A HOST of Hollywood A-listers will descend on northern Spain this month for the annual San Sebastian Film Festival – one of the most prestigious events on the international film calendar.
The 74th edition of the festival will see stars including Brad Pitt, Penelope Cruz, Orlando Bloom, Rami Malek and Jeremy Irons flock to the Basque city, alongside a host of acclaimed directors from across the globe.
Running from September 18 to 26, the festival will showcase 263 films from 47 countries with some of the biggest names in cinema appearing both on and off the red carpet.
Brad Pitt will attend to support the Spanish premiere of The Heart of the Beast, directed by David Ayer, while Orlando Bloom will be in town to present new film Bucking Fastard.
Rami Malek will also make an appearance with Tom Sturridge for the screening of The Man I Love, directed by Ira Sachs, who will preside over this year’s official jury.
Spanish cinema will also be represented by stars including Penelope Cruz, who will appear in Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi’s La Bola Negra, alongside Guitarricadelafuente and Miguel Bernardeu.
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Meanwhile, Jeremy Irons will return to San Sebastian for a special 40th-anniversary screening of The Mission, joined by director Roland Joffe and producer David Puttnam.
One of the biggest names visiting the festival will be leading British actress Naomi Watts, who will follow in the footsteps of Hollywood heavyweights Javier Bardem and Jennifer Lawrence when she receives the Donostia Lifetime Achievement Award.
The 57-year-old, known for her work in independent films, will receive the prestigious award on September 19 during a screening of the psychological thriller The Housewife – the directorial debut from Canadian filmmaker Ben Shirnian.
Set in 1964, the film tells the true story of a young journalist who tracks down a potential Nazi officer living secretly in New York and befriends the suspect’s wife.
Watts, from Shoreham in Kent, is best known for starring in films including Mulholland Drive, The Ring, 21 Grams, The Impossible and Birdman.
She has collaborated with several celebrated directors, including David Lynch, Peter Jackson, Clint Eastwood, J.A. Bayona, Alejandro Gonzalez Iñarritu, David Cronenberg, Noah Baumbach, Michael Haneker, Audrey Diwan and Rodrigo Garcia.
She has received various accolades including an Actor Award, a Critics’ Choice Award and two Saturn Awards, as well as nominations for two Academy Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award and two Golden Globe Awards.
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The Donostia Award was inaugurated in 1986 and is given to a number of actors and filmmakers every year at the San Sebastian International Film Festival.
It is named after Donostia, the Basque name for San Sebastian, the coastal city where the ceremony is held.
Previous recipients of the accolade include Gregory Peck, Al Pacino, Anthony Hopkins, Michael Caine, Robert de Niro, Francis Ford Coppola, Antonio Banderas, Benicio del Toro and Johnny Depp.
This year’s recipients so far include Watts and Werner Herzog, the Academy Award-nominated filmmaker renowned as a pioneer of New German Cinema.
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