It took me almost the full day to go from home to San Sebastian (10h30 to 22h). The closest medium airport is Bilbao and from there I took the bus to San Sebastian. I planned to go by train but at the train station the vendor told me that nobody takes the train to San Sebastian, because it is longer and more expensive than the bus.
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| View on the Festival San Sebastian main location, the Kursaal |
Within one week JoRafCinema have seen 17 movies in total. As we like statistics we present you some.
The diagram below presents the number of movies watched per section (size) compared to the number of movies selected in each section (colour). This shows that the focus was indeed on Latin American movies and New directors even if the other sections have not been completely ignored. The watched/available ratio is included in each section as well.
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| Focus of JoRafCinema pending on the section |
The diagram below presents the number of movies by rating (from 0 to 10) with a black horizontal line for each rating values. Moreover it presents the country of production. This shows that I have seen many co-production. France did 5 coprods, Spain and Germany 3 for the European countries and Argentina did 6 coprods. Some movies have been produced in only one country: 1 in UK, 2 in France, 1 in Turkey, 1 in Brasil, 1 in Argentina and 1 in Russia. Some of these countries produced movies not playing in their own country: Germany, Poland, Colombia, Greece, Chile, Netherlands, Uruguay, plus part of the movies produced by France and Spain.
There is a nice story on that topic. The movie La Salada is a co-production Spain/Argentina playing in Argentina. Last year, the director, Juán Martín Hsu won the Film in Progress industry award in the Festival San Sebastian and this year they have presented their movie.
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| Rating of movies by country of production |
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| Juán Martín Hsu explaining the origins of the movie La Salada and the production supported by the Films in Progress industry award |
The most striking movies that we recommend to everybody independently from your taste:
Refugiado, co-producted by Colombia, Argentina, France and Poland,
Relatos salvajes, co-produced by Argentina and Spain,
La Salada, co-produced by Argentina and Spain,
Ciencias naturales, co-produced by Argentina and France,
Kak menya zovut, from Russia,
Kaín gyermekei, co-produced by Hungary and France
Kis uykusu, from Turkey.
I enjoyed discovering actors (e.g. Paula Hertzog in Ciencias naturales, Ingrid García Jonsson and Carlos Rodríguez in Hermosa juventud) and directors (e.g. Nigina Sayfullaeva for Kak menya zovut, Matías Luccheso for Ciencias naturales, Jaime Rosales for Hermosa juventud, Juán Martín Hsu for La Salada and Thomas Salvador for Vincent) who are new for me and to enjoy Ricardo Darín in Relatos salvajes who I like a lot from previous movies.
Refugiado, co-producted by Colombia, Argentina, France and Poland,
Relatos salvajes, co-produced by Argentina and Spain,
La Salada, co-produced by Argentina and Spain,
Ciencias naturales, co-produced by Argentina and France,
Kak menya zovut, from Russia,
Kaín gyermekei, co-produced by Hungary and France
Kis uykusu, from Turkey.
I enjoyed discovering actors (e.g. Paula Hertzog in Ciencias naturales, Ingrid García Jonsson and Carlos Rodríguez in Hermosa juventud) and directors (e.g. Nigina Sayfullaeva for Kak menya zovut, Matías Luccheso for Ciencias naturales, Jaime Rosales for Hermosa juventud, Juán Martín Hsu for La Salada and Thomas Salvador for Vincent) who are new for me and to enjoy Ricardo Darín in Relatos salvajes who I like a lot from previous movies.
The official prices have gone to:
Magical girl, co-produced by Spain and France, got the Concha de oro (Golden shell) for the best movie and the Concha de plata (Silver shell) for the best director, in the Official selection,
Magical girl, co-produced by Spain and France, got the Concha de oro (Golden shell) for the best movie and the Concha de plata (Silver shell) for the best director, in the Official selection,
Vie sauvage, from France, got the Premio especial del jurado (Special jury prize), in the Official selection,
Güeros, from Mexico, got the Horizontes price in the Horizontes latinos section,
After the movies, it was no easy to meet the directors or actors who had just presented their movies. This makes a huge difference compared to the FEFF in Udine, the BIFFF in Bruxelles or the MotelX in Lisbon.
The movie theaters were familiar (Cine Trueba and Cines Antiguo Berri) and unique (the Congress center Centro Kursaal and the theater Victoria Eugenia, see picture below).
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| Victoria Eugenia Theater before the projection of 20000 days on Earth |
But there is a good reason not to come again. The hostel was very well located but expensive, 70EUR per night, without breakfast. The window could barely close and gives to the small patio from which all the noises can be heard, toilets, shower, snorts, but also funny talks. The room was dirty and there was no way to clean it nor service I could ask to. If I come back to Donostia, for sure I will avoid this hostel.
The festival was great for the movies and this shows a good selection work from the Festival team. The festival deserves to have a better visibility in European media. It was a pleasure to watch Latin American movies that are barely distributed in Europe apart from Spain. Hasta luego!
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| View over the old town of San Sebastian |
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| View over the city of San Sebastian from the old castle |
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