San Sebastian Posts a Vibrant 2024 Edition, Studded by Stars, Potential Breakouts and New Talent Discoveries 

SAN SEBASTIAN –  With its awards ceremony Saturday night, the San Sebastian Festival’s 72nd edition is heading into its final straits. Following, 10 takeaways from what looks like its biggest edition ever in star wattage, the caliber of Spanish filmmaking, and the number of deals reported by Variety, set in the context of vertiginous change in international independent film and TV landscape.           

San Sebastian 2024: The Stars Align

Johnny Depp visited kids in a San Sebastian hospital dressed as Jack Sparrow; Javier Bardem teared up remembering his mother, the exemplary Pilar Bardem; Pedro Almodóvar remembered back 44 years to his first San Sebastian, performing at disco Ku and ending up on the beach at 8 in the morning. Cate Blanchett, accepting her Donostia Award, praised the “uncertainty which drives me.” 

Never before have so many stars descended on San Sebastian. Why? “I think two factors are at play,” San Sebastian Film Festival director José Luis Rebordinos told Variety. “The Festival has gained in strength and importance over years, which makes it more attractive to stars. Their attendance depends, however, very much on luck, related to their availability. Many times they want to come but during our dates have commitments,” he added. Maybe, one could venture, when less movies and series are getting made in Hollywood, especially on its challenged indie scene, more talent is currently available.

Buzz Titles

San Sebastian is also about new talent and Spanish-speaking movies. This year, these factors converged. Packing feminism, sharp and polished, “The Wailing” had more industry-minded pundits talking about its director, Pedro Martín-Calero, as yet another great genre auteur from Spain, with crossover international potential. “La guitarra flamenca de Yerai Cortés,” from Antón Álvarez, better known as singer-songwriter C. Tangana, was hailed as a dazzling and powerful debut. As San Sebastian wound down Friday, Alauda Ruiz de Azúa’s four-part “Querer,” a Movistar Plus+ original, was being acclaimed as the Spanish series of the year.   

The World’s Film, TV Industry: All Change

If there was one takeaway from the 3rd Creative Investor’s Conference, organized by San Sebastian and CAA Media Finance, it is that the same younger demos driving the post-COVID box office rebound in general are driving numbers for independent industry. That pivot is playing out worldwide. AMC Networks’ Scott Schooman drilled down on the U.S. speciality pic genre surge. In France, Charades’ Yohann Conte noted there’s now a larger audience for first-time directors. In Italy, “Rai Cinema’s Italian film slate used to be bourgeois drama. Now, that class doesn’t go to the cinema almost anymore. You make movies where the drama has been moved – to lower classes,” said Lorenzo Gangarosa, at Our Films.  

More Buzz Titles

In main competition, substantial doc-feature “Afternoons of Solitude” looks set to confirm “Pacifiction” director Albert Serra’s status as a major filmmaker, and could prove controversial, given its bullfighting subject. Pilar Palomero’s “The Glimmers” scored the highest rating on a Diario Vasco Spanish critics poll, followed by Laura Carreira’s “On Falling” and Mike Leigh’s already Toronto-consecrated “Hard Truths.” 

Xin Huo’s “Bound in Heaven” was a large audience favorite. Out of competition, “The Red Virgin” was praised for its across-the-board values. In New Directors, there was good word on Swiss film “Bagger Drama” while critics were asking if Pedro Almodovar’s “The Room Next Door” could mean his first Best Picture nomination…. 

Argentina Fights Back

Filmmakers from around Latin America and beyond met to protest at Javier Milei’s cuts to Argentine subsidies. With which Milei is shooting himself in the foot, curbing an industry identified by Europe and U.S. states as an economic growth driver. Argentine cinema is not quite dead. Pampa Films announced a corker: “Homo Argentum,” and producers around Europe and Latin America rallied to launch Lisandro Alonso’s next. The death of Argentine cinema, Milei notwithstanding, is currently slightly exaggerated. Most crucially, the abandonment of an exhibition quota, is already decimating Argentine movies’ theatrical runs.

