Eye For Film >> Festivals >> SSFF >> 2009 >> Zabaltegi-Pearls

San Sebastian Film Festival 2009

The movies participating in Zabaltegi-Pearls will compete for the TCM Audience Award, with the exception of Woody Allen’s Whatever Works, which will be screened out-of-competition. Michael Haneke's The White Ribbon will also be given the FIPRESCI award.

View other San Sebastian Film Festival Films by strand: Cinema In Motion, Great Films For The Kids, Horizontes Latinos, Made In Spain, Official Selection, Velodrome, Zabaltegi-New Directors, Zabaltegi-Specials, Zinemira-Basque

Whatever Works Whatever Works
Whatever Works and London River
Desert Flower (Country: UK, Germany, Austria; Year: 2009; Director: Sherry Horman; Writer: Waris Dirie, Sherry Horman; Stars: Liya Kebede, Sally Hawkins, Craig Parkinson, Meera Syal, Anthony Mackie, Juliet Stevenson, Timothy Spall, Soraya Omar-Scego, Chris Wilson, Teresa Churcher, Eliezer Meyer, Nick Raio, Matt Kaufman, Prashant Prabhakar, Anna Hilgedieck)
A 13-year-old who discovers she's about to be married off flees Somalia for London but the move only offers temporary respite.
Five Minutes Of Heaven (Country: UK; Year: 2009; Director: Oliver Hirschbiegel; Writer: Guy Hibbert; Stars: Liam Neeson, James Nesbitt, Anamaria Marinca, Niamh Cusack, Conor MacNeill, Lalor Roddy, Barry McEvoy, Richard Dormer, Paul Kennedy, Jonathan Harden)
Two men from the same town but from different sides of the Irish political divide discover that the past is never dead - in fact it isn't even past.
Full Review
The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus (The Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus) (Country: France, Canada, UK; Year: 2009; Director: Terry Gilliam; Writer: Terry Gilliam, Charles McKeown; Stars: Johnny Depp, Heath Ledger, Colin Farrell, Jude Law, Christopher Plummer, Tom Waits, Verne Troyer, Carrie Genzel, Lily Cole, Cassandra Sawtell, Andrew Garfield, Quinn Lord, Michael Jonsson, Johnny Harris, Michael Eklund), Official Site, Trailer
A travelling show offers visitors the chance to choose between light and joy and darkness and doom.
Full Review See: Article about Heath Ledger and other stars who died in the middle of making films.
, Biography and obituary of Heath Ledger
Inglourious Basterds (Country: US, Germany; Year: 2009; Director: Quentin Tarantino; Writer: Quentin Tarantino; Stars: Brad Pitt, Samuel L Jackson, Diane Kruger, Eli Roth, Mike Myers, BJ Novak, Cloris Leachman, Julie Dreyfus, Samm Levine, Til Schweiger, Michael Fassbender, Mélanie Laurent, Daniel Brühl, Christian Berkel), Official Site, Trailer
A mercenary group sets out to hunt Nazis and try to assassinate Hitler during the Second World War.
Full Review
The Limits Of Control (Country: Spain, US, Japan; Year: 2009; Director: Jim Jarmusch; Writer: Jim Jarmusch; Stars: Isaach De Bankolé, Alex Descas, Jean-François Stévenin, Óscar Jaenada, Luis Tosar, Paz de la Huerta, Tilda Swinton, Youki Kudoh, John Hurt, Gael García Bernal, Hiam Abbass, Bill Murray, Héctor Colomé, María Isasi, Norma Yessenia Paladines), Trailer
A mysterious man shares coffee and conversation with people, writing down details on matchbook flaps. But what are his motives?
Full Review See: San Sebastian Film Festival report and reviews: Hadewijch, The Limits Of Control
Taking Woodstock Taking Woodstock
Taking Woodstock and Vengeance
London River (Country: UK, France; Year: 2009; Director: Rachid Bouchareb; Writer: Rachid Bouchareb; Stars: Brenda Blethyn, Sotigui Kouyaté, Sami Bouajila, Roschdy Zem), Official Site
Two parents from very different backgrounds hunt their missing children after the London terror attacks.
Full Review See: San Sebastian Film Festival: Day Seven report and reviews - London River, Yuki & Nina
