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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Eastern Promises. Portrait of Eastern Europe in 50 films
Films
Films
Thematic retrospective: Eastern Promises
Thematic retrospective: Eastern Promises
Jasmila Žbanić
Bosnia and Herzegovina - Croatia - Austria - Germany
2014
95 min.
This first film by the Bosnian filmmaker Jasmila Zbanic won the Golden Bear at the Berlin Festival. The tale of a mother and a daughter who try to find their way in the post-Bosnian War period.
Danis Tanovic
Bosnia and Herzegovina - France - Slovenia - Italy - UK - Belgium
2014
98 min.
One of the most important films about the Bosnian War, winner of an Academy Award and Best Screenplay at Cannes. Bosnian filmmaker Danis Tanovic tells the tale of two men who try to survive in the madness of war.
Danis Tanovic
Czech Republic - Germany
2014
102 min.
The winner of the Golden Shell at the San Sebastian Festival in 2005 was this Czech production; a sharp plunge into the dilemmas of a group of people confronted with the responsabilities of adult life.
Jan Cvitkovic
Slovenia
2001
68 min.
A modern classic of Slovenian cinema, the tale of a man who went out for bread and milk and lost himself to alcohol. A tragicomic tale of loneliness, loss, the cinders of love where there was once a fire.
Ferenc Török
Hungary
2001
88 min.
The Berlin Wall fell in 1989, but a group of teenagers from Budapest don't seem to care. Yet underlying their carefree lives is a complete chronicle of recent Hungarian history and the social changes they will have to deal with.
Iglika Triffonova
Bulgaria - Netherlands - Hungary
2001
90 min.
A man records for his distant, dying friend, an emotional voyage through Bulgarian landscape and a portrait of its inhabitants, the witnesses of a time destined to be forgotten.
Piotr Trzaskalski
Poland
2002
100 min.
A modern fairy tale where the toad is a guy who collects scrap metal for a living and the princess is the sister of a couple of dangerous thugs. A surprising melodrama acclaimed with awards at the Berlin, Karlovy Vary and Warsaw Festivals.
Dalibor Matanic
Croatia
2002
77 min.
A lesbian couple encircled by a gallery of grotesque neighbours: a nightmare landlord and his violent homophobic son, a sinister abortionist, a gang of hooligans... A diabolical thriller and merciless testimony of the ills of Croatian society.
György Pálfi
Hungary
2002
78 min.
Gyorgi Pálfi, one of Hungarian cinema's most hallowed names, needs no dialogue to describe various snapshots of life in a small rural community to the rhythm of an old man with hiccup. Special Mention in the Zabaltegi New Directors section of the San Sebastian Festival in 2002.
Alice Nellis
Czech Republic - Slovakia
2002
100 min.
Czech director Alice Nellis won the New Directors Award in 2002 thanks to this road-movie packed to the hilt with sombre sense of humour. Grandmother fulfills her dream, Mother stops treating her daughters like kids, the daughters stop treating their husbands like idiots and father’s ashes get spread all over the country.
Nimród Antal
Hungary
2003
105 min.
One of the most suggestive surprises to come out of Hungarian cinema in recent years is this nocturnal, surrealist fable about the fauna that inhabits the metro in Budapest: ticket controllers pushed to the limit, serial killers, expert ticket skivers, and girls who look like fairies. Winner of the Youth Prize at the Cannes and Warsaw Festivals.
Vít Klusák, Filip Remunda
Czech Republic
2004
90 min.
A documentary based not on the truth, but on a huge lie: film students advertise the opening of a supermarket that will never exist. But what they film is the pure truth: Czech society's love of consumption since the fall of Communism.
Andrey Paounov
Bulgaria - Canada - Finland - Netherlands - Norway - UK - USA
2004
60 min.
A documentary about the incredible adventures in capitalism of psychiatrist Dr. Georgi Lulchev and the Home for Psychologically Challenged Men.
Teona Strugar Mitevska
Macedonia - France - Slovenia
2004
82 min.
A Macedonian production that competed at the Rotterdam Festival. The tale of a woman who returns to the United States to discover a harsh reality about to explode with tragic consequences.
Vinko Moderndorfer
Slovenia
2004
90 min.
An acid, ironic portrayal of today's Slovenian society through the confused lives of a group of friends who think the answer to their problems lies in alcohol, violence and racism.
Wojciech Smarzowski
Polonia
2004
109 min.
Wojciech Smarzowski, one of Polish cinema's most recent revelations, debuted with this acid view of Polish society portrayed in the description of a hectic wedding day, a madcap panorama drenched in alcohol, money and corruption.
