The San Sebastian International Film Festival has its main offices at the following address:

FESTIVAL DE SAN SEBASTIÁN
TABAKALERA - Centro Internacional de Cultura Contemporánea
Plaza de las Cigarreras, 1, 2ª planta
20012 Donostia – San Sebastián (España)
Tel.: +34 943 481212
ssiff@sansebastianfestival.com

Detailed information can be found on the official Festival website: www.sansebastianfestival.com, which also explains how to contact the Festival and its different departments.

The Public Limited Company FESTIVAL INTERNACIONAL DE CINE DE DONOSTIA-SAN SEBASTIÁN S.A. consists in equal parts of the San Sebastian City Council, the Basque Government, the Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa and the Spanish Ministry of Culture, Education and Sport. Its chairmanship is held by the Mayor of San Sebastian. The San Sebastian International Film Festival organisation is headed by its Director, José Luis Rebordinos.

The San Sebastian International Film Festival is accredited by the International Federation of Film Producers Associations, FIAPF www.fiapf.org, in the "competitive film festivals" category.

ARTICLE 1

The San Sebastian International Film Festival seeks to make a positive contribution to the development of the film culture and industry.

ARTICLE 2

The 74th edition of the San Sebastian International Film Festival will take place in the city of San Sebastian from the 18th to the 26th September 2026.

ARTICLE 3

All films presented at the 74th San Sebastian International Film Festival will be selected by the Festival Selection Committee. The Committee is chaired by the Festival Director and is advised by a network of international delegates consisting of professionals, specialists in the world of film and in film festivals.

ARTICLE 4

All films selected for the 74th edition will receive a certificate of participation from the San Sebastian Festival Management.

ARTICLE 5

The Perlak Section of the San Sebastian International Film Festival consists of a selection of the year's most outstanding feature films, not yet released in Spain, all of which have received critical acclaim and/or awards at other international festivals.

All of the films in the Perlak Section will compete for the City of Donostia / San Sebastian Audience Award, decided by the spectators attending their screenings. This Award will go to its distributor in Spain.

The City of Donostia / San Sebastian Audience Award has two different parts:

• A 1st Award for Best Film, carrying €50,000 (gross), for the Spanish distributor of the film to obtain most votes from spectators of first public screenings of each film in the Perlak Section.
• A 2nd Award for Best European Film, carrying €20,000 (gross)  for the Spanish distributor of the film, totally or partially produced by a European country, to obtain most votes from spectators of first public screenings of each film in the Perlak Section.

In the event that the 1st Award for Best Film, carrying €50,000 (gross), is won by a film totally or partially produced in a European country, the 2nd Award for Best European Film, carrying €20,000 (gross), will go to the film totally or partially produced in a European country to have received the second highest number of votes from spectators of the first public screening of each film in the Perlak Section.

In the event that any of the films does not have a Spanish distributor in theaters, the entire Prize will be handed over to the director of the film.

The deadline to notify that the film has a Spanish distributor is of one month from the end of the edition.

ARTICLE 6

The San Sebastian International Film Festival seeks to foster the distribution in Spain of films in the Perlak Section.

ARTICLE 7

To participate in the Perlak Section, feature films must:

• Be over 60 minutes in length.
• Have been completed in the 12 months prior to the start of the Festival.
• Not have participated in a Spanish festival taking place prior to their presentation at the San Sebastian International Film Festival.
• Not have been commercially released or publicly screened in Spain prior to their official presentation at the Festival.
• The inclusion in VOD platforms of films participating in the Perlak Section is not allowed, with the exception of cases where their use is strictly professional and with restricted access.
• The format accepted for films in the Perlak Section is, exclusively: DCP. The Festival's technical department will send the server certificate for the generation of the DKDM to the producers or representatives of the film. Only this type of encryption will be accepted, and it must be sent together with the film in order to generate the keys necessary for quality controls, technical tests and projections at the Festival. The costs of generating the DKDM will also be covered by the producers or representatives of the film.

ARTICLE 8

All of the films selected by the Festival must be presented in their original version.

• With subtitles in Spanish if the original version of the film is not in Spanish.
• With subtitles in English if the original version is in Spanish.

The cost of subtitling the copy will be paid by the producers or representatives of the film.

When the original version is not in English, the Festival will provide additional electronic subtitling in English for films subtitled in Spanish. To do this, we will require a viewing link of the final original version of the film with subtitles in English and the corresponding list of subtitles in English (online and downloadable) which will be for the internal use of the Festival and completely confidential.

