Aronofsky, Baker, Guédiguian, Haneke, Koreeda, McDonagh, Ramsay and Virzì, among others: the Pearls selection

Ten new titles complete the Pearls section at the San Sebastian Festival’s 65th edition, to include the latest films from Darren Aronofsky, Sean Baker, Robert Guédiguian, Michael Haneke, Hirokazu Koreeda, Xavier Legrand, Martin McDonagh, Janus Metz, Lynne Ramsay and Paolo Virzì. All will compete for the City of Donostia / San Sebastian Audience Award, decided thanks to the votes cast by spectators.

Mother!, starring Jennifer Lawrence, Javier Bardem and Michelle Pfeiffer, is the latest film from Darren Aronofsky (New York, 1969), the maker of Pi (1998), Best Director Award at Sundance; the cult movie Requiem for a Dream (2000); The Wrestler (2008), Golden Lion in Venice; and Black Swan, Academy Award for Best Actress (Natalie Portman). His latest production is a psychological thriller that will compete at the coming Venice Festival.

The Florida Project was one of the most applauded films at the last Cannes Festival, where it participated in the Directors’ Fortnight. Here, Sean Baker (Summit, United States, 1971) tells us about the summer holidays spent by a six year-old girl and her friends, while the adults around them struggle through hard times, after presenting at Sundance 2015 Tangerine, his fourth feature and the first to be completely shot with an iPhone, which harvested around twenty awards.

The author of Marius et Jeannette / Marius and Jeanette (1997), Best Actress César for Ariane Ascaride; Marie-Jo et ses 2 amours / Marie-Jo and Her Two Lovers (2002), which competed at Cannes; and Les neiges du Kilimandjaro / The Snows of Kilimanjaro (2012), selected for Un Certain Regard, congregates his regular accomplices on the cast of La villa / The House by the Sea. Robert Guédiguian (Marseille, France, 1953) brings a tale of three siblings who reunite at their father’s house in a small cove near Marseille at the height of winter, and which will compete in Venice. In 1998 Guédiguian won the Special Jury Prize for À la place du Coeur / Where the Heart Is in San Sebastian, to which he returned in 2004 with Mon père est ingenieur / My Father is an Engineer.  

Michael Haneke (Munich, Germany, 1942), one of the essential directors of today’s cinema, will present Happy End. The author of Funny Games (1997), La pianiste / The Piano Teacher (2001), Das Weisse Band /The White Ribbon (2009) and Amour / Love (2012) has been acclaimed throughout his career with around a hundred awards coming from festivals and international accolades. Happy End, his snapshot from the life of a bourgeois European family, was selected for the Cannes Official Selection.   

Hirokazu Koreeda (Tokyo, 1962), who has competed four times for the Golden Shell -Wandafuru raifu / After Life (1998), Hana yori mo naho / Hana (2006), Aruitemo, aruitemo / Still Walking (2008) and Kiseki  / I Wish (2011), winner of the Best Screenplay Award – has won San Sebastian’s Audience Award twice: in 2013 with Soshite chichi ni naru / Like Father Like Son and in 2015 with Umimachi Diary / Our Little Sister. In Sando-me no satsujin / The Third Murder, to compete at Venice, he follows a lawyer who doubts his client’s guilt.

Xavier Legrand, whose short Avant que de tout perdre won the César, four awards at Clermont-Ferrand and landed an Academy Award nomination, debuts in feature films with the story of a son of divorced parents with his shared custody. Jusqu’à la garde / Custody has been selected for the official selection in Venice.

Martin McDonagh (Camberwell, United Kingdom, 1970) won, with Six Shooter (2004), the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film. His first feature film, In Bruges (2008), won the BAFTA for Best Original Screenplay and an Oscar nomination in the same category, and his second, Seven Psychopaths (2012) received the Audience Award in Toronto’s Midnight Madness section. In Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, to compete at Venice, he narrates the confrontation between a woman (Frances McDormand), whose daughter was murdered months ago without the culprit being arrested, and the local police, headed by two officers played by Woody Harrelson and Sam Rockwell.

After placing his camera in a Danish regiment in Afghanistan (Armadillo) and shooting an episode of the series True Detective, Janus Metz (Denmark, 1974) presents Borg/McEnroe. The film, to open Toronto Festival, recreates the 1980 Wimbledon final between the Swedish and North American tennis players.

Lynne Ramsay (Glasgow, United Kingdom,1969) competed at Cannes with her previous film We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011), winner of Best Director at the British Independent Film Awards and Best European Actress Award (Tilda Swinton). You Were Never Really Here, written and directed by the Scottish filmmaker, was acknowledged with the Best Screenplay and Best Actor (Joaquin Phoenix) Awards at the last Cannes Festival.

Paolo Virzì (Livorno, Italy, 1964) is one of today’s most important Italian directors. Some of his most remarkable films are Il capitale umano / Human Capital (2013), winner of the David di Donatello Awards for Best Screenplay, Director and Actress, and his penultimate work, La pazza gioia / Like Crazy (2016), winner of the David for Best Film and, once again, Best Director and Best Actress. The Leisure Seeker, starring Helen Mirren and Donald Sutherland, is his first film shot in the USA and will compete at Cannes.

These titles join the others already announced: Teströl és lékekröl / On Body and Soul by Ilkidó Eneydi; Nelyubov / Loveless by Andrey Zvyagintsev; 120 battements par minute (120 BMP) / 120 Beats Per Minute, by Robin Campillo; Wonderstruck, by Todd Haynes; The Big Sick, by Michael Showalter; Call Me By Your Name, by Luca Guadagnino; and Loving Pablo, by Fernando León de Aranoa, which will close the section out of competition.

The City of Donostia / San Sebastian Audience Award is split into two accolades: the Best Film Award, with 50,000 euros, and the Best European Film, with 20,000 euros.