Promoting Big Talent With Large Style

You can’t fault Spain’s ICEX with a lack of originality. As other governmental orgs run trad commercial ads, Spain’s export board has backed a seven-minute short, unveiled at San Sebastian, “La causa del accidente que provocó el incendio.” Playing in part like Carlos Saura’s “El Amor Brujo” on speed, but more meta, it turns on a young director caught in a panic attack that her short makes no sense at all. Featuring cameos from Cannes best actress winner Karla Sofía Gascón, J.A Bayona, Pacifiction’s Albert Serra, Elite’s Omar Ayuso, ICEX’s short does make large sense, fore-fronting Spain’s large talent. The Short is now bound for Mipcom, AFM and the Busan festival. 

Spain, More Recognition At Last

Just days after a Netflix data dump recognized Spain as leading the surge in popularity in non-English film and series viewing, the Investors Conference underscored the dramatic contrast in the U.K. and Spain as filmmaking nations as the latter’s muscular tax incentives become a byword for Europe’s fulsome soft moneys. This, however, is not throwing good money after bad, said an Olsberg·SPI report unveiled that these productions spent a minimum of €1.32 billion ($1.47 billion) in the Spanish audiovisual economy over 2109-22, which in turn generated an estimated minimum of €1.8 billion ($2.4 billion) in Gross Value Added (GVA) contributions to the national economy. Little wonder the Spanish government views audio-visual as a priority growth sector.

Let’s Hear It for Animation, and Especially Miyazaki 

2023 was the best year in for Goodfellas’ Maraval and ex-Wild Bunch honcho in the last 25 years. Much of that was because of animated feature “The Boy and the Heron” which grossed $47 million in the U.S. The question is whether the film made the money due to being animation or being Hayao Miyazaki latest and most probable last. Yet, “when it comes to animation, for some reason we never lost €1 on animation. But we’re still trying to figure out why,” Yohann Conte at Charades, a doyen of European animation sales agents, handling “Mirai” and “I Lost My Body,” said at the Creative Investors’ Conference. If adult, the key to animation is its potent potential value in second and third windows, especially streamers. Some international family animation indie movies do break out, however, such as this week “Buffalo Kids.” 

The Long Shadow of AI

Every pitch, roundtable and watercooler discussion at San Sebastián’s 5th high tech Startup Challenge competition seemed to center on AI. Many included assurances that their software was developed within an ethical and legal framework. When it wasn’t addressed during a pitch, the first question from the event’s panels of judges was often about the legality of the product being promoted. Nearly half of the pitches were designed not only for large media companies but included B2C business plans for solo digital-first content creators such as YouTubers, influencers and independent animators.   

And the Deals

30-or-more deals reported by Variety in the run-up to or duration of San Sebastián, including 30 news exclusives:

*Javier Bardem announced he will star in “El Ser Querido” from “The Beasts” director Rodrigo Sorogoyen, one of Movistar Plus+ six toils on its first “event auteur” movie slate. 

*Netflix revealed new projects at San Sebastián, from “Cable Girls” showrunner Ramón Campos and “Cross the Line” director David Victori, noticeably both genre propositions.

*Max sneak peeked its first Spanish original, Enrique Urbizu’s crime thriller series “When No One Sees Us,” which wowed for its high quality cinematographic style.  

*Pampa Films unveiled “Homo Argentum,” starring “The Clan’s” Guillermo Francella, and directed by Official Competition’s Mariano Cohn and Gastón Duprat who promise a “mordant” take on modern-day Argentine life.   

*Another corker from Argentina. Lisandro Alonso is set to direct a sequel to his lauded debut “La libertad,” set up at Fortuna Films, Planta, Deptford Film, The Match Factory and Les Films Fauves, with more partners welcome. 

*Brazilian actors Alice Braga (“Queen of the South“) and Bianca Comparato (“3%”) have joined forces to launch South, a new production label based out of Los Angeles, New York and São Paulo. First up: Gabriela Amaral Almeida’s body-horror story “She, Crocodile.”

*Warner Bros. Discovery U.K. has confirmed a wide theatrical release plan in the U.K. and Ireland for the Spanish animated feature “Buffalo Kids” from producers 4 Cats Pictures whose “Mummies” grossed $54 million worldwide. CMG closed the deal. 

*Nahuel Pérez Biscayart and Spain’s Mona Martínez are set to lead an international cast for Luxbox’s latest acquisition, “Narciso,” directed by Marcelo Martinessi (“The Heiresses”).

