Fourteen films selected for Perlak will compete for the City of Donostia / San Sebastian Audience Award, sponsored by the San Sebastian City Council for nine years in a row. This initiative is a tribute from the City Council to its citizens, who decide the award.
The Perlak section, sponsored by Armani Beauty, is made up of films that have received awards or acclaim 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.
The Mayor of Donostia / San Sebastian, Eneko Goia, emphasised that "the public is the soul of our festival", which is why the Audience Award "expresses the taste of those who fill the cinemas". Goia highlighted the fact that the Perlak section offers the chance to see some of the best films of the year, "which makes it one of the most popular and appreciated by the public".
The Mayor pointed out that the Festival is "one of the events of the year in which our city shines with its own light on the international scene", and therefore expressed his confidence and support in trying to maintain the level and, if possible, improve it a little each year. At the same time, he highlighted the dynamism of the festival's collaboration with other sectors, such as science and gastronomy, which makes Zinemaldia a "multiplier that improves the individual results of the parties involved".
Last year the City of Donostia / San Sebastian Audience Award for Best Film went to J.A. Bayona’s La sociedad de la nieve / The Society of the Snow, which had previously premiered out of competition at the Venice Film Festival, while the Best European Film Award went to Matteo Garrone for Io capitano / I’m Captain (Yo, capitán), which had previously won the Silver Lion for Best Director and the Marcello Mastroianni Award for Best Young Actor (Seydou Sarr) in Venice.
Free tickets for the unemployed
As in previous years, the City Council of Donostia / San Sebastian will be distributing 1,000 invitations to the San Sebastian Festival to unemployed people who request them on the city's website (www.donostia.eus), by calling 010 or at any of the Udalinfo offices. The invitations can be requested between today and Wednesday by unemployed people who are registered in San Sebastian and over 18 years old. Once Udalinfo has checked the information, the invitations can be collected at the Udalinfo office in Easo (Easo 41), where it is necessary to present an identity card and a certificate of unemployment. The deadline for collecting the invitations is Wednesday 18 September at 14:00.
The festival's director, José Luis Rebordinos, thanked the San Sebastian City Council for its collaboration, saying that this “important joint initiative” allows “bringing cinema closer to people for whom buying a ticket can be a luxury”. “As a festival, we do not want to ignore the social problems of our time. It's obvious when you look at most of our programmes, but with initiatives like this, or the one we're doing with SOS Racismo Gipuzkoa, we're trying to ensure that this concern goes beyond the screen”, Rebordinos said.
Overqualified and undervalued, Rita is a lawyer at a large firm that is more interested in getting criminals off the hook than bringing them to justice. One day, she is given an unexpected way out when cartel leader Manitas hires her to help him withdraw from his business and realize a plan he has been secretly preparing for years: to become the woman he has always dreamt of being.
Brazil, 1971. A country in the tightening grip of a military dictatorship. A mother is forced to reinvent herself when her family’s life is shattered by an act of arbitrary violence.
In Mumbai, Nurse Prabha's routine is troubled when she receives an unexpected gift from her estranged husband. Her younger roommate, Anu, tries in vain to find a spot in the city to be intimate with her boyfriend. A trip to a beach town allows them to find a space for their desires to manifest.
Anora, a young sex worker from Brooklyn, gets her chance at a Cinderella story when she meets and impulsively marries the son of an oligarch. Once the news reaches Russia, her fairytale is threatened as his parents set out for New York to get the marriage annulled.
Hordes of evangelists pray for Jesus to intervene, while in Amazonia thousands of COVID victims are buried in mass graves. A wave of Bolsonaro supporters storms the headquarters of the three powers demanding military intervention. The televangelists promise wealth and happiness in this world, provided that their followers help them to take power. In Apocalypse in the Tropics we see a Brazil ripe for falling to pieces in the name of faith.
Twelve-year-old Bailey lives with her single dad Bug and brother Hunter in a squat in North Kent. Bug doesn’t have much time for his kids and Bailey, who is approaching puberty, seeks attention and adventure elsewhere.
Investigating judge Iman grapples with paranoia amid political unrest in Tehran. When his gun vanishes, he suspects his wife and daughters, imposing draconian measures that strain family ties as societal rules crumble.
Thibaut is an internationally renowned conductor who travels the world. When he learns he was adopted, he discovers the existence of a younger brother, Jimmy, who works in a school cafeteria and plays the trombone in a small marching band. Everything seems to set them apart, except their love of music.
New Rome must change, causing conflict between Cesar Catilina, a genius artist who seeks to leap into a utopian, idealistic future, and his opposition, Mayor Franklyn Cicero, who remains committed to a regressive status quo, perpetuating greed, special interests, and partisan warfare.
In 1970s Australia, Grace's life is troubled by misfortune and loss. When her family unit falls to pieces and she is separated from her twin brother, Gilbert, she turns to hoarding ornamental snails to ease her loneliness. Grace finds hope when she strikes up a friendship with an elderly eccentric woman called Pinky, who gives her the courage to come out of her shell and step away from the things that overcrowd her home and her mind.
Oh Canada is the story of Leonard Fife, an exile who fled to Canada during the Vietnam War. In the winter of his life, Fife gives a final interview to one of his former students to tell the whole truth about his life. A confession filmed in front of his wife. Based on the text by Russell Banks, the film explores the life of an erratic and cowardly man who sought refuge in Canada without political intentions. Schrader weaves a tale of memory and repentance, reflecting errors of the past and the desire for redemption.
The long journey of Parthenope’s life, from her birth in 1950 till today. A feminine epic, devoid of heroism but brimming with an inexorable passion for freedom, Naples, and the faces of love, all those true, pointless, and unspeakable loves. The perfect Capri summer, the lightheartedness of youth, which ends in ambush. And then all the others: the Neapolitans, men and women, observed and loved, disillusioned and vital, their waves of melancholy, their tragic ironies.
"You, only better in every way". That's the promise of The Substance, a revolutionary cell-replicating product that creates a younger, more beautiful, more perfect version of yourself.
Iris, a mysterious traveller, wanders around in the outskirts of Seoul. There she convinces a series of people to receive French classes using a method as unorthodox as it is seductive, despite her lack of experience. Between walks in the park and bottles of makgeolli rice wine, Iris soon feels like one of the family. With a straw hat, floral dress and green cardigan, her carefree character adopts an aura of trust, fun and learning that leads to hilarious moments sparked by her cheek and the odd misunderstanding.