Hidden Gem No More: San Sebastián Film Festival Found Its Sweet Spot
José Luis Rebordinos.
Courtesy of San Sebastian International Film Festival/Karlos Corbella
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If you’ve spent time on the film festival circuit, you’re probably aware of the “hidden gem” reputation of the San Sebastián International Film Festival. The “gem” part is easy to explain: global cinema, glittery stars, enthusiastic locals, a size that allows for real connections, world-renowned cuisine and the inimitable charm of this bay-set Basque city. It’s the “hidden” part of the equation that raises some eyebrows.
After 73 editions, San Sebastián still remains slightly off the radar for some in the industry, shadowed by its bigger European counterparts. Despite its melding of international auteurs and A-list celebrities, SSIFF is sometimes pigeonholed as mostly focused on Spain and Latin America. Timing is also not in its favor: The September fest comes on the heels of Venice and sometimes overlaps with Toronto, meaning it battles titans for world premieres.
“I think one of the San Sebastián Film Festival’s strengths is its awareness of its core characteristics and its refusal to try to be anything else,” says SSIFF director José Luis Rebordinos, who will retire after 15 years following this fall’s 74th edition (Sept. 18-26), to be replaced at the helm by current deputy director Maialen Beloki.
“We can’t be a major market, but we can have interesting industry activities like the Europe-Latin America Co-Production Forum or the Investors’ Conference,” Rebordinos continues. “We can’t have the year’s biggest American releases as premieres, but we can showcase some of them with members of their teams in parallel sections.”
In other words, the event has found its sweet spot. “We are a festival with a large enough audience to interest both the industry and critics, but small enough to feel human and welcoming,” Rebordinos says. “We work with humility, and our slogan is ‘We are the smallest of the greats.’ ”
San Sebastián regulars agree: “Everybody thinks of Cannes and Venice and Berlin, but it’s the smaller festivals like San Sebastián that people will gravitate toward,” says Christine Vachon, co-founder of New York-based Killer Films. “Those are the festivals where you actually get to spend time with filmmakers, local artists and financiers.”
The festival was recognized with “A” status in 1957, just four years after it launched. Early visitors included luminaries like Federico Fellini, Alfred Hitchcock, Jean-Luc Godard, Kirk Douglas, Audrey Hepburn and Elizabeth Taylor. The lifetime achievement Donostia Award, created in 1986, has drawn big names like Gregory Peck, Bette Davis, Lauren Bacall, Al Pacino and Anthony Hopkins.
Last year saw two firsts: the youngest-ever awardee — Jennifer Lawrence — and the first producer honoree (Esther García, Pedro Almodóvar’s in-house executive). Accepting her Donostia, Lawrence called it “really special” to be “at a festival where people genuinely love cinema — the storytelling art and the soul of the movies.”
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The festival’s industry events have expanded over the years. They include the Creative Investors’ Conference (heading into its fifth year, in collaboration with CAA Media Finance), the Europe-Latin America Co-Production Forum and a host of other initiatives focused on new directors, works in progress, startups and more. Last year’s edition welcomed just over 2,400 professionals accredited from more than 1,500 companies across 65 countries.
“The Europe-Latin America Co-Production Forum has been a great success for years now,” Rebordinos highlights. “Selecting only around 16 projects is difficult due to the high quality of the submissions. More and more members of the industry are participating in this event. The Investors’ Conference has also become a key event, bringing together some of the most important names in global film production and investment.”
SSIFF is also the crown jewel of the fast-growing regional Basque industry. &ldq