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| Sundays took home the Golden Shell Photo: Courtesy of San Sebastian Film Festival |
Homegrown drama Sundays (Los Domingos) took home the top prize at the San Sebastian Film Festival tonight. The Golden Shell winner sees a teenager (Blanca Soroa) lock horns with older members of her family, as she contemplates becoming a nun. It also won the Basque Film Award and the FIPRESCI critics' award.
The director Alauda Ruiz de Azúa said: "I love cinema because it always teaches me that you can look at things from another place, that you can look at them differently or try to understand something that is foreign or different from you. Trying to understand something doesn't mean validating it or legitimizing it, but we live in a world where there are always people different from you. That's why it's worth it for cinema to be a space for encounter, reflection, and debate."
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| Alauda Ruiz de Azúa with her Golden Shell Photo: Courtesy of San Sebastian Film Festival |
Belgian director Joachim Lafosse also had plenty to celebrate as his drama Six Days In Spring took home Silver Shells for Best Directing and Best Screenplay, which sees a single mum take her twin sons to their grandparents summer residence without permission. There was also a Special Mention for José Luis Guerin's documentary Good Valley Stories, which charts life for the residents in the historically marginalised Barcelona community of Vallbona in Barcelona.
The Silver Shell for Best Performance was shared by Zhao Xiaohong for Her Hearts Beats in Its Cage, and Jose Ramon Soroiz for Maspalomas, which is chiefly set in San Sebastian itself.
Other notable winners included Audience Award winner, Kaouther Ben Hania's The Voice Of Hind Rajab, which uses actual audio of an emergency call from a young girl in Gaza to the Red Crescent. It caused a stir in Venice, where many critics felt it should have taken the top prize.
One of the film's stars Motaz Malhees said: "This award means that the heart of our audience has heard the voice of Hind Rajab. They are hearts that have decided to raise their voice and refuse to remain silent. We dedicate it to the family of Hind Rajab, who will cherish her memory, and to the people of the Red Crescent who risk their lives daily even if it is to save one life."
The New Directors Award went to Danish filmmaker Emilie Thalund for Weightless, which explores the complexity of teenage desire and exploitation at a summer camp.
The full list of winners is below:
- Golden Shell for Best Film: Sundays, by Alauda Ruiz de Azúa
- Special Jury Prize: Good Valley Stories, by José Luis Guerin
- Silver Shell for Best Director: Joachim Lafosse for Six Days In Spring
- Silver Shell for Best Leading Performance: (ex aequo) Zhao Xiaohong for Her Hearts Beats in Its Cage and Jose Ramon Soroiz for Maspalomas
- Silver Shell for Best Supporting Performance: Camila Plaate for Belén
- Jury Prize for Best Cinematography: Pau Esteve for Los Tigres
- Jury Prize for Best Screenplay: Joachim Lafosse, Chloé Duponchelle, Paul Ismaël for Six Days in Spring
- New Directors Award: Weightless, by Emilie Thalund
- Special Mention: Aro Berria, by Irati Gorostidi Agirretxe
- Horizontes Latinos Award: A Poet, by Simón Mesa Soto
- Special Mention: The Ivy, by Ana Cristina Barragán; A Loose End, by Daniel Hendler
- Zabaltegi-Tabakalera Award: The Ice Tower, by Lucile Hadžihalilović
- Special Mention: “Two Times João Liberada, by Paula Tomás Marques; Blue Heron, by Sophy Romvari
- Audience Award for Best Film: The Voice Of Hind Rajab, by Kaouther Ben Hania
- Audience Award for Best European Film: Little Amélie, by Maïlys Valladeania
- Irizar Basque Film Award: Sundays, by Alauda Ruiz de Azúa
- Culinary Zinema Award: Mam, by Nan Feix<.li>
- RTVE Another Look Award: The Currents, by Milagros Mumenthaler
- Special Mention: Belén, by Dolores Fonzi
- Spanish Cooperation Award: Good Valley Stories, by José Luis Guerin
Awards already announced:
- FIPRESCI Award: Sundays
- Nest the Mediapro Studio Award: How to Listen to Fountains, Eva Sajanová
- Special Mention: The Old Bull Knows, or Once Knew, Milan Kumar
- Movistar Plus+ Award for Best Short Film: The Loneliness of Lizards, Inês Nunes
- Tabakalera Short Film Award: Life is Like That and Not Otherwise, Lenia Friedrich
- Euskadi Basque Country 2030 Agenda Award: The Voice of Hind Rajab, Kaouther Ben Hania
- Zinemaldia Startup Challenge Best Spanish Project: Quickets, Felipe Ortiz
- Zinemaldia Startup Challenge Best European Project: Novel Fire Masks Engineered With 3D Technology, Raoul Peltier
- Zinemaldia Startup Challenge Special Mention for Entrepreneurship: Quickets, Felipe Ortiz
- WIP Latam Industry Award: Flies, Fernando Eimbcke
- Egeda Platino Industria Award For The Best WIP Latam: We Were No Longer Five, Esteban Hoyos Garcia, Juan Miguel Gelacio Ramirez
- WIP Europa Industry Award: February, Seven Days, Tatjana Moutchnik
- WIP Europa Award: February, Seven Days, Tatjana Moutchnik
- XIII Europe-Latin America Co-production Forum Best Project Award: Do Not Let Me Die Alone, Francisco Rodriguez Teare
- DALE! Award: What Follows Is My Death, Laura Baumeister
- Artekino International Award: La Piel del Léon, Alvaro Brechner
- Ikusmira Berriak Award: La Koreana, Un Poema Ferromagnética de Luz y Memoria, Joana Moya Blanco
- Casa Wabi-ESCINE Award: Do Not Let Me Die Alone, Francisco Rodriguez Teare
- QCinema Award: What Follows Is My Death, Laura Baumeister
- Music Library & SFX Award: Mariana X BHP, Renan Flumian
- Euroregional Documentary Award:Altxaliliak, Maia Iribarne Olhagarai
- Epe-Ibaia-Elkargi Award: La Increíble Historia de Una Película Que No Hemos VistoBarrabas,
- Claudia Chávez Levano, Christine Mladic Janney
- Eusko Label Micro Short Film Award: Hatsa, Josu Ozaita Azpiroz
- Runner-up: Gatz Harana, Saioa Miguel
