A long list of prestigious filmmakers, actors, screenwriters and producers have confirmed their presence in San Sebastian for the Festival’s 72nd edition. As well as Donostia Award-winners Pedro Almodóvar, Cate Blanchett and Javier Bardem – the latter of whom was recognised at the last edition but has been unable to collect his tribute until now – the following will come to San Sebastian to present their movies: Pamela Anderson, Monica Bellucci, Jamie Campbell Bower, Úrsula Corberó, Johnny Depp, Ester Expósito, Andrew Garfield, Karla Sofía Gascón, Isabelle Huppert, Moses Ingram, Noémie Merlant, Ángela Molina, Franco Nero, Lupita Nyong’o, Nahuel Pérez Biscayart, Charlotte Rampling, Will Sharpe and Tilda Swinton

As well as the above, important filmmakers from the field of contemporary moviemaking will accompany their latest proposals, such as Jacques Audiard, Sean Baker, Edward Berger, Leos Carax, Costa-Gavras, Gia Coppola, Audrey Diwan, Arnaud Desplechin, Mati Diop, Adam Elliot, Coralie Fargeat, Payal Kapadia, Dea Kulumbegashvili, Mike Leigh, Joshua Oppenheimer, François Ozon, Mohammad Rasoulof, Walter Salles, Jane Schoenbrun and Paolo Sorrentino.

Many of these figures will visit in connection with the Official Selection. The director Audrey Diwan together with actors Noémie Merlant, Will Sharpe, Jamie Campbell Bower and Chacha Huang will accompany the opening movie, Emmanuelle. To close the Festival, director John Crowley will come to the city with actor Andrew Garfield to present We Live in Time. San Sebastian will also be visited by the director and star of The Last Showgirl, Gia Coppola and Pamela Anderson, and by the director of The End, Joshua Oppenheimer and the actress Moses Ingram. Costa-Gavras will come with a representation of the cast of his film Le dernier souffle / Last Breath led by Charlotte Rampling, Ángela Molina and Marilyne Canto, and the authors of the book of the same name on which the film is based, the writer Claude Grange and the philosopher Régis Debray. Director Mike Leigh will come with the actress Mariane Jean-Baptiste (Hard Truths) and François Ozon with the actresses Hélen Vincent and Josiane Balasko and the actor Pierre Lottin (Quand vient l'automne / When Fall is Coming). Others also coming to San Sebastian are the director of Conclave, Edward Berger, and the star of Hebi no michi / Serpent’s Path, Damien Bonnard, while Johnny Depp will present his second movie as a director, Modi, Three Days on the Wing of Madness, out of competition, accompanied by the film cast (Riccardo Scamarcio, Antonia Desplat, Bruno Goeury, Luisa Raineri and Ryan McParland).

Coming to accompany movies in Perlak are the filmmaker Jacques Audiard and the actor Karla Sofía Gascón (Emilia Pérez); the director Coralie Fargeat with The Substance; the director Emmanuel Courcol and the actor Pierre Lottin (En Fanfare / The Marching Band); the filmmaker Paolo Sorrentino (Parthenope); the actress and producer Monica Bellucci and the director Yannis Dimolitsas (Maria Callas: Letters and Memoirs); the director Walter Salles (Ainda Estou Aquí / I’m Still Here); the moviemaker Sean Baker (Anora); the director Payal Kapadia with actresses Kani Kusruti, Divya Prabha and Chhaya Kadam (All We Imagine As Light); the actress Isabelle Huppert, star of Yeohaengjaui pilyo / A Traveler's Needs; the filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof zuzendaria and the actors Misagh Zare, Soheila Golestani, Mahsa Rostam, Setareh Maleki and Niousha Akhsni (Daney anjir maabed / The Seed of the Sacred Fig); the director Adam Elliot (Memoir of a Snail); Bird’s protagonist, newcomer Nykiya Adams; and the director Chris Sanders and the actresses Lupita Nyong’o, Macarena García and Álvaro Morte with The Wild Robot.

