San Sebastian, Spain (A-list Fest in Europe just below the size of Berlin, Cannes and Venice), cited by many creatives and executives as their favorite film festival, will roll up a cocktail from a classic 2025 film under director Joselis Lebordinos.
There are options for August Autos and the discovery of competition, and even a large portion of Spain’s best films of 2025 are fresh breezes blown away from the new director’s sidebar. It is also a lot to drink at the European Latin America co-production forum, led by the creative investor conference and projects supported by CAA Media Finance. But the beacon of stability, San Sebastian inevitably captivates vertical changes that clean the world’s film and television landscapes.
There will be seven takes from the 2025 edition, which will be held from September 19th to 27th.
Stars
On September 26th, Jennifer Lawrence will receive San Sebastian’s highest honor, Career Achievement Donostia Award. She then introduces Lynn Ramsay’s Cannes competition player, “Die My Love.” Golden Shell candidate “Couture” also confirmed that Angelina Jolie had confirmed attendance. Also expected is Colin Farrell, who is expected to be Colin Farrell for Edward Berger’s Macau set “Ballad of Little Players” and Claire Dennis’ “Fence,” for Edward Berger’s Macau set “Ballad of Ballads” and for the royals of international films including Juliet Binoche (directoral debut, “In-I in”), “Nouveie avaver of Olivie Olivie Olivier Kremlin” and Walter Sales accept this year’s Fipresci award for “I’m Still Here.”
Buzz Title
In the main competition, there is a good word about Arnaud Desplechin’s “Two Pianos” and Claire Denis’s “The Fence” to go back to her anti-colonial mode. Also on the Buzzmeter is “Her Heartbeat” by former documentary Xiaoyu Qin. “The Unfaithful,” a generational conflict story from Slovenia’s Ormo Omerz, has fans of Alice Winocourt’s French fashion industry, “Couture.”
CAA Media Finance-San Sebastian Creative Investors’Conference: Looking for Europe
At last year’s meeting, panelists sketched out the opportunities and challenges of independent production. Not only in the US, but also in France and Italy, they have signed contracts with US studio investments and revised US union shooting costs. According to Roeg Sutherland of CAA Media Finance, one obvious solution to the latter is for US producers to look to Europe. Expect attendees at the 2025 conference to pick up that conversation, including Sutherland, Skytican of Annapurna Pictures, Christine Vachon, Patrick Waxberger, Vincent Malaval, Christian Vesper, Javiera Barmaceda, Juan Dedislaline, Sebastian Leibaud and others.
Best time in Spain?
Just as recessional austerity drove Spanish films 15 years ago, critics were worried about its future. But now, “Spanish films have enjoyed their best moments since they began working in the world of cinema,” pointing to Albert Serra’s 2024 victory at San Sebastian Golden Shell, pointing to two films: “The Afternoon of Solitary” and “The Main Competition,” two films at Cannes Triving, in the Spanish 2025 country, Berlin. “There are films by Pedro Almodovar, Albert Serra and Rodrigo Sorogoen. In the competition in San Sebastian, we also have four Spanish power films.
Streamers jump into the movie
Similarly, streaming services, global or national, are jumping into films in the Spanish-speaking world. San Sebastian will open with Argentine Netflix film “27 Nights,” followed by “Limpia” from Dominga Sotomayor in Chile, and Horizontes Latinos’ Sidebarbowes, which has another Netflix title. Spain’s top pay/SVOD operator Movistar Plus+, behind Cannes Jue Prize winner Sir, accounts for 50% of Spanish Golden Shell candidates, including the most awaited Spanish photos “Los Tigres” and “Sundays.” In a world where films need to break through the crowd of content, “there are few tools to make large films in Spain. The only option is to make it with streamers,” says Guillermo Farré, head of the original films for Movistar Plus++ and head of Spanish films.
Basque Boom
In 2014, “Loreak” (“Flowers”) became the first Basque language film to cut off major competitions in San Sebastian. Three of the four Spanish Golden Shell Contenders this year are Basque productions Sunday, Rostigress and Maspaloma, and three of Basque Golden Shell contenders are marked as being made in Basque or Castilian Spain. My time, geography, and the crime drama “The Mouth of the Sky.” Meanwhile, Catalonia boasts 28 titles in San Sebastian. The great powers in both regions are now national powers.
Conversation driver
In the 1990s, San Sebastian was often swayed by controversy. Since then, in its current 15th edition, under Mikel Olaciregui and Rebordinos, Waters has settled down. However, the three titles may prove the conversation driver led by “Querer’s” Alauda Ruiz de Azua’s “Sundays.” Regarding the Basque family, liberal beliefs are tested when the young daughter announces that she wants to become a nun. “She is walking in the dark,” splits opinions in the Basque country about ETA infiltrators of the Civil Security Force. One of the biggest story points is that it is likely to be the series “Anatomy of the Moment”. This is a lively semi-tweet chronicle about how democracy won and then saved in Spain. Worried about whether San Sebastian’s best new title proves once again a small screen skin.
San Sebastian’s De facto market
Put your buyers in the Vincent Maraval in Goodfellas and the Arctic, there is a mini market. If San Sebastian had more hotels, it could have a market. In a sense, there is already one. Certainly, it is already a fertile Spanish French axis, and many of the French art house sector are heading to town to read many of the world’s art house sectors and talk with Spanish distributors not only through films in San Sebastian, but also through sales slates. Spanish sales agents turn the boundaries of what is played by a wider audience in the opposite way of France, and these days, photographs of a considerable number of genres, integration of genres as theatrical propositions, and sidges.
New talent
Latin America began to recover its industry at the turn of the century. Other industries in the Canary Islands, for example, are still under construction. Therefore, San Sebastian, one of Europe’s most prestigious new director sidebars, is rich with new directors for the first time and second time to track down. This year, Jonathan Etzler, who has more talented talents like Jose Arayon’s “Biology Dance” and Dolores Fonji’s “Belem” and “bad apples” from India, and Jonathan Etzler – Japan – Japan’s “white flowers and fruits.”
Latin America hurts
San Sebastian is heavy as the largest festival in the Spanish-speaking world, but some of it is now painful. For the first time in 15 years, there are no Argentinean films in San Sebastian’s ongoing productions. Of the three Argentine features of the official choice, two “27 Nights” and “Belen” are supported by streamers. “Belém” by Prime Video. Milagros Mumenthaler’s “The Currents” is produced in lead from Switzerland. “It’s saying something,” Libordino observes.
