The feature film O corno / The Rye Horn (Spain-Portugal-Belgium), directed by Jaione Camborda from San Sebastian, carried off the Golden Shell at San Sebastian Festival’s 71st edition. In addition, the official jury decided to give the Silver Shell for Best Director to Tzu-Hui Peng and Ping-Wen Wang for Chun xing / A Journey in Spring (Taiwan), while the Best Screenplay Award went to María Alché and Benjamín Naishtat for Puan (Argentina-Italy-Germany-France-Brazil), the film helmed by both.
The Silver Shell for Best Leading Performance fell ex aequo upon Marcelo Subiotto and Tatsuya Fuji for their respective roles in Puan, by Alché and Naishtat, and Great Absence (Japan), by Kei Chika-ura, while the Silver Shell for Best Supporting Performance went to Hovik Keuchkerian for his character in Un amor (Spain), by Isabel Coixet. Directed by Isabella Eklöf, Kalak (Denmark-Sweden-Norway-Finland-Greenland-Netherlands) harvested both the Best Cinematography Award for Nadim Carlsen and the Special Jury Prize “because it takes us into a world we knew absolutely nothing about with surprising and empathetic performances, and with a way of showing the country, its conflicts and its hidden beauty through true cinematographic art”.
For the fourth year running, the Golden Shell has been garnered by a woman after Dasatskisi / Beginning (Dea Kulumbegashvili, 2020), Crai nou / Blue Moon (Alina Grigore, 2021) and Los reyes del mundo / The Kings of the World (Laura Mora, 2022). Furthermore, O Corno / The Rye Horn is the first film coming from the Ikusmira Berriak programme, co-organised by the San Sebastian Festival, Tabakalera and the Elías Querejeta Zine Eskola (EQZE), to win the top accolade in the Official Selection.
The list of winners includes a feature debut (Chun xing / A Journey in Spring) and three second movies (O corno, Great Absence and Kalak).
The official jury responsible for deciding these awards was presided by the filmmaker Claire Denis alongside the actress Fan Bingbing, the producer Cristina Gallego, the photographer Brigitte Lacombe, the producer Robert Lantos, the actress Vicky Luengo and the director Christian Petzold.
The gala was followed by the world premiere of Dance First (UK-Hungary-Belgium), the new movie by James Marsh, who came to San Sebastian with Gabriel Byrne, Sandrine Bonnaire, Aidan Guillen, Fionn O’Shea and Leonie Lojkine.
OTHER OFFICIAL AWARDS
Tonight the Kursaal hosted the closing gala of the Festival’s 71st edition, at which other official awards were also given.
Bahadur The Brave (India), the debut from filmmaker Diwa Shah, won the Kutxabank-New Directors Award, while the Horizontes Award went to El castillo (Argentina-France-Spain), first solo feature from Martín Benchimol, which had its premiere in Berlin’s Panorama section after receiving the WIP Latam Award and Egeda Platino Industry Award for Best WIP Latam in San Sebastian in 2022. The Zabaltegi-Tabakalera Award went to El auge del humano 3 / The Human Surge 3 (Argentina-Portugal-Netherlands-Taiwan-Brazil-Hong Kong-Peru), by Eduardo Williams, and El juicio / The Trial (Argentina-Norway-France-Italy), by Ulises de la Orden, bagged a special mention.
The Nest The Mediapro Studio Award went to the short film Amma ki katha (India), by Nehal Vyas, from the California Institute of the Arts School of Film/Video, and the section’s special mention to Entre les autres (Belgium), directed by Marie Falys, from the Institut de Arts de Diffusion-IAD.
Presented once again this edition, the Culinary Zinema Best Film Award went to La passion de Dodin Bouffant / The Pot au Feu (France), by Tran Anh Hung, and the new Eusko Label Award went to Mikel Urretabizkaia, first prize for Latxa (Spain), and to Paolo Tizón, second prize for Soroborda (Spain). In addition, the Irizar Basque Film Award was scooped up by El sueño de la sultana / Sultana’s Dream (Spain-Germany), the feature debut from the animation director Isabel Herguera, while Fingernails (USA), second film from Christos Nikou, also included in the Official Selection, won the FIPRESCI Award.