Zabaltegi-Tabakalera will enjoy the visit of both long-standing filmmakers and new talents: the winner of the Golden Bear at the Berlinale, Mati Diop (Dahomey, Zabaltegi-Tabakalera opening film); the winner of the Golden Shell with Beginning Dea Kulumbegashvili, who will present Aprili / April; Hiroshi Okuyama, winner of New Directors with his debut film, Boku wa Iesu-sama ga kirai / Jesus, who will present Boku no ohisama / My Sunshine (Un Certain Regard). Arnaud Desplechin, with the tribute to Spectateurs! / Filmlovers! following its screening at Cannes; Leos Carax and producer Tatiana Bouchain presenting C'est pas moi / It's Not Me; and Jane Schoenbrun, the director of We're All Going to the World's Fair, with their second feature, I Saw the TV Glow, after participating at Sundance and Berlin.

The legendary Italian actor Franco Nero will accompany the retrospective Violent Italy. Italian Crime Films and, in particular, the film Il giorno della civetta / The Day of the Owl (Damiano Damiani, 1968), in which he stars.

Horizontes Latinos

As usual, San Sebastian will receive an extensive representation of Latin American cinema, headed by movies in the Official Selection: Maite Alberdi with the actresses Elisa Zulueta and Francisca Lewin, screenwriters Paloma Salas and Inés Bortagaray and the producer Juan de Dios Larrain (El lugar de la otra), and Diego Lerman with actors Leonardo Sbaraglia, Sergio Prina and Renata Lerman (El hombre que amaba los platos voladores). In Zabaltegi-Tabakalera, actresses Tanya Valette and Andrea Queralt will join the sound director Nahuel Palenque to present the movie Pepe, while Maximiliano Schonfeld will do the same with Sombra grande / Big Shadow. The Horizontes Latinos section will bring together the filmmaker Luis Ortega and actors Nahuel Pérez Biscayart, Úrsula Corberó and Daniel Giménez Cacho (El jockey / Kill the Jockey); the director Lola Arias (Reas); Celina Murga and actors Joaquín Furriel and Marina de Tavira (El aroma del pasto recién cortado / The Freshly Cut Grass); the moviemaker Juliana Rojas and the actresses Fernanda Vianna and Mirella Façanha (Cidade; Campo); the director Ana Endara Mislov and the actresses Paulina García and Jenny Navarrete (Querido Trópico); the director, winner of the Golden Shell for Pelo malo, Mariana Rondón, and actors Daniela Ramírez, Francisco Denis and Samantha Castillo (Zafari); José Luis Torres Leiva and María Alché (Cuando las nubes esconden las sombras); and the director Salvador del Solar with actors Álvaro Cervantes and Emanuel Soriano (Ramón y Ramón), among many others.

Spanish cinema

In addition to Javier Bardem, who will collect his Donostia Award at the opening gala, accompanying Pedro Almodóvar and his film The Room Next Door, as well as Tilda Swinton, will be Raúl Arévalo, Juan Diego Botto, Victoria Luengo, Melina Matthews, the composer Alberto Iglesias and its producers Agustín Almodóvar and Esther García.

Films in the Official Selection will come with a widespread presence of Spanish movie representatives: Golden Shell competitors including the director Pilar Palomero and the cast made up of Patricia López Arnaiz, Antonio de la Torre, Marina Guerola and Julián López (Los destellos / Glimmers); the team of Soy Nevenka / I Am Nevenka headed by its director, Iciar Bollain, the screenwriter Isa Campo, its stars Mireia Oriol, Urko Olazabal and Ricardo Gómez and Nevenka Fernández herself, whose story is the inspiration for the film; the director Pedro Martín-Calero and actresses Ester Expósito, Malena Villa and Mathilde Ollivier (El llanto / The Wailing); and the moviemaker Albert Serra (Tardes de soledad).