The screening of this electronic subtitling will be carried out by the subtitling company hired for this purpose by the Festival. With this purpose, an unmodified file exported directly from the DCP must be provided so that the subtitling company can carry out the necessary checks to ensure the proper flow and quality of the electronic subtitles during screenings.

ARTICLE 9

Participation in the Perlak Section of the Festival implies:

• Acceptance of these Rules & Regulations.
• Due completion of the online film submission form, which can be found on our official website: www.sansebastianfestival.com
• The producers or representatives of films with Spanish production or co-production must directly contact the film department films@sansebastianfestival.com before completing the online submission form.
• The fee for each film submitted for pre-selection by the Festival is
  1. Feature-length films (more than 60'): €110 (including 21% VAT)
  2. DCP submitted digitally (Aspera, Media Shuttle or similar): €210 (including 21% VAT), no matter what the runtime. In case of choosing this option, the Festival will provide with its Signiant Media Shuttle account for the uploading without extra cost.

Said fee will be payable in euros during the film submission process and can be paid either by credit card (Visa, American Express or Mastercard) or paypal.

ARTICLE 10

Once a film has received an official invitation from the Festival Director, and prior to the event, the producers or representatives of the selected films must confirm their attendance by duly completing and returning the online submission form to the Festival no later than 1 August 2026.

The Festival will recognise the person who signs this confirmation as the sole representative in negotiating all aspects related to participation of the film in the event and as the sole responsible as opposed to other companies or individuals to have participated in producing the film.

Confirmation by the producers or representatives of the selected film means that they cannot withdraw their film from the programme and that they irrevocably accept all regulations established by the Festival Management.

ARTICLE 11

The invitation made to each film selected by the San Sebastian International Film Festival will remain strictly confidential between the Festival Management and the producers or representatives of the invited film until such time as the Festival decides to make an official announcement in this regard.

The complete San Sebastian International Film Festival programme and all screening times are exclusively decided by the Festival Management Committee.

ARTICLE 12

The documentation required by the Festival for its press releases, official catalogue and website (synopsis, technical and artistic credits, bio-filmographies, pictures of the director/s and film stills) will be extracted from the online submission form, which must be duly completed no later than 1 August 2026.

All promotional material for the selected films requested by the different Festival departments must be sent promptly by their producers or representatives.

ARTICLE 13

The producers or representatives of invited films must send the selected copies to be screened at the Festival, 15 days prior to date on which the event is due to begin, to the Festival film department at the following address: films@sansebastianfestival.com

The Festival Management reserves the right to reject copies found during control by its Technical Department to be unsuitable for screening. In the event of irregularities in the copies, the Festival Management will issue the film owners or representatives with the corresponding technical report.

ARTICLE 14

The sending and insurance costs of the copies of selected films will be paid by the participants until their arrival at the Festival offices.

The San Sebastian International Film Festival will insure the copies from the moment of their arrival at the Festival offices.

The cost of generating the DKDM will also be the responsibility of the producers or representatives of the film.

ARTICLE 15

The City of Donostia / San Sebastian Audience Award (1st Award for Best Film and 2nd Award for Best European Film) will be presented at the Festival Closing Gala.

Awards for sections in the Festival programme other than the Perlak Section will also be presented at the Closing Gala.

ARTICLE 16

The respective distributors in Spain of the winning films will receive cash prizes corresponding to the City of Donostia / San Sebastian Audience Award (1st Award for Best Film and 2nd Award for Best European Film) on furnishing proof to the effect that the winning film has been released in commercial cinemas in at least two Spanish towns and cities within a deadline of one year from the Festival end date.

ARTICLE 17

The producers of films winning an award undertake to mention the award in question on all press material and advertising. They will respect the exact wording of the Jury decision and will use the Festival logo to be made available in several languages on the official Festival website: www.sansebastianfestival.com

ARTICLE 18

Accredited industry professionals attending the Festival will receive special attention at Industry Department. Here, a team of professionals will provide them with all possible means and contacts to facilitate their work, including film viewings in its film library after having obtained the corresponding written authorisation from their producers.

ARTICLE 19

In the event of disagreement (related to organisation or running of the event) or failure to comply with these rules and regulations, the Festival Management reserves the right to the final decision based on the FIAPF regulations for international film festivals.

In the event of discrepancy in the interpretation of these rules and regulations, the Spanish version will apply.

All doubts arising from the interpretation of these rules and regulations will be solved by the San Sebastian Festival Management.