Today the Tabakalera cinema hosted the presentation of the San Sebastian Film Festival's 73rd edition, to offer a total of 254 titles from 56 countries. At the start of the event, the Festival director, José Luis Rebordinos, and the Head of Communications, Ruth Pérez de Anucita, read a statement on the Gaza genocide before revealing the list of personalities who will visit the city from September 19 to 27.

A long list of filmmakers, actors, producers and screenwriters have confirmed their attendance at the Festival's 73rd edition. As well as the Donostia Award-winners Esther García and Jennifer Lawrence, figures including Juliette Binoche, Paul Dano, Harris Dickinson, Matt Dillon, Colin Farrell, Denis Lavant, Maria de Medeiros, Ron Perlman, Renate Reinsve and Stellan Skarsgard will come to San Sebastián to present their latest films. Other big names in the contemporary filmmaking world such as Olivier Assayas, Edward Berger, Arnaud Desplechin, Claire Denis, Hasan Hadi, Lucile Hadzihalilovic, Agnieszka Holland, Richard Linklater, Kleber Mendonça Filho, François Ozon, Jafar Panahi, Raoul Peck, Joachim Trier and Rebecca Zlotowski will present their latest proposals to the public and the media.

A good many of these presences will be linked to the competitive Official Selection: the director Edward Berger and the actors Colin Farrell and Fala Chen (Ballad of a Small Player); the filmmaker Claire Denis and the actors Matt Dillon, Mia McKenna-Bruce, Tom Blyth and the screenwriter Suzanne Lindon  (Le Cri des gardes / The Fence ); the director Arnaud Desplechin and the cast members Nadia Tereszkiewicz, François Civil and Hippolyte Girardot (Deux pianos); the director Alice Winocour, the actresses Ella Rumpf and Anyier Anei (Couture); the director Agnieszka Holland (Franz); the screenwriter and director James Vanderbilt (Nuremberg); the director Joachim Lafosse and the actress Eye Haïdara (Six jours ce printemps-là / Six Days in Spring); the actress Juliette Binoche, who brings her directorial debut (In-I in Motion), and the British actress Lesley Manville, who will accompany the director Kasia Adamik (Winter of the Crow).

Participants in other sections too will walk the red carpets and attend the meetings with the public. Actor Denis Lavant will come to San Sebastián for the premiere of Värn in New Directors and the screening of L'Étranger / The Stranger in Perlak together with François Ozon and Benjamin Voisin, and the actor Harris Dickinson and the producer and screenwriter Alex Russell will present their respective directorial debuts, Urchin and Lurker in Zabaltegi-Tabakalera. Perlak will congregate Olivier Assayas and the actor Paul Dano (Le mage du Kremlin / The Wizard of the Kremlin); the filmmaker Hasan Hadi (Mamlaket al-Qasab / The President's Cake); the actors Saja Kilani and Motaz Malhees (The Voice of Hind Rajab); Richard Linklater (Nouvelle vague);  Jafar Panahi (Un simple accident / It Was Just an Accident); Joachim Trier, accompanied by the actress Renata Reinsve and the actor Stellan Skarsgård (Affeksjonverdi / Sentimental Value); Rebecca Zlotowski (Vie privée / A Private Life); and Hlynur Pálmason (Ástin sem eftir er / The Love That Remains), who will also premiere a film in Zabaltegi-Tabakalera (Jóhanna af Örk / Joan of Arc) and has an exhibition at the Tabakalera centre for contemporary culture.

In addition, two of the world's finest soundtrack composers, Alexandre Desplat and Alberto Iglesias, will attend the Festival to take part in a conversation, details of which will be provided next week.

Latin American cinema

As usual in San Sebastián, there will be a large representation of Latin American cinema, headed by the Argentinian productions participating in the Official Selection: Daniel Hendler, director and actor, with Carla Peterson from the opening film 27 noches / 27 Nights; Dolores Fonzi, the filmmaker and protagonist of Belén; and the director Milagros Mumenthaler, the actress Isabel Aimé González and the actor Esteban Bigliardi representing Las corrientes / The Currents. Horizontes Latinos will congregate, amongst other film crews, moviemakers such as the Chilean Dominga Sotomayor (Limpia), the Mexican Fernando Eimbcke (Olmo), the Brazilians Marcelo Gomes and María Clara Escobar (Dolores), and the Colombian Simón Mesa Soto with the lead character of Un poeta / A Poet, Ubeimar Ríos. This Latin American presence will extend to Zabaltegi-Tabakalera, where Luis Ortega and Paz Encina will present their films and Sergio Oksman will open the section, and to Perlak, with the Brazilian filmmaker Kleber Mendonça Filho, who will accompany O agente secreto / The Secret Agent, and the Haitian documentary-maker Raoul Peck, who will show Orwell: 2+2=5.

