 min.
Exhuberant Tira works as a dancing beauty and lion tamer at a circus. Badly needing cash, she agrees to a risky new number: she?ll put her head into the lion?s mouth. With this attraction the circus makes it to New York and Tira can pursue her dearest occupation: flirting with rich men and accepting expensive presents. Only knowing from a fortune-teller that the love of her life will be rich and have black hair, she starts going out with the handsome, wealthy Jack Clayton. This time Tira?s love is for real and, devastated when a misunderstanding causes Jack to break off the affair, she immediately sues him for breach of contract.
Lars von Trier
Denmark-Sweden-France-The Nederlands-Italy
117 min.
A group of young boys and girls behave like idiots to break away from established society. Using a country house as their base, they spend their free time together exploring the hidden and scarcely appreciated values of idiocy. They act as if they are mentally retarded to provoke a reaction. Karen, a lonely and reserved woman, joins the group after having unwittingly participated in one of their actions.
Andrés Duque
Spain
53 min.
This documentary endeavours to unfold the life of a strange, marginal filmmaker, who prefers to reassert his individualism rather than follow his generation?s movie trends. The documentary reflects on the difficulty of living, the impossibility of leaving a childhood populated with scrap books and home-made games, the impossibility of making films, the impossibility of not making films. It also talks about an intensive life, that of the director himself. Despite having kept well away from the commercial circuit, Zulueta has left an indelible mark on Spanish cinema. It?s not easy to find his movies, but his work is still alive and that?s what matters.
Cecilia Bartolomé
Spain
44 min.
Medium-length film
1969. Margarita faces an ecclesiastic judge at her divorce proceedings. Only the separation of bodies and goods notes the judge, marriage is for life. Throughout the day in question we take a look back over her life down through the years, not chronologically, but with topics linked to one another with musical numbers where each one completes the meaning of the former. These are the different ?wolves? that have hounded her. Presented in five parts by Margarita herself, ranging from love to problems at work and with her personal fulfilment, from her false freedom with a ?liberal? lover to her passage through the ?female? world, ending with the social climb and politically correct life to which she is forced by her husband and finally causes their breakup.
Peter Jackson
New Zealand
94 min.
The Feebles are a group of animal artists who act in a TV variety show. The producer is a walrus who has to solve the problems caused by his higgledy-piggledy group: a drug-taking frog, a rat that makes porno movies with cockroaches, a depressed elephant, a rabbit infected with a death-inducing disease as a result of his promiscuous activities, the fearful fox acting as director... Coinciding with a new arrival to the group (a hedgehog that soon falls for one of the ballet poodles), the leading lady (a hippopotamus) discovers that her husband, precisely the aforementioned walrus, is cheating on her with the secretary, a cat.
Terry Jones
UK
94 min.
Brian is born in a manger in Bethlehem. Shortly afterwards, he is visited by the Three Kings of Orient whom, guided by a star, come to pay homage and offer him gifts. After a few moments of confusion, the honours and presents are transferred to his next-door neighbour, another newborn called Jesus. These are days of political unrest: several Jewish underground groups conspire to overthrow the Romans. Brian is captured by one of these organizations and, much to his disgust, proclaimed the Messiah.
Reza Parsa
Sweden
14 min.
Short film
It?s dark. Some place in the world, a man sits in the back seat of a car. His face is soaked in sweat. He is recording a video message for his wife and daughter. He opens his coat and shows the camera what he has strapped to his chest. In 12 minutes he will detonate the explosives he is carrying, killing both himself and innocent people.
Jean-Pierre Sinapi
France
90 min.
Based on true facts, this film is set in a home for the handicapped near Toulon and the National 7 motorway heading towards the South of France. It stars René, the unsupportable sufferer of a muscular illness, and Julie, the fresh-out-of-school nurse who looks after him. René confesses to his carer that he wants to make love to a woman before it?s too late and Julie sets out to find a candidate from among the prostitutes who work in the motorway parking lots. Eventually achieving his goal, René abruptly experiences a metamorphosis. Surprised, the other disabled patients try to find out what?s behind the change. At last uncovering his secret, the finding causes mortification among those who would have preferred it not to have been known and glee among the others.
