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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Zabaltegi-New Directors
Films
Films
Zabaltegi-New Directors
Zabaltegi-New Directors
Gabriel Velázquez
Spain
86 min.
Marseilles (France): The day Blanca turns 16, her mother dies buried under three tons of fish, leaving her alone in life. Vallecas (Madrid): Julio Nieves, a powerfully-built 65 year-old construction boss, collapses in the shower and is left to face the harshness of his retirement. What would you do if a daughter fell from the sky when you were old and lonely in life? Even if it was a lie? Just how far are we prepared to go to avoid being alone?
Martín Carranza, Victoria Galardi
Argentina
85 min.
When Soledad is ditched by her boyfriend, she resolves to spend the next three years of her life single to avoid suffering another let-down in love. Soledad -who almost constantly believes herself to be ill- meets a man with whom she unexpectedly hits it off, but just then her ex calls saying he wants to get back together, obliging her to make a decision. A mother concerned about her image who?s always on the phone but never visits, a father she hardly sees and the partner and confidant with whom she shares premises complete Soledad?s abysmal and fascinating world.
Kevin Feng Ke
China-USA
93 min.
A small-time crook in China's maximum security prison is assigned the dubious task of recording the last wishes of the death row inmates scheduled for execution. Surrounded by men who are immersed in desperation, his close encounters with the condemned criminals shows him the darkest side of humanity. But he finds romance with the beautiful female prison radio station announcer, despite the watchful eyes of the wardens and the threat of execution hanging over her.
Arno Dierickx
Holland
96 min.
16 year-old Simon wants to make friends with the immensely wealthy brothers Arnout and Victor van Riebeeck. At the boys? mansion, they spend their time playing tennis, listening to music and dancing with Arnout's beautiful girlfriend, Frederique. Meanwhile, in the attic, they hide their friend Ronnie, a petty criminal on the run from the police. Obviously, neither their parents nor the staff know anything about it. At first the boys think the whole situation is rather funny, until Ronnie becomes a burden and even starts to blackmail them. But it?s too late to kick him out?
Daniel Hernández
Spain
85 min.
Chicos normales, a film based on true events, enters the homes and lives of three youngsters from Jamaa Mezwak, the Tetuan slum and birthplace of five of the terrorists responsible for the Madrid killing on 11th March 2004.
Andrea Martínez Crowther
Mexico-Spain
96 min.
Esmeralda is a teenager with an unusual obsession: she collects objects lost, forgotten or discarded by people she doesn't know and keeps them in a box beneath her bed. This is the tale of three objects in the box and the people behind them, all in some way incapable of relating to the person they love most. It is also a tale of the box itself, and of how Esmeralda learns to open it, to feel and to hoard the most valuable thing of all: human relations.
Rafaël Ouellet
Canada
84 min.
Betty wants to leave the escort business. In order to regain her liberty, she has less than a week to find someone to replace her. Léa is 14 and lives in the country. Using seduction and friendship, Betty sells Léa a dream and prepares the naive adolescent to take over her job.
Tiago Guedes, Frederico Serra
Portugal-Brazil
100 min.
Paulo loses his job after reporting an accident at the construction site where he works. The relationship with his wife is getting worse by the day. Bela, Paulo?s sister, lives with their father, who suffers from post-war syndrome. She is a nurse and the only comfort for her terminal patient. Modern families barely surviving the fate entangling them. Some fight back in defiance; others let themselves go and give up.
Chapour Haghighat
Iran-France-India
95 min.
In a remote village by the Indian Ocean, struck by a deadly disease, a man comes from the sea, seeking the firm land...
While death is lurking, the villagers decide to turn to the government for help. But as they feel unable to present their demand by themselves, some men are sent to the capital, with the mission of hiring mediators, ?learned men? who could plead their cause with the administration. Lost in the big city, the countrymen cannot find any help and get into trouble... They are rescued by some street-boys who introduce them to a disillusioned former professor. The professor pushes the villagers to go and besiege the ministry themselves until they get heard... But they are turned down roughly by the administration.
An old lady, a ruined and melancholy aristocrat, organizes a great feast for them... They sing, dance, talk about happiness and life... This story is a fable about the passing of time, the hopes of men, haunted by loneliness and death.
Cao Baoping
China-Hong Kong
96 min.
Limi is a cab driver who has been trying to find her fiancé, Fang Wen, since he disappeared when her parents broke off their pending marriage. Qiu Shuitian is a small-time crook from the countryside who comes to the big city with hopes of getting his hands on some booty to take home with him and finding his true love. Lastly, Feifei is a recovering drug addict who has found support in her lover and business partner, Ma Bing. A mysterious death and its subsequent investigation suddenly intertwine the lives of these characters, gradually revealing the bizarre connection between them.
Ryusuke Hamaguchi
Japan
115 min.
Here is a couple who have their wedding close at hand. In the middle of the celebration party where their friends get together, it is accidentally exposed that the prospective groom had an affair in the past. That night, the couple spend time apart... In this film, we see a rash and frivolous love tapestry woven by men and women next door in their twenties, displayed in Yokohama at night -or it may seem a metaphysical study of love. What will their conclusion bring at the end? Impressive? Ridicule?
Miika Soini
Finland
70 min.
This is a movie about compassion, forgiveness and atonement. In the autumn of his life, Thomas leads a simple, isolated life in his below-street-level apartment, accompanied by a radio, a chessboard, and a photo of his wife. He doesn?t venture out very often, and when he does, the outside world reminds him of his advanced age, his loneliness, and times he would rather not remember. His feels like a never-ending story; and to make himself whole, Thomas has to face his past. "I am old, and life is long."
Santiago A. Zannou
Espainia
El truco del manco narra la historia de Enrique Heredia, El Cuajo, un buscavidas payo agitanado con medio cuerpo afectado por una parálisis cerebral que le impide andar con facilidad. El Cuajo convence a su amigo Adolfo, un joven mulato que vive en un barrio dormitorio de las afueras de la ciudad con un padre alcohólico y con problemas de salud, para levantar un estudio musical donde ganarse la vida con el talento y la pasión que les une: el Hip Hop. El reparto está compuesto por actores no profesionales, seleccionados a través de un casting por los extrarradios de Madrid y Barcelona. Entre ellos destaca Juan Manuel Montilla, conocido como El Langui, líder del grupo musical de hip hop gitano La Excepción, que fue galardonado en 2006 por MTV Europa como el mejor grupo europeo en lengua castellana.
Fien Troch
Belgium-Netherlands
97 min.
This is the story of parents, Lukas and Grace, whose 14 year-old daughter, Lisa, has been missing for five years. No clear reason, no goodbye; she simply disappeared without trace. During those five years, the couple seem to have returned to some kind of normality, until Benjamin, a former friend of Lisa's, pays them a visit and a series of strange situations ensues. Gradually, Lisa creeps back into their minds and into their lives, whether they like it or not.
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