Spanish cinema

Spanish cinema will have an outstanding contingent, led by Donostia Award winner Esther Garcia, who will be accompanied by the Almodóvar brothers, among others. The competitive Official Selection will unite the filmmaker José Luis Guerin with his producer Jonás Trueba (Historias del buen valle / Good Valley Stories) and the director Alauda Ruiz de Azúa with the actresses Patricia López Arnaiz, Blanca Soroa and Nagore Aranburu (Los domingos / Sundays). Aranburu will also accompany Maspalomas alongside Jose Ramon Soroiz and the directors Jose Mari Goenaga and Aitor Arregi, while Bárbara Lennie and Antonio de la Torre will accompany Alberto Rodríguez in Los Tigres. Out of competition in the Official Selection, the director from Seville will show Anatomía de un instante with the writer Javier Cercas and the actors Álvaro Morte, Manolo Solo and Eduard Fernández, who will collect the National Cinematography Award in San Sebastián; the filmmaker Agustín Díaz Yanes and the actors Susana Abaitua, Andrés Gertrúdix, Raúl Arévalo and Ariadna Gil will show Un fantasma en la batalla / She Walks in Darkness; Alba Flores, Ana María Vila, Lolita Flores, Rosario Flores, Guillermo Furiase and Elena Furiase will accompany Isaki Lacuesta and Elena Molina (Flores para Antonio), and Óscar Jaenada and Ricardo Gómez will do the same with Paco Plaza's La suerte.

The musician Leiva will present Hasta que me quede sin voz in the Velodrome, where Daniel Sánchez Arévalo will be accompanied by Javier Gutiérrez, María Vázquez and Tamar Novas for the premiere of Rondallas. Arón Piper, Miguel Herrán and Javier Pereira will travel to San Sebastián for the RTVE Galas with the director Miguel Ángel Vivas (La tregua); Blanca Suárez and Eduardo Noriega will accompany the director Antonio Hernández (Parecido a un asesinato); Ron Perlman, Megan Montaner, Daniel Grao and Rubén Ochandiano will present Ya no quedan junglas / The Gentleman, and Mario Casas will come to San Sebastián with La cena by Manuel Gómez Pereira together with Alberto San Juan.

Coming to open Made in Spain will be Fernando Colomo and the actors Pablo Colomo, Carmen Machi, Antonio Resines and Brays Efe (Las delicias del jardín) and the director Mabel Lozano (Abril, hoy no es invierno / Abril, It's Not Winter Today). Others coming to San Sebastián are the Spanish filmmakers who competed in the Cannes Official Selection: Carla Simón (Romería) with actors Llúcia Garcia and Mitch, and Oliver Laxe (Sirāt) with the actor Sergi López, who will also accompany the director Alberto Morais (La terra negra). The participants in talks with the public will be the director Avelina Prat and the actor Maria de Medeiros; the director Eva Libertad and the actors Míriam Garlo and Álvaro Cervantes (Sorda / Deaf); the filmmaker Belén Funes (Los Tortuga / The Exiles); the filmmaker Arantxa Echevarría and the actress Carolina Yuste (La infiltrada / Undercover); the actress Sara Sálamo in her directorial debut and the footballer Isco Alarcón, protagonist of En silencio, and Julio Medem and the actors Ana Rujas, Javier Rey, Loreto Mauleón and Tamar Novas (8). Mauleón and Rujas will also participate in the presentation of La buena letra / The Good Manners (Made in Spain) with the director Celia Rico. Pilar López de Ayala and Javier Rebollo will present En la alcoba del sultán / Close to the Sultan; Gemma Blasco and the actors Ángela Cervantes and Álex Monner will present La furia / The Fury; Cesc Gay and the actress Nora Navas, Mi amiga Eva; Emma Suarez will accompany the film Fragmentos and the director Horacio Alcalá, while coming to present The Designer is Dead, directed by Gonzalo Hergueta, will be its protagonist, the designer Miguel Adrover, and the filmmaker and musician Antón Alvarez (C. Tangana) in his capacity as producer. The presentation of Furtivos (Klasikoak) in its restored version will be accompanied by Manuel Gutiérrez Aragón.

