San Sebastian Film Festival

73rd San Sebastian Festival - 19/27 September 2025

73SSIFF - 19/27 September 2025

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73rd edition Z365 Calls News Press Industria

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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).

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EQZE

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Ikusmira Berriak

Nest

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Film submission - General sections

(01/17/2025 - 06/17/2025)

Film submission - Culinary Zinema

(01/17/2025 - 06/17/2025)

Film submission - Klasikoak

(01/17/2025 - 06/17/2025)

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(08/01/2025 - 08/11/2025)

Film submission - General sections

(01/17/2025 - 06/17/2025)

Film submission - Culinary Zinema

(01/17/2025 - 06/17/2025)

Film submission - Klasikoak

(01/17/2025 - 06/17/2025)

Eusko Label

(05/02/2025 - 06/17/2025)

Loterías Short Films

(05/02/2025 - 06/17/2025)

Nest - Film School registration

(06/02/2025 - 07/02/2025)

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(07/10/2025 - 09/16/2025)

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WIP Latam - Entry Form

(06/02/2025 - 07/02/2025)

WIP Europa - Entry Form

(06/02/2025 - 07/02/2025)

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Europe-Latin America Co-Production Forum - Entry Form

(04/15/2025 - 06/16/2025)

Zinemaldia Startup Challenge - Entry Form

(04/14/2025 - 05/30/2025)

Ikusmira Berriak - Entry Form

(July-August 2025)

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Ikusmira Beriak - Entry Form

(July-August 2025)

Youth Jury

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(08/01/2025 - 08/11/2025)

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2016. 64th Edition

Home Festival Diary

“MY CHALLENGE AS A FILMMAKER IS TO FIND THE TRUTH”

Thursday, September 22nd, 2016

According to its director J.A. Bayona, “A Monster Calls is a film with a lot of layers; it raises a lot of issues with great dramatic potential at the same time and the challenge was fi nding a balance so that none of these themes would mess up the fi lm.” He likened this process to the child who is the main character in the film:“Just like Conor, my challenge as a filmmaker is to find the truth.

The idea of reinforcing the enigmatic part of a story about childhood fears that we secretly keep in the depths of our souls, was what dissuaded Bayona from making a film in which the emotional aspect would be too explicit. As he explained: “despite being a story that can be interpreted on several levels, we wanted to make a film that was accessible but mysterious at

the same time. Scriptwriter Patrick Ness, who also wrote the book that the film is based on, stressed that the fi lm was about how you become an adult when you accept that you have to live with your own contradictions.