07/07/2023 - The directors' new works will be screened at the 71st edition of the Basque festival, which will take place from 22 to 30 September

The San Sebastián International Film Festival has started to announce the films selected in competition for the 71st Golden Shell, which will take place from 22 to 30 September. The eagerly awaited new films from three acclaimed European directors, Cristi Puiu, Joachim Lafosse and Robin Campillo, which have been on the Cannes shortlist for months, spearhead this first preview.

The new project from the Romanian Cristi Puiu, one of the leading figures in his country's cinema and a regular at the main festivals (whose last work, Malmkrog [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Cristi Puiu
film profile], received the award for Best Director in the Encounters section at the Berlinale), is MMXX [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Cristi Puiu
film profile]. A choral film about the misadventures of various characters such as a young therapist, her client, her brother, her husband and an organised crime inspector.

The experienced Emmanuelle Devos and Daniel Auteuil star in the latest film by Belgian director Joachim Lafosse, whose previous work The Restless [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Joachim Lafosse
film profile] was in competition at Cannes, and who has already won the Silver Shell for Best Director for The White Knights [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Joachim Lafosse
film profile]. A Silence [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Joachim Lafosse
film profile] focuses on the wife of an acclaimed lawyer, whose family stability suddenly collapses when her children initiate their search for justice.

The French filmmaker Robin Campillo arrives with Red Island [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], after winning the Grand Prix of the Jury at Cannes with 120 Beats Per Minute [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Arnaud Valois
interview: Robin Campillo
film profile], which was also expected at the French festival. The film, which will be released in its two countries of origin when it competes for the Golden Shell, explores the last throes of French colonialism in the 1970s and in Madagascar, through a young married couple (played by Nadia Tereszkiewicz and Quim Gutiérrez) and their son.

Two films with a majority Argentinean production and European co-production have also been announced: Puan [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Benjamín Naishtat and María…
film profile], the first joint project from María Alché (the film selected in the Cineasti section at Locarno A Family Submerged [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]) and Benjamín Naishtat (who already received the Silver Shell for Best Director for his last film Rojo [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Benjamín Naishtat
film profile]) and The Practice [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Martín Rejtman
film profile], by the veteran Martín Rejtman (Silvia Prieto, selected in competition at Locarno for his latest film Two Gun Shots [+see also:
trailer
film profile]). The selection is completed by two American productions, the first feature film by Raven Jackson, All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt, a production by A24 and Barry Jenkins' company Pastel, which competed in January at Sundance after having been developed in the Ikusmira Berriak at the same festival, and Ex-Husbands, by Noah Pritzker.

The selected titles:

Competition

Puan [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Benjamín Naishtat and María…
film profile] - María Alché, Benjamín Naishtat (Argentina/Italy/Germany/France/Brazil)
Red Island [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] - Robin Campillo (France/Belgium)
All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt - Raven Jackson (United States)
A Silence [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Joachim Lafosse
film profile] - Joachim Lafosse (Belgium/France/Luxembourg)
Ex-Husbands - Noah Pritzker (United States)
MMXX [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Cristi Puiu
film profile] - Cristi Puiu (Romania/Moldavia/France)
The Practice [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Martín Rejtman
film profile] - Martín Rejtman (Argentina/Chile/Portugal)

(Translated from Spanish by Vicky York)