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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Official Selection
Films
Films
Official Selection
Official Selection
Peter Mullan
UK-France-Italy
124 min.
Glasgow, 1973. On the brink of adolescence, young John McGill's about to start secondary school. He's a bright boy, a sensitive boy, eager to learn, but the cards are stacked high against him. The McGill family's dirt poor, his hated father's a drunken bully. His teachers - punishing John for the 'sins' of his older brother Benny - are down on him from the start. John's on his own. And then there's the gangs. The Neds. Non-Educated Delinquents. The bad boys with weapons and attitude: cheap drugs, glam rock, fumbling sex, the violence and the camaraderie of the streets. Local monsters. Local Heroes. Benny's fearsome reputation buys John protection, and then a way in. Scared, resentful, full of rage, John makes his decision. If no-one else will give him a chance: fuck them. John takes to the savage life of the streets with a vengeance. But as his rage and frustration spin him further and further out of control, he is left facing a blank wall. No future. With one extraordinary chance of redemption.
Opening Film (In competition)
Felipe Cazals
Mexico
100 min.
Following the frustrated invasion of Columbus (New Mexico), Pancho Villa retreats, only to be injured in the leg by Carranza's troops in the city of Guerrero. The North Americans, on Mexican territory, launch a massive campaign to capture him dead or alive. Convalescent, Villa takes refuge deep in the mountains. Chicogrande, a young follower of Villa, is given the task of finding medical assistance and is prepared to give up his own life in the attempt.
Gilles Paquet-Brenner
France
111 min.
In May 2002, Julia Jarmond, an American journalist who has been living in Paris for twenty years, is commissioned with an article related to the sixtieth anniversary of the Jewish persecution. Married to Bertrand Tézac, with whom she has an 11 year-old daughter named Zoë, Julia gradually uncovers the events of that fateful 1942 and, curiously, the tale of Sarah, who is, incredibly, related to her family by marriage, the Tézacs. Having made the discovery, Julia won?t stop until she learns the fate of young Sarah and how she?s related to her husband?s family.
Liu Hao
China
112 min.
Old Pop, a retired factory worker, lives in a former industrial area of Beijing with his extended family. He likes going to the market with his old colleague, Lao Chang. One day, he recognizes a face he had been unable to forget: his first love, Li Ying. An elegant old woman, Li Ying seems to have trouble remembering people, and her daughter is openly hostile to Old Pop. Despite these obstacles, the two elders start meeting in secret. Discovering that Li Ying has Alzheimer, Old Pop plays little games with her to exercise her mind. As in his award-winning first films, Liu Hao uses non-professional actors to recount an unusual love affair with a poetic and humorous touch.
José María de Orbe
Spain
85 min.
An old abandoned house. The caretaker who looks after it. The village priest. Spaces, sounds, lights and shadows, the passing of time. An intimate yet collective story unfolds in the darkest corners of the house. Cinema takes the shape of a ghost within the fiction of the film.
Kim Jee-Woon
South Korea
141 min.
Kyung-chul is a dangerous psychopath who kills for pleasure. He has committed infernal serial murders in diabolic ways that we can?t even begin to imagine. His victims range from young women to children. The police have been on his heels for a long time without being able to catch him. One day, Ju-yeon, daughter of a retired police chief, becomes his prey and is found dead in a horrific state. Her fiancé, Soo-hyun, a secret agent, decides to track down the murderer himself. He vows to do everything in his power to take bloody vengeance against the killer, even if it means becoming a monster himself.
John Sayles
USA-Philippines
128 min.
Amigo centers on Rafael Dacanay, cabeza of the San Isidro barrio, in a rice-growing area of Luzón (Philippines). His brother Simón, head of the local guerrilla band, has forced the surrender of the Spanish Guardia Civil outpost and charged Rafael with the task of imprisoning the guardia Captain and a Spanish friar, Padre Hidalgo, in the name of the revolutionary government. But when the American troops chasing General Aguinaldo arrive, the Spanish officer and Padre Hidalgo are freed, and a garrison under the command of Lieutenant Ike Compton is left to 'protect' the barrio. The American occupation policy now changes from 'hearts and minds' to 'concentration' (called 'hamletting' during the Vietnam war), and Rafael has to answer to both the Americans and the Filipino patriots, with deadly consequences.
Victoria Galardi
Argentina
86 min.
The ski season is approaching in a Patagonian village at the foot of Mount Bayo. But the local peace and quiet is put to the test when Juana Keller, matriarch of a peculiar family, tries to commit suicide. While she lies in a coma, her daughters, sons-in-law and grandchildren see their lives changed by the incident as the best and worst awakens in each of them.
Judith Colell, Jordi Cadena
Spain
72 min.
Elisa, who'll be eleven this summer, loves her new dress with its blue bows. But things are a hairsbreadth from losing all importance. Her father's friend has made her cry, followed by the comment: "If you stop crying I'll give you a silver bracelet." No-one realises what's happened. Elisa's a bit odd and that's it. Until 14 years, 4 months and a few days later she calls her mother, frightened, saying: "Help me, I've just remembered something awful."