*In new news, Spanish streaming service Filmin bought Spanish distribution rights to Akaki Popkhadze’s New Directors player “In the Name of Blood,” sold by Urban Sales. At San Sebastian, Spain’s top indie platform also acquired Athina Rachel Tsangari’s “Harvest,” from The Match Factory; Giovanni Tortorici’s “Diciannove” (Playtime) and Pathe-sold biopic “Limonov. La Ballade,” directed by Kirill Serebrennikov.  

*Following a fruitful experience with Trueba’s previous comedy “Jokes and Cigarettes,” (“Saben Aquell,“) Atresmedia Cine, the film arm of Spanish broadcaster Atresmedia, is backing “Siempre es invierno,” Trueba’s adaptation of his taboo-busting novel “Blitz.”

*Beta Fiction Spain has tapped director Arantxa Echevarría for “Dolores,” a portrait of Dolores Ibarruri, La Pasionaria, a worldwide icon of the workers’ movement and struggle against fascism.

*Films Boutique took international on Albert Serra’s “Afternoons of Solitude,” a main competition standout.

*In the run-up to San Sebastian, Latido Films secured rights to Antón Álvarez’s buzzy directorial debut, “La guitarra flamenca de Yerai Cortés.”

*In acquisitions, Visit Films has picked up the international rights for Cecilia Atán and Valeria Pivato’s “Surfacing,” a player in San Sebastián’s New Directors. 

*Film Constellation boarded “Chaplin, Spirit of the Tramp,” helmed by none other than Chaplin’s granddaughter.

*In moves towards consolidation, Isaki Lacuesta and Isa Campo’s La Termita has launched a production alliance with Sara Gonzalo’s Accidental.

*Basque production outfit Amania Films (“Ane Is Missing”) and Andalusia’s La Claqueta (“The Endless Trench”) have launched a new strategic partnership to increase both companies’ presence in the Spanish audiovisual marketplace and further abroad.

*Latido Films, not slowing down, nabbed “As Silence Passes By,” one of Spain’s most anticipated 2024 debuts, while snapping up “Freedom to Dreams,” a tribute to sculptor Eduardo Chillida by leading Spanish doc helmer Arantxa Aguirre.

*FilmSharks has boarded Sandra Gugliotta’s “Irremediable” from Argentina’s Magma Cine.

*MPM Premium grabbed international rights for “A Yard of Jackals,” a Chilean thriller fronted by Néstor Cantillana and Blanca Lewin. 

* Pink Parrot Media has boarded distribution on the animated climate change doc “Black Butterflies.”

*Meanwhile, Filmax nabbed international on both “Time of Silence,” about literary giant Luis Martin Santos, and on broad Spanish comedy “Hotel Bitcoin.” 

*U.K.-French film company Alief has boarded supernatural drama “Horizonte” by Colombia’s César Augusto Acevedo, winner of the 2015 Cannes Camera d’Or for “Land and Shade.”

*Spain’s Feelsales has clinched international sales rights to “Bad Hair” helmer Mariana Rondón’s latest pic, “Zafari.” 

*Esther Acebo, best known for playing Stockholm in Netflix’s global smash hit “Money Heist,” has signed on to star in Nestor Ruiz Medina‘s upcoming feature “In the End, Everything Will Be Fine.”

*In co-production projects, celebrated Argentine filmmaker Victoria Galardi returned to the San Sebastian Film Festival with her latest film in development, “The Hedgehogs “(“Los Erizos”), plumbing a couple’s separation.

*Bolivian filmmaker Martin Boulocq has tapped Uruguay’s Cimarrón Cine, part of The Mediapro Studio, for “The Strange Woman,” a surrogate motherhood drama set in a Bolivia torn by upheaval.

*France’s Caractères and Chile’s Planta have teamed up for “Hard Boiled School,” by Hernán Rosselli. 

*Similarly, France’s Still Moving has joined forces with Uruguay’s Monarca for Cannes Discovery nominee Pablo Lamar’s project “Remanso.”

*France’s Dublin Films is backing “A Different Garden,” a childhood drama from Colombian writer-director Mariana Gil Ríos.