San Sebastian, Spain – The intense, sometimes sunny San Sebastian Film Festival is final twisting on Friday with a massive global production announcement and star balance.
8 takeaways and deals from the classic Rebordinos version.
Stars
Angelina Jolie spoke French in San Sebastian’s competitor, “Couture,” and spoke about her performance in a way she had never heard before. She also said she “loves” but “doesn’t recognize” her home country. American Farrell reflected how his past addiction influenced his performance in “small player ballads.” Serious and very polite Jennifer Lawrence, the San Sebastian Donostia Award Honorary Award teased the bigger problem of painting in Lynn Ramsay’s “Die My Love.”
trading
There are more hotels and if needed, San Sebastian could hold a strong formal market, stealing some of Toronto’s firepower, resigning from its own market in 2026. “There were a lot of foreigners, French executives, Italians, Germans,” Antonio Saura said in the dealer’s Latid Film. “It may not be an official market, but there is,” but it will take some time for many deals to go public. “How many of your films were sold to the US in Toronto?” Patrick Waxburger in 193 asked CAA Media Finance’s Roeg Sutherland at the Creative Investors Conference. “They’ll all do that,” Sutherland replied.
Buzz Title
Dolores Fonzie’s “Belém” played very well with the crowd. And it was just chosen as an Argentine Oscar submission. The dark Czech comedy “The Unfaithful” received a lot of raucous laughs and applause at its premiere. The Spanish film “Sunday” by Arauda Luis de Azua is “Sunday” depicting the frailty of the family and the vulnerability of the teen, earning the highest score in the film from anywhere in the polls of El Diario Basco local critics, followed by Jose Luis Gehrin’s “Good Valley Story.”
Will our control fade?
When San Sebastian’s still highly successful conference of creative investors began in 2023, there was a fundamental assumption that Europe could learn from the expertise of the US market and benefit from its distributed muscles. Just two years and once Hollywood has been struck later, with the boots moving towards the other foot. This year’s amazing session was attended by top executives from Fremantle, Mediawan, Studio TF1 and Vuelta, turning on the European powers. “World films are concentrated on American films,” said Roeg Sutherland of CAA Media Finance, citing Goodfellas’ Vincent Malaval and asking the 193 Waxburger where he was filming his next film. In symptoms, 193 began production of Laszlo Nemes’ French film “Moulin,” starring Jills Lelouch as the French resistance hero.
Friction: Distribution in the US
Why is the US becoming less important? “There’s a bit of a problem in the US in that it’s very difficult to pay back tax credits,” Sutherland said. “Louisiana is difficult, New York is impossible. That’s coupled with the fact that making movies there is more expensive.” Another bug: bigger US distributors are no longer able to remove them from the film’s lending equations. That’s also partly because, as Studio TF1’s Rodolphe Buet pointed out, “It’s difficult to raise between $20 million and $25 million to $50 million for a European film.” But while we may be able to see a new US cavalry, four new US dealers pointed out. One created one of the major deals in Toronto and bought a “cliffhanger” reboot.
Spain and Latin America are shaking
Since Fest’s directors Diego Garan and Manuel Perez Estremera, San Sebastian has emerged as the most prominent platform in the world of Spanish-speaking cinema. This was rarely felt with the strength of 2025. All five films topping Eldario Vasco’s Spanish critics’ votes are in Spanish languages. Many big world premieres – “She Walks in the Dark”, “Calmere”, “Belén”, “27 Nights”, “Clean” – come from Spain and Latin America.
And why…
Why is this a different question? Mostly, the most ambitious films in industry jargon in both regions are led this year by Netflix, which produced this year’s “Sunday,” “Ross Tigress,” and “She Walks in the Dark,” “27 Nights,” and “Clean,” and are increasingly driven by this year’s SVOD operators. “Belen” is produced by Amazon MGM Studios. All three operators are aiming to impact the local market. A big Cannes victory can bring wonders to your home audience. Of course, consider the “Sirât” from Movistar Plus+. But all three streaming services are hampering the biggest and best Spanish sway for San Sebastián, the most impactful film event in the local market.
