UPDATE (24 September 2026): The selection is rounded off by David Ayer’s US adventure thriller Heart of the Beast, starring Brad Pitt, set to screen out of competition.

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The world premiere (in competition) of the film Ghost Song will open the Official Selection of the 74th San Sebastián International Film Festival, which will take place in the Basque city from 18-26 September. The latest work by German filmmaker Fatih Akin (winner of the Golden Bear at Berlin for Head-On, the Best Screenplay Award at Cannes for The Edge of Heaven and the Special Jury Prize at Venice for Soul Kitchen) will be screened at the Kursaal, the festival’s main venue, following the opening ceremony.

Akin will thus compete for the Golden Shell for the very first time in his career with a feature starring Mariam Dawoud and Eren M Güvercin, who play youngsters who meet at a graduation party and fall in love at first sight. But when that very night she dies suddenly, refusing to be parted from him, she discovers a way to cross the boundary between worlds: for 40 nights, and 40 only, she can meet the boy in his dreams… And so their love keeps growing, until the final night (see the news).

The German filmmaker therefore rounds off the line-up of 17 features that will be vying for the Golden Shell and the rest of this year’s official San Sebastián awards, comprising new titles by Roberto Bueso, Fred Cavayé, Jesse Eisenberg, Nicole Garcia, Mikel Gurrea, Amanda Kernell, Pablo Larraín, Mike Leigh, Gabriel Martins, Hans Petter Moland, Benjamín Naishtat, Javier Ruiz Caldera and Yeşim Ustaoğlu, as well as the feature debuts by Ah Biao, Maha Harada and Tony Vahl (see the news).

Meanwhile, Belgium's Michaël R Roskam will return to San Sebastián with Le Faux Soir, the film that will have the honour of closing this edition after its bow in Toronto’s Special Presentations. Roskam (whose US production The Drop won the Jury Prize for Best Screenplay at the 2014 edition of the Spanish festival, and whose Bullhead earned itself an Oscar nomination for Best International Feature) recreates one of the most singular episodes of the Belgian Resistance during World War II. Based on the book Le "faux" Soir, 9 novembre 1943, written by Marie Istas, the movie boasts a cast led by Arieh Worthalter, Mélanie Thierry, Karim Leklou, Mara Taquin, Bouli Lanners, Julien Frison and François Damiens. The story unfolds in 1943, as the Nazis are occupying Belgium and have turned the national newspaper Le Soir into a propaganda tool. But a group within the Resistance has a wild idea: what if, to lift Belgian spirits, they were to print a fake edition of Le Soir? The same paper stock, the same masthead, the same format, but crammed with articles that mock the occupier? It would end up being the first media hack in history (see the news).

The festival has also announced the titles comprising its RTVE Galas, which include the documentary about Federico García Lorca Lorca: Broken Voices by Manuel Menchón, and the comedies Burundanga by José Corbacho and Arriba Tutto by José Mota.

The full selection is as follows:

Competition

Ghost Song - Fatih Akin (Germany, opening film)
Border - Ah Biao (Hong Kong/USA/South Korea)
El mal padre - Roberto Bueso (Spain)
Les Misérables - Fred Cavayé (France)
The Debut - Jesse Eisenberg (USA)
Milo - Nicole Garcia (France)
Saints - Mikel Gurrea (Spain/Italy)
In My Father’s Room - Maha Harada (Japan)
Brace Your Heart – Amanda Kernell (Sweden/Norway/Denmark/Iceland/Bulgaria)
My Sad Dead - Pablo Larraín (Argentina/Chile)
Tender Loving Care - Mike Leigh (UK/USA/Singapore)
On Behalf of My Son - Gabriel Martins (Brazil)
Growth of the Soil - Hans Petter Moland (Norway/Denmark/Germany)
Glaxo - Benjamín Naishtat (Brazil/Argentina)
5 More Minutes - Javier Ruiz Caldera (Spain)
What Remains – Yeşim Ustaoğlu (Turkey/France/Luxembourg/Bulgaria)
Krux - Tony Vahl (Germany/Poland)

Out of competition

Heart of the Beast - David Ayer (USA)
The Castle - Elena Martín Gimeno, Sandra Romero (Spain, series)
Le Faux Soir - Michaël R. Roskam (Belgium/France, closing film)

Special screenings

The Last Goodbye - Koldo Almandoz (Spain)
Pray for Us - Daniel Monzón (Spain/France)
The Harvester - David Pérez Sañudo (Spain/Belgium)
Beyond Society - Carlos Torres (Spain, series)
Bajañí - Fernando Trueba (Spain)

RTVE Galas

La voz quebrada (Lorca: Broken Voices) - Manuel Menchón (Spain)
Burundanga - José Corbacho (Spain)
Arriba Tutto - José Mota (Spain/Italy)