The 60th San Sebastián Film Festival drew to a close on Saturday evening, with triumphs for French film Dans La Maison, which took the Golden Shell, Blancanieves, The Dead Man and Being Happy, Foxfire and Fernando Trueba, for El artist y la modelo. Macarena Garcia and Katie Coseni shared the Silver Shell for Best Actress, for Blancanieves and Foxfire while the Zinemaldia jury awarded the Best Actor prize to José Sacristán for his performance in The Dead Man and Being Happy. A Special Jury Prize was also awarded to Blancanieves. A second 60th anniversary Donostia Prize (following on from Oliver Stone’s) was also awarded to Dustin Hoffmann, who presented his directorial debut The … [Read more...] about San Sebastián Film Festival: Happy Hoffman and a hold-up
Iberoblog
San Sebastián Film Festival: disaster and art
Watch any film at the San Sebastian Film Festival and you can feel like you're taking your life in your hands – two hours of it, anyway. The event, which prides itself on being a champion of the avant-garde, is a notorious game of chance when it comes to buying tickets. So it is a bit surprising when you see a film that delivers exactly what it promises. The Impossible (‘Lo imposible’), a US-Spanish production directed by Juan Antonio Bayona (The Orphanage) is the story of one family's struggle for survival following the devastating tsunami that hit their hotel resort in Thailand on Boxing Day 2004. It is based on the true-life story of Spaniards Quique Álvarez and María Belón … [Read more...] about San Sebastián Film Festival: disaster and art
San Sebastián Film Festival: understanding war and ethnic division
The first 40 minutes of Venuto al mondo (Twice Born), competing in this year's Official Section of the Zinemaldia festival, are, frankly, laughably bad. As well as a corny script and stereotyped characters, the action and events completely lack credibility. Directed by Italian Sergio Castellitto, the film stars Penélope Cruz as Italian beauty Gemma who is swept off her feet by Emile Hirsch's Diego, an American photographer and free spirit. The character of Diego is so full of energy and utter rapture about everything that he is incapable of entering a room without tripping up with excitement over the wallpaper. He and la bella Gemma are first introduced by their mutual, stereotypically … [Read more...] about San Sebastián Film Festival: understanding war and ethnic division
Forget police brutality, this was verbal brutality
Whether or not the police in Madrid during the September 25 “Surround/Occupy Congress” protest acted with wanton brutality depends on whom you listen to. If it’s Interior Minister Jorge Fernández, then you’ll believe that the forces of order acted “magnificently” and “extraordinarily well” in the face of violent provocation. Likewise, the government’s delegate for Madrid, Cristina Cifuentes, deemed their behaviour “very professional”. Leaders of the protest itself and some opposition parties have seen it rather differently, accusing the police of using disproportionate force. A look at some of the day’s video footage reflects badly on both sides in the sense that some protesters and … [Read more...] about Forget police brutality, this was verbal brutality
San Sebastián Film Festival: death and happiness
El muerto y ser feliz (‘The Dead Man and Being Happy’) was the name of the Spanish-Argentinian production showing on Sunday as part of this year's Official Section at the San Sebastián Film Festival. It’s a bizarre title with two apparently conflicting ideas; a clue in itself to understanding a film which, in director Javier Rebollo's words, is not contradictory but “paradoxical”. José Sacristán plays paid assassin Santos, who is (fittingly, perhaps,) dying. When he skips hospital and sets out on a road trip with money from his last – failed – hit job and a box of morphine, the viewer joins him on a 6,000-kilometre road trip across Argentina – and, says the director, a “nature … [Read more...] about San Sebastián Film Festival: death and happiness
San Sebastián Film Festival: Snow White hits Andalusia
Not long after movie audiences made the pleasing discovery, thanks to last year's The Artist, that silent films can still be enjoyable, Pablo Berger's Blancanieves, competing in this year's Official Section, provides yet another silent revelation. The story of Snow White set in early 20th century Andalusia actually works. Berger's Blancanieves is Carmencita (played by Sofía Oria and Macarena García), born in Seville during the Belle Époque, a rose-tinted era of Spain's past that lends itself perfectly to silent cinema. Snow White's father is a handsome and celebrated bullfighter, her mother a famous flamenco dancer who dies in childbirth after seeing her husband gored and left paralysed … [Read more...] about San Sebastián Film Festival: Snow White hits Andalusia
San Sebastián Film Festival: Gere finds sinister charm in ‘Arbitrage’
The San Sebastian Film Festival got off to a cracking start on Friday with US film Arbitrage, starring Richard Gere, Susan Sarandon and Tim Roth and directed by Nicholas Jarecki. Opening the event’s 60th edition, Jarecki's film is competing in this year's Official Section. Arbitrage is a tense thriller, set against a corporate backdrop, with a tight script and an energetic pace that is largely down to script writer and debutant director Jarecki. Gere plays Robert Miller, a business magnate who is ready to sell up, supposedly to spend more time with his family. At first he looks as if he has it all: a loving wife (an excellent if little-seen Sarandon), a devoted son and a brilliant … [Read more...] about San Sebastián Film Festival: Gere finds sinister charm in ‘Arbitrage’
Madrid’s Olympic bid: third time lucky?
On February 14 this year, Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti pulled the plug on Rome’s bid for the 2020 Olympics. “The government doesn't feel that it would be a responsible gesture, taking into consideration Italy's current financial state”, he said. “If we find ourselves today in such a difficult financial position it is because similar decisions were made by previous governments without having considered the resulting impact in the following years.” But despite Spain’s dire economic problems, Madrid has pushed ahead with its own bid. According to La Razón, Madrid’s bid for the 2012 Olympics cost €60 million. The bid for the 2016 games cost €44 million. This time the process will … [Read more...] about Madrid’s Olympic bid: third time lucky?
EU praise can’t hide Rajoy’s bailout jitters
Much was made of the apparent chemistry between Mariano Rajoy and Angela Merkel when the two leaders met in Madrid last week. The German Chancellor’s comment that she was “impressed with Spain’s reforms” was indeed music to the ears of the Spanish prime minister. Similar praise from European Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn over the weekend, along with IMF managing director Christine Lagarde’s statement that measures taken by Italy and Spain were “adequate in and of themselves” was also welcome from Rajoy’s point of view. The Spanish leader is closely gauging these appraisals of his reform program because, as he almost certainly prepares to request some form of bailout from the … [Read more...] about EU praise can’t hide Rajoy’s bailout jitters
Clemency for ETA?
As early Basque elections loom, there is one issue that rages on despite efforts by the central government to let it lie: that of the controversial release of convicted ETA killer and kidnapper Iosu Uribetxebarria Bolinaga. On September 5, the Public Prosecutor's Office exercised its right to appeal against a ruling in favour of his conditional release. With a regional election scheduled for October 21, it is no surprise that even those in the Basque Partido Popular (PP) have been keen to nip the Uribetxebarria issue in the bud. Even Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy hoped to silence those in his party – most prominently Basque MEP Jaime Mayor Oreja and Madrid premier Esperanza Aguirre – who … [Read more...] about Clemency for ETA?