Palestine
Pedro Almodovar, Javier Bardem, Alex de la Iglesia, director of the San Sebastian Festival, Jose Luis Lebordinos and Spanish Minister of Culture Ernest Ultason joined thousands of Gaza protesters on Wednesday after screening for the “Voice of Hind Rajab.” Gaza. “Another massive protest took place on Saturday. The Spanish film cast and creators of “Sunday” and “Romelia” walked the Basque red carpet bearing badge called “Genocide Stop.” “Genozidioa Stop.” Already, in the preparations of the festival, the San Sebastian Management Committee had issued an open letter denounced Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s military forces against the “genocide” of Gaza. This hot button issue appears to be set to continue at all festivals, but the wild barrage that it condemns.
transaction
There are scores from San Sebastián.
*Wagner Maura, the winner of Cannes’ “Secret Agent” Best Actor, has boarded activist artist Claudia Andujar as the “outsider” of executive producer Sandra Delgado. It is produced by the rapidly expanding Maria Farinha film.
*Daniel Berman is filming the pleasant driving series “So far,” starring Benjamin Vicuña and co-produced by Flo and MediaPro Studios.
* “House on Fire’s” Spanish director Dani de La Orden sets “El Director” at the helm, based on a non-fiction book covering David Jiménez. Beta Fiction Spain is produced and distributed in Spain.
*Lali Espósito, Esteban Lamothe and Marcelo Subiotto are set to appear in Benjamín Naishtat’s “Glaxo” produced by RT features and REI photos.
*More news from Brazil’s busy Rodrigo Teisiera in RT feature: Caleb Landry Jones, Peter Sarusgaard and Andrea Riseborough appear in Michael Almereida’s “Zero K” in RT feature and keep his head up.
*Isabel Allende, author of “The House of the Spirits,” has revealed to Variety that a major video adaptation will be released in 2026.
*Spanish Atressin, who has been toasted for 25 years at Biz, has announced a multi-year deal with Santiago Segura’s hugely successful Bowfinger Int’l Pictures.
*Catalonian public broadcasters 3cat, Minoria Absoluta and Fishcorb have set up “Gènesi,” a Ferrand Adria bio about the chef who transformed El Bri into the world’s most famous restaurant. Directed by David Pujol. Netflix has won Spanish and Latin American rights.
*Film Factory has joined Director Daniel Monzón’s “Pray For Us” from “Robot Dreams” producer Arcadia Motion Pictures.
*Paulo Branco produces “Aqui” based on JM Coetzee’s “Yes” trilogy, starring Manolo Solo and Patricia López Arnaiz.
*Bitters End has acquired the rights to sell San Sebastian’s major competitive rival, “SAI: Disaster.”
*The ‘Emilia Perez’ star Adriana Pas and the “Snow Society” lead Agustim Paldera is to lead “My Life (Che) with my Life (Che)” about the first wife of the revolutionary Ernesto “Che” Guevara.
*Filmax announced the acquisition of both Basque Historical Epic “Karmel,” directed by Asier Altuna, and the series “Mouth of Sky,” a rough slice of Kold Almandoz’s Basque Noir. Both ARs produced by Txintxua Films (“Intimacy”)
*Spanish Amoacine joined Chilean Maquina with Valeria Hoffman’s “Demon” who won the short “Alien 0089” Sundance.
*Brazil’s “Sambaki Cultural” has joined “The Sky that We Paint” by Chilean Kamilobecera from Chilean Storyboard Media.
*Argentine’s Talea Fina has joined the directorial debut of “Patrimony” by “Las Acacias” editor Maria Astrauskas.
* “Gloria” lead Paulina Garcia will be the top line of Panama Set drama “Victoria in the Cloud” and Argentine domestic abuse thriller “Lyle Cion de Paraiso” which was causing good word of mouth in San Sebastian.
*Buzzy Busan, San Sebastián title “Momo’s Shape” is riding in a dream of celluloid.
*Maborosi was sold under the San Sebastian title “Before a Bright Day.”
*Italia” was set to prep the festival, when Open Reel got the Brazilian drama “Dolores.”
Guy Lodge and Callum McLennan contributed to this article.