On the other hand, the City of Donostia / San Sebastian Award decided by the audience in the Perlak section went to La sociedad de la nieve / The Society of the Snow (Spain), by J.A. Bayona, closing film of Venice Festival, and the Audience Award for Best European film was carried off by Io capitano / I’m Captain (Italy), which landed Matteo Garrone the Silver Lion for Best Director at Venice and Seydou Sarr the Marcello Mastroianni Award for Best Young Actor. Finally, La estrella azul / The Blue Star (Spain-Argentina), the film by Javier Macipe included in New Directors, won the TCM Youth Award.
OFFICIAL AWARDS – FIAPF
GOLDEN SHELL FOR BEST FILM
Jaione Camborda (Spain)
Country(ies) of production: Spain – Portugal – Belgium
SPECIAL JURY PRIZE
Isabella Eklöf (Sweden)
Country(ies) of production: Denmark – Sweden – Norway – Finland – Greenland – Netherlands
SILVER SHELL FOR BEST DIRECTOR
TZU-HUI PENG, PING-WEN WANG (Taiwan)
Chun xing / A Journey in Spring
Country(ies) of production: Taiwan
SILVER SHELL FOR BEST LEADING PERFORMANCE (ex aequo)
Country(ies) of production: Argentina – Italy – Germany – France – Brazil
Country(ies) of production: Japan
SILVER SHELL FOR BEST SUPPORTING PERFORMANCE
Country(ies) of production: Spain
JURY PRIZE FOR BEST SCREENPLAY
MARÍA ALCHÉ, BENJAMÍN NAISHTAT (Argentina)
Country(ies) of production: Argentina – Italy – Germany – France – Brazil
JURY PRIZE FOR BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Country(ies) of production: Denmark – Sweden – Norway – Finland – Greenland – Netherlands
OTHER OFFICIAL AWARDS
KUTXABANK-NEW DIRECTORS AWARD
Diwa Shah (India)
Country(ies) of production: India
HORIZONTES AWARD
Martín Benchimol (Argentina)
Country(ies) of production: Argentina – France – Spain
ZABALTEGI-TABAKALERA AWARD
El auge del humano 3 / The Human Surge 3
Eduardo Williams (Argentina)
Country(ies) of production: Argentina – Portugal – Netherlands – Taiwan – Brazil – Hong Kong – Sri Lanka – Peru
Special Mention
Ulises de la Orden (Argentina)
Country(ies) of production: Argentina – Norway – France – Italy
NEST THE MEDIAPRO NEST AWARD
Amma ki katha (Short film)
Nehal Vyas (India)
Country(ies) of production: India
Special Mention
Entre les autres (Short film)
Marie Falys (Belgium)
Country(ies) of production: Belgium
CULINARY ZINEMA BEST FILM AWARD
La passion de Dodin Bouffant / The Pot au Feu
Tran Anh Hung (Vietnam)
Country(ies) of production: France
EUSKO LABEL PRIZE
First Prize
Latxa (Short film)
Mikel Urretabizkaia (Spain)
Country(ies) of production: Spain
Second Prize
Soroborda (Short film)
Paolo Tizón (Peru)
Country(ies) of production: Spain
IRIZAR BASQUE FILM AWARD
El sueño de la sultana / Sultana’s Dream
Isabel Herguera (Spain)
Country(ies) of production: Spain – Germany
CITY OF DONOSTIA / SAN SEBASTIAN AUDIENCE AWARD
La sociedad de la nieve / Society of the Snow
J.A. Bayona (Spain)
Country(ies) of production: Spain
CITY OF DONOSTIA / SAN SEBASTIAN AUDIENCE AWARD FOR BEST EUROPEAN FILM
Matteo Garrone (Italy)
Country(ies) of production: Italy
TCM YOUTH AWARD
La estrella azul / The Blue Star
Javier Macipe (Spain)
Country(ies) of production: Spain – Argentina
INDUSTRY AWARDS
PREMIOS WIP LATAM / WIP LATAM INDUSTRY AWARD
Los domingos mueren más personas / Most People Die on Sundays
Iair Said (Argentina)
Country(ies) of production: Argentina – Italy – Switzerland
EGEDA PLATINO INDUSTRIA AWARD FOR THE BEST WIP LATAM
