The North American actor Willem Dafoe (Appleton, Wisconsin, 1955) will feature on the poster of the San Sebastian Festival’s 68th edition, to run from September 18-26. In 2018 the Festival launched a new line of posters with a composition combining photography and illustration and presided over by a figure from contemporary cinema. The actress Isabelle Huppert opened the series at the 66th edition and last year it continued with Penélope Cruz. The poster was created by the San Sebastian studio Patio based on an image by the photographer Martin Schoeller.

Nominated four times for an Oscar and three times for the Golden Globes, in 2005 Dafoe received the Donostia Award in recognition of a career including collaborations with the filmmakers Michael Cimino, Martin Scorsese, Oliver Stone, John Waters, Paul Schrader, David Lynch, Alan Parker, Abel Ferrara, Lars Von Trier, Wes Anderson, Sam Raimi, Sean Baker and Robert Eggers, among many others.

Dafoe visited San Sebastian for the first time in 1988 to present The Last Temptation of Christ (Martin Scorsese). He returned in 1997 to accompany the movie Victory (Mark Peploe), a competitor in the Official Selection, and once again in 2005 to collect the Donostia Award, Festival’s most important honorary accolade at a gala including the screening of Before it Had a Name (Giada Colagrande)”. His last visit was in 2014 with Pasolini (Perlak), directed by Abel Ferrara.

“It is an honour for the Festival that one of the world’s best actors, with whom we have enjoyed an affectionate relationship lasting for many years, has accepted to be the image of the San Sebastian Festival’s 68th edition”, said the Director of the San Sebastian Festival, José Luis Rebordinos.

“Meeting place for the past, present and future of the cinema”

The posters of this edition belong to the Smells of cinema series, created by the San Sebastian studio Patio, which previously designed the poster of the retrospective dedicated to Ernst Lubitsch in 2006 at the 54th edition. Patio’s creative director, Patxi Zapirain, based his work on a concept which groups the body of posters, lending it a shared identity intended to “help position the Festival as a meeting place for the past, present and future of the cinema”. The organic and vegetable motifs combine with colour to dominate the images through which Zapirain represents the Festival “as an enormous garden where you can find all sorts of flowers, sensations and smells, a garden which is very much alive, with great flowers, great films, but also with small films that may go on to grow”. 

Since 2004, Patio has been offering integral communication services, i.e. strategic advertising, direct marketing, design, image, corporate identity, social media, unconventional actions, web design and programming, publishing and communication applied to spaces.

The Festival has already announced the opening film of its 68th edition, Rifkin’s Festival (out of competition), directed by Woody Allen and shot in the city, presentation of the Donostia Award to the North American actor and director Viggo Mortensen, accompanied by the screening of Falling, his debut as a moviemaker and six films which will compete for the Golden Shell: In the Dusk (Sharunas Bartas), Asa Ga Kuru / True Mothers (Naomi Kawase), Dasatskisi / Beginning  (Dea Kulumbegashvili), Été 85 / Summer of 85 (François Ozon), Nakuko wa ineega / Any Crybabies Around? (Takuma Sato) and Druk / Another Round (Thomas Vinterberg).

SPONSORS AND COLLABORATORS

The Festival is possible thanks to the contributions and enthusiasm of many people and companies, including:

• RTVE and MOVISTAR +, Official Festival Sponsors.
• AUDI, Official Collaborator and Official Vehicle.
• KUTXABANK, Official Collaborator and Sponsor of the Kutxabank-New Directors Award.
• AMENABAR, Official Collaborator and Sponsor of the Films for the Kids.
• AECID-SPANISH AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION, Official Sponsor of the Spanish Cooperation Award.
• ASOCIACIÓN INTERPROFESIONAL DEL CERDO IBÉRICO, Sponsor of the Festival Official Cocktails.
• BASQUE CULINARY CENTER, Co-organiser of Culinary Zinema.
• CHANEL, Festival Official Makeup.
• BASQUE FILM ARCHIVE, Collaborator of the Zinemaldia 70 project.
• BASQUE GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND INFRASTRUCTURE, for its support of the Industry Department, promoter of Europe-Latin America Co-Production Forum and promoter of Zinemaldia Startup Challenge.
• BASQUE GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENT OF TOURISM, TRADE AND CONSUMER, Festival collaborator.
• DONOSTIA INTERNATIONAL PHYSICS CENTER (DIPC), Co-organiser of showings for schoolchildren.
• DOPPLER, Festival Collaborator.
• EGEDA, for its support of WIP Latam.
• EITB, Collaborator of the Festival and with the Basque Film Gala.
• EL DIARIO VASCO, Festival Collaborator.
• ELIAS QUEREJETA ZINE ESKOLA, Co-organiser of Ikusmira Berriak and Collaborator of Zinemaldia 70 project.
• EPE-APV, Collaborator of Zinemira.
• GIN MG, Festival Collaborator.
• ¡HOLA!, Festival Collaborator.
• IBAIA, Collaborator of Zinemira.
• IBERMEDIA PROGRAMME, for its support of WIP Latam.
• IRIZAR, Sponsor of the Irizar Basque Film Award.
• KELER, Official Festival Beer.
• KUTXA FUNDAZIOA, Collaborator of Zinemaldia 70 project.
• MAR DE FRADES, Festival Collaborator.
• MUSEO SAN TELMO, Festival Collaborator.
• NESPRESSO, Official Festival Coffee and Sponsor of Culinary Zinema.
• LA PERLA, Festival Collaborator.
• LOTERÍAS Y APUESTAS DEL ESTADO, Sponsor of Zinemaldia 70 project.
• ORONA FUNDAZIOA, Collaborator of the Festival and Sponsor of Nest.
• PERRIER JOUËT, Official Festival Champagne.
• PETRONOR, Co-organiser of Zinemaldia & Technology.
• RAMIRO MATA, Festival Collaborator.
• SADE, Festival Collaborator.
• SAN SEBASTIAN CITY COUNCIL, Sponsor of the Audience Award.
• SGAE FOUNDATION, Festival Collaborator.
• SPANISH FILM ARCHIVE, Festival Collaborator.
• TABAKALERA-INTERNATIONAL CENTRE FOR CONTEMPORARY CULTURE, Co-organiser of Nest, Ikusmira Berriak, Zinemaldia & Technology, Zabaltegi-Tabakalera and the Zinemaldia 70 project.
• TCM, Sponsor of the Youth Award.
• TECNALIA, Co-organiser of Zinemaldia & Technology.
• THE EUROPEAN UNION CREATIVE EUROPE MEDIA, for its support of the Industry Department.
• VICOMTECH, Collaborator of Zinemaldia & Technology.
• ZINEUSKADI, for its support of the Europe-Latin America Co-Production Forum.

And to members of the Board of Administrators of the Sociedad Anónima Festival de San Sebastián: Spanish Government Ministry of Culture, Basque Government Department of Culture, Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa and San Sebastian City Council.