In the series participating in the selection out of competition, Querer, director Alauda Ruiz de Azúa will come with the actors Nagore Aranburu, Pedro Casablanc, Miguel Bernardeau, Iván Pellicer and Loreto Mauleón and the screenwriters Eduard Solá and Julia de Paz. In the special screenings, Javier Giner, the director and creator of Yo, adicto / I, Addict, will be accompanied by the filmmaker Elena Trapé and actors Oriol Pla, Omar Ayuso and Marina Salas, and attending on behalf of La virgen roja / The Red Virgin, together with Paula Ortiz, will be Najwa Nimri, Alba Planas, Patrick Criado, Aixa Villagrán and Pepe Viyuela.

New Directors will bring together, among others, Antón Álvarez (C. Tangana) in his moviemaking debut with the musician playing the lead part in La guitarra flamenca de Yerai Cortés; and for the Argentine-Spanish co-production La llegada del hijo / Surfacing, the directors Cecilia Atán and Valeria Pivato will be accompanied by the actress Greta Fernández.

The premiere of Celeste at the Velodrome will be attended by its creator, Diego San José, its director, Elena Trapé, and part of its cast: Carmen Machi, Manolo Solo and Andrea Bayardo. The Velodrome will also see a coming together at the Perlak closing gala of the directors of Marco, Jon Garaño and Aitor Arregi, and the stars of the film, Eduard Fernández and Nathalie Poza.

In Culinary Zinema, as well as presence of the director Paco Plaza for the section opening of with Mugaritz, the premiere of El hoyo 2 / The Platform 2  will be accompanied by its director Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia, and its stars, Milena Smit and Hovik Keuchkerian.

The wide representation coming to Made in Spain will bring figures to San Sebastian including the actresses Marisa Paredes and Petra Martínez with the director of Mucha mierda / Break a Leg, José Carlos Plaza; Verónica Echegui, Alberto Ammann, Tamar Novas and Alba Galocha (Justicia artificial); Itsaso Arana and Vito Sanz (Volveréis); David Trueba and Macarena Sanz (El hombre bueno), María Rodríguez Soto and Enric Auquer (Mamífera) who also accompany Casa en flames / A House on Fire (Casa en llamas) together with Macarena García, Clara Segura and Emma Vilarasau; Óscar de la Fuente (La casa), Isaki Lacuesta (Segundo premio / Saturn Return); Celia Rico and María Vázquez, director and lead character of Los pequeños amores; and Andrea Jaurrieta with Patricia López Arnaiz, Iñigo Aranburu and Ramon Agirre (Nina), among many other filmmakers and actors. Lastly, the RTVE galas will bring Rodrigo Cortés, Mario Casas and Anna Castillo (Escape), Juana Macías, Julieta Tobio, María Cabello Steelman and Salua Hadra (Las chicas de la estación / The Girls at the Station), and Alexis Morante and Natalia de Molina, Salva Reina and Óscar Lasarte (¿Es el enemigo? La película de Gila / May I Speak with the Enemy?).

The diversity of Zinemira will include the presence of footballers Iñaki and Nico Williams, stars of the opening film Los Williams / The Williams, of the actress and director Carmen Chaplin, her sister and protagonist Dolores Chaplin and their father Michael J. Chaplin, son of the author of City Lights, together with the musicians Stochelo, Mozes and Isaac to present Chaplin | Spirit of The Tramp, closing film of the section, and of the complete cast of the eleventh season of Go!azen.

‘Apocalypse in the Tropics’ by Petra Costa completes the Perlak section

Filmmaker Petra Costa (Belo Horizonte, 1983) will compete for the City of Donostia / San Sebastian Audience Award in the Perlak section, where she will show Apocalypse in the Tropics, a non-fiction premiered out of competition at the Venice Mostra analysing the evangelical movement that paved the way to the Brazilian presidency of Jair Bolsonaro. Costa’s other titles include Elena (2012), Olmo and the Seagull (2015) and The Edge of Democracy (2019), recipient of an Academy Award for Best Documentary Film nomination.