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| Mike Leigh's Tender Loving Care will be in competition Photo: Courtesy of San Sebastian Film Festival |
It will be the last edition from long-time head José Luis Rebordinos, who will be succeeded by Maialen Beloki, who has been one of the festival's deputy directors since 2016, when he steps down at the end of the year.
Films from Benjamín Naishtat, Hans Petter Moland and Yeşim Ustaoğlu will also compete for the Golden Shell, along with the debut from Maha Harada.
The latest announcement sees them join three other Spanish films in competition: Mikel Gurrea's Saints, Javier Ruiz Caldera's 5 More Minutes and El Mal Padre (which translates as The Bad Father) directed by Roberto Bueso.
Leigh previously competed in the Official Selection with Hard Truths in 2024 and now returns with Tender Loving Care, which stars Marion Bailey, Paul Jesson, Kate O’Flynn, and Alice Bailey Johnson. Few details on the film are available, with the festival saying it offers an "insightful exploration of the contemporary world".
Chilean director Larraín, who has presented several films at San Sebastian, including Tony Manero and Post Mortem, returns to San Sebastian with My Sad Dead. Shot as a series, it will be screened at the Festival in its feature-length format and stars Mercedes Morán, Dolores Fonzi and Carolina Álvarez. It is based on four short stories by Mariana Enríquez, and tells the story of Ema, a woman with the ability to see and hear the dead.
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| Glaxo is set in 1957 Photo: Courtesy of San Sebastian Film Festival |
Naishat, who previously won a Silver Shell for Best Director with Rojo and best screenplay, along with María Alché, for Puan, returns with Glaxo. Starring Marcelo Subiotto, who previously won best performance at the festival for Puan, alongside Lali Espósito, it is set in 1957, where the arrival of a sinister ex-police inspector and his seductive wife in a quiet Argentinian town shatters the bond between four young friends.
Norwegian filmmaker Hans Petter Moland returns to the Official Selection with Growth Of tThe Soil, a story set in northern Norway about a couple who must put their love to the test when faced with looming challenges. He previously won a Special Jury Prize at the festival in 1995 with Zero Kelvin.
Completing the latest announcement, Ustaoğlu, who won the Golden Shell in 2008 for Pandora's Box, brings What Remains, which traces a female poet as she shakes of the shackles of her life to reconnect with herself; and Harada brings debut In My Father's Room, based on her novel An Unnecessary Man, about a museum worker who receives a mysterious key that unlocks the room once used by her late father.
As previously announced, the Official Selection will also feature, out of competition, the series El Castillo, written by Isabel Peña and Eduardo Villanueva and directed by Elena Martín Gimeno and Sandra Romero. There will also be Special Screenings of The Last Goodbye, from Koldo Almandoz; Pray for Us, from Daniel Monzón, The Harvester, from David Pérez Sañudo, and Bajañí, from Fernando Trueba, as well as the series Beyond Society, from Carlos Torres.
Latest additions with festival descriptions:
● 7:40 ce matin-là/Milo, Nicole Garcia (Algeria), Cast: Marion Cotillard, Théodore Pellerin, Artus , Laure Calamy, Alexis Manenti, Anne Brochet, Eric Elmosnino, Charles Berling
Alice arrives in a quiet provincial town and takes a job at a local café, blending easily into a life that isn’t hers. Her presence is no coincidence. She is there because of Milo, a young mechanic who works at a nearby garage. To him, Alice is a stranger. To her, he is someone tied to a past she has never truly left behind. As buried tensions begin to surface and Milo drifts toward uncertain ground, both are pushed to a crossroads: is it possible to rebuild a bond that shattered decades ago?
● Artakalan/What Remains, Yeşim Ustaoğlu (Turkey), Cast: Öykü Karayel, Metin Akdülger, Ali Kayra Kul, İlyas Salman
A poetess breaks out of her suffocating life in order to get back in touch with her inner voice and conscience, questioning accustomed concepts of family and the meaning of life and paving a new path for her family members, as well.
● Glaxo, Benjamín Naishtat (Argentina), Cast: Lali Espósito, Marcelo Subiotto, Esteban Bigliardi, Esteban Lamothe, Manu Fanego, Alan Sabbagh
Chivilcoy, 1957. In a quiet Argentinian town, the arrival of an ominous former police commissioner and his seductive wife fractures the bond between four inseparable young men. Decades later, the past resurfaces, forcing them to confront old wounds, guilt, and the possibility of revenge in a country which has lost its innocence.
● Markens Grode/Growth of the Soil, Hans Petter Moland (Norway), Cast: Herbert Nordrum, Asta Kamma August, Gard B. Eidsvold
A stranger appears over the mountain, carrying little more than his determination. Isak, a man without a past, seeks a place to settle and carve life from the earth. High above the tree line, he finds a barren stretch of land, as unforgiving as it is full of promise. The land tests him to his limits, until he meets Inger, a solitary woman shaped by resilience and quiet secrecy. Together, they endure the elements and build a life, cultivating both the soil and a growing family as the seasons turn. Yet as years pass and the world closes in, and time, hardship, and desire reshape them.
● Mis muertos tristes/My Sad Dead, Pablo Larraín (Chile), Cast: Mercedes Morán, Dolores Fonzi, Carolina Álvarez
Based on the work from Mariana Enriquez, My Sad Dead follows Ema, who can see and hear the dead. After her mother’s death, Ema receives an unexpected visit from her niece Julie, with whom she shares the same unsettling gift. With Julie’s return, family secrets and wounds that never fully healed will resurface - but so will a strange phenomenon from which no one will emerge unscathed. The entire neighborhood will sense presences and hear the distinctive sounds of their own dead.
● Muyou no hito/In My Father’s Room, Maha Harada (Japan), Cast: Yu Aoi, Issey Ogata, Eita Nagayama, Eri Watanabe
Satomi works at an art museum until an envelope arrives, containing a mysterious key. It leads to an unknown room once belonging to her late father, who died alone a month earlier. Drawn by this small object, she retraces his final days: a man seemingly left behind by society, yet sustained by a quiet devotion to words, the art of tea, and subtle beauty. Through the traces of his solitude, Satomi slowly discovers the quiet grace of the world he inhabited.
● Tender Loving Care, Mike Leigh (UK), Cast: Marion Bailey, Paul Jesson, Kate O’Flynn, Alice Bailey Johnson
Cannes Festival’s Palme d’Or winner and Academy Award nominee Mike Leigh returns with his next feature film, continuing his insightful exploration of the contemporary world.
