The San Sebastián Film Festival has just announced the films that will form part of the Zabaltegi-Tabakalera and Horizontes Latinos sections at its 73rd edition (19-27 September). The first of these sections concentrates on avant-garde audiovisual works, while the second is the perfect focal point for recent productions from the Central and South American continent, with considerable involvement of European countries on the production side.

A total of 23 films – 15 feature-length, six shorts and two medium-length – will compete in Zabaltegi-Tabakalera, with seven world premieres and several pieces chosen from other festivals such as Cannes, Berlin, Venice and Locarno: Madrid-based Brazilian filmmaker Sergio Oksman will open the section with Una película de miedo/A Scary Movie, while the closing film will be Fiume o morte! [+leggi anche:
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scheda film], the third feature-length effort from Croatia's Igor Bezinović, which came away with the Tiger Award and the FIPRESCI Prize at IFFR this year.

Known for his performance in Triangle of Sadness [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Ruben Östlund
intervista: Ruben Östlund
scheda film] and Baby Girl, British actor Harris Dickinson will present his directorial debut with Urchin [+leggi anche:
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scheda film], winner of the FIPRESCI prize in the Un Certain Regard section at Cannes. Another first is from Catalan Jaume Claret Muxart with Estrany riu/Strange River after its upcoming premiere in the Orizzonti section of the Venice Mostra (see news).

Lucile Hadzihalilovic will present The Ice Tower [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Lucile Hadžihalilović
scheda film], winner of the Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution at the Berlinale, a dark tale in which Marion Cotillard plays a mysterious actress who seduces an orphaned girl: the French director received the New Directors Award with her first feature film, Innocence (2004), and the Special Jury Prize on the two occasions that she has competed in the San Sebastián Official Section with Évolution [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Lucile Hadzihalilovic
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György Pálfi will present Kota/Hen, whose absolute star is the hen: a film selected in 2020 for the Europe-Latin America Co-production Forum, which will screen in this year's Zabaltegi-Tabakalera following its premiere in Toronto. Short filmmaker Sophy Romvari will also bring her first feature film, Blue Heron [+leggi anche:
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scheda film], which recently won the Swatch First Feature Award in the Cineasti del Presente contest at Locarno. The film follows the experience of a family of Hungarian immigrants who move to a new house in Vancouver.

Hlynur Pálmason from Iceland will come to this section at San Sebastián with the world premiere of Joan of Arc, alongside the winner of the FIPRESCI Prize in the Panorama Dokumente section of the Berlinale Under the Flags, the Sun [+leggi anche:
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scheda film], the debut film from visual artist Juanjo Pereira, and Portuguese Paula Tomás Marques with her first feature, Two Time João Liberada [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Paula Tomás Marques
scheda film], seen recently in Berlin.

These two titles will join the four Spanish-produced films announced a few weeks ago (read more), including  The Good Sister [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Sarah Miro Fischer e Marie…
scheda film], the first feature from Sarah Miro Fischer, which premiered in the Panorama section of the Berlin Festival; the aforementioned Una película de miedo/A Scary Movie; and El último arrebato/The Last Rapture, from Marta Medina and Enrique López Lavigne (more details here).

The Horizontes Latinos section, meanwhile, will include the world premieres of Limpia, the new film by Dominga Sotomayor, which will open the competition, and Dolores, by Maria Clara Escobar and Marcelo Gomes. The section will include twelve feature films not yet screened in Spain, from among all those produced totally or partially in Latin America, directed by filmmakers of Latin American origin or with Latin American communities from around the world as their framework or theme. The section will close with The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Diego Céspedes
scheda film], the feature film debut from Chilean Diego Céspedes, winner of the Un Certain Regard award at Cannes 2025.

The co-productions between Latin America and Europe in this section include Cuerpo celeste [+leggi anche:
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scheda film], directed by Nayra Ilic García (Chile/Italy); The Message [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Iván Fund
scheda film], by Iván Fund (Argentina/Spain/Uruguay); Hiedra/The Ivy, by Ana Cristina Barragán (Ecuador/Mexico/France/Spain); Elder Son [+leggi anche:
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scheda film], by Cecilia Kang (Argentina/France); Nuestra tierra/Landmarks, by Lucrecia Martel (Argentina/US/Mexico/France/Netherlands/Denmark); Un cabo suelto/A Loose End, from Daniel Hendler (Uruguay/Argentina/Spain); and A Poet [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Simón Mesa Soto
scheda film], from Simón Mesa Soto (Colombia/Germany/Sweden).

Selected titles:

Zabaltegi-Tabakalera

A Scary Movie - Sergio Oksman (Spain/Portugal - opening film)
God Is Shy – Jocelyn Charles (France) (short)
Strange River - Jaume Claret Muxart (Spain/Germany)
Brand New Landscape – Juiga Danzuka (Japan)
Urchin [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] - Harris Dickinson (UK)
Happiness – Paz Encina (Paraguay) (short)
The Ice Tower [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Lucile Hadžihalilović
scheda film] - Lucile Hadzihalilovic (France/Germany)
No One Knows – Bo Hanxiong (China) (short)
The Spectacle – Bálint Kenyeres (Hungary/France) (short)
The Last Rapture – Marta Medina, Enrique López Lavigne (Spain)
The Good Sister [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Sarah Miro Fischer e Marie…
scheda film] - Sarah Miro Fischer (Germany/Spain)
Two Seasons, Two Strangers – Sho Miyake (Japan)
Variations – Lur Olaizola (Spain) (short)
Always Night – Luis Ortega (Argentina) (medium-length)
Hen – György Pálfi (Germany/Greece/Hungary)
Joan of Arc – Hlynur Pálmason (Iceland/Denmark/France)
Under the Flags, the Sun [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] - Juanjo Pereira (Paraguay/Argentina/USA/France/Germany)
Blue Heron [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] – Sophy Romvari (Canada/Hungary)
Lurker – Alex Russell (USA)
April Tune – André Silva Santos (Portugal) (short)
The Strike – Gabrielle Stemmer (France) (medium-length)
Two Times João Liberada [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Paula Tomás Marques
scheda film] - Paula Tomás Marques (Portugal)
Fiume o morte! [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] - Igor Bezinović (Croatia/Italy/Slovenia - closing film)

Horizontes Latinos

Limpia – Dominga Sotomayor (Chile) (opening film)
The Ivy – Ana Cristina Barragán (Ecuador/Mexico/France/Spain)
Olmo – Fernando Eimbcke (USA/Mexico)
Dolores - Maria Clara Escobar, Marcelo Gomes (Brazil)
A Loose End – Daniel Hendler (Uruguay/Argentina/Spain)
The Message [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Iván Fund
scheda film] – Iván Fund (Argentina/Spain/Uruguay)
Cuerpo celeste [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] – Nayra Ilic García (Chile/Italy)
Elder Son [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] – Cecilia Kang (Argentina/France)
Landmarks - Lucrecia Martel (Argentina/USA/Mexico/France/Netherlands/Denmark)
A Poet [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Simón Mesa Soto
scheda film] - Simón Mesa Soto (Colombia/Germany/Sweden)
Copper – Nicolás Pereda (Mexico/Canada)
The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Diego Céspedes
scheda film] - Diego Céspedes (Chile/France/Germany/Spain/Belgium) (closing film)