22/08/2018 - The European films Sophia Antipolis and Bergman – A Year in a Life stand out particularly among the newly added titles in the Basque gathering’s most daring sidebar

A total of 12 films will be duking it out for the Zabaltegi-Tabakalera Award at the imminent 66^th edition of the San Sebastián International Film Festival. The six features already announced a few weeks ago (see the news) have now been joined by a further six. Towering over them are the documentary Bergman – A Year in a Life [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jane Magnusson
film profile], directed by Jane Magnusson, which, just as we celebrate the centenary of the unforgettable Swedish master’s birth, analyses his (extraprofessional) relationships with his muses/actresses; and the dystopian French movie (which on the surface appears to be a non-fiction) Sophia Antipolis [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Virgil Vernier
film profile], the second effort by Paris-born Virgil Vernier, which was world-premiered at the most recent Locarno Film Festival.

Other features selected for the 2018 iteration of Zabaltegi-Tabakalera include the documentary Theatre of War [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Lola Arias, produced by Argentina, Germany and Spain, an audacious experiment revolving around an encounter between former wartime enemies (from the 1982 Falklands conflict); Long Day’s Journey into Night [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Bi Gan (China); the Thai-French co-production Manta Ray [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], directed by Phuttiphong Aroonpheng, which will also be present at the Venice and Toronto Film Festivals; and the Chilean animated film La casa lobo, helmed by Cristóbal León and Joaquín Cociña, about a topic that has already been covered quite thoroughly in South American movies: religious sects and fanaticism.

Among the short films to be shown in the Zabaltegi-Tabakalera section, we should highlight the recently awarded Locarno title Those Who Lust by Spaniard Elena López Riera; Song for the Jungle by Jean-Gabriel Périot (France), about the migrants forced to wait in Calais; The Men Behind the Wall (Israel) by Inés Moldavsky, which tackles distance relationships (both physical and ideological) aided by modern technology; and De natura, a visual poem produced by Romania and directed by French helmer Lucile Hadzihalilovic, who was crowned with the Special Jury Prize at San Sebastián in 2015 for her gripping film Evolution [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile].

Here is the full list of the titles in the Zabaltegi-Tabakalera section:

Zabaltegi-Tabakalera

Above 592 Metres - Maddi Barber (Spain) (short film)
Belmonte [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] - Federico Veiroj (Uruguay/Mexico/Spain)
Bergman – A Year in a Life [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jane Magnusson
film profile] - Jane Magnusson (Sweden)
Coincoin and the Extra-Humans [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] - Bruno Dumont (France)
De Natura – Lucile Hadzihalilovic (Romania) (short film)
An Elephant Sitting Still - Hu Bo (China)
Long Day’s Journey into Night [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] - Bi Gan (China/France)
La casa lobo - Cristóbal León-Joaquín Cociña (Chile)
Las hijas del fuego - Albertina Carri (Argentina)
The Image Book [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] - Jean-Luc Godard (Switzerland/France)
Those Who Lust - Elena López Riera (Switzerland/Spain) (short film)
Manta Ray [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] - Phuttiphong Aroonpheng (Thailand/France/China)
Sobre cosas que me han pasado – José Luis Torres Leiva (Chile) (short film)
Song for the Jungle - Jean-Gabriel Périot (France) (short film)
Sophia Antipolis [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Virgil Vernier
film profile] - Virgil Vernier (France)
Theatre of War [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] - Lola Arias (Argentina/Spain/Germany)
The Men Behind the Wall – Inés Moldavsky (Israel) (short film)
Trot [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Xacio Baño
film profile] - Xacio Baño (Spain/Lithuania)

(Translated from Spanish)