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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Horizontes Selection
Films
Films
Horizontes Selection
Horizontes Selection
Manuel Nieto
Uruguay - Spain - Argentina - Canada
109 min.
Desperate and down on his luck, 25-year-old David has failed as a student and lost the grant on which he got by. To earn it again, he has to sit an exam a year on. Waiting for time to pass, get the exam over and done with and recover his independence, David has landed in La Pedrera, a small seaside health resort where his father has left him to build his own home. This is the tale of how a house was built and David?s tragicomical struggle to survive in his new world, a place where there are almost as many dogs as there are men, where there are practically no women, where nobody wants to work and things are done for reasons of friendship more than anything else.
Ricardo Elias
Brazil
90 min.
Heracles is a poor young black boy from São Paulo recently released from the remand home in which he was doing time who?s attempt to turn a new leaf in life lands him a job as a motorcycle courier. On his first day at work, still on trial, he is given twelve tasks to do, bringing him into contact with a motley crew of big city inhabitants: civil servants, cops, lawyers, teachers, drug dealers, etc. The tension between Heracles? apparent fragility in the face of the problems set before him and his endeavour to find a new life far from the world of crime draws a realistic portrait of one of the biggest social issues in today?s Brazil: that of youngsters with no perspectives.
Rodrigo Moreno
Argentina - Germany - France - Uruguay
93 min.
As a bodyguard, it?s Ruben?s duty to keep the Minister of Planning under constant surveillance. Although he always has to be present, he also has to go completely unnoticed. A shadow, Ruben witnesses everything from the sidelines, as if life was passing him by some metres away. Yet despite his insider?s view, he never clearly understands what?s going on. Single, he is hardly even a protagonist of his own lonely life, with his mentally unstable sister, sale of illegal arms and cheap prostitutes, not to mention the monotonous routine of being a bodyguard and the occasional humiliation from the Minister or his family... That kind of pressure can push someone over the edge, and that?s exactly what it does.
Anahí Hoeneisen, Daniel Andrade
Ecuador
87 min.
Five women of around 30 meet up again 14 years on. Marina is having a stressful time with her double love-life on the verge of giving way. Tamara, her younger sister, lives in a whirlwind of clubs, drugs and the odd lover. Elena spends the last days of her pregnancy with her 8 year-old son and looks after her rather unusual brother. Diana, single mother of a 14 year-old daughter, lives alone with a serenity she doesn?t even question. They all meet at the house of Alejandra, former leader of the group. Although the meeting kicks off a little coldly and tensely, they gradually remember the tender complicity uniting them as friends above all else. The re-encounter leads each one to question the course of her own life.
Javier Patrón “Fox”
Mexico
112 min.
Fuera del cielo takes place in a single day... in 24 hours to be exact. It starts at 6 in the morning with the return, after a 5-year absence, of Malboro, Cucú?s elder brother, from whence the brothers set out on a journey round the places inhabited by their relatives to show them how close and loyal they are. The deadline is 6 o?clock the following morning. This is a film about orphanhood; not about orphanhood through dead parents, but through the nonexistence of maternal and paternal links. All of the characters are basically social orphans, bringing them uncertainty, pain and disease no matter what their social class.
Alexis dos Santos
Argentina - UK
106 min.
A teenage summer in a small town in the desert, a dysfunctional family, a rock band, a can full of glue, two boys, one girl, loads of tongue kisses, dry heat, wind in Patagonia, existential angst... A teenage story in the middle of nowhere.
Martín Boulocq
Bolivia - USA
93 min.
Berto is an introverted, lonely young man living in Cochabamba, Bolivia. Thinking that he?s going to buy a ticket out of the country, he tries to sell his most prized possession: a ?65 Volkswagen left to him by his grandfather. He spends his days cruising around the city with his know-it-all best friend Victor, thinking up new ways to sell the car, until Camila, Victor?s girlfriend joins them, putting an end to the monotony of their lives. This film is an urban fable, a visually moving story focussing on a circle of love between two men, a woman and a car.
Diego de la Texera
Brazil - Puerto Rico - Venezuela
115 min.
Meteoro is set against the inauguration of Brasilia and the endeavour to connect the new capital to the rest of the country by road. The outfit in charge of building the stretch from Rio to Fortaleza is left to its own devices in an inhospitable area running through the middle of nowhere. They receive provisions and every month, with the full moon, are visited by ?Madam?s girls?, the prettiest prostitutes in the region. One night, the radio announces the military coup d?état, strangely preceded by a yellow meteor that crosses the sky. The passing of time sees their condition deteriorate. Desperately hungry and thirsty, they sight a meteorite as it hits the ground, opening a little underground fountain. This phenomenon coincides with the arrival of Julião, an Indian who tries to decode the messages drawn on the sky by the Ancient folk with the passing of the stars. They found a village, baptise it as Meteoro and live happily until, one day, a Brazilian Air Force helicopter arrives.
