The Palme d’Or, the Cannes Film Festival Grand Jury Prize and Prize, the Berlinale Grand Jury Prize, and other films selected for the Sundance, Venice and Toronto festivals will compete for the City of Donostia/San Sebastian Audience Award . Filmmakers love Maite Alberdi, Nicolai Arcel, J.A. Baiona, Stephanie Di Giusto, Michel Franco, Matteo Garrone, Craig Gillespie, Jonathan Glaser, Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Todd Haynes, Aki Kaurismaki, Hirokazu Kore-eda, Christian Petzold, Celine Song, Warwick Thornton, Justine Triet and Wim Wenders will be included in the Perlak selection at the 71st San Sebastian Film Festival.
Last film from Laj Leethe author of Les Misérables will close the section out of competition.
Jonathan Glaser (London, UK. 1965) will open the competition with Area of Interestmarking his return to feature films ten years after the acclaimed Under the skin. This freestyle adaptation of the novel of the same name by Martin Amis, which tells the daily life of a German family living near Auschwitz, brought the British director the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival. Glaser presented his debut film, sexy beasts (2000), in the New Directors section.
READ ALSO: Zone of interest, review of the film about Auschwitz in Cannes 2023
Laj Ly’s second film (Mali, 1980) after the success of Les Misérables (Perlak 2019), winner of the Jury Prize at Cannes, the Goya Award for Best European Film and an Oscar nominee. Batimement 5 / Unwantedwill close the out-of-competition section after the Toronto screening. The director once again reflects the struggle of society for its place.
The Perlak selection also includes Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s last film (Kawasaki, Japan, 1978), Aku Wa Sonzai Sinai / Evil Doesn’t Exist, presented in the official selection of the Venice Film Festival. With this story of a small rural village trying to protect its ecological heritage, Hamaguchi will mark his fifth participation in the festival after appearing in his debut film. Passion (2008), in new directors.
Also in competition for the Audience Award of the city of Donostia / San Sebastian claims the winner of the Palme d’Or in Cannes. Anatomie d’une chute / Anatomy of a fallFrench director Justine Trie (Paris, France. 1978). Gutter anatomy is a court drama in which the protagonist shares Area of Interest: German actress Sandra Hüller.
READ ALSO: Anatomie d’une Chute, review of the Palme d’Or Cannes 2023
Bastarden / Promised Landin competition at the upcoming Venice Film Festival, directed by Nicolai Arcel (Copenhagen, 1972) and starring Mads Mikkelsen, also directed by Arcel in En kongelig affære / King’s business (2012) (nominated for an Oscar for Best Foreign Film and a Silver Bear for Best Screenplay at the Berlinale). Mikkelsen, who, along with his co-stars Thomas Bo Larsen, Magnus Millang and Lars Rante, received the Silver Shell for Best Actor. Druk / One more round (2020) plays a man who, in the pursuit of wealth and honor, risks sacrificing everything he loves.
Australian director Craig Gillespie (Sydney, 1967) will present after the premiere in Toronto dumb moneystarring Paul Dano, Seth Rogen and Shailene Woodley. Director me, Tonya (2017) tells the true story of the GameStop chain of video game stores.
Matteo Garrone (Rome, Italy, 1968) brings film to San Sebastian for the first time. Director Gomorrah (2008) and Dogman (2018) will compete in Venice with I am the captainthe story of two young people who leave Dakar for Europe.
READ ALSO: I am the captain, the trailer for the new film by Matteo Garrone
Hirokazu Kore-eda (Tokyo, Japan. 1962) participated in the official preselection in San Sebastian along with Wandafuru raifu/After Life (1998), Hana yori mo naho/Hana (2006), Aruitemo, aruitemo/Still Walking (2008) and Kiseki / “I Wish” (2011), winner of the Jury Prize for Best Screenplay and twice received the People’s Choice Award for “Sew Chichi ni Naru” / “Like Father, Like Son” (2013) and “Umimachi’s Diary” / “Our Little sister” (2015). In 2018, Manbiki Kazoku / Shoplifters won the Palme d’Or and an Oscar nomination, while Koreeda himself received the Donostia Award. His last film Kaibutsu / Monsterwon the award for best screenplay at the French Festival.
READ ALSO: Cannes 2023, Monster, Hirokazu Kore-eda film review
The presence of the films of Aki Kaurismäki (Orimattila, Finland, 1957) has been constant at the festival since his short film Rocky VI was nominated for the official selection in 1988. , Zabaltegi 1990); Kauas pilvet karkaavat / Drifting clouds, Perlak 1996) and Mies vailla menneisyyttä / Man without a past (Perlak 2002 – both included in the 2007 Cold Fever retrospective); Le Havre (Perlak, 2011); and Toivon tuolla puolen / The Other Side Of Hope (FIPRESCI Grand Prix, 2017). WITH Kuolleet lehdet / Fallen leavesstory about the meeting of two lonely people, won the jury prize at the Cannes Film Festival.
