San Sebastian Film Festival to start today
San Sebastian Film Festival to start today
The San Sebastian Festival's 59th edition opens today in the Basque city.
José Luis Rebordinos, the Festival Director, and Joxean Fernández, member of the Festival Management Committee, announced the programme and activities scheduled for this year, the names of the juries corresponding to the different sections and the latest additions to the event.
The Zabaltegi-Specials section at the 59th edition of the San Sebastian Festival will include the European premiere of the latest documentary directed by Jonathan Demme on the singer Neil Young.
NEIL YOUNG LIFE follows the two concerts given by Neil Young at Toronto’s Masey Hall in early 2011. This is Demme’s third feature on Young, having previously directed the documentaries Neil Young: Heart of Gold (2006) and Neil Young Trunk Show (2009), both presented at San Sebastian Festival.
Demme is also the director of films like Something Wild (1986), The Silence of the Lambs (1991), Philadelphia (1993), The Manchurian Candidate (2004) and Rachel Getting Married (2008). Demme chaired the jury at the 56th edition of the San Sebastian Festival.
SPECIAL PRESENTATION
San Sebastian Festival’s 59th edition will include the presentation of the new animated production from the DreamWorks studio, PUSS IN BOOTS, a film about the adventures of one of the most popular characters in the Shrek saga. Antonio Banderas, Salma Hayek and Billy Bob Thornton lend their voices to the heroes of the film.
Antonio Banderas will present a 20-minute preview of the film on Friday, September 23rd in the Kursaal Auditorium.
KIDS’ FILMS
The 59th edition of San Sebastian Festival presents two premieres specially designed for a younger audience: Suske en Wiske: De Texas Rakker / Luke and Lucy: Texas Rangers and Une vie de chat.
SUSKE EN WISKE: DE TEXAS RAKKER / LUKE AND LUCY: TEXAS RANGERS is a Belgian animation directed by Wim Bien and Mark Mertens. The film stars two inseparable friends who have to help the Texan Rangers in their struggle against an evil being who plans to take over the world. The film is the adaptation of the popular Dutch comic created by Willy Vandersteen in 1945 and subsequently published for years in 300 books.
As usual, every morning the Velodrome will host a screening for children corresponding to the programme established with local primary and secondary schools. This year, kids at these sessions will be treated to the film: Une vie de chat.
UNE VIE DE CHAT is a French animation production about the adventures of a cat with two lives: a girl’s pet by day, a thief’s side-kick by night. This is the first work for the big screen from Jean-Loup Felicioli and Alan Gagnol, two reputed creators in the animation field thanks to their shorts and TV series.
EXHIBITIONS
This year the San Sebastian Festivals is collaborating on several exhibitions organised by different bodies and institutions.
FEDERICO FELLINI. THE CIRCUS OF ILLUSIONS
Organised by “La Caixa” Social and Community Project and NBC Photographie in collaboration with San Sebastian City Council and the San Telmo Museum, the exhibition Federico Fellini. El circo de las ilusiones will run at the latter from September 13th-November 13th.
Federico Fellini. El circo de las ilusiones reconstructs Fellini’s universe with approximately 400 pieces, including photographs, drawings, magazines, comics, posters, interviews and film excerpts – some previously unreleased. Considered to be one of the masterminds of cinematic modernity, Federico Fellini’s work takes absolute liberty in altering the rules of narration, desconstructing the story and redesigning film.
The exhibit is divided into four thematic areas portraying Fellini through his obsessions and sources of inspiration as the raw material of his creative process. Here we discover the mechanisms of Fellinian creation and look at his complete filmed work from a new angle, taking a broader approach to the 20th Century, the century of film, press, TV and advertising: the image factory.
JOSÉ ANTONIO SISTIAGA. REFLECTIONS IN AN IMAGINARY GARDEN
Koldo Mitxelena Kulturenea presents José Antonio Sistiaga’s Reflections in an imaginary garden. Curated by Jean-Michel Bouhours, the exhibition will remain open to the public from June 16th until September 24th at the Koldo Mitxelena Kulturenea.