Los domingos mueren más personas / Most People Die on Sundays
Iair Said (Argentina)
Country(ies) of production: Argentina – Italy – Switzerland
© Contando Films/Network Movie&Studio Zentral/ZDF
WIP LATAM INDUSTRY AWARD
Mannequins (WT)
Michael Fetter Nathansky (Germany)
Country(ies) of production: Germany
© Contando Films/Network Movie&Studio Zentral/ZDF
WIP EUROPA AWARDS
Mannequins (WT)
Michael Fetter Nathansky (Germany)
Country(ies) of production: Germany
XII EUROPE-LATIN AMERICA CO-PRODUCTION FORUM AWARDS
XII EUROPE-LATIN AMERICA CO-PRODUCTION FORUM BEST PROJECT AWARD
Todo esto eran mangas / These Were All Fields
Daniela Abad Lombana (Italy)
Country(ies) of production: Colombia
DALE! AWARD (DEVELOPMENT LATIN AMERICA-EUROPE)
Little war
Barbara Sarasola-Day (Argentina)
Country(ies) of production: Argentina – The Netherlands
ARTEKINO INTERNATIONAL PRIZE
Los días libres / The Days Off
Lucila Mariani (Argentina)
Country(ies) of production: Argentina – Brazil
IKUSMIRA BERRIAK AWARD
ELAMEDIA EUSKADI POST-PRODUCTION AWARD
after the night, the night
Naomi Pacifique (Switzerland – Netherlands)
Country(ies) of production: Switzerland – The Netherlands
ZINEMALDIA STARTUP CHALLENGE AWARD
BEST EUROPEAN PROJECT
HypeRate.io
Germany
BEST SPANISH PROJECT
WitScript
Spain
XIX LAU HAIZETARA DOCUMENTARY CO-PRODUCTION FORUM AWARDS
IBAIA-BILIBIN CIRCULAR AWARD
YO TERRATENIENTE
Rodrigo Demirjian
Produced by: Tourmalet Films, AH! Cine
(Spain – Argentina)
DOGWOOF AWARD
DECEMBER
Grzegorz Paprzycki
Produced by: Telemark, Just a moment
(Poland Lithuania)
IBAIA-ELKARGI AWARD
PULSO
Victoria Alvares, Quentin Delaroche
Produced by: Revoada Produçoes
(Brazil)
FURTHER AWARDS
RTVE – ANOTHER LOOK AWARD
Kitty Green (Australia)
Country(ies) of production: Australia
Special Mention
All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt
Raven Jackson (USA)
Country(ies) of production: USA
COOPERACIÓN ESPAÑOLA AWARD
La estrella azul / The Blue Star
Javier Macipe (Spain)
Country(ies) of production: Spain – Argentina
EUSKADI BASQUE COUNTRY 2030 AGENDA AWARD
Ladj Ly (France)
Country(ies) of production: France
DUNIA AYASO AWARD
Elena Martín Gimeno (Spain)
Country(ies) of production: Spain
Special Mention
Mientras seas tú / Mentre siguis tu / While You’re Still You
Claudia Pinto Emperador (Venezuela)
Country(ies) of production: Spain
HONORARY AWARDS
DONOSTIA AWARDS
Hayao Miyazaki
Víctor Erice
ZINEMIRA AWARD
Paco Sagarzazu
PARALELS AWARDS
FIPRESCI AWARD
Christos Nikou (Greece)
Country(ies) of production: USA
FEROZ ZINEMALDIA 2023 AWARD
Un amor
Isabel Coixet (Spain)
Country(ies) of production: Spain
EUSKAL GIDOIGILEEN ELKARTEA AWARD
Isabel Herguera (Spain), Gianmarco Serra (Italy)
“EL SUEÑO DE LA SULTANA / SULTANA’S DREAM” (Spain – Germany)
SEBASTIANE 2023 AWARD
20.000 especies de abejas / 20,000 Species of Bees
Estibaliz Urresola (Spain)
Country(ies) of production: Spain
Special Mention
Gabi, 8 urtetik 13 urtera / Gabi: Between Ages 8 and 13
Engeli Broberg (Sweden)
Country(ies) of production: Denmark – Sweden – Norway
LURRA – GREENPEACE AWARD
Aku wa Sonzai Shinai / Evil Does Not Exist
Ryusuke Hamaguchi (Japan)
Country(ies) of production: Japan
SIGNIS AWARD
All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt
Raven Jackson (USA)
Country(ies) of production: USA
ATENEO GUIPUZCOANO AWARD
Kei Chika-Ura (Japan)
Country(ies) of production: Japan
