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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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The international premiere of the film The Song of Names, starring Tim Roth, Catherine McCormack and Clive Owen, will close the Official Selection at San Sebastian Festival’s 67th edition, out of competition, on September 28. The Canadian François Girard, author of Le violon rouge (The Red Violin, 1998), Silk (Soie, 2007) and Boychoir (2014), directs this drama set against a historical and musical backdrop, with a soundtrack signed by Howard Shore.
Based on the novel of the same name by Norman Lebrecht, this co-production between Canada, the United Kingdom and Hungary tells us the story of Martin, a 9-year-old boy at the outbreak of World War II who meets Dovidl, a recent Polish-Jewish refugee to London and gifted violin prodigy. But hours before Dovidl’s debut performance he vanishes without a trace, causing shame and ruin for their family. The film will be internationally distributed by Hanway Films and in Spain by Filmax.
This isn’t the first time that François Girard (Saint-Félicien, Canada,1963) will have directed a film with music as its main theme. In Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould (1993) he took an original approach to the real life of the talented pianist Glenn Gould, and later, in Le violon rouge, he imagined the adventures of a violin that travels from hand to hand over several centuries and different continents. Moreover, Boychoir follows the story of the exacting director of a boys’ choir played by Dustin Hoffman. Girard is also known for the film adaptation of Alessandro Baricco’s famous novel, Soie.
In previous years, the Festival has programmed films starring actors featuring in The Song of Names. Clive Owen visited San Sebastian to present Children of Men (2006) in Pearls and returned to open the Official Selection with Intruders (2011), by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo. For his part, Tim Roth participated twofold in Horizontes Latinos in the same year, 2015, with Gabriel Ripstein’s 600 millas (600 Miles) and Michel Franco’s Chronic. Moreover, Catherine McCormack visited San Sebastian to attend the screening of The Weight of Water (2000), by Kathryn Bigelow, which competed at the Official Section.
As Europe erupts into World War II, 9-year-old Martin comes to love his new adopted brother Dovidl, a gifted violin prodigy of the same age and recently arrived Polish-Jewish refugee in London. But hours before Dovidl's debut concert performance at the age of 21, he vanishes without a trace, meaning shame and ruin for his family. A lifetime later, a young violinist shows a 56-year-old Martin a stylistic flourish that could only have been taught by Dovidl.
Tickets for the closing gala, which include the awards ceremony as well as the presentation and screening of The Song of Names, are now on sale at a price of 70 euros. Also available, at the same price, are tickets for the opening gala, including the screening of Blackbird, directed by Roger Michell and starring Susan Sarandon, Kate Winslet, Mia Wasikowska and Sam Neill.
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