In Zinemira, Fernando Guillén Cuervo will join Gaizka Urresti to present the premier of Eloy de la Iglesia, adicto al cine. There will also be a presence of Basque actors, such as Eneko Sagardoy (Karmele), Jone Laspiur (Karmele, Faisaien irla / Pheasant Island), Edurne Azkarate (Aro berria and Bariazioak), the musicians Mikel Erentxun (Hombre bala) and Juan Carlos Pérez (Itoiz udako sesioak) and the cast of Zeru ahoak, the series in which Joxean Bengoetxea, Sara Cózar, Miren Gaztañaga and Ramon Agirre will accompany Nagore Aranburu in one of her four participations in the 73^rd edition.

Juries at the 73rd edition

The Official Selection Jury at the 73rd edition of the San Sebastián Festival will be presided over by the Spanish filmmaker J.A. Bayona, who was previously selected for the Official Selection with Lo imposible / The Impossible and Un monstruo viene a verme / A Monster Calls. Bayona also won the City of Donostia / San Sebastián Audience Award in 2023 with La sociedad de la nieve / Society of the Snow. The director of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom will be accompanied in the deliberations by the Portuguese filmmaker Laura Carreira, winner of the Silver Shell for Best Director for On Falling (2024); the North American director Gia Coppola, winner of the Special Jury Prize for The Last Showgirl (2024); the actress Zhou Dongyu, star of Zhang Yimou's Under the Hawthorn Tree; the Argentinian singer and actor Lali Espósito; the British actor Mark Strong, known for his roles in The Imitation Game, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, 1917, Tár and the Kingsman saga, and Anne-Dominique Toussaint, the French producer of films such as Capharnaüm (Nadine Labaki) and Sleepless City (Guillermo Galoe), and some films directed by Louis Garrel.

Official Jury

• J.A. Bayona, director, producer and screenwriter, Spain (President)
• Laura Carreira, director, Portugal
• Gia Coppola, director, screenwriter, actress and producer, USA
• Zhou Dongyu, actress, China
• Lali Espósito, actress and singer
• Mark Strong, actor, UK
• Anne-Dominique Toussaint, producer and actress, France

Kutxabank-New Directors Award Jury

• Marco Müller, producer and programmer, Italy (President)
• Beatriz Arias, filmmaker, Chile
• Isabella Eklöf, director and screenwriter, Sweden
• Charlène Favier, director, screenwriter and producer, France
• Elsa Fernández Santos, film critic, Spain

Horizontes Make & Mark Award Jury

• Pilar Palomero, director, Spain (President)
• Christoph Friedel, producer, Germany
• Tatiana Leite, producer, Brazil

Zabaltegi-Tabakalera Award Jury

• Yaël Fogiel, producer, France (President)
• Xabier Arakistain, art curator, Spain
• Line Langebek Knudsen, screenwriter, Denmark

Nest The Mediapro Studio Award Jury

• Jonás Trueba, director and producer, Spain (President)

Culinary Zinema Award Jury

• Anna Castillo, actress, Spain (President)
• Pablo Rivero, chef, Argentina
• Matt Goulding, food journalist, USA

Irizar Basque Film Award Jury

• Ane Gabarain, actress (President)
• Aia Kruse, actress
• Urtzi Urkizu, journalist

Eusko Label Awards Jury

• Pedro Subijana, chef (President)
• Karmele Pikabea, manager of the Euskaber cooperative
• Raimundo Ruiz de Escudero, director of HAZI

Loterías Awards Jury

• Carmen Machi, actress (President)
• María Núñez, Head of Communication at Loterías
• José Luis Rebordinos, Director of the San Sebastián Festival

Europe-Latin America Co-Production Forum Best Project Award Jury

• Óscar Alonso, distributor, Spain
• Carlos A. Gutiérrez, cultural manager, Mexico
• Bárbara Francisco Mendivil, producer, Argentina

Programme and sale of tickets for the 73rd edition

The programme will be published on the Festival website and in the local media on Monday, 8^th September. On the 10th, 11th and 12th, the Film-by-Film guide will go on sale at the price of 2.50 euros in the Festival office (second floor of Tabakalera, from 10:00 to 14:00 and 15:30 to 19:00). The guide will be available from the 13th at the Festival information point in the Kursaal (open 09:00-20:00 from 13-18 September, and 08:30 to 22:00 from 19-27 September).    

The general ticket sale will begin on Sunday 14th at 09:00. That day tickets can be purchased for the first three days of the Festival (Friday 19^th, Saturday 20^th and Sunday 21^st); on Monday 15^th, tickets can be purchased for Monday 22^nd, Tuesday 23^rd and Wednesday 24^th, in addition to tickets remaining for the previous days. Finally, on Tuesday 16th, tickets will go on sale for the Thursday 25^th, Friday 26^th and Saturday 27^th, as well as those remaining for screenings on the previous days.