READ ALSO: Cannes 2023, Les Feuilles Mortes, Aki Kaurismaki film review
After receiving the Audience Award for Best European Film with Mole Agent / Mole Agentwhich received the EFADs-CAACI award during the design phase at the 2017 Europe-Latin America Co-Production Forum, Maite Alberdi (Santiago del Chile, 1983) Infinite Memory / Eternal Memorynon-fiction film about the couple and their struggle with Alzheimer’s disease, which won the Grand Jury Prize at the World Cinema Documentary Film Competition at Sundance.
After sending Impossible (2012) e To summon monsters (2016) in the Official selection out of competition JA Bayona (Barcelona, Spain. 1975) will take part in the Perlak section for the first time with La sociedad de la nieve / Society of the Snow, closing film of the Venice Film Festival. Based on the book of the same name by Pablo Vierci, Baiona offers his storytelling talent to tell the story of the victims of the Andean plane crash, the dead and the survivors.
Todd Haynes, Chairman of the Official Jury in San Sebastian in 2013, returns to Perlak after being selected with Wonderstruck (2017) and The Velvet Underground (2021). IN May Decemberscreened at the Cannes Official Selection, Julianne Moore and Natalie Portman tell the story of a teacher who served time for having sex with one of her 13-year-old students.
READ ALSO: Cannes 2023 May-December film review with Julianne Moore and Natalie Portman
Michel Franco (Mexico City, 1979) made his first feature film in 2009, Daniel y Ana, which was shown at the Quinzaine des Cinéastes in Cannes and in the Horizontes Latinos section in San Sebastian. He returned to Cannes with “Después de Lucía” (“After Lucia”, 2012), winner of the “Un Certain Regard” award and a special mention in Horizontes Latinos, in a section that also featured “Chronicle” (best screenplay in Cannes) and “Las jijas de Abril” / “Daughter of April” (Un Certain Regard Jury Prize). Nuevo orden / New Order, which received the Grand Jury Prize in Venice, was shown in Perlak, the section that now presents Memorydrama filmed in New York City starring Jessica Chastain and Peter Sarsgaard at the upcoming Venice Film Festival.
Debut director and screenwriter Celine Song (South Korea, 1989), past lives, caused a sensation at the Sundance Film Festival and the Berlin Film Festival and was acclaimed by critics around the world. Past Lives is an exploration of love, identity, and the distance between the life we desire and the life we live.
In his long career, director, screenwriter and producer Wim Wenders (Düsseldorf, Germany. 1945) presided over the jury of the 2002 San Sebastian Film Festival, opened the 2017 festival with his film Immersion and knows what it means to win the Audience Award The film “San Sebastian: Salt of the Earth”, co-produced with Juliano Ribeiro Salgado, received the most votes from viewers in 2014. perfect dayswinner of the Best Actor Award at Cannes for Koji Yakusho.
French director Stephanie Di Giusto (Aubonne, France. 1975) took part in the Un Certain Regard program at the last Cannes Film Festival with Rosalie. In the director’s second film, The Dancer (2016), stars Nadia Tereshkevich and Benoît Magimel play a couple struggling with a mystery.
Christian Petzold (Hilden, Germany. 1960) won the Silver Shell for Best Director with Barbara (2012) and competed in the San Sebastian Official Selection 2014 with Phoenix, FIPRESCI award winner. His last film Rother Himmel / Afireabout four people living together in a holiday home during a hot, dry summer, won him the Grand Jury Prize at the Berlinale.
Finally, Warwick Thornton (Alice Springs, Australia, 1970), winner of the Golden Camera at Cannes for his first film Samson and Delilah (2009), will present New boy, after the screening of Un Certain Regard at the Cannes Film Festival. Cate Blanchett is producing and starring in this film, set in a remote convent run by an apostate nun who takes in an orphaned Aboriginal boy.
READ ALSO: The New Boy movie review with Cate Blanchett
With the exception of the final film, all films in the Perlak section are nominated for the City of Donostia/San Sebastian Audience Award sponsored by the city of San Sebastian. The prize is determined by the audience of the first screening of the film. The City of Donostia/San Sebastián Audience Award consists of two awards: the Best Film Award of €50,000 and the Best European Film Award of €20,000, which will go to the film’s distributors in Spain.
Armani Beauty, the official sponsor of the Festival, sponsors the Perlak section.