30/07/2024 - Contending for the Golden Shell are new works from renowned European filmmakers, as well as those from others such as Kiyoshi Kurosawa and Gia Coppola

The San Sebastián International Film Festival continues to act as a stopover for high-profile filmmakers with the selection of the Golden Shell competition for its 72nd edition, to take place from 20 to 28 September. The Spanish titles already announced (those by Albert Serra, Iciar Bollaín, Pilar Palomero and Pedro Martín-Calero - read more) and the opening film, Audrey Diwan's Emmanuelle [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Audrey Diwan
film profile], are now joined by the premieres, some of them world premieres, of new works by filmmakers who have won awards at Cannes, Venice, Berlin, Sundance and even the Oscars.

Among them, The End [+see also:
film review
film profile] is the long-awaited fiction debut of Denmark-based American Joshua Oppenheimer, responsible for the multi-award-winning The Act of Killing [+see also:
trailer
film profile] and The Look of Silence [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (Grand Jury Prize at Venice). Starring Tilda Swinton, Michael Shannon and George MacKay, this dystopian musical following a wealthy family who survive in a bunker two decades after the world has ended.

Three European masters will provide seniority to the selection. For the first time, English director Mike Leigh will be part of the festival's competition with the Anglo-Spanish production Hard Truths [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], which explores themes such as family relations, mourning and mental health. And from France, François Ozon (winner of the Golden Shell back in 2012 with In the House [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]) and Costa-Gavras (who competed for it in the same year with Capital [+see also:
trailer
film profile]), with When Fall Is Coming [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], a story of a retired woman whose life changes when she meets her friend’s son, and Last Breath [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], a reflection on the life of a palliative care doctor and a writer, with Denis Podalydès, Kad Merad, Ángela Molina, Charlotte Rampling and Hiam Abbass in the cast, respectively.

After his Oscar triumph with four statuettes for All Quiet On The Western Front [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Edward Berger
film profile], German director Edward Berger turns to prestige cinema with Conclave [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]. It follows a cardinal who, after the Pope’s sudden death, must supervise the conclave that will elect his successor, with a cast including Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci and Isabella Rossellini.

The section will also feature a debut film from the Scottish-based Portuguese director Laura Carreira. Produced by Ken Loach's company, On Falling [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Laura Carreira
film profile] portrays the precarious life of a Portuguese worker in Scotland.

From outside Europe, comes Japan's Kiyoshi Kurosawa, with Serpent's Path [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]. A French remake of his own 1998 film of the same name, about a father's revenge and starring Damien Bonnard and Mathieu Amalric. Alongside it, the first fiction work by the award-winning Chilean documentary filmmaker Maite Alberdi (The Mole Agent [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Maite Alberdi
film profile], La memoria infinita), El lugar de la otra, tells the true story of the writer María Carolina Geel, who shot her lover to death in 1955. The Argentinean director Diego Lerman returns (for the third time in this section, after A Sort of Family [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] and The Substitute [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]) with El hombre que amaba los platos voladores, about Argentinian television’s best known audiovisual recording on the existence of alien presence, and starring Leonardo Sbaraglia. And the long-awaited third feature film by American Gia Coppola, The Last Showgirl, sees Pamela Anderson in the role of a seasoned dancer dealing with the closure of her show after 30 years. The section is completed by another debut film, Bound in Heaven, by Chinese director Xin Huo.

The selection announced to date:

Competition

Emmanuelle [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Audrey Diwan
film profile] - Audrey Diwan (France) (opening film)
El lugar de la otra - Maite Alberdi (Chile)
Conclave [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] - Edward Berger (UK/USA)
I am Nevenka [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Icíar Bollaín
film profile] - Iciar Bollain (Spain)
On Falling [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Laura Carreira
film profile] - Laura Carreira (UK/Portugal)
The Last Showgirl - Gia Coppola (USA)
Last Breath [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] - Costa-Gavras (France)
Bound in Heaven - Xin Huo (China)
Serpent’s Path [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] - Kiyoshi Kurosawa (Japan/France)
Hard Truths [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] - Mike Leigh (UK/Spain)
El hombre que amaba los platos voladores - Diego Lerman (Argentina)
The End [+see also:
film review
film profile] - Joshua Oppenheimer (Denmark/Germany/Ireland/Italy)
When Fall Is Coming [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] - François Ozon (France)
The Wailing [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Pedro Martín-Calero, Isabel…
film profile] - Pedro Martín-Calero (Spain/Argentina/France)
Glimmers [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Pilar Palomero
film profile] - Pilar Palomero (Spain)
Afternoons of Solitude [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Albert Serra
film profile] - Albert Serra (Spain/France/Portugal)

(Translated from Spanish by Vicky York)