Roland Vranik
Hungary
2005
83 min.
The best tradition of American independent cinema with a purely Hungarian touch: a surrealist comedy in black and white about four chimney sweeps, the absurd situations they experience and their laconic discussions.
Kornél Mundruczó
Hungary
2005
86 min.
Kornél Mundruczó reinterprets the story of Joan of Arc in a bold and surprising film that breaks down the barriers between film and opera to transfer the mythical character to modern Hungary. Presented in the Un Certain Regard section at the Festival de Cannes in 2005.
Stefan Arsenijevic, Nadezhda Koseva, Mait Laas, Kornél Mundruczó, Cristian Mungiu, Jasmila Zbanic
Germany - Bosnia and Herzegovina - Bulgaria - Estonia - Romania - Serbia and Montenegro - Hungary
2005
104 min.
Several of the most noteworthy filmmakers in today's Eastern Europe come together in this film of six episodes on intergenerational conflict and social evolution in the former Soviet Bloc countries.
Cristi Puiu
Romania
2005
150 min.
Winner of the Un Certain Regard Award at the Cannes Festival, this film by Cristi Puiu introduced the world to Romanian cinema: the Kafkian odyssey of a normal man lost in the hell of bureaucracy.
Petr Zelenka
Czech Republic - Germany - Slovakia
2005
100 min.
A bittersweet comedy of manners where a love story is an excuse to meet people desperate to make contact with each other, whether jumping from planes, making extra money by watching the neighbors having sex, even living with shop-window mannequins.
Corneliu Porumboiu
Romania
2006
89 min.
Corneliu Porumboiu, one of the leading voices of the new Romanian cinema 'miracle', debuted with this shrewd historical reflection on the part played by Romanians in the 1989 revolution. Winner of the Caméra d'Or at the Festival de Cannes in 2006.
Oleg Novkovic
Serbia
2006
84 min.
An intimistic drama about passion, the sensuality of youth, jealousy and possession, but above all about the need to recover time lost, to treasure the fleeting moments of happiness. Presented at the Karlovy Vary Festival.
Ilmar Raag
Estonia
2007
99 min.
A highschool movie Estonian-style: a shy boy bullied by his classmates, an unexpected ally and a tribe driven by ancient codes of homophobia and violence. This first work from Ilmar Raag won awards at the Karlovy Vary and Warsaw festivals.
Cristian Nemescu
Romania
2007
155 min.
Winner of the Un Certain Regard Award at the Festival de Cannes, a sharp parable of US foreign policy. A small Romanian community has to deal with an unknown quantity: a train packed with American soldiers stopped right in the middle of their town.
Janis Kalejs, Janis Putnins, Gatis Smits, Anna Viduleja
Latvia
2007
95 min.
Four of new Lethonian cinema's most representative directors helm a film in episodes portraying several decisive moments in the life of a man, from his happy-go-lucky childhood until the nonsensical challenges of adult life.
Malgorzata Szumowska
Poland - Germany
2008
97 min.
The crisis of a woman who thought she had everything but sees her life crumble round about her is recorded with delicate sensitivity by the Polish director, Malgorzata Szumowska. Winning film of the Special Jury Prize at the Locarno Festival.
Thomas Ciulei
Romania - Germany
2008
87 min.
A beautiful documentary by the Romanian director Thomas Ciulei, shot over several months to portray the everyday life of a man in a Moldavian town who has to raise his three sons single-handed when his wife emigrates to Italy in search of work.
Mladen Djordjevic
Serbia
2008
110 min.
A brutal, ruthless tour of post-war Serbia seen through an aspiring film director's descent into the hells of violence and sex. His delirious odyssey will take him from porn films to snuff movies and beyond.
Peter Kerekes
Slovakia - Czech Republic - Austria
2009
88 min.
Péter Kerekes, one of Slovakia's most admired documentary-makers, portrays the army cooks. Recipes that have been sustaining campaigns from WWII to the Chechen War, from France to the Balkans and Russia.
Goran Devic, Zvonimir Juric
Croatia
2009
75 min.
A controversial film that marked an inflection point in cinematic portrayal of the Bosnian War. Based on true facts, this claustrophobic fable oozing with underlying tension reveals the attrocities committed by the Croatian army during the conflict.
Kamen Kalev
Bulgaria - Sweden
2009
83 min.
Presented at the Cannes Festival, winner of awards at several international festivals, a sharp look at the confusion reigning in Bulgarian society since the end of the Cold War, seen through the comings and goings of a drug addict and a teenager who mixes with people who are anything but recommendable.
Peter Strickland
UK - Romania
2009
82 min.
