Fifteen of the seventeen films selected for Perlak will compete for the City of Donostia / San Sebastian Audience Award, sponsored by the San Sebastian City Council for seven years in a row. This initiative, born during the celebration of the European Capital of Culture, continues as part of the legacy of San Sebastian 2016 and is a tribute from the City Council to its citizens, who decide the award. Armani Beauty is the sponsor of this section.
The Perlak section, sponsored by Armani Beauty, is made up of titles to have been awarded or acclaimed at other international festivals. The screenings take place at the Victoria Eugenia Theatre and the audience attending the first screening of each film votes to choose the winner. The award will be presented at the Festival closing gala.
The City of Donostia / San Sebastian Audience Award is divided into two accolades: a Best Film Award, coming with 50,000 euros, and a Best European Film Award of 20,000 euros. The two winning films will therefore remain forever connected to the city thanks to this recognition decided jointly by the locals.
Eneko Goia, the mayor of San Sebastian, pointed out that the Festival is celebrating its 70th anniversary which, in his opinion, is “due to the fact that every year it receives the audience award”. “We always said that the San Sebastian Festival is one of the most popular festivals in the world. Thanks to this, we can celebrate with pride and joy this anniversary. The Festial will continue for many years if it manages to maintain the support of the public”, added.
Last year the City of Donostia / San Sebastian Audience Award for Best Film went to Céline Sciamma’s Petite Maman, which had previously competed at the Berlinale, while the Best European Film Award went to Emmanuel Carrère for Ouistreham / Between Two Worlds, opening movie of the Quinzaine des Réalisateurs at Cannes.
Furthermore, the City Council and the Festival will distribute 1,000 tickets for screenings at the Kursaal and the Velodrome among disadvantaged groups. Tickets can be requested by unemployed people aged 18 and over who are registered as residents in San Sebastian.
Tickets can be booked at the Uda!info Office in the Plaza Arroka from 9:00 to 14:00 on the 16th, on the City Council website, or by calling 010. However, in all cases they must be collected from the Uda!info Office and require those collecting them to show proof of identity, an unemployment certificate and proof of booking.
José Luis Rebordinos, the Festival director, thanked the City Council for its collaboration to continue on the path towards a more inclusive festival. "We are proud to say that San Sebastian is an essentially audience-oriented festival, but there are still sectors of our society that, for various reasons, cannot afford to buy a ticket. With this initiative and others, such as the one we are carrying out with SOS Racismo Gipuzkoa, we try to make that gap a little smaller", said José Luis Rebordinos.
FILMS
Peter von Kant, a successful film director, lives with his assistant Karl, whom he mistreats and humiliates. Thanks to the great actress Sidonie, he meets and falls in love with Amir, a handsome young man of modest means, offering to share his apartment and help him break into the world of cinema...
Argentina, 1985 is inspired by the true story of public prosecutors Julio Strassera and Luis Moreno Ocampo, who dared to investigate and prosecute Argentina’s bloodiest military dictatorship in 1985. Undeterred by the military’s still considerable influence within their fragile new democracy, Strassera and Moreno Ocampo assembled a young legal team of unlikely heroes for their David-vs-Goliath battle. Under constant threat to themselves and their families, they raced against time to bring justice to the victims of the military junta.
French couple Antoine and Olga moved to a little village in the Galician countryside some time ago. There they live a quiet life, although their relations with the locals is not as idyllic as they would like them to be. A conflict with their neighbours, the Anta brothers, will see tension rise in the village to the point of no return.
After being named the recipient of a prestigious international award, Silverio, a renowned Mexican journalist and documentary filmmaker living in Los Angeles, is compelled to return to his native country, unaware that this simple trip will push him to an existential limit. The folly of his memories and fears have decided to pierce through the present, filling his everyday life with a sense of bewilderment and wonder. With both emotion and abundant laughter, Silverio grapples with universal yet intimate questions about identity, success, mortality, the history of Mexico and the deeply emotional familial bonds he shares with his wife and children. Indeed, what it means to be human in these very peculiar times.
One rainy night a young woman abandons her baby at a church doorstep. The newborn is quickly picked up by two men who steal abandoned babies to sell them to willing parents with a fee. When the young woman, full of regret, returns to the church, she discovers the men’s illegal business and decides to join them in order to find the most suitable adoptive parents. During this unexpected road trip, the fate of those who cross the baby's life suffers a radical change.
It's Christmas 1877, Empress Sissi is celebrating her 40th birthday and the atmosphere around her is grim: constantly judged by her own children, she lives beholden to the beauty that's failing her with the passing of time. Smothered by etiquette, with a voracious thirst for knowledge and an enormous zest for life, Elisabeth of Austria increasingly rebels against the impositions as she searches for the emotion of youth.
Alicek (Pugh) and Jackek (Styles) are lucky to be living in the idealized community of Victory, the experimental company town housing the men who work for the top-secret Victory Project and their families. Life is perfect, with every resident’s needs met by the company. But when cracks in their idyllic life begin to appear, exposing flashes of something much more sinister lurking beneath the attractive façade, Alice can’t help questioning exactly what they’re doing in Victory, and why. Just how much is Alice willing to lose to expose what’s really going on in this paradise?
A film about the family, love and solidarity. The countdown of three characters with three interwoven stories who try to stay afloat and survive 24 key hours that may forever change the course of their lives. The film explores the effect of a situation of economic stress on personal relations and how affection and solidarity can provide the impetus to get ahead. A gripping race against the clock on the fringe of a big city.
Sylvie, 60, has fallen in love with Michel, a man about to be released from prison. The two want to start over and open a flower shop. But Sylvie's son Abel disapproves of the relationship, convinced that Michel will fall back into his old ways. Helped by Clémence, his best friend, Abel sets about investigating, only to realise that he's the one who will have to change his mind.
Set in the London of the 1950s, the film follows Williams, a veteran civil servant and paper-pusher in the city as it struggles to rebuild post-WWII. Receiving a shattering medical diagnosis, he empties his savings account and heads for the south coast, where he plans to cram some fun into his remaining days, only to realise that he doesn't know how to do it. Taken out on the town by a mysterious stranger, Williams is intrigued by a sunny young female colleague who seems to have the pep that had previously escaped him. With the help of his optimistic workmate, Williams puts his all into bringing happiness to the community in a surprising way.
A few days before Christmas, Matthias returns to his Transylvanian village to renew contact with the son he had abandoned while working in Germany. There, as he tries to become more involved in the boy's education, the peace is cut short when a local company decides to recruit foreign workers. Frustrations, conflicts and passions rise to the surface once again, breaking through the community's thin veneer of apparent calm.
In Belgium today, a young boy and an adolescent girl who have travelled alone from Africa pit their invincible friendship against the difficult conditions of their exile.
A couple of models are invited on a luxury cruise. When the yacht sinks they find themselves marooned on a desert island with a group of billionaires and one of the ship’s cleaners. In the struggle for survival, the old hierarchies are suddenly flipped upside down as the housekeeper is the only one who knows how to fish.
Ramón and Céline are a young couple who happen to be at the Bataclan in Paris on the night of 13 November 2015. While the terrorist attack is unfolding, they each find their way into the musicians’ dressing room, where they take shelter. On leaving they are no longer the same. And they don’t know if they ever will be again…
Sandra, a young mother who raises her daughter alone, pays regular visits to her sick father. While she and her family fight tooth and nail to get him the care he requires, Sandra reconnects with Clément, a friend she hasn’t seen for some time. Although he is married, they embark on a passionate affair.