Ina Weisse, Oren Gerner, Denis Côté, Martín Rejtman and Anna Sofie Hartmann are the personalities from the film world who will play the leading role this year in the meetings and masterclasses at the XVIII edition of Nest Film Students, the international students meeting running from September 23-27 in Tabakalera.

Organised by the San Sebastian Festival and Tabakalera International Centre for Contemporary Culture, the rendezvous has the purpose of disseminating the works of students from film schools around the world. On this occasion, 14 short films have been selected from the 373 submissions received from 186 schools in 46 countries. For five consecutive days, the young filmmakers will show their works and attend talks with different figures from the film industry who will bring their films to the 67th edition.

The first meeting, on Monday September 23 (10:45), will be guided by the German moviemaker Ina Weisse, who will share impressions with the students after the screening of Das Vorspiel (The Audition), the film with which she will compete for the Golden Shell in the Official Selection. This is her second film following Der Architekt (The Architect), screened at the Berlin Festival. The following day (15:00), the Israeli Oren Gerner, who won the Nest Film Students Award five years ago for his short film  Greenland, will return to San Sebastian to exchange impressions with the students following the screening of his feature film debut, Africa, a contender in New Directors. On the Wednesday (10:30) it will be the turn of the Canadian Denis Côté, a filmmaker with experience at numerous international festivals who will participate in Zabaltegi-Tabakalera with Répertoire des villes disparues / Ghost Town Anthology, presented in competition at the Berlinale.

The following day (15:00) will feature a masterclass given by Martín Rejtman, who will also chair the Nest Film Students jury. The Argentine is the author of titles such as Silvia Prieto (Made in Spanish, 1999), Los guantes mágicos (The Magic Gloves, Horizontes Latinos, 2003) and Dos disparos (Two Shots Fired, Horizontes Latinos, 2014), and this year he will present the short film Shakti in Zabaltegi-Tabakalera, three years after the retrospective dedicated to him by Tabakalera and after having given a workshop at the centre. On the Friday (11:00), the protagonist of the last get-together will be the Danish director Anna Sofie Hartmann, who saw her debut film, Limbo, premiere in New Directors five years ago, and will compete this edition in Zabaltegi-Tabakalera with Giraffe following its screening at Locarno.  

The screenings of the feature films and the subsequent talks with their directors are reserved for students from the film schools and the Elías Querejeta Zine Eskola and for a limited number of spectators who can sign up to receive invitations on the Tabakalera website. Tickets for the short film screenings can also be purchased through the usual Festival channels.  

A jury chaired by Martín Rejtman and completed by students from the participating schools will decide the winning short film of the Nest Film Students Award, sponsored by Orona Fundazioa. This award, going to the director of the chosen film, has doubled the amount of money accompanying it, which this year stands at 10,000 euros.

Nest Film Students is organised by the San Sebastian Festival and Tabakalera, and is part of the legacy left by San Sebastian, European Capital of Culture 2016.

BIOGRAPHIES

Monday 23, 10:45-13:30

Ina Weisse (Berlin, 1968) has developed an extensive career as an actress, mainly in television, with titles including Das Ende einer Nacht (2012), for which she won German Television’s Best Actress Award, and Ein großer Aufbruch (2015), landing her the Adolf Grimme Prize. From 2000 to 2002 she studied Directing at Hamburg University. Her graduation short, Alles anders, won the First Steps Award in Germany in 2002. Her feature film debut was Der architekt / The Architect, screened at the Berlinale in 2009 and Best Screenplay Award winner at the Max Ophüls Festival. Das vorspiel / The Audition is her second feature film (Official Selection).

Tuesday 24, 15:00-17:30

Oren Gerner (Petah-Tikva, Israel. 1984) studied Directing and Screenwriting at the Minshar School of Art in Tel-Aviv. In 2014 he directed his graduation short, Greenland, winner of the Nest Students Award at San Sebastian, nominated for Best Short Film at the Israeli Film Academy awards and screened at the Sundance Festival. Later he directed Shark Tooth (2016) and Gabriel (2018), a short film co-produced between Israel and France which competed in the Cannes Festival’s Official Short Film Section. Africa (New Directors) is his first feature film.  

Wednesday 25, 10:30-13:15

The latest work from Denis Côté (Perth-Andover, Canada. 1973) was presented in the Official Selection at the last Berlinale. Since 2005, Denis Côté has gained a solid reputation as an independent filmmaker on both the Quebecois and international scenes. After directing many short films and working for a few years as a journalist and film critic (1995-2005), he made his feature film debut with Les états nordiques (Drifting States, 2005). Worthy of note in his filmography, which has space for both fiction and documentaries, are titles such as Curling (2010), which received the Best Director and Best Actor awards at the Locarno Festival, and Vic + Flo ont vu un ours (Vic + Flow Saw a Bear, 2013), earning him the Alfred Bauer Prize at the Berlin Festival. He competed for the Golden Bear at the German competition with his two most recent works, Boris sans Béatrice (Boris without Béatrice, 2016) and Repertoire des villes disparues (Ghost Town Anthology) (Zabaltegi-Tabakalera).

Thursday 26, 15:00-18:00

Martín Rejtman (Buenos Aires, 1961) studied film at New York University (NYU). He made his directorial debut with Rapado (1992), followed by Silvia Prieto (1999), screened in San Sebastian’s Made in Spanish section, Los guantes mágicos (2004), winner of the FIPRESCI prize for Best Argentine Film and a participant in San Sebastian’s Horizontes selection, Entrenamiento elemental para actores (2009), co-directed with Federico León, and Dos disparos (2014), which competed at the Locarno Festival and was presented in San Sebastian's Horizontes Latinos section. In 2007 he directed the documentary Copacabana, FIPRESCI prize for Best Documentary at Mexico City’s FICCO. Shakti (Zabaltegi-Tabakalera) competed in the Berlin Festival’s Official Short Film Competition. This year he is the president of the Nest Film Students jury.

Friday 27, 11:00-13:30

Anna Sofie Hartmann (Nakskov, Denmark. 1984) studied at the European Film College in Aarhus for eight months. After moving to Berlin, she documented the life and working process at the studio of artist Olafur Eliasson. In 2008 she started studying directing at the DFFB in Berlin. Having made several short films, she premiered her first feature, Limbo (2014) in the New Directors section of the San Sebastian Festival. The film was invited to numerous festivals, including Rotterdam, South by Southwest and Gothenburg, and was nominated for the European Film Academy’s Discovery Award. Giraffe (Zabaltegi-Tabakalera) premiered out of competition at the last Locarno Festival.