The opening gala of the 70th San Sebastian Film Festival was held this evening. With a nod to its origins, recalling the first edition that took place on September 21, 1953, at the Kursaal Palace. After projecting some footage of the NO-DO of that event, the hosts of the gala, actors Loreto Mauleón and Paco León, invited on stage a group of women who, according to their own accounts, attended the occasion as dancers and received the performers. They announced that they could attend the screenings of all the films in the festival, although their fees were not paid.
The Gala was attended by the Third Vice President of the Government Nadia Calviño and the Minister of Culture and Sports Miquel Iceta and the team from Turkey. The opening film, ‘Model 77’, later shown by Alberto Rodriguez. Rodriguez remembered with emotion that he first attended the festival that presented ‘El factor Pilgrim’ more than twenty years ago, with an ensemble directed by Miguel Herrán and Javier Gutiérrez.
The jury of the official section, chaired by Argentine producer Matías Mosteirín – following the last-minute resignation of Glenn Close – consists of French casting director Antoinette Boulat, Danish director Tea Lindeburg, Spanish writer Rosa Montero, Lesotho filmmaker Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese and Icelandic Hlynur Pálmason. In his speech, Mosteirín addressed the capacity of cinema to fight antagonism at a time when “society is usurped by the rigid and vacant positions that divide us”. And he advocated “to combat intolerance with critical thinking, freedom, contradiction, and the ability to dialogue in difference.”
during the gala, Music performances by Mikel Erentxun and Rocío Márquez and Bronquiowas delivered Critics’ Grand Prix Fipresci to Ryûsuke Hamaguchi for ‘Drive My Car’a film that also won the Oscar for best international film, among many other awards.
Source: Informacion
