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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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The 71st San Sebastián Festival was officially opened last night at a gala held in the Kursaal hosted by the comedians Eva Hache and Gorka Otxoa.
As is usually the case, the traditional run-through of the various sections that make up the Festival was preceded by the presentation of the FIPRESCI prize for best film of the year, on this occasion by the British actor Dominic West. For the third time, the award went to the Finnish director Aki Kaurismäki for his film Kuolleet ledhet / Fallen Leaves. The award was collected on his behalf by Stefan Schmitz, Director General of the production and distribution company, Avalon.
The presentation of the Donostia Award to the Japanese filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki was the highlight of the opening gala. “Thank you to the San Sebastian Festival for this prestigious award. Right now, I am in the studio every day creating exhibitions for the Ghibli Park. I hope you enjoy the film”, said Miyazaki in a video sent to the Festival in which he posed beside the Donostia Award statuette. Following this, the audience enjoyed the European premiere of the opening film, Kimitachi wa do iki ruka / The Boy and the Heron, the Japanese master’s latest work.
José Luis Rebordinos, the Festival director, presented the award to Miyazaki, and said that, “the profound content of his stories is accompanied by a masterful mise-en-scène and an artistic proposal of great beauty. He has also created worlds and characters that make us dream and travel inside the mind of an intelligent man with an extraordinary imagination whose films make us a little better”, he concluded.
Before this the members of the Official Jury had appeared on stage: the French filmmaker Claire Denis, president of the Jury; the Chinese actress Fan Bingbing; the Colombian producer, director and writer Cristina Gallego; the French photographer Brigitte Lacombe; the Hungarian producer Robert Lantos; the Spanish actress Vicky Luengo, and the German filmmaker Christian Petzold.
Claire Denis said that “a film festival is a place for creation where it’s not the competition that matters. All the members of the jury are driven by a commitment to cinema and that will be the spirit that guides us.”
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