San Sebastián 2026: Vive la France!

The San Sebastián International Film Festival has always enjoyed a close relationship with the French film industry, not least because of geographic proximity (depending on flight arrangements, guests can arrive at Biarritz Airport, on the Gallic side of the border). San Sebastián 2026 is particularly strong in that regard, with a massive French selection across multiple programming strands, including at least one hotly anticipated world premiere.

In fact, one of the very first titles to screen in this year’s Official Selection will be Fred Cavayé’s Les Misérables, the latest in a series of period pieces through which the French are effectively reclaiming their literary classics on the big screen (the recent Pathé-produced adaptations of Alexandre Dumas’ works come to mind). Competing for the Golden Shell, the movie boasts a stellar cast, headlined by Vincent Lindon as the reformed criminal Jean Valjean and Tahar Rahim as his tormentor, the overzealous Inspector Javert.

Also vying for the main prize is Milo, the latest from Nicole Garcia, starring Marion Cotillard and Laure Calamy, while Bruno Dumont will compete in the Zabaltegi-Tabakalera section with Red Rocks, the “illegal” film (his words) he already unveiled at the Quinzaine in Cannes a few months ago. The Croisette is, of course, well represented in the programming blocks that don’t require world or European premieres, particularly the Perlak section which is bookended by French productions.

On one end of the spectrum, the section is opening with Andrey Zvyagintsev’s Minotaur, which won the Grand Prix in Cannes and, in a lucky bit of timing, was just selected to represent France in the International Feature Film category at the upcoming Oscars. That decision has made waves online, particularly on social media where multiple people have expressed a certain, shall we say, patriotic disappointment, due to the film being in Russian – even though it meets the eligibility criteria by being a predominantly French production (additionally, Zvyagintsev has resided in the country since 2022, having left Russia in the wake of the invasion of Ukraine). The animated film Iron Boy, a vivacious coming-of-age tale that was also in consideration for the Oscar slot, is part of the lineup as well.

Closing duties, meanwhile, have fallen upon Eric Toledano and Olivier Nakache and their comedy Just an Illusion, a loosely autobiographical family escapade set in 1985, and the duo’s return to form after the not-so-exciting The Specials (2019), which nonetheless won the Audience Award in San Sebastián, and A Difficult Year (2023), both of which flirted with a more dramatic form (with A Difficult Year also struggling to mine comedy out of the then still fairly fresh pandemic experience). Fans of Louis Garrel’s sillier side, and of his dance moves, will be pleased to know they’re in for a treat.

And then there’s the Retrospective, which for the second consecutive year – after Lillian Hellman in 2025 – focuses on a writer. Specifically, it’s all about José Giovanni, a man whose criminal past added plenty of flavor to his crime fiction, which later turned into a successful career as a screenwriter for the likes of Claude Sautet, Henri Verneuil, Jean-Pierre Melville, and others. He also went on to be a director in his own right, and the San Sebastián audience will get to witness the evolution of his creative journey across 20 films, a fascinating example of great art coming from a not-so-great person (somewhat controversially, while never concealing the fact he had been a convicted criminal, Giovanni carefully omitted his collaboration with the Nazis until it was revealed decades later). Allons-y!