Z365" or "Festival all year round" is the new strategic point of the Festival in which converge investigation, accompaniment and development of new talents (Ikusmira Berriak, Nest); training and cinematic knowledge transfer (Elías Querejeta Zine Eskola, Zinemaldia + Plus, Filmmakers' dialogue); and investigation, disclosure and cinematic thought (Z70 project, Thought and Discussion and Research and publications).
Director and screenwriter Manuel Martín Cuenca has visited San Sebastián on previous occasions with La flaqueza del bolchevique in Zabaltegi and Malas temporadas in the Official Section, and this year he’s back with Caníbal, that tells the story of a mild-mannered serial killer with a taste for human flesh. The director explains that what he was interested in was the presence of evil in its pure state and he had aimed to make the audience think about why people like this exist or could exist in modern society.
To really get a film like this just right, “a director is nobody without his actors.” And Antonio de la Torre and the Rumanian actress, Olimpia Melinte, who learnt Spanish in order to make this film, have given their all to build up their roles. “It’s definitely the most difficult character I’ve played in my life,” says De la Torre. “The person I represent in real life has absolutely nothing to do with this guy; I’m really expressive,” he acknowledged, although he did admit that shooting the film hadn’t made him a vegetarian.