55th San Sebastian International Film Festival

Yesterday another reknown film festival announced their official lineup with 16 films competing in the Official Selection.

Opening Gala: Eastern Promises, David Cronenberg, USA
Battle for Haditha, Nick Broomfield, UK
Buda Az Sharm Foru Rikht (Buddha Collapsed Out Of Shame), Hana Makhmalbaf, Iran and France
Ceot Oi Kap Gei (Exodus), Pang Ho-Cheung, Hong Kong
Daisy Diamond, Simon Staho, Denmark
Emotional Arithmetic, Paolo Barzman, Canada
Encarnación (Embodiment), Anahí Berneri, Argentina
Free Rainer-Dein Fernseher Lugt (Reclaim Your Brain), Hans Weingartner, Germany and Austria
Goong-Nyeo (Shadows in the Palace), Kim Mee-jeung, Korea
Honey Dripper, John Sayles, USA
La Maison, Manuel Poirer, France
Mataharis, Iciar Bollain, Spain
Matar A Todos, Esteban Schroeder, Uruguay, Chile and Argentina
Padre Nuestro (Our Father), Christopher Zalla, USA (A film noir!!!)
Siete Mesas de Billar Francés (Seven Billiards Tables), Gracia Querejeta, Spain
A Thousand Years of Good Prayers, Wayne Wang, USA

Out of Competition
Earth, Alastair Fothergill and Mark Linfield, UK and Germany, Documentary
The Inner Life of Martin Frost, Paul Auster, France, Spain and Portugal (stars Irène Jacob!)
Closing Gala: Flawless, Michael Radford, UK

The Zabaltegi-Pearls section, that screens films that have garnered awards this season or have been selected for the biggest festivals in the world will show movies from Sundance, Berlin, Cannes and Locarno. It includes three special screenings of Richard Lester’s Help! (restored version and yes is the Beatles movie), Carlos Saura’s Fados and Julian Schnabel’s Lour Reed’s Berlin.

In the Zabaltegi- New Directors section 16 films will be shown, nine of them are titles exploring documentary and TV formats.

10+4 (Dah Be Alaveh Chahar), Mania Akbari, Iran
Die Anruferin (The Calling Game), Felix Randau, Germany
The Bird Can’t Fly, Threes Anna, South Africa, Holland and Ireland
The Blue Hour, Eric Nazarian, USA
Brick Lane, Sarah Gavron, UK (This seems very interesting)
Casual Day, Max Lemcke, Spain
Cosmos, Diego Fandos, Spain
Darling, Johan Kling, Sweden (A dark comedy!)
Ekko (Echo), Anders Morgenthaler, Denmark
Les Fourmis Rouges (Red Ants), Stephan Carpiaux, Luxembourg, Belgium and France (Very interesting!)
Gidam (Epitaph), Jung Bum-Sik and Jung Sik, Korea (Nice cinematography)
L’Homme Qui Marche (The Walking Man), Aurelia Georges, France
Soul Carriage, Conrad Clark, China and UK
Tnuah Meguna (Foul Gesture), Itshak Grad, Israel
La Torre de Suso, Tom Fernandez, Spain
Where God Left His Shoes, Salvatore Stabile, USA


The Horizontes Latinos Films in Progress 12 section will take place on the September 25th and 26th. This joint rendezvous between Rencontres Cinemas d’Amerique Latine in Toulouse and this Festival, destined to facilitate the conclusion of a film by independent filmmakers from Latin America and Spain ready to tackle the post-production stage has received in this 12th call, 129-filmed project; out of all received 6 will be screened.

Acné, Federico Veiroj, Uruguay, Argentina, Spain, and Mexico
A Festa da Menina Morta, Matheus Nachtergaele, Brazil, Argentina and Portugal
Gasolina, Julio Hernández Cordón, Guatemala
La Extranjera, Fernando Diaz, Argentina
Sol Na Neblina, Werner Schumann, Brazil
Una Semana Solos, Celina Murga, Argentina.

There will be a Classic Retrospective honoring American Henry King that comes with a book published by the Festival and the Spanish Film Archive.

In the Thematic Retrospective 38 films form the Cold Fever-THE NEW Nordic cinema retrospective will be shown, with screenings of Denmark Lars Von Trier’s The Idiots, Sweden Lukas Moodysson’s Fucking Amal and Bergman’s Saraband, Norway Bard Beien’s The Art of Negative Thinking, and Iceland Fridrik Thor Fridriksson’s Cold Fever among many others.

In the Contemporary Retrospective French Philippe Garrel will be honored with screenings of of his movies like Les Amants Reguliers among some others.

The festival runs from September 20 to 29, 2007.

For everybody near San Sebastian on the dates of the festival, Caramel will be screened at a still not scheduled date. Enjoy this fabulous movie!!!

If you want to learn about other sections or want to see more information about the movies, available in Spanish, Euskara and English check here.

Many new movies here, that's just wonderful!