69th San Sebastián International Film Festival

69th San Sebastián International Film Festival

Opening film	One Second
Location	San Sebastián, Spain
Awards	Golden Shell (Blue Moon)
Directors	José Luis Rebordinos
Festival date	17–25 September 2021

The 69th San Sebastián International Film Festival took place from 17 to 25 September 2021 in San Sebastián, Gipuzkoa, Spain. The festival opened with Zhang Yimou's One Second.[1] Marion Cotillard and Johnny Depp were awarded the Donostia Award for lifetime achievements.[2] The Donostia Award bestowed to Johnny Depp was mired by controversy and public scrutiny.[3]

The competitive awards were presented on 25 September 2021. Blue Moon by Alina Grigore won the Golden Shell award, whereas Jessica Chastain (The Eyes of Tammy Faye) shared the Silver Shell for Best Leading Performance (a new non-gendered category replacing the former gendered acting awards) with Danish teen Flora Ofelia Hofmann Lindahl (As in Heaven).[4][5][6]

Juries

Official Selection

• Dea Kulumbegashvili[7]
• Susi Sánchez[7]
• Maite Alberdi[7]
• Audrey Diwan[7]
• Ted Hope[7]

Horizontes latinos

• María Zamora[8]
• Lila Avilés[8]
• Luciano Monteagudo[8]

New Directors

• Mary Burke[8]
• Irene Escolar[8]
• Suzanne Lindon[8]

Zabaltegi-Tabakalera

• Sergio Oksman [es][8]
• Miriam Heard[8]
• Elena López Riera[8]

Sections

Official Selection

In competition

The lineup of films selected for the Official Selection is as follows:[9]

Highlighted title indicates award winner.[5]

English title	Original title	Director(s)	Production country
One Second	Yi miao zhong · 一秒鐘	Zhang Yimou	China
Arthur Rambo		Laurent Cantet	France
Benediction		Terence Davies	United Kingdom
Camila Comes Out Tonight [es]	Camila saldrá esta noche	Inés Barrionuevo	Argentina
Blue Moon [es]	Crai Nou	Alina Grigore [es]	Romania
Fever Dream	Distancia de rescate	Claudia Llosa	Peru United States Chile Spain
As in Heaven [de]	Du som er i himlen	Tea Lindeburg [de]	Denmark
Earwig		Lucile Hadzihalilovic	United Kingdom · France · Belgium
The Good Boss	El buen patrón	Fernando León de Aranoa	Spain
Enquête sur un scandale d'État (2021 film)	Enquête sur un scandale d'État	Thierry de Peretti [fr]	France
The Grandmother	La abuela	Paco Plaza	Spain France
Maixabel		Icíar Bollaín	Spain
Fire on the Plain [zh]	Ping yuan shang de huo yan · 平原上的火焰	Zhang Ji	China
Who's Stopping Us	Quién lo impide	Jonás Trueba	Spain
The Eyes of Tammy Faye		Michael Showalter	United States
I Want to Talk About Duras [fr]	Vous ne désirez que moi	Claire Simon	France

Out of competition

The following works (including a short and a miniseries) were selected to screen out of competition:[10][9]

English title	Original title	Director(s)	Production countrie(s)
Rosa Rosae. A Spanish Civil War Elegy	Rosa Rosae. La guerra civil	Carlos Saura	Spain
Las leyes de la frontera		Daniel Monzón	Spain
La Fortuna		Alejandro Amenábar	Spain
The Daughter	La hija	Manuel Martín Cuenca	Spain

Latin Horizons

The following films were selected for the Latin Horizons section:[11][12]

Highlighted title indicates award winner.[5]

English title	Original title	Director(s)	Production countrie(s)
Dusk Stone	Piedra Noche	Iván Fund	Argentina · Chile · Spain
The Employer and the Employee	El empleado y el patrón	Manolo Nieto [es]	Uruguay Argentina Brazil France
Jesús López		Maximiliano Schonfeld [de]	Argentina France
Madalena		Madiano Marcheti	Brazil
Aurora		Paz Fábrega	Costa Rica Mexico Panama
The Box	La caja	Lorenzo Vigas	Mexico United States
A Cop Movie	Una película de policías	Alonso Ruizpalacios	Mexico
Azor		Andreas Fontana	Switzerland Argentina France
Prayers for the Stolen	Noche de fuego	Tatiana Huezo	Mexico Germany Brazil Qatar
Amparo		Simón Mesa Soto	Colombia Sweden Germany Qatar

New Directors

The following films were selected for the New Directors section:[13][14]

Highlighted title indicates award winner.[5]

English title	Original title	Director(s)	Production countrie(s)
Carajita		Silvina Schnicer, Ulises Porra	Dominican Republic Argentina
That Weekend	Ese fin de semana	Mara Pescio	Argentina Brazil
Aloners	Honja Saneun Salamdeul · 혼자 사는 사람들	Hong Sung-eun	South Korea
Between Two Dawns	İki Şafak Arasinda	Selman Nacar	Turkey France Romania Spain
Inventory	Inventura	Darko Sinko	Slovenia
Josephine	Josefina	Javier Marco	Spain
The Rust	La Roya	Juan Sebastián Mesa	Colombia France
Hilda's Short Summer	Las vacaciones de Hilda	Agustin Banchero	Uruguay Brazil
The Noise of Engines	Le bruit des moteurs	Philippe Grégoire	Canada
Mikado	Marocco	Emanuel Parvu	Romania Czech Republic
Mass		Fran Kranz	United States
Unwanted	Nich'ya	Lena Lanskih	Russia
Lost in Summer	Shu qi shi guang	Sun Liang	China

