Thirteen productions from 15 countries have a chance to win the Kutxabank-New Directors Award at this year’s San Sebastian Festival, Spain’s first film festival.
San Sebastian unveiled its new directorial lineup of first and second director titles on Thursday. The 2022 program features 12 debuts from across Europe, Asia and Latin America.
Indian filmmaker Parth Saurabh goes to San Sebastian with On both sides of the ponda drama that follows a couple forced by the economic difficulties caused by the pandemic to return from Delhi to their hometown, who sees their relationship unravel.
European firsts in the lineup include the 90s black comedy Carbon from Moldovan director Ion Borș, who won the WIP Europa Industry and WIP Europa awards last year; The great silence from Danish director Katrine Brocks, the story of a budding nun who receives an uneasy visit from her twin brother in the monastery; tobacco barns from the Spanish Rocío Mesa, a magical-realistic story set in tobacco drying chambers; Carmen Jaquier’s Period Drama Thunder, on women’s emancipation in early 20th century Switzerland; the survival function Big Maarten by French-based Russian actor-turned-director Dinara Drukarova, who also stars as a woman who leaves everything behind to set off on a fishing boat in the northern seas; and carbide, the feature film debut of Croatian director Josip Žuvan. San Sebastian previously announced that: For books and women I singthe first feature film by the Basque director Maria Elorza, the story of an anonymous and unarmed legion of women who care for books, will premiere at the festival this year.
Turkish director Jeanne Aslan and French filmmaker Paul Saintillan present their co-directed debut Spare keysthe story of a teenager who enters into a relationship with her friend’s brother, in San Sebastian, just like Laura Baumeister from Nicaragua, at the 2022 festival with her first film, Daughter of Rage, a story about an 8-year-old girl who lives on a garbage dump. Baumeister’s feature film won the Best Project Award at the VIII Europe-Latin America Co-Production Forum (2019) and the WIP Latam Industry Award (2021) and was made with support from the San Sebastian Festival.
Asian entries include: Jeong-suna Korean drama about a woman who becomes involved in a secret affair with a colleague at the factory, by director Ji-hye Jeong; Nagisa, a story about two siblings driven apart by death, by Japanese filmmaker Takeshi Kogahara; and Rolllessof directorial trio The directorial trio Masahiko Sato, Yutaro Seki and Kentaro Hirase, which follows the trials and tribulations of a cable car operator who stands on the side as an extra.
All thirteen films will compete for the Kutxabank-New Directors Award, which includes a cash prize of $56,000 (€50,000), which will be split equally between the director and the film’s Spanish distributor.
the 70th San Sebastian Film Festival runs from September 16-24