The exhibition Reflections in an imaginary garden brings a selection of around 100 works by one of the most original contemporary Basque artists of his generation. Born in 1932 in San Sebastian, José Antonio Sistiaga is a painter, illustrator and filmmaker in one. His interdisciplinary process has given him space to constantly renovate his artistic language in the field of abstraction. Influenced precisely by the founder of that movement, Wassily Kandinsky and, later, by the ‘informal’ trends of the 50s, the artist progressively turns towards compositions where form takes the back seat, leaving the limelight for the language of colour, light and movement.
The exhibition is designed around a central space to favour perspectives accentuating the interdisciplinary nature of Sistiaga’s work.
LET’S CHANGE THE WORLD! 50 YEARS OF AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL IN POSTERS (1961-2011)
The open-air exhibition (between the Kursaal and People), Let’s Change the World! 50 Years of Amnesty International in Posters (1961-2011), will run from September 15th-30th.
For 50 years, always in the quest for freedom, Amnesty International has created many of the best remembered images against tyranny. Some of these images took their inspiration from specific acts of repression (and there are enough of these to keep the artists occupied for centuries), while others are more general, universal responses to the inhuman policies and conditions imposed by the different states.
Amnesty International celebrates its anniversary with this visual representation of these 50 years of work seeking to end the violation of human rights. Fifty years of fighting against injustice have proven that change is possible, and that people, united in joint action knowing no borders or beliefs, can achieve extraordinary things. Each person can make a difference, but millions of people united and rising together against oppression can change the world.
TOLOSA’S TOPIC AT THE FESTIVAL
The Tolosa International Puppet Centre, TOPIC, will contribute to San Sebastian Festival for the first time, offering it one of its Museum’s most attractive places: the Shadow Corridor. During the Festival, this corridor will be dedicated to Chinese Shadows in celebration of the cycle “Digital Shadows: Last Generation Chinese Film”, organised by Zinemaldia. Visitors will therefore be able to admire a carefully-chosen selection of shadows rarely found outside China.
José Luis Rebordinos, the Festival Director, and Joxean Fernández, member of the Festival Management Committee, announced the programme and activities scheduled for this year, the names of the juries corresponding to the different sections and the latest additions to the event.
The Zabaltegi-Specials section at the 59th edition of the San Sebastian Festival will include the European premiere of the latest documentary directed by Jonathan Demme on the singer Neil Young.
NEIL YOUNG LIFE follows the two concerts given by Neil Young at Toronto’s Masey Hall in early 2011. This is Demme’s third feature on Young, having previously directed the documentaries Neil Young: Heart of Gold (2006) and Neil Young Trunk Show (2009), both presented at San Sebastian Festival.
Demme is also the director of films like Something Wild (1986), The Silence of the Lambs (1991), Philadelphia (1993), The Manchurian Candidate (2004) and Rachel Getting Married (2008). Demme chaired the jury at the 56th edition of the San Sebastian Festival.
SPECIAL PRESENTATION
San Sebastian Festival’s 59th edition will include the presentation of the new animated production from the DreamWorks studio, PUSS IN BOOTS, a film about the adventures of one of the most popular characters in the Shrek saga. Antonio Banderas, Salma Hayek and Billy Bob Thornton lend their voices to the heroes of the film.
Antonio Banderas will present a 20-minute preview of the film on Friday, September 23rd in the Kursaal Auditorium.
KIDS’ FILMS
The 59th edition of San Sebastian Festival presents two premieres specially designed for a younger audience: Suske en Wiske: De Texas Rakker / Luke and Lucy: Texas Rangers and Une vie de chat.
SUSKE EN WISKE: DE TEXAS RAKKER / LUKE AND LUCY: TEXAS RANGERS is a Belgian animation directed by Wim Bien and Mark Mertens. The film stars two inseparable friends who have to help the Texan Rangers in their struggle against an evil being who plans to take over the world. The film is the adaptation of the popular Dutch comic created by Willy Vandersteen in 1945 and subsequently published for years in 300 books.