Naomi Kawase
Japan
92 min.
The title, Genpin, overlays the words of the Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu, "The valley spirit never dies / It is named the mysterious woman (genpin)." In the film, the obstetrician Yoshimura Tadashi reflects on the relationship between childbirth and death, and observes, more as a human being than a doctor, that to deny death is to deny life. Life born into this world, life that ends at the moment of birth, life that ends before birth. Lives do not cease as a solitary life, but are carried on by the species, and continue. Through the flux of the Japanese seasons, Naomi Kawase entered the circle of the women giving birth at the Yoshimura Clinic and the world of Dr. Yoshimura, who has spent 40 years on the path of natural childbirth, and wove the footage she shot with her own 16mm camera into this film.
Óscar Aibar
Spain
106 min.
Barcelona, in the '60s. It's springtime, and Vázquez is having a ball to himself. His characters (the Gilda Sisters, Anacleto, the Cebolleta Family...) are a huge success in the comics published by Bruguera. Meanwhile, Spain's top cartoonist gets what he wants when he wants, paying nothing for it, artfully dodging anyone he owes money to, tricking and cheating his bosses and marrying gaily, collecting one family after another. Until a dull accountant at his publishing house decides it's time for him to toe the line like everyone else. It won't be an easy task: for the brilliant cartoonist life's a party to gatecrash if you've not been invited.
Bent Hamer
Norway-Sweden-Germany
90 min.
In the small fictional Norwegian town of Skogli, a puzzle of characters intersects with one another in different stories. These characters represent a wide range of ages and social classes, blending humour and tragedy, tenderness and desperation; but always open to forgiveness and hope. The stories bring forward the theme of living together in all aspects, exploring love at any age and in all its phases, from giving birth to dying. This modern Christmas carol is based on a selection of short stories from the collection Bare mjuke pakker under treet (Only Soft Presents Beneath the Tree), by the Norwegian author Levi Henriksen.
Daoud Aoulad-Syad
Morocco-France
85 min.
To make Aoulad-Syad?s previous film, En attendant Pasolini, sets were built on plots rented from those living in the village. A mosque was erected on the plot belonging to Moha, a local appearing in the film. On completing the shooting, the film team left the village. The neighbours demolished all of the sets, except for the mosque, which has become a real place of worship for those who live there. A complete disaster for Moha, who used to grow vegetables to feed his family on the land.
Raúl Ruiz
Portugal
256 min.
A veritable whirlwind of adventures and escapades, coincidences and revelations, sentiments and violent passions, vengeance, love affairs, all wrapped in a rhapsodic voyage taking us from Portugal to France, Italy, and as far as Brazil. In this Lisbon of intrigue and hidden identities, we encounter a series of characters all somewhat linked to the destiny of Pedro da Silva, orphan in a boarding school. Father Dinis, a descendent of the aristocratic libertines, later to become a hero who defends justice, a countess maddened by her jealousy and set on her vengeance, a prosperous businessman who mysteriously made his fortune as a bloodthirsty pirate; these people and many more cross paths in a story set in the 19th century as they all search for the true identity of our main character.
Agustí Villaronga
Spain
108 min.
In the harsh years of post-war rural Catalonia, Andreu, a youngster relegated to the losers' side, comes across the bodies of a man and his son in the woods. When the authorities want to pin the blame on his father, the boy decides to try and help him, setting out to discover who killed them. The experience teaches Andreu moral awareness in a world of adults nourished by lies. To survive, he betrays his own roots, eventually finding the monster living deep inside himself.
Sophie Heldman
Germany-Switzerland
84 min.
This is a lovestory, the story of Anita and Fred, who have been married for 50 years. The autumn of their lives has long begun, but they continue to live their love - self-determined and not always symbiotic. When Fred becomes terminally ill he hides is illness from his family, apart from his wife, who knows about it. Freedom or denial? A story about the last weeks in the life of a loving couple which concludes with the question about everlasting love in an extraordinary step.
Carles Bosch
Spain
106 min.
In Autumn 2007, Pasqual Maragall was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. Following the harsh blow, he and his family set out on a crusade against the disease, with this film as their exceptional witness from the very outset. With intelligence, sincerity and good-nature, Maragall allows himself to be portrayed alongside his family and doctor in order to leave a record of his everyday personal struggle. Two years of monitoring an extraordinary patient who does what he can to help scientists find a cure before the 26 million sufferers worldwide multiply tenfold. A tough yet optimistic film in spite of it all.
Ryan Murphy
USA
139 min.
Liz Gilbert is a modern woman who embarks on a journey around the world that becomes a quest for self-discovery. Newly divorced and at a crossroads, Gilbert steps out of her comfort zone by taking a year out, risking everything to change her life. In her marvellous and exotic travels, she discovers the true pleasure of eating in Italy, the power of prayer in India, and, finally and unexpectedly, the inner peace and balance of true love in Bali. Based on an inspirational true story, Eat Pray Love proves that there's more than one way to let go and see the world.
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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
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