The Antonio Elorza Velodrome, a film theatre with seating for more than 3,000 spectators, will host two world premieres.
The first, Fe de etarras (Bomb Scared), is the fourth feature from the director Borja Cobeaga. This Mediapro production for Netflix is a dark comedy set in the summer of 2010, starring a commando played by Javier Cámara, Julián López, Miren Ibarguren and Gorka Otxoa.
The second is Operación Concha (Operation Golden Shell), a comedy of errors taking place at the San Sebastian Festival, directed by Antonio Cuadri (El corazón de la tierra / Heart of the Earth) and starring Jordi Mollà, Karra Elejalde, Unax Ugalde, Ramón Agirre and Bárbara Goenaga.
Furthermore, on the 30th, the Velodrome will host a session including broadcast of the awards ceremony, and screening of the films closing the Official Selection (The Wife) and the Pearls section, Loving Pablo, the new film from Fernando León de Aranoa about the relationship between the drug lord Pablo Escobar and the journalist Virginia Vallejo, embodied by Javier Bardem and Penélope Cruz.
Completing the session is a short film in the Gas Natural Fenosa Cinergía project: the first part of Proyecto tiempo (Project Time), directed by Isabel Coixet.
And, as usual, the Velodrome will be the setting every morning during the Festival of a screening for children under a programme agreed to with schools. This year’s film is The Little Prince, directed by Mark Osborne (Kung Fu Panda).
Fe de etarras is an unusual dark comedy set in the warm summer of 2010 in a Spanish provincial capital. A peculiar commando composed of a veteran desperate to prove he’s not a coward, a couple whose commitment depends on continuity of the outfit and a guy from La Mancha who thinks that joining the commando will turn him into Chuck Norris, hole up in a safe house while waiting for the call to tell them they can take action. Meanwhile, the Spanish football team notches up victories in the South Africa World Cup and the whole country is celebrating around them, causing enormous frustration among the farcical commando.
Unscrupulous businessman Marcos Ruiz de Aldazábal is the head of a film production company gone bust. Desperate and penniless, Marcos and his team come up with a plan to hoodwink a millionaire investment company with a lookalike of prestigious actor Ray Silvela, who has declined the offer to work on their film. Making the most of the San Sebastian Festival, they set about contriving an enormous hoax where nothing is what it seems to be.
At the heart of it all is The Little Girl, who’s being prepared by her mother for the very grown-up world in which they live – only to be interrupted by her eccentric, kind-hearted neighbor, The Aviator. The Aviator introduces his new friend to an extraordinary world where anything is possible. A world that he himself was initiated into long ago by The Little Prince.
OFFICIAL SELECTION
Behind any great man, there’s always a greater woman … and you’re about to meet her. It is crucial you get to know this woman – many of us already do and don't even realise it. Joan Castleman: a highly intelligent and still-striking beauty - the perfect devoted wife. Forty years spent sacrificing her own talent, dreams and ambitions to fan the flames of her charismatic husband Joe and his skyrocketing literary career. Ignoring his infidelities and excuses because of his 'art' with grace and humour. Their fateful pact has built a marriage upon uneven compromises. And Joan’s reached her breaking point. On the eve of Joe’s Nobel Prize for Literature, the crown jewel in a spectacular body of work, Joan's coup de grace is to confront the biggest sacrifice of her life and secret of his career. The Wife is a poignant, funny and emotional journey; a celebration of womanhood, self-discovery and liberation.
PEARLS
The true story of the notorious drug kingpin Pablo Escobar, who killed thousands, made billions and struck up an unlikely love affair with his polar opposite, a glamorous television host named Virginia Vallejo.