As usual, every morning the Velodrome will host a screening for children corresponding to the programme established with local primary and secondary schools. This year, kids at these sessions will be treated to the film: Une vie de chat.
UNE VIE DE CHAT is a French animation production about the adventures of a cat with two lives: a girl’s pet by day, a thief’s side-kick by night. This is the first work for the big screen from Jean-Loup Felicioli and Alan Gagnol, two reputed creators in the animation field thanks to their shorts and TV series.
EXHIBITIONS
This year the San Sebastian Festivals is collaborating on several exhibitions organised by different bodies and institutions.
FEDERICO FELLINI. THE CIRCUS OF ILLUSIONS
Organised by “La Caixa” Social and Community Project and NBC Photographie in collaboration with San Sebastian City Council and the San Telmo Museum, the exhibition Federico Fellini. El circo de las ilusiones will run at the latter from September 13th-November 13th.
Federico Fellini. El circo de las ilusiones reconstructs Fellini’s universe with approximately 400 pieces, including photographs, drawings, magazines, comics, posters, interviews and film excerpts – some previously unreleased. Considered to be one of the masterminds of cinematic modernity, Federico Fellini’s work takes absolute liberty in altering the rules of narration, desconstructing the story and redesigning film.
The exhibit is divided into four thematic areas portraying Fellini through his obsessions and sources of inspiration as the raw material of his creative process. Here we discover the mechanisms of Fellinian creation and look at his complete filmed work from a new angle, taking a broader approach to the 20th Century, the century of film, press, TV and advertising: the image factory.
JOSÉ ANTONIO SISTIAGA. REFLECTIONS IN AN IMAGINARY GARDEN
Koldo Mitxelena Kulturenea presents José Antonio Sistiaga’s Reflections in an imaginary garden. Curated by Jean-Michel Bouhours, the exhibition will remain open to the public from June 16th until September 24th at the Koldo Mitxelena Kulturenea.
The exhibition Reflections in an imaginary garden brings a selection of around 100 works by one of the most original contemporary Basque artists of his generation. Born in 1932 in San Sebastian, José Antonio Sistiaga is a painter, illustrator and filmmaker in one. His interdisciplinary process has given him space to constantly renovate his artistic language in the field of abstraction. Influenced precisely by the founder of that movement, Wassily Kandinsky and, later, by the ‘informal’ trends of the 50s, the artist progressively turns towards compositions where form takes the back seat, leaving the limelight for the language of colour, light and movement.
The exhibition is designed around a central space to favour perspectives accentuating the interdisciplinary nature of Sistiaga’s work.
LET’S CHANGE THE WORLD! 50 YEARS OF AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL IN POSTERS (1961-2011)
The open-air exhibition (between the Kursaal and People), Let’s Change the World! 50 Years of Amnesty International in Posters (1961-2011), will run from September 15th-30th.
For 50 years, always in the quest for freedom, Amnesty International has created many of the best remembered images against tyranny. Some of these images took their inspiration from specific acts of repression (and there are enough of these to keep the artists occupied for centuries), while others are more general, universal responses to the inhuman policies and conditions imposed by the different states.
Amnesty International celebrates its anniversary with this visual representation of these 50 years of work seeking to end the violation of human rights. Fifty years of fighting against injustice have proven that change is possible, and that people, united in joint action knowing no borders or beliefs, can achieve extraordinary things. Each person can make a difference, but millions of people united and rising together against oppression can change the world.
TOLOSA’S TOPIC AT THE FESTIVAL
The Tolosa International Puppet Centre, TOPIC, will contribute to San Sebastian Festival for the first time, offering it one of its Museum’s most attractive places: the Shadow Corridor. During the Festival, this corridor will be dedicated to Chinese Shadows in celebration of the cycle “Digital Shadows: Last Generation Chinese Film”, organised by Zinemaldia. Visitors will therefore be able to admire a carefully-chosen selection of shadows rarely found outside China.