Daniel Gruener
Mexico
125 min.
Julio Salas dies at home following a long illness. But it?s Sunday, and there are no burials on Sundays. His family is obliged to hire the services of a ?zopilote?, owner of a modest funeral parlour, never imagining the results.
Marcelo Paván
Argentina - Venezuela - Uruguay
90 min.
Roberto, 50, is a successful brain surgeon faced for the first time with an irreversible diagnosis. He has a tumour. He decides to take a break from his affections, occupations and ghosts and put his existence on hold. Everything goes according to plan until Maria crosses his path. On an impluse he can?t quite get used to, he follows her to Punta del Diablo, in Uruguay, where he discovers that her freedom has its owner: Franco. The silence of a desolate place and Franco?s sudden absence stops time in a terminal moment he is obliged to survive despite himself. His indifference towards everything is complicated by the presence of Maria, who slowly breaks down his resistance, bringing him more into tune with life and the incertitude created by the certainty of his feelings.
Oscar Cárdenas
Chile
74 min.
Camila Sepúlveda has been unemployed for over a year. Through six chapters and brief interviews we will find out what this long period of unemployment has meant to her. Every time she goes for a job interview, she hears the points of view and experiences of other unemployed women in the same situation as herself. She knows that a year is a long time to be unemployed and that, in one way or the other, she won?t be the same person she was when she does eventually find a job.
Alfonso Gazitúa
Chile - Switzerland
82 min.
Pedro Vargas, a 30-year-old man living in San Gregorio, has a physical handicap and a slight mental deficiency. But none of this stops him from playing the leading part in this beautiful love story alongside his severely mentally challenged ?princess? Cati. As in any other romantic drama, there is opposition to their love. Pedro?s mother, María, finds it hard to accept that her man-son is in love and is even ready to go as far as taking action to prevent the relationship. Besides, the heroine?s frustrated sister, Marta, fears Cati?s sexual arousal, interfering in her liaison with Pedro. But Pedro struggles to stay with his princess, placing his trust in God and in the wise advice of Juan, an old man who teaches him how to believe in love.
Marcelo Santiago
Brazil - Portugal
93 min.
Brazil, the late 60s. University student Cristiana and her literature professor, Saulo, share a love story impregnated with revolutionary ideals. As the repression increases, Saulo decides to quit the University, join the armed fight and live in clandestinity. Cristiana accompanies him, but spends most of her time alone, confined to a flat in Belo Horizonte, while Saulo is occupied by actions outside of the hideout. Finally, Cristina is given the mission of caring for a wounded militant whom, to protect the girl, has been told to keep his face covered with a hood. This new comrade presents another rare characteristic for a guerrilla fighter: he is a ballet dancer obsessed with Nijinsky. Slowly, the interaction between Cristiana and the young hooded man crosses the line of strictly political action, with evident repercussions on Saulo.
Enrique Gabriel
Spain - Argentina
92 min.
Fernando Valbuena de Montijos, a young, handsome Spanish business shark living in Buenos Aires, is surprised at the veracity of his horoscope in a photomagazine called Suspiros del Corazón (Sighs from the Heart). About to take an important business decision, he'd give anything to know the prediction for the next month. His search takes him to the magazine publishing house, where he disguises his identity, pretending to be their kind of actor. There he meets Fraty, a young girl awakening unknown feelings in him, giving rise to the dilemma of whether to continue with his pragmatic, successful business existence or change the course of his life forever.
Camila Guzmán Urzúa
France - Cuba - Spain
80 min.
The author of this documentary grew up in the Cuba of the 70s and 80s, the ?golden years? of the Revolution, and remembers it as a paradise. Fifteen years later, she returns to Havana with the idea of recovering the happy times and finding out what has happened to some of her companions. This journey into the past becomes a voyage to deception guided by the author?s reflections on a complex, contradictory reality. This film won the Spanish Television Award at last year?s Films in Progress. Selected at Toronto Festival.
Francisco Vargas
Mexico
98 min.
Plutarco, his son Genaro and grandson Lucio lead double lives. On the one hand, they are simple country musicians, and on the other they actively support the peasant guerrilla movement against the oppressor government. When the army occupies the village, the rebels are forced to flee and leave their ammunition behind. Making the most of the fact that he looks like an inoffensive violinist, Plutarco has a plan: to recover the munitions hidden in his cornfield. His music enraptures the captain, but he has to get his hands on the ammunition...
Román Chalbaud
Venezuela
107 min.
The story starts in August 2002, at a meeting at which Nicolas Petrov reads out the Inter-American Human Rights Court verdict ordering the Venezuelan State to compensate the relatives and victims of the tragic events of 27th February 1989. Those present recall the tragic, bloody events marking a before and after in contemporary Venezuelan history. The people appearing in El Caracazo are only a small part -based on testimonial fiction- of a social tragedy that changed the country.
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