Eleven films are competing for the Kutxabank-New Directors Award, worth €50,000, at the 71st San Sebastián International Film Festival, which will be held between 22 and 30 September. The works in this section (first and second films) are also candidates for the TCM Youth Award.

As announced a few days ago (read more), New Directors will include a Spanish film (in co-production with Argentina), The Blue Star [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Javier Macipe
scheda film], the second feature by Javier Macipe (who debuted in 2014 with Los inconvenientes de no ser Dios). It tells the story of a famous rock star in the 1990s who travels around Latin America trying to reconnect with his vocation. There he meets an old musician down on his luck and from this encounter an unlikely duo with every chance of becoming a commercial failure.

None other than Taylor Russell, Ewan McGregor and Ellen Burstyn play Mother, Couch! [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Niclas Larsson
scheda film] (USA/Denmark/Sweden), the debut film by Niclas Larsson (Malmö, 1990), which begins when three estranged brothers come together to find out why their mother refuses to move from a couch in a furniture store.

Until now, screenwriter and editor Ilia Malakhova (Saint Petersburg, 1973) debuts with the feature film Hi, Mom [+leggi anche:
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scheda film], focused on a 36-year-old woman who has never recovered from her mother’s disappearance. And the Colombian Juan Sebastián Quebrada will show his debut, The Other Son [+leggi anche:
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scheda film], a co-production between his country, France and Argentina which participated in the Europe-Latin American Co-Production Forum 2020 and follows a teenage boy who, after the unexpected death of his brother, tries to find the strength to go on living.

Iranian Farhad Delaram will participate with his first feature film: Achilles [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Farhad Delaram
scheda film], a co-production between France and Germany about a young filmmaker who works in a hospital and whose life changes after meeting a mysterious young girl. Last Shadow at First Light [+leggi anche:
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Among those competing with his second feature film is China's Liang Ming, who will open the section with Carefree Days, an adaptation of Ban Yu's novel of the same name, which follows a young patient as she tries to find her place in the world. Canadian Henry Bernadet's Gamma Rays provides a generational portrait of a group of youngsters in Montreal. The first work by Kazakhstan's Askhat Kuchinhirekov is entitled Bauryna salu [+leggi anche:
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scheda film], the name given to a nomadic tradition whereby the firstborn child is given to the grandparents for them to look after instead of its parents.

With previous experience as an assistant director and novelist, Diwa Shah debuts with Bahadur the Brave, set during the early days of the pandemic in an Indian village bordering Nepal, where an immigrant tries to earn money to cure his sick son. And finally, the Japanese Daichi Murase will show Beyond the Fog, an intimate portrait of a family who has been running a boarding house in a remote mountain village for generations. This film will close the New Directors section at this year's San Sebastian Film Festival.

The films in the 2023 New Directors section are as follows:

Gamma Rays - Henry Bernadet (Canada)
Achilles [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Farhad Delaram
scheda film] - Farhad Delaram (Iran/France/Germany)
Bauryna salu [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] - Askhat Kuchinhirekov (Kazakhstan)
Mother, Couch! [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Niclas Larsson
scheda film] - Niclas Larsson (USA/Denmark/Sweden)
The Blue Star [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Javier Macipe
scheda film] - Javier Macipe (Spain/Argentina)
Hi, Mom [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] - Ilia Malakhova (Russia)
Last Shadow at First Light [+leggi anche:
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trailer
scheda film] - Nicole Midori Woodford (Singapore/Japan/Slovenia/Philippines/Indonesia)
Carefree Days - Liang Ming (China)
Beyond the Fog - Daichi Murase (Japan)
The Other Son [+leggi anche:
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trailer
scheda film] - Juan Sebastián Quebrada (Colombia/France/Argentina)
Bahadur the Brave - Diwa Shah (India)