Zabaltegi-Tabakalera

The following films were selected for the Zabaltegi-Tabakalera section:[15]

Highlighted title indicates award winner.[5]

English title	Original title	Director(s)	Production countrie(s)
Mi iubita, mon amour		Noémie Merlant	France
Unclenching the Fists	Razzhimaya kulaki · Разжимая кулаки	Kira Kovalenko	Russia
Petrov's Flu	Petrovy v grippe · вы в гриппе	Kirill Serebrennikov	Russia France Switzerland Germany
Playground	Un monde	Laura Wandel	Belgium
Vortex		Gaspar Noé	France
Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn	Babardeală cu bucluc sau porno balamuc	Radu Jude	Romania Luxembourg Czech Republic Croatia
The Crossing [fr]	La Traversée	Florence Miailhe [fr]	France Germany Czech Republic
They Carry Death	Eles transportan a morte	Helena Girón, Samuel M. Delgado	Spain Colombia
The Great Movement	El gran movimiento	Kiro Russo	Bolivia France
107 Mothers	Cenzorka	Péter Kerekes [fr]	Slovakia Czech Republic Ukraine
Haruhara-san's Recorder	Haruharasan no uta	Kyoshi Sugita	Japan

Donostia Award Screenings

The following film was selected for the Donostia Award Screenings section:[16]

English title	Original title	Director(s)	Production countrie(s)
Bigger Than Us	Bigger Than Us	Flore Vasseur	France

Surprise film

The following film was programmed as a surprise:[17]

English title	Original title	Director(s)	Production countrie(s)
Spencer		Pablo Larraín	United Kingdom United States Germany Chile

Official Selection Awards

• Golden Shell: Blue Moon by Alina Grigore[5]
• Special Jury Prize: Earwig by Lucile Hadžihalilović[5]
• Silver Shell for Best Director: Tea Lindeburg (As in Heaven)[5]
• Silver Shell for Best Leading Performance: Flora Ofelia (As in Heaven) & Jessica Chastain (The Eyes of Tammy Faye)[5]
• Silver Shell for Best Supporting Performance: cast of Who's Stopping Us[5]
• Best Screenplay: Terence Davies (Benediction)[5]
• Best Cinematography: Claire Mathon (Undercover)[5]

Special Awards

Donostia Award for lifetime achievements: Marion Cotillard and Johnny Depp[2]

References

1. "Arrancó el festival de San Sebastián con las miradas puestas en Marion Cotillard". El Universal. 17 September 2021.
2. "Johnny Depp: "Llevaré el Premio Donostia siempre en la memoria"". EiTB. 22 September 2021.
3. "Johnny Depp, al recibir el Premio Donostia más polémico: "Nadie está a salvo de la cultura de la cancelación"". eldiario.es. 22 September 2021.
4. Melo, Verónica (26 September 2021). ""Un día podremos dejar de hablar de mujeres oprimidas"". Diario Vasco.
5. Lodge, Guy (25 September 2021). "Romanian Film 'Blue Moon' Takes Top Prize at San Sebastian Fest, as Jessica Chastain Wins for Performance". Variety.
6. "[Festival de San Sebastián 2021] Palmarés completo". Cinemanía. 25 September 2021 – via 20minutos.es.
7. "El 69 Festival de San Sebastián entrega hoy su Concha de Oro". Agencia EFE. 25 September 2021.
8. "Javier Bardem, Jessica Chastain, Penélope Cruz, o Stanley Tucci, entre las estrellas del Festival de San Sebastián". 20minutos.es. 3 September 2021.
9. "Sección Oficial. 69 Edición 2021". sansebastianfestival.com. Retrieved 14 July 2022.
10. "Bollaín, León de Aranoa, Plaza y Jonás Trueba competirán en San Sebastián". HuffPost. 30 July 2021.
11. "Diez películas latinoamericanas competirán en Horizontes Latinos 2021 del Festival de San Sebastián". Europa Press. 4 August 2021.
12. "Horizontes Latinos. 69 Edición 2021". sansebastianfestival.com. Retrieved 14 July 2022.
13. Roxborough, Scott (28 July 2021). "San Sebastian Film Festival Unveils New Directors Lineup". The Hollywood Reporter.
14. "New Directors. 69 Edición 2021". sansebastianfestival.com. Retrieved 14 July 2022.
15. "Zabaltegi-Tabakalera. 69 Edición 2021". sansebastianfestival.com. Retrieved 14 July 2022.
16. "Donostia Award Screenings 2021. 69th Edition". San Sebastian International Film Festival. Retrieved 28 January 2023.
17. "'The Killer (El asesino)' de David Fincher es la película sorpresa de la 71ª edición del Festival de San Sebastián". Europa Press (in European Spanish). 26 September 2023. Retrieved 1 October 2023.