The San Sebastian International Film Festival (SSIFF) continues to offer French films high visibility, with 13 feature films included in its selection this year.
Whether in the Official Selection, tributes, preview screenings, or on closing night, films by directors Abdellatif Kechiche, Bertrand Tavernier, François Dupeyron, Jean-Pierre Jeunet, François Ozon, Albert Dupontel, and Jean-Marie and Arnaud Larrieu will be in the spotlight at the 61st edition of the San Sebastian International Film Festival (SSIFF), to be held September 20 through 28, 2013.
This year, thirteen French majority productions and co-productions will be showcased at the event, including three titles in the Official Selection:
- Quai d'Orsay by Bertrand Tavernier and One of a Kind by François Dupeyron are both selected in competition, and will be accompanied by their creative crew members.
- The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet, the latest offering from Jean-Pierre Jeunet, will be screened as closing film on September 28.
At an opening gala event held September 20, representatives from the International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI) will present the Grand Prize for Best Film of the Year to Abdellatif Kechiche for Blue is the Warmest Color. This prize is the result of votes cast by 245 film critics worldwide, members of FIPRESCI, for titles premiered during the previous twelve months. The winning film will be presented in a special screening. Previous high-profile winners of this award include Pedro Almodóvar, Jean-Luc Godard, Michael Haneke, Roman Polanski, and Terrence Malick.
The Pearls section will showcase the latest films by François Ozon (Young & Beautiful), Rithy Panh (The Missing Picture), Albert Dupontel (9 Month Stretch)—which the director will present together with his lead actress Sandrine Kiberlain—and Arnaud and Jean-Marie Larrieu (Love Is the Perfect Crime), to be screened in the presence of the directors and actor Mathieu Amalric.
The Dune by Yossi Aviram, a French majority co-production, is included in the New Directors section, while the producers of Minuscule: Valley of the Lost Ants will accompany their film, which will be presented in the Zabaltegi section.
And finally, the thematic retrospective Animatopia will give audiences the chance to savor different aspects of the world of avant-garde animated cinema, and includes Waltz with Bachir by Ari Folman, The Painting by Jean-François Laguionie (screened in his presence), and the collective work Fear(s) of the dark.
We can also note the presence of Valeria Bruni-Tedeschii at the event, as a jury member.
