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-Pearls
Films
Films
Zabaltegi-Pearls
Zabaltegi-Pearls
Semih Kaplanoglu
Turkey-Germany
103 min.
Yusuf is six and has just started school, where he learns to read and write. His father, Yakup, a beekeeper, regularly goes into the forest to hang the beehives from the tallest trees. The mountainous forest is packed with mysteries for Yusuf, who loves accompanying his father. Until one day the bees disappear and Yakup decides to make his way into the forest to find out what has happened.
Pablo Trapero
Argentina-Chile-France-South Korea
107 min.
In Argentina, over 8,000 people die in traffic accidents every year. Behind each of these tragedies is a flourishing industry founded on insurance payouts and legal loopholes. Sosa is a lawyer who tours the A&E Departments of the public hospitals and the police stations in search of potential clients. Luján is a young doctor recently arrived from the province. Their love story kicks off one night when Luján and Sosa meet in the street. She's trying to save a man's life; he wants him on his client portfolio.
Lee Changdong
South Korea
139 min.
Mija lives with her teenage grandson in a small dormitory town on the Han River. She is a smart dresser who likes to wear hats decorated with flowers and fashionable outfits, but she's also an unpredictable character with an inquisitive mind. By chance, she takes a "poetry" class at a neighbourhood culture centre and is instructed to write a poem. Her quest for poetic inspiration begins with observing the everyday life she has always ignored. Suddenly, Milo is filled with a new energy making her feel like a little girl discovering things for the first time in her life. But when she has to face a reality harsh beyond her imagination, she realises that perhaps life is not as beautiful as she thought?
Richard J. Lewis
Canada-Italy
132 min.
Barney Panofsky is a seemingly ordinary man who lives an extraordinary life: there is his first wife, Clara, a flame-haired, flagrantly unfaithful free sprit with whom Barney briefly lives in Rome. The "Second Mrs. P.," is a wealthy Jewish Princess who shops and talks incessantly, barely noticing that Barney is not listening. And it is at their lavish wedding that Barney meets, and starts pursuing, Miriam, his third wife, the mother of his two children, and his true love. With his father, Izzy as his sidekick, Barney takes us through the many highs, and a few too many lows, of his long and colourful life. Not only does Barney turn out to be a true romantic, he is also capable of all kinds of sneaky acts of gallantry, generosity, and goodness when we - and he - least expect it.
Rodrigo Cortés
Spain
93 min.
Paul Conroy, a family man and civilian contract worker in Iraq, wakes to find himself buried alive inside a coffin. With no idea why he's been put there and far less so why, the only chance of escape from his agonising nightmare is a mobile phone. Poor cover, a low battery and lack of oxygen are the major obstacles in a life and death race against time: Paul has only got 90 minutes to get out of there.
Danis Tanovic
France?Bosnia and Herzegovina?Belgium?UK?Germany?Slovenia
113 min.
Bosnia and Herzegovina, 1991. The communists have fallen from power and Divko Buntic returns to the small town where he grew up to reclaim his family home. After a 20-year exile in Germany, Divko arrives in his flashy red Mercedes with sexy young girlfriend Azra, lucky black cat Bonny and a pocketful of Deutschmarks. Divko uses his money and connections to forcefully evict estranged wife Lucija, but he tries to reunite with 20-year-old son Martin. When Divko's beloved cat Bonny disappears, the whole town joins in a frantic search to get the cash reward. The daily hunt for the missing cat strains Divko's fragile relationship with Azra and opens up an unexpected but strong attraction between Azra and Martin. Busy fretting over everyday concerns, most of the townsfolk seem to disregard the rumbling political unrest: Croatia has seceded, all Yugoslavs are being forced to take sides, and the Serbs begin bombing Dubrovnik.
Banksy
USA-UK
87 min.
Exit Through the Gift Shop tells the tale of Thierry Guetta, an eccentric French shopkeeper living in Los Angeles given to filming everything that happens around him. One day he decides to get behind the camera and make a film about street art and some of its most famous artists among whom, apart from Banksy, we find others like Invader or Shepard Fairey. While filming, Banksy decides to turn the camera back on Guetta, encouraging him to enter the fascinating world of street art with his taken alias of Mr. Brainwash.
Josh Radnor
USA
100 min.
Young writer Sam Wexler wakes up late and hung-over for an important meeting with one of the big New York publishers. On his way to the meeting, he comes across a lost boy in the underground and takes him under his wing. Having unsuccessfully attempted to find the boy's family, he decides to take him along to his meeting; a very bad idea as it turns out. Sam's life revolves around his friends: Annie, Charlie, Mary Catherine and Mississippi, a pretty waitress and singer who makes him consider a new life but who may cause havoc in everything that surrounds him.
Norberto López Amado, Carlos Carcas
UK-Spain
78 min.
The film traces the rise of one of the world's premier architects, Norman Foster and his unending quest to improve the quality of life through design. Portrayed are Foster's origins and how his dreams and influences inspired the design of emblematic projects such as the largest building in the world Beijing Airport, the Reichstag, the Hearst Building in New York and works such as the tallest bridge ever in Millau France. In the very near future, the majority of mankind will abandon the countryside and live entirely in cities. Foster offers some striking solutions to the problems that this historic event will create.
Laura Poitras
USA
96 min.
The Oath tells the story of Abu Jandal, Osama bin Laden's former bodyguard, and Salim Hamdan, a prisoner at Guantanamo Bay Prison and the first man to face the controversial military tribunals. Filmed in Yemen and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, The Oath is a family drama about two men whose fateful encounter in 1996 set them on a journey that would lead to Osama bin Laden, 9/11, Guantanamo Bay Prison, and the U.S. Supreme Court. The film begins as Salim Hamdan is set to face war crime charges at Guantanamo, and Abu Jandal is a free man who drives a taxi in Yemen.
Michelangelo Frammartino
Italy
88 min.
Le quattro volte is a poetic view of the cycles of life and nature, of the forgotten traditions of a timeless place. A film accompanying the spectator to an unknown, magical world to discover the secret of four lives mysteriously entwined with one another.
Wang Quan An
China
95 min.
Liu returns to his native city Shanghai after 50 years spent in Taiwan. He has come to find the first love of his life, Qiao, who he left behind pregnant. In the meantime, Qiao has married and formed a family. But Liu is determined to get the family's approval to take her away with him.
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Friday: 10:00h - 14:00h
Monday to Thursday: 09:00h - 15:00h
Friday: 10:00h - 14:00h
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