Pedro Almodóvar
Spain
82 min.
Luci is a masochistic 40-year-old married to a policeman who knocks her around. Her friend Pepi, who at the age of 30-something, is keeping her virginity for the best bidder, is raped by Luci?s husband when he finds a marihuana plant in her flat. Bom is a young punk, singer with the Bomitoni?s, who fancies Luci and tries to dominate her. All three are caught up in the frenzy of the Madrid nightlife. Suddenly Pepi comes up with a great idea: to shoot a film and take the tale of her friends Luci and Bom to the screen.
John Waters
USA
93 min.
Babs Johnson lives in a dilapidated caravan with her degenerate offspring Crackers, obese mother and girlfriend Cotton. Her greatest pride is being considered as the most revolting person in the world, a title in danger of being siezed by Connie and Raymond Marble, leaders of an illegal band of child traffickers who kidnap pregnant women and force them to give birth before selling their babies. Babs is eager to defend her reputation and leave the jealous Marbles in absolutely no doubt that she is still the most repugnant person in the world.
Stephen Frears
UK
111 min.
Story of the life of controversial British writer John Orton, who rose to fame in the 60s. As a youngster he obtained a scholarship to study theatre, after which he decided to concentrate on writing. Although he first started going out with fellow students, he soon focussed his attention on Ken Halliwell, more cultured and older than him, but also much more shy and introvert. Not caring what others think, they decide to set up home together, at a time when being a homosexual is still a crime. In fact, they end up in prison, which is where John finds the inspiration to write. John?s success as a playwright makes Ken feel humiliated and jealous, given that he believes that John is what he is thanks to him. Their relationship starts going downhill: Ken?s jealous bouts grow more frequent and his behaviour becomes unpredictable.
Michael Moore
USA
91 min.
A documentary narrating Michael Moore?s personal odyssey in the attempt to meet General Motors chairman, Roger Smith, so that he can show him first-hand the utter devastation caused by GM downsizing on his native city: Flint (Michigan). Once the site of a thriving GM plant, Flint went quickly to seed when the company decided to close down, becoming what was described by one magazine as ?the worst place to live in America?. Moore contrasts the impact on the local populace, like a family evicted just before Christmas, with others of a more frivoulous nature, such as a number of celebrities passing through town supposedly to raise the inhabitants? morale.
Pier Paolo Pasolini
Italy-France
117 min.
At a mansion in Salo, the fascist republic constituted under Nazi tutelage, four men of power engage the help of SS soldiers to kidnap a group of young partisans or the children of partisans, proceeding to humiliate and torture them. The men of power make the rules in the house, from which no-one can escape. Under their law, they can do exactly what they want at any time they please with the lives of their prisoners at any time, and anyone who doesn?t collaborate is punished with death.
Alex Cox
UK-USA
112 min.
A mixture of biography, musical and surrealist fantasy, Alex Cox endeavours to narrate the life of Sid Vicious, bassist and mega icon of the mythical British punk group The Sex Pistols, and the tormented relationship with his girlfriend, Nancy Spungen. The Pistols themselves are little more than a backdrop: Cox chose to concentrate on the destructive love between Sid and Nancy to obtain his portrayal of the punk generation, which in the London of the 70s attempted to instil the idea of fast life and young death, finally unwittingly changing the history of pop music. When Nancy was found dead in 1978 in New York?s Chelsea Hotel, Sid was arrested and accused of her murder.
Luis Buñuel
45 min.
Simon is one of the numerous stylites that proliferated in the Middle East at the start of the Christian Era: saints or ascetics who, particularly atop a pillar, pray mid-desert. They take their inspiration from the historical character of Simeon the Stylite, who spent the last 37 years of his life on top of a pillar in the Syrian desert. The movie starts when Simon has been on his pillar for six years, six months and six days and is about to move to another, higher version offered to him by the wealthy Práxedes Mateo. The crowds horde around him demanding that he perform a miracle. It?s not long before the Devil also makes his appearance, tempting Simon in all sorts of ways. In the end, Satan succeeds in taking Simon to the New York of the 60s and its rock & roll bars. Simon tries to rid himself of Satan, but to no avail, and the saint finds himself assailed by doubt. Simón del desierto is unfinished, and the part screened here is as far as Buñuel was able to shoot.
