25/08/2006

After the announcement of the domestic titles and the list of films screening in the Zabaltegi sidebar section (see news), the suspense is finally over about the 18 feature films screening in the Official Section of the upcoming 54th San Sebastian International Film Festival (September 21-30).

Thirteen of them were produced in Europe or co-produced with European partners, turning the Basque showcase into a privileged occasion to follow some of the current eclectic creativity of European filmmakers. One of them might be as lucky as Czech director Bohdan Slama, who was awarded the Golden Shell last year with his drama Something Like Happiness.

Besides the four previously announced local titles – Vete de mí by Víctor García León, Spanish-Mexican film Las vidas de Celia [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Antonio Chavarrías, Spanish-French co-production Lo que sé de Lola [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Javier Rebollo and Joaquín Sardá's out of competition documentary Más alla del espejo (see news) – French cinema will be present in San Sebastian with Martiel Fougeron's Mon fils à moi with Nathalie Baye and Olivier Gourmet; Si le vent soulève les sables by Belgian director Marion Hänsel, Karaula/Border Post by Rajko Grlic (Bosnia-Herzegovina/France) and Niveh Mong/Half Moon by Bahman Ghobadi (winner of the Golden Shell in 2004 with Turtles Can Fly), a curious co-production between Iran, Iraq, Austria and France.

Ghosts, a docudrama by Nick Broomfield (director of the controversial Kurt and Courtney) leads a tasty English contingent that also includes the UK/Irish co-production The Tigers's Tail by John Boorman and biopic Copying Beethoven by Agnieszka Holland (US/UK/Hungary), starring Ed Harris as the famous composer. Lastly, there is Dutch title Forever, a documentary by Heddy Honigmann on Paris’ Père Lachaise Cemetery.

However, all these films risk being eclipsed, at least when it comes to the wide audience attention, by Lars Von Trier, who will be present in the Kursaal for the (out of competition) screening of The Boss of it All. The comedy, a return to the strict principles of the Dogma 95 manifesto, marks the Danish enfant terrible’s break from his "US and A" trilogy, whose announced third segment, Washington, has yet to be filmed.

Also competing for the Golden Shell are Carlos Sorin's El Camino de San Diego (Argentina), Hirozaku Kore-eda's Hana (Japan), Tom DiCillio's Delirious (US) and Im Sang-Soo's The Old Garden (South Korea).