Mother (Madeo) (Country: South Korea; Year: 2009; Director: Bong Joon Ho; Writer: Park Eun-kyo, Bong Joon Ho; Stars: Kim Hye-ja, Won Bin, Jin Gu)
A mother tries to prove her son's innocence.
Full Review See: San Sebastian Film Festival: Day Four Diary - Get Low, The Scouting Book For Boys and Mother
No One Knows About Persian Cats (Kasi az gorbehaye irani khabar nadareh) (Country: Iran; Year: 2009; Director: Bahman Ghobadi; Writer: Bahman Ghobadi, Hossein Mortezaeiyan, Roxana Saberi; Stars: Hamed Behdad, Ashkan Koohzad, Negar Shaghaghi)
Fiction meets documentary in this story of underground musicians in Tehran.
Full Review
A Prophet (Un prophète) (Country: France, Italy; Year: 2009; Director: Jacques Audiard; Writer: Thomas Bidegain and Jacques Audiard, based on an original screenplay by Abdel Raouf Dafri and Nicolas Peufaillit; Stars: Tahar Rahim, Niels Arestrup, Adel Bencherif, Reda Kateb, Hichem Yacoubi, Jean-Philippe Ricci, Gilles Cohen, Antoine Basler, Leïla Bekhti, Pierre Leccia, Foued Nassah, Jean-Emmanuel Pagni, Frédéric Graziani, Slimane Dazi), Official Site, Trailer
An illiterate teenager struggles when he is sent to jail, but after embarking on a series of "missions" for a gang leader, he begins to hatch plans of his own.
Full Review See: French Film Festival preview
Precious: Based On The Novel Push By Sapphire (Push: Based On The Novel By Sapphire, Precious, Precious: A Novel By Sapphire) (Country: US; Year: 2009; Director: Lee Daniels; Writer: Lee Daniels; Stars: Gabourey Sidibe, Paula Patton, Mo’Nique, Mariah Carey, Sherri Shepherd, Lenny Kravitz), Official Site
An obese teenager tries to escape from her hellish homelife with the help of an inspirational teacher.
Full Review See: Sundance Diary: Opening Night and Day One
Inglourious Basterds Inglourious Basterds
Inglourious Basterds and A Prophet
Taking Woodstock (Country: US; Year: 2009; Director: Ang Lee; Writer: James Schamus, Elliot Tiber, Tom Monte; Stars: Henry Goodman, Edward Hibbert, Imelda Staunton, Demetri Martin, Emile Hirsch, Paul Dano, Kelli Garner, Clark Middleton, Bette Henritze, Sondra James, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Christina Kirk, Gail Martino, Lee Wong, Adam LeFevre), Official Site, Trailer
The story of the youngster who set the wheels in motion for the iconic music festival.
Full Review
Vengeance (Country: Hong Kong, France; Year: 2009; Director: Johnnie To; Writer: Ka-Fai Wai; Stars: Johnny Hallyday, Sylvie Testud, Anthony Wong Chau-Sang, Ka Tung Lam, Suet Lam, Simon Yam, Siu-Fai Cheung, Felix Wong, Ting Yip Ng, Maggie Siu, Vincent Sze, Michelle Ye)
A chef - and former killer - returns to Hong Kong to avenge the deaths of his daughter's family.
Full Review
Whatever Works (Country: US, France; Year: 2009; Director: Woody Allen; Writer: Woody Allen; Stars: Larry David, Evan Rachel Wood, Patricia Clarkson, Ed Begley Jnr)
An misanthropic New Yorker develops a relationship with a young woman from Mississippi.
Full Review See: San Sebastian Film Festival 2009: Diary, Chloe, Inglourious Basterds and Whatever Works reviews
The White Ribbon (Das weiße Band Eine deutsche Kindergeschichte) (Country: Austria, Germany, France, Italy; Year: 2009; Director: Michael Haneke; Writer: Michael Haneke; Stars: Ernst Jacobi, Christian Friedel, Susanne Lothar, Leonie Benesch, Ulrich Tukur, Ursina Lardi, Burghart Klaussner, Rainer Bock, Josef Bierbichler, Branko Smarovski), Official Site, Trailer
Tensions in a German town on the eve of the First World War.
Full Review
Yuki & Nina (Country: France; Year: 2009; Director: Hippolyte Girardot, Nobuhiro Suwa; Writer: Hippolyte Girardot, Nobuhiro Suwa; Stars: Noë Sampy, Arielle Moutel, Marilyne Canto, Hippolyte Girardot, Tsuyu Shimizu)
A youngster whose parents are divorcing, runs away with her best friend.
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