Three of the most important European directors on the contemporary panorama, the debut film by a well-known Portuguese actor, the second movie by am American filmmaker and the latest work from one of today’s most interesting Chinese filmmakers join the list of competitors for the Golden Shell at the San Sebastian Festival’s 67th edition.

The debut film by Sarah Gavron (United Kingdom, 1970), Brick Lane, screened as part of the New Directors selection in 2007. After co-directing the non-fiction film Village at the End of the World (2012), she directed the prize-winning Suffragette (2015). In Rocks, written by Theresa Ikoko and Claire Wilson, from a story by Ikoko, an adolescent is afraid that she and her younger brother will be separated from one another if the authorities find out that they live alone.

Having competed in Locarno with his first film (Dbus lam gyi nyi ma / The Sun Beaten Path, Filmmakers of the Present, 2011) and in Berlin with the second, (Gtsangbo / River, Generation KPlus, 2015), last year Sonthar Gyal (China, 1974) produced Ala Changso, winner of the Jury Grand Prix and of the best screenplay award in Shanghai. In his latest film, Lhamo and Skalbe, the protagonists are a couple whose past prevents them from marrying.

The film by Malgorzata Szumowska (Cracow, 1973) 33 sceny z zycla (33 Scenes from Life, 2008) won the Special Jury Prize at Locarno and screened in the Festival’s retrospective, Eastern Promises. In 2015 she directed Cialo (Body, 2015), recipient of the Silver Bear in Berlin and of the audience award at the European Film accolades, and last year she helmed Twarz / Mug (2018), winner of the Jury Grand Prix in Berlin. In The Other Lamb she follows an adolescent, devoted follower of an alternative religion.

With a long and successful career as a playwright and actor in Portugal, where he has worked with filmmakers such as Tiago Guedes and Ivo Ferreira, Gonçalo Waddington (Lisbon, 1977) takes his first steps as a feature filmmaker with Patrick, the tale of an adolescent who was kidnapped as a child.

Alice Winocour (Paris, 1976) presented her first two films at the Cannes Festival: her debut movie, Augustine, at the Semaine de la Critique (2012) and the second, Maryland / Disorder, in Un Certain Regard. The winner of the César for best original screenplay for Mustang directs in Proxima Matt Dillon and Eva Green, in the part of an astronaut who lives alone with her seven-year-old daughter.

Paxton Winters (Texas, USA, 1972) made his debut with Crude (2003), winner of an award in Seattle and Los Angeles. The Brazilian production Pacified he looks at the tale of friendship between an adolescent and a drug trafficker recently released from prison, with the police control of the favelas during the Olympic Games in Brazil as its backdrop.

These six titles join those already announced a few days ago, the latest films by (Mientras dure la guerra), Louise Archambault (Il pleuvait des oiseaux / And the Birds Rained Down), Aitor Arregi, Jon Garaño and Jose Mari Goenaga (La trinchera infinita), James Franco (Zeroville), Belén Funes (La hija de un ladrón), Roger Michell (Blackbird), Guillaume Nicloux (Thalasso), José Luis Torres Leiva (Vendrá la muerte y tendrá tus ojos / Death Will Come and Shall Have Your Eyes), Ina Weisse (Das Vorspiel / The Audition), Adilkhan Yerzhanov (A Dark-Dark Man) and David Zonana (Mano de obra / Workforce). In total, seventeen productions will compete for the Golden Shell. Furthermore, François Girard (The Song of Names), closing film of the Official Selection, and Daniel Sánchez Arévalo (Diecisiete / Seventeen) will participate out of competition, while La odisea de los giles (Heroic Losers,Sebastián Borensztein) will have a special screening.