Tonight saw the producer Esther García receive the first of the two Donostia Awards of the 73rd edition of the San Sebastián Festival, which, until the 27th, will offer a programme of more than 250 titles and the presence of myriad personalities with ties to the film world. The actresses Silvia Abril, Toni Acosta and Itziar Ituño took charge of presenting the opening gala in the Kursaal Auditorium, where there was space for humour, advocacy and the tribute to Marisa Paredes.

The Festival, which has defined García as a "pioneer" in the field of production, gave her the lifetime achievement award in the firm belief that "her work has inspired thousands of women". "And we can say that in Spain today the majority of production directors are women, and a large part of this is thanks to her", said Itziar Ituño on presenting the award.

"Thank you for opening up the Donostia Award to production, a discipline that receives scant attention", said Esther García on accepting the Festival's most prestigious honorary award from Pedro and Agustín Almodóvar, who founded the El Deseo company 40 years ago. García, who joined the production company in 1986, has participated ever since in all projects by the producer from La Mancha. 

For the latter and his brother, García had words of "profound gratitude" for having been able to "pull off Pedro's brilliant, unique and extremely personal universe, with films that have overcome preconceptions, pulverised borders and which have been, are and will be a reference for so many spectators and so many creators." For their part, the Almodóvar brothers defined their colleague and friend as "the mother of the family" of the El Deseo company. 

After referring to her parents as the "guiding star of her life", Esther García recalled her early days in the profession, which weren't easy for "a very young woman in a world of men, with limited training and eagerly looking for benchmarks", amongst whom she mentioned Pilar Miró, Josefina Molina, Patricia Ferreira and Cristina Huete. "There weren't many of us, but we fought and continued to find our space in this beloved profession. Not one step backwards, ladies!", she declared.

Towards the end of her speech she spoke out in favour of the word "together" and of showing a united front when it comes to defending rights. She called for an end to the fighting in "situations as unjust and aberrant as those experienced by hundreds of thousands of people in Ukraine, and to the genocide in the Gaza Strip". "Stop it now. In the face of this generalised trend of the law of the strongest, let's fight tooth and nail to defend those who are fragile, we are all fragile. I have trust in the power of culture. The cinema is, without a doubt, both a home for dreams and a loud speaker for defending causes. Films are our tool for making the world a nicer and better place", she ended.

García, a key figure in bringing Spanish and Latin American cinema into the international arena, has not only been behind the production of films by Almodóvar, but has also supported, through El Deseo, filmmakers such as Álex de la Iglesia, Isabel Coixet, Daniel Calparsoro, Mónica Laguna, Dunia Ayaso and Félix Sabroso, Belén Macías and Oliver Laxe, without forgetting big names in the world of Ibero-American cinema, like Guillermo del Toro, Lucrecia Martel, Damián Szifron, Pablo Trapero, Julia Solomonoff, Luis Ortega, Andrés Wood and Miguel Gonçalves Mendes.

Remembrance of Marisa Paredes, Juliette Binoche, FIPRESCI and democratic memory

The ceremony enjoyed a performance from Izaro Andrés who made a nod during her song Argia to the musical composition Piensa en mí (Think of Me), forever associated to Marisa Paredes and her role in Tacones lejanos / High Heels (Pedro Almodóvar, 1991). The actress, who died in December 2024, features on the poster of the 73rd edition of the Festival, which once again remembered her this evening with a video and a speech by Cayetana Guillén Cuervo.  

The actor and president of the Performing Arts Academy of Spain took a look back at Paredes' career –"more than fifty years of international prestige"–, but without forgetting her humble origins or the fact that she always spoke out "in support of the defenceless and of culture". Marisa discovered the sea in San Sebastián and San Sebastián discovered an extraordinary, unforgettable talent in Marisa Paredes. We will miss her terribly and will continue to admire her much more, now that we realise just how much we really did admire her. Eskerrik asko, Marisa", said Guillén Cuervo on behalf of the Festival. 

Also present at the gala was the actress Juliette Binoche, who makes her directorial debut this year with the film In-I In Motion, a non-fiction included out of competition in the Official Selection. Binoche, who introduced the Special Screenings, also remembered Marisa Paredes and considered it "important" to express everyone's dreams, "because it is the intention behind the words that brings them to life". "I want to declare my support of those who dream of bringing an end to the massacres in Palestine, to the pain and the cruelty. I also want to express my hope that the Israeli hostages who are held in terrible conditions will be set free. Now. We need a change now. We are capable of changing. We are not creatures, we are creators. Let's wake up", pronounced Binoche.  

The FIPRESCI Grand Prix 2025 was also presented during the ceremony, going to the film by Walter Salles, Ainda estou aqui / I'm Still Here, voted best film of the year by the International Federation of Film Critics, which celebrates its 100th anniversary this year. The critic and journalist Carmen Gray presented the award to the director himself who, having defined Ainda estou aquí as a film "about memory and resistance", thanked the members of FIPRESCI "for being such vital allies in the fight against oblivion and in defence of democracy". "Especially touching is to receive this recognition here, at the San Sebastián Film Festival, which has been a great supporter of my work since my first film and in the country of Buñuel and the unforgettable Marisa Paredes, makes it all the more special", he finished.

The presenters also gave a rundown of the Youth, Cinema, Memory and Democracy season, organised this year with the Commissioner for the Holding of the 50th Anniversary of Spain in Freedom. Thanks to this initiative by the Spanish Government, the Festival will screen a cycle of feature films stressing an idea: the "ability" of the cinema to "alert us as to the fragility of democracies" at a time when authoritarian drifts are multiplying and a myriad of fascist versions are unashamedly emerging". "Without democracy, cinema itself is threatened, as too is culture and our freedoms in general", they warned. 

Official Jury and opening film

As usual, the Official Jury made an appearance at the ceremony headed by its president, the filmmaker J.A. Bayona. "We are here both to celebrate the power of the cinema and to let ourselves be changed by it. At times of uncertainty, of noise, of division, the cinema becomes more necessary than ever. I feel that our responsibility is even greater this year. I hope that ours will be a jury who assesses the work of our colleagues with rigor, with respect, in the endeavour to be fair, to watch without bias, and to award with generosity", said the Catalan moviemaker alongside the other six members of the group: the Portuguese director Laura Carreira, the North American filmmaker Gia Coppola, the Chinese actor Zhou Dongyu, the Argentinian actress and singer Lali Espósito, the British actor Mark Strong and the French producer and actress Anne-Dominique Toussaint.

The gala closed with presence of the crew of the film opening the competitive Official Selection, 27 noches / 27 Nights. Its director, Daniel Hendler, was accompanied by actress Carla Peterson and producers Santiago Mitre and Agustina Llambí Campbell. This Argentinian production is only one of the 254 titles to be offered over nine days by the Festival in the shape of 666 screenings.