Alicia Garcia de Francisco |
Madrid, (EFE).- The San Sebastian Festival finalizes its preparations for a 71st edition that will open on September 22 and in which Isabel Coixet will compete for the first time, but the Hollywood actors’ strike could endanger the arrival of stars or even the delivery of the Donostia Award to Javier Bardem.
“I think the award to Javier Bardem, no,” the festival’s director, José Luis Rebordinos, told the media, although he acknowledged that he does not know if the Spanish actor belongs to the US Actors Union (SAG- AFTRA, in English) and that she has not yet been able to speak with him.
“Anyway, I’m a pretty practical person. At the moment I don’t worry and I don’t stop worrying. I can not do anything. You have to wait for events. In other words, if the strike reaches September it will have gone through (the festivals in) Telluride (USA), Toronto and Venice, where American cinema is essential for them”, he added.
But it is obvious, he pointed out, that if the strike continues “it would be a problem” for San Sebastián because they already have some confirmed American actors and actresses, even with reserved plane tickets.
And he has pointed out that they are closing a second Donostia of honor for an American actress, which could also be affected by the strike.
Rebordinos spoke like this to the press after the presentation at an event at the headquarters of the Film Academy in Madrid of the Spanish-produced films that are going to participate in San Sebastián.
Coixet debuts in the San Sebastián competition
The most outstanding title is that of “Un amor”, the adaptation of the homonymous novel by Sara Mesa that has been made by Isabel Coixet with Laia Costa as the protagonist together with Hovik Keuchkerian, Luis Bermejo, Hugo Silva, Ingrid García-Jonsson and Francesco Carril. And what is the debut in the San Sebastián competition for the Catalan filmmaker.
“I think Isabel Coixet has gotten into a very complex issue that was to take Sara Mesa’s novel to the movies, I personally am a crazy fan of the novel and I think she has emerged victorious,” Rebordinos explained.
Together with Coixet, in the competition will be “O corno”, the second album by Jaione Camborda from San Sebastian. A film shot in Galician that tells the story of María (Janet Novás), a woman who assists in childbirth and who, after a horrible event, is forced to flee the island where she lives.
And “El sueño de la sultana” an animated film by Isabel Helguera, also from San Sebastian, who is a visual artist who jumped into directing feature films with this film, based on a story written in 1905 by the Bengali Rokeya Hossain about Ladyland, a utopian world ruled by women.
Three competition titles directed by women, who are the ones that the selection committee liked the most, regardless of their gender or if they are well-known directors.
Out of competition: Trueba, Los Javis and C.Tangana
Some of the titles that have already become the most anticipated of the edition will be exhibited in various out-of-competition sections.
This is the case of the special screening of “Shooting the Pianist”, the joint animation work of Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal, who collaborate again after “Chico & Rita” (2011), and which this time focuses on the figure of the Brazilian Tenóiro Jr to portray the beginnings of bossa nova.
Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo, ‘los Javis’, will present the series “La Mesías” in the official section, a seven-episode family thriller with Macarena García, Lola Dueñas, Carmen Machi, Roger Casamajor and Cecilia Roth.
And in the Velódromo, the most popular and informal space of the festival, a three-part documentary on C.Tangana directed by Santos Bacana, Cris Trenas and Rogelio González will be screened. Two years following the artist during his “Sin cantar ni afinar” tour have resulted in “This excessive ambition”.
Also in the Velodrome you can see the horror series “The Other Side”. Six episodes directed by Javier Ruiz Caldera and Alberto del Toro for a project created, co-written and starring Berto Romero, together with María Botto.
Argentina in Latin Horizons
And if a few days ago two Argentine titles were announced for the official competition -“Puan”, by María Alché and Benjamín Naishtat, and “La práctica”, by Martin Rejtman-, the festival continues to bet on that country’s cinema for the section Latin Horizons.
Rebordinos has announced today two films with a Spanish co-production that will compete in Horizontes and both are by Argentine filmmakers.
On the one hand, “Blondi”, the directorial debut of actress Dolores Fonzi, who also stars in this story about the special relationship that a mother has with her son and whose cast includes Leonardo Sbaraglia, Rita Cortese and Toto Rovito.
And “El castillo”, the first solo documentary by Martín Benchimol, which tells the story of Justina, a woman who, after working as a domestic worker all her life, inherits a huge mansion from her former employer in the middle of the Argentine pampas. Her only condition is that she never sell it.