San Sebastian International Film festival announces eleven moviemakers from Argentina, China, France, Georgia, Spain, Thailand, Turkey and the USA will show their first and second films in the Festival’s New Directors section. All of them, together with the remaining few to be announced in the coming weeks, will compete for the Kutxabank-New Directors Award.
Gülizar / Gulizar, a Turkish-Kosovar co-production by Turkish moviemaker Belkis Bayrak(Istanbul, 1984), whose previous short films Apartman / The Apartment (2018) and Cemile(2021) have shown at several international competitions.
Roschdy Zem and Bella Kim star in the French-Korean co-production Hiver à Sokcho / Winter in Sokcho, the first film from French-Japanese director Koya Kamura (Paris, 1983), author of the short film Homesick (2019).
Sivaroj Kongsakul (Bangkok,1980) made his feature directorial debut with Eternity(2010), screened at festivals including Busan, Rotterdam and Hong Kong, and now presenting Regretfully at Dawn,.
Brûle le sang / In the Name of Blood, a French-Belgian-Austrian co-production, is the first work from Georgia’s Akaki Popkhadze (Tbilissi, 1991), author of shorts including Je vois (2018) and Ici en silence tout hurle / In Silence Everything Roars (2023).
Chinese moviemaker Yongkang Tang (Taiyuan, 1983), having directed Walking in Darkness (2019), premiered in the Bright Future section of the Rotterdam Festival, will participate in New Directors with his second film, Stars and the Moon.
Michael Tyburski (New York, 1984), who made his debut at Sundance Festival with The Sound of Silence (2019), will compete in the section with his second film, Turn Me On.
These films join the Spanish productions already announced, including the debuts La guitarra flamenca de Yerai Cortés, from Antón Álvarez (C. Tangana), opening film of New Directors, and Por donde pasa el silencio / Where the Silence Passes, from Sandra Romero. Additionally second features in the selection La llegada del hijo / The Arrival of the Son, from Cecilia Atán and Valeria Pivato (La novia del desierto / The Desert Bride), and Azken erromantikoak (Los últimos románticos), from David Pérez Sañudo (Ane).
All of these films will compete for the Kutxabank-New Directors Award, coming with 50,000 euros divided equally between the director and distributor of the film in Spain. The Kutxabank-New Directors Award is sponsored by Kutxabank, official collaborator of the Festival. The Kutxabank-New Directors Award Jury has the task of viewing and deciding the winning films. The works corresponding to the New Directors section are also candidates for the DAMA Youth Award, voted by a jury of 150 students between the ages of 18 and 25 years.
New Directors is an example of the San Sebastian Festival’s commitment to new talents; however, said commitment also extends to the screening of first and second works in all other sections, including the Official Selection, as well as the showing of first works in Nest, the competitive section for shorts by students from film schools all over the world.
Festival takes place September 20 – 28.
