30/06/2008

The San Sebastian Film Festival has revealed seven of the titles that will vie for the Golden Shell at its 56th edition, which will take place in the famous Basque Country coastal city from September 18-22.

Jaime Rosales, Christophe Honoré and Kristian Levring are among the European directors presenting their latest works, which will be shown alongside films by Daniel Burman (Argentina), Kim Ki-duk (Korea), Rashid Masharawi (Palestine) and Courtney Hunt (US).

After presenting his two previous features in Cannes, Goya-winner Rosales returns with Tiro en la cabeza (see news). The film, shot in 14 days in San Sebastian and the French region of Les Landes, broaches a hot topic for the Basque region by focusing on an attack carried out by ETA in December 2007, when two policemen were killed by three ETA members.

Another Cannes regular, French director Honoré, will compete with La Belle Personne, a contemporary adaptation of Madame La Fayette's La princesse de Clèves, starring Léa Seydoux, Louis Garrel and Grégoire Leprince-Ringuet (see news). Initially made to be aired on ARTE, the film will be released domestically in the autumn, after San Sebastian.

Danish director Levring (The King is Alive) will present his fourth feature, Fear Me Not, a drama about a man who takes part in a clinical trial for a new anti-depressant with dangerous side effects.

Lastly, Masharawi's Laila's Birthday is a Dutch co-production while Burman's Argentinean title El nido vacío (“The Empty Nest”) was co-produced with Spain and France.