San Sebastian announces Pearls

Section to open with The Zone Of Interest

by Amber Wilkinson

The Zone Of Interest will open the Pearls section
The Zone Of Interest will open the Pearls section Photo: Courtesy of San Sebastian Film Festival

Cannes Palme d'Or winner, Grand Prix and Grand Jury Prize winners Anatomy Of A Fall, The Zone Of Interest and Fallen Leaves, respectively, are among the films selected for this year's Pearls section at San Sebastian Film Festival.

Jonathan Glazer's The Zone Of Interest - an adaptation of the Martin Amis novel about a German family who live next to Auschwitz - will open the section, in competition.

The section will close with Les indésirables, directed by Ladj Ly. Screening out of competition after its premiere in Toronto, it "reflects a community’s struggle to find the place where they belong".

A murder case drives the action in Justine Triet's Anatomy Of A Fall, while Aki Kaurismäki returns to the festival with his tale of two lonely people Fallen Leaves.

Other films of note in the line-up including Celine Song's critically acclaimed relationship drama Past Lives, along with Sundance World Cinema Documentary Grand Jury Prize-winner The Eternal Memory which charts a couple facing the challenge of Alzheimer's.

San Sebastian regular Hirokazu Kore-eda returns with Monster, while J A Bayona will bring Society Of The Snow, about an Andes plane crash, which is closing Venice Film Festival this year.

The Antipodes are also strongly represented by Craig Gillespie's Dumb Money, starring Paul Dano, Seth Rogen and Shailene Woodley, and Warwick Thornton's The New Boy, which screened earlier in the year at Cannes.

Matteo Garrone will bring a film to San Sebastian for the first time with I’m Captain, the tale of two youngsters who leave Dakar for Europe.

See the full line-up of the section here.

Share this with others on...

Movies out this week include:

Is This Thing On? Nouvelle Vague Primate Rabbit Trap
News

Home truths Marijana Janković on Balkan representation, and the immigrant question of belonging

The division belle Suzannah Herbert on facing the US' troubled history and making Natchez

Spin-off alchemy Claude Schmitz on bringing back cop pairing for Conrad & Crab – Idiotic Gems

Past crime Christoffer Boe on creating a world for his period mystery Special Unit - The First Murder

It Was Just An Accident screenwriter arrested in Iran Jafar Panahi speaks out

Sundance announces winners Josephine, Nuisance Bear, Shame And Money and To Hold A Mountain take top prizes

More news and features

Interact

As we move into 2026, don't forget that you can follow us on YouTube for trailers of festival films and more. You can also find us on Mastodon and Bluesky.

With awards season in full flow, you can keep track of the latest news on that here:

César nominations Nouvelle Vague leads the race for France's biggest awards

BAFTA nominations One Battle After Another and Sinners almost neck and neck

Critics' Circle Awards One Battle After Another wins fight

Oscars Sinners dominates the nominations