Actor, producer, and director Ricardo Darín, one of the most prestigious figures in Latin American and world cinema of recent decades, starts in the poster for the 74th edition of the San Sebastián International Film Festival, which will take place from 18 to 26 September 2026. For 20 years, the Argentine performer has been a regular face at the Festival, which in 2017 awarded him its highest honour: the Donostia Award.

The Tabakalera International Centre of Contemporary Culture hosted the poster launch event at noon today, officiated by the Festival director, José Luis Rebordinos, and his successor Maialen Beloki, who is currently one of the two deputy directors and will take over as director of the event in January.

Following the official posters featuring Isabelle Huppert, Penélope Cruz, Willem Dafoe, Sigourney Weaver, Juliette Binoche, Javier Bardem, Cate Blanchett, and Marisa Paredes, Argentine Ricardo Darín is the ninth figure in contemporary cinema to lend his image to the Festival. As in previous years, the poster was designed by the San Sebastián-based studio Wallijai, which has created a collage based on a portrait taken in 2024 by the Argentine photographer and musician Sebastián Arpesella.

Wallijai has also created the posters for the other sections. While in last year’s edition they focused on film genres, this time the leitmotif is the different trades of the cinema. Thus, the poster featuring Darín refers to acting, while the others relate to screenwriting (New Directors), sound (Horizontes Latinos), directing (Zabaltegi-Tabakalera), editing (Perlak), production design (Nest), make-up (Culinary Zinema), special effects (Zinemira), and production (Made in Spain).

These posters will soon be joined by the three from the Klasikoak initiative, which since 2024 has brought together three proposals under the same label: the Festival retrospective, which this year will be dedicated to the French filmmaker, novelist, and screenwriter José Giovanni, the Klasikoak section of the Festival, and the series of the same name programmed by the Basque Film Archive between October and December in Bilbao, San Sebastián, Pamplona, Saint-Jean-de-Luz, and Vitoria.

Darín: A career spanning half a century and a hundred performances

Ricardo Darín (Buenos Aires, 1957), who is featured on the official poster for the 74^th edition of the Festival, is one of the most prestigious and popular figures in Latin American and world cinema. Throughout his half-century career and more than one hundred performances that have earned him over 40 awards, he has alternated between projects in auteur cinema and mainstream cinema roles. Among others, he has worked under the direction of Adolfo Aristarain, Juan José Campanella, Fabián Bielinsky, Fernando Trueba, Pablo Trapero, Cesc Gay, and Santiago Mitre.

'El aura / The Aura', by Fabián Bielinsky (2005). 'El baile de la victoria / The Dance and the Thief', by Fernando Trueba (2009).

'El secreto de sus ojos / The Secret in Their Eyes', by Juan José Campanella (2009). Official Jury (2012).

Darín —who made his début in television series at the age of five, honed his craft in the theatre, and began his film career with La carpa del amor (Julio Porter, 1979)— has visited the Festival on nine occasions. In 2005 he presented El aura / The Aura by Fabián Bielinsky in the Official Selection, where he returned four years later with two titles, El secreto de sus ojos / The Secret in Their Eyes (Juan José Campanella, 2009) and El baile de la victoria / The Dance and the Thief (Fernando Trueba, 2009), shown out of competition. In 2012 he was a member of the Official Jury and Elefante blanco / White Elephant (Pablo Trapero) was screened in Made in Spain, while in 2014 he took part in Perlak with Relatos salvajes / Wild Tales (Damián Szifron), which won the Audience Award for Best European Film. The following year he shared the Silver Shell ex aequo with his co-star Javier Cámara for his performance in Truman (Cesc Gay, 2015).

'Elefante blanco / White Elephant', by Pablo Trapero (2012). 'Relatos salvajes / Wild Tales', by Damián Szifron (2014).

'Truman', by Cesc Gay (2015). Donostia Award (2017).

In 2017 he received the Donostia Award in recognition of his entire career and presented the special screening of La cordillera / The Summit (Santiago Mitre). He returned to the Official Selection to open it with El amor menos pensado / An Unexpected Love (Juan Vera, 2018) and La odisea de los giles / Heroic Losers (Special Screenings, Sebastián Borensztein, 2019), in which he also made his début as a producer. He likewise played the role of producer in the film programmed in Perlak, Argentina, 1985 (Santiago Mitre, 2022), which brought him to the Gipuzkoan capital for the last time and earned him the City of Donostia/San Sebastián Audience Award. Although Darín did not attend San Sebastián in person, he was part of the cast of La fuga / The Escape (Eduardo Mignogna, 2001), which competed in the Official Selection, and of New Directors films such as Perdido por perdido (Alberto Lecchi, 1993) and Amorosa soledad / Lovely Loneliness (Martín Carranza and Victoria Galardi, 2008), which won the Youth Award. He was also part of the cast of Carancho (Pablo Trapero, 2010), selected for the Perlak section.

'La cordillera / The Summit', by Santiago Mitre (2017). 'El amor menos pensado / An Unexpected Love', by Juan Vera (2018).

'La odisea de los giles / Heroic Losers', by Sebastián Borensztein (2019). 'Argentina, 1985', by Santiago Mitre (2022).

Other key works in his extensive filmography include Nueve reinas / Nine Queens (Fabián Bielinsky, 2000), which brought him international recognition and was screened in Klasikoak in 2023, as well as major titles by Juan José Campanella such as El mismo amor, la misma lluvia / Same Love, Same Rain (1999); El hijo de la novia / Son of the Bride (2001) and Luna de Avellaneda / Moon of Avellaneda (2004). He has also appeared in Capitán Kóblic / Kóblic (Sebastián Borenzstein, 2016), Tesis sobre un homicidio / Thesis on a Homicide (Hernán Goldfrid, 2012), Séptimo / 7thFloor (Patxi Amezcua, 2013), Todos lo Saben / Everybody Knows (Asghar Farhadi, 2018), and, more recently, in the series El eternauta / The Eternaut (Bruno Stagnaro, 2025).

Darín made his directorial début with La señal / The Signal (2007), a film co-directed with Martín Hodara.