Peter Strickland, director of the cult film Berberian Sound Studio, competed at the Berlin Festival with his first work: a cruel, perverse tale about a woman who takes to sinister forests in the Carpathian Mountains in the quest for revenge.
Veiko Õunpuu
Estonia - Finland - Sweden
2009
114 min.
One of the most surprising and imaginative talents of today's Estonian cinema, Veiko Õunpuu, bring us this moral fable in brilliant visual style: the tale of a man lost in a moral crisis.
Šarunas Bartas
Lithuania - France - Russia
2010
111 min.
The Lithuanian moviemaker to enjoy greatest international prestige, Sharunas Bartas, directs and stars in a film noir shot in Paris, Moscow and Vilnius: the melancholy flight of a drug trafficker towards the women he loves and an unavoidable fate.
Marian Crisan
Romania - France - Hungary
2010
100 min.
The debut of Marian Crisan, one of Romanian cinema's new talents, won the Special Jury Prize at the Locarno Festival. The tender and emotional tale of friendship between two men capable of understanding one another even if borders and conventions do everything they can to keep them apart.
Ágnes Kocsis
Hungary - France - Austria - Netherlands
2010
142 min.
Presented in the Un Certain Regard section at the Festival de Cannes, this film by Hungarian moviemaker Ágnes Kocsis introduces us to the life of a nurse addicted to cream cakes and her odyssey in search of time past by means of a dazzling, ice-cold visual style.
Bujar Alimani
Albania - Greece - France
2011
83 min.
The secret story of love between a man and a woman who meet while visiting their respective partners in prison. A tale set in Albania, premiered in Berlin Festival's Panorama section.
Zuzana Liova
Slovakia - Czech Republic
2011
97 min.
The first film from Slovakian director Zuzana Liova is a satirically laced drama about the bonds of family and the rebellious urges of the young: a father builds a house for each of his daughters. What seemed to be a childhood dream turns into a nightmare.
Juris Poskus
Latvia
2011
97 min.
Juris Poskus directs Latvia''s great hipster chronicle: a group of friends who live on the shores of the Baltic Sea kill time drinking beer, getting into fights and having impossible conversations about life and love.
Vladimir Blazevski
Macedonia - Serbia
2011
104 min.
Can punk stay alive in today's world? That's the question asked by this black comedy, winner of awards at the Karlovy Vary and Sofia Festivals: a punk band reforms to participate in a multicultural event.
Jan Komasa
Poland
2011
110 min.
Jan Komasa's first film revealed a rising talent in Polish cinema. The portrayal of new youth given over to the pleasures and dangers of the Internet era.
Kristina Buozyte
Lithuania - France - Belgium
2012
124 min.
A sci-fi movie that has changed the face of today's Lithuanian cinema. Far removed from the special effects of Hollywood, here we have a fantasy on a human being's most intimate aspirations, memory and desire.
Aida Begic
Bosnia and Herzegovina - Germany - France - Turkey
2012
90 min.
Bosnian filmmaker Aida Begic landed a special mention from the Un Certain Regard jury at Cannes for this description of the suffering that persists years after the siege of Sarajevo and the end of the Bosnian War.
Cristian Mungiu
Romania - France - Belgium
2012
150 min.
Winner of Best Screenplay and Actress at the Festival de Cannes, this movie by Cristian Mungiu is a terrifying and claustrophobic parabol on today's intolerance: a convent lost in the hills, an unrelenting priest, an exorcism and the inner demons that come to light.
Sławomir Fabicki
Poland
2012
106 min.
One of the big surprises of recent Polish cinema was this intense and anything but complacent drama about a couple whose love is put to the test by a traumatic incident that destroys their happiness.
Ana Felicia Scutelnicu
Germany - Moldavia
2012
61 min.
Ana Felicia Scutelnicu won an award at the Rome Festival in 2012 for this meticulous, extremely beautiful and poetic description of the funeral rites in a Moldovan village, a ceremony where joy mingles with grief and life has the upper hand over death.
Miroslav Momcilovic
Serbia
2012
78 min.
A man commits suicide, but his webcam runs on, impassible. And this fixed shot records the neighbours who wait for the police, drink the dead man's alcohol and play with his things. This film, awarded a prize at the Karlovy Vary Festival, describes a whole world in a single shot.
Srdan Golubovic
Serbia - Germany - France - Slovenia - Croatia
2013
112 min.
Winner of the Special Jury Prize at the Sundance Festival, this melancholy description of the lives of five people in post-war Serbia asks a disturbing question: can we overcome the feeling of guilt, frustration, the thirst for vengeance?
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