Trey Parker
USA
81 min.
South Park is a peaceful place untill the latest Terrence and Phillip movie hits the theatres. Once Stan, Kyle, Kenny and Cartman have sneaked into see it, their whole class does the same. The local kids start using the same foul language as in the movie. The parents are indignant, blame the Canadian filmmakers and declare war against Canada. Meanwhile, in Hell, Satan and Saddam Hussein conspire to rule the planet with torture. It?s up to the kids to save the world and keep Terrence and Phillip from being executed.
Luis García Berlanga
Spain
13 min.
Short film
When he shot Bienvenido Mr. Marshall, Berlanga was forbidden to include the village teacher?s dream on arrival of the Americans due to its erotic connotations. Fifty years later, the director has satisfied his frustration, but with a teacher who has nothing in common with the original. Berlanga has made, in his own words, a ?falla? (papier-mâché figures burnt to cinders on 19th March in Valencia) against the death penalty.
George Marshall
USA
20 min.
Short film
Things aren?t going too well for Ollie and his wife: she accuses him of spending all of his time with his friend Stan. On finding out, Stan has an idea: what Ollie?s wife needs is a baby to keep her busy, that way Ollie will be able to go out with him. They find a baby and take it to Ollie?s house, but it?s too late: Mrs. Hardy has left home and is asking for a divorce. Stan and Ollie have got nothing else to do but to keep the child and put up with the neighbours? complaints when it cries.
Danny Boyle
UK
94 min.
Clever, funny, sick and sometimes simply unwitting, Mark Renton lives on the outskirts of Edinburgh with his friends: a ravel of losers, thugs, psycopaths, petty thieves and drug addicts. Begbie is a violent alcoholic; Spud is an incurable heroine addict; Sick Boy is a pervert... They are all bent on self-destruction: the only one who seems to have any sense at all and the chance to get away from this fate is Mark. But even he asks himself if he really wants to live a normal life and if it?s worth saying ?yes to life?.
François Ozon
France
15 min.
Short film
Having argued with his boyfriend Sébastien, Frédéric heads for the beach, where he meets a woman called Lucia, with whom he has sex in a secluded spot. Returning to the place he left his clothes, he discovers that they?ve been stolen. He?s got nothing better to do than put on the extra dress proffered by Lucia and meet Sébastian in this unusual attire.
Tim Roth
Italy-UK
98 min.
Somewhat reserved, 15 year-old Tom is obliged to leave his London environment and join his family in the Devon countryside. His mother is pregnant and his father mistreats her. Tom, his mother, father and 18 year-old sister Jessie live in a small house. One day Tom surprises his father having sex with Jessie. The boy is determined to get to the bottom of the story, but his father utterly rejects his accusations of incest. Things get worse in the family, and even moreso when the mother has to take her newly born son to hospital. Tom decides to clip his violent father?s wings.
Dusan Makavejev
Yugoslavia-Germany
85 min.
A mixture of reality and fiction, W.R. - Misterije organizma juxtaposes the story of the sexual encounter between the beautiful, liberated Milena and a repressed Soviet figure-skating champion with an exploration of the life and theories of psychoanalyst Wilhelm Reich, whose thoughts on politics, endeavouring to unite the teachings of Freud and Marx, earned him the persecution of right and left wings alike. In the context of the film, the Soviet Union and the US appear as the paradigms of a sexuality wrongly directed towards power and militarism. Reich moved to the USA in 1939, but was jailed following the anti-Communist hysteria unleashed by McCarthy and died in prison. The movie was forbidden in Tito?s Yugoslavia and in all of the countries in the Soviet orbit.
Jean Vigo
France
41 min.
A group of boys return to a French boarding school after vacation. They must follow certain behavioural codes if they don?t want to receive a ?zero for conduct?, the mark they get for bad behaviour. The school authorities unsuccessfully attempt to discipline the students. Three of them plan a revolution during an alumni ceremony against the school authorities. When the event begins, the boys climb onto the school roof and shower the formal occasion and its participants with tin cans and other garbage.
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