30/07/2026 - This year’s line-up comprises eleven debut features and three sophomore films

The San Sebastián International Film Festival has announced the titles that will make up the New Directors section at its 74th edition, taking place between 18 and 26 September. Dedicated to discovering new talents on the international film scene, the section will feature fourteen filmmakers from various corners of Europe, the Americas and Asia.

The film chosen to open the section will be the previously announced The Bad Son, the directorial debut of popular Spanish actor Jaime Lorente. Two other already-revealed debuts with Spanish productions This Solitude, by Javier Giner, and February, Seven Days, by Ukrainian Tatjana Moutchnik (read news).

British filmmaker Billy Lumby will premiere Florid in San Sebastián, a debut feature about a young musician grappling with mental health issues. Also arriving with her first work in New Directors is German director Naëmi Ada, whose Body of Glass follows a dancer who begins to lead a double life after an argument with her boyfriend, with whom she has a toxic relationship. Norwegian newcomer Marlene Emilie Lyngstad, presents Cute, a daring story about a man tormented by forbidden feelings for his girlfriend’s daughter. Adding to the crop of promising first features is Lovers Sleep Alone, a German production by Iranian director Massih Parsaei, centred on the solitary life of a young immigrant whose existence is shaken by a visit from a cousin he barely knows. The European contingent is rounded off by Bulgarian Hristo Simeonov with My Father’s Shoes, his first feature about a mother and daughter who must identify the body of their husband and father, from whom they have been estranged for years. Erratics, the debut by Thomas Woodroffe, a Chile-France-Argentina co-production that takes us to Patagonia for a ghost story where past and future collide (read news). Another French co-production, this time with South Korea and Japan, is The World Before, the second feature by South Korean Yoon Dan-bi (awarded at IFFR and Busan for her debut Moving On). The film tells the story of a girl on a remote island whose life is upended by the arrival of another young man.

From Mexico comes Morro, the sophomore feature by Rodrigo García Saiz, portraying the peculiar relationship between a veterinarian and a drug lord in a small town. Also presenting a second feature is Japanese filmmaker Kazuya Murayama, whose The Ballet Lesson focuses on a former soldier of Russian and Japanese descent searching for his two children to reunite them with their mother. Mugalim marks the debut feature by Kazakh director Ayana Nurdinova, the story of a music teacher who dreams of escaping his village. Also debuting is Taiwanese Lu Po-Shun, whose Will You Still Be My Friend portrays two youngsters’ struggle to maintain their friendship amid a local conflict.

The complete selection:

New Directors

The Bad Son - Jaime Lorente (Spain, opening film)
Body of Glass - Naëmi Ada (Germany/France)
The World Before - Yoon Dan-Bi (South Korea/Japan/France)
Morro - Rodrigo García Saiz (Mexico)
This Solitude - Javier Giner (Spain)
Florid - Billy Lumby (United Kingdom/Sweden)
Cute - Marlene Emile Lyngstad (Denmark/Sweden/Norway)
February, Seven Days - Tatjana Moutchnik (Germany/Austria/Spain)
The Ballet Lesson - Kazuya Murayama (Japan)
Mugalim - Ayana Nurdinova (Kazakhstan)
Lovers Sleep Alone - Massih Parsaei (Germany)
Will You Still Be My Friend - Lu Po-Shun (Taiwan/Singapore)
My Father’s Shoes - Hristo Simeonov (Bulgaria/France)
Erratics - Thomas Woodroffe (Chile/France/Argentina)

(Translated from Spanish)