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SAN SEBASTIÁN 2018 Competition / New Directors / Zabaltegi-Tabakalera / Awards

Isaki Lacuesta wins second Golden Shell for Between Two Waters

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- SAN SEBASTIÁN 2018: The Spaniard has repeated his 2011 success in a winners’ list dominated by the three prizes scooped by Benjamín Naishtat’s Rojo as well as seasoned filmmakers

Isaki Lacuesta wins second Golden Shell for Between Two Waters
Isaki Lacuesta collects his Golden Shell for Between Two Waters with screenwriter Isa Campo and producer Álex Lafuente (© Alex Abril/San Sebastián International Film Festival)

The 66th edition of the San Sebastián Film Festival came to a close on Saturday with the unveiling of the winners’ list. The ceremony saw a smattering of glamour and a good deal of political content, but overall, it was a fairly sober affair. The jury, chaired by US director Alexander Payne, “totally unanimously” decided to award the Golden Shell for Best Film to Between Two Waters [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Isaki Lacuesta
film profile
]
by Catalan filmmaker Isaki Lacuesta. His returning to the characters from his inspired 2006 documentary The Legend of Time resulted in him winning the gathering’s top prize for the second time, after he did so in 2011 for The Double Steps [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
. Lacuesta accepted the award, which boasted a new design for this edition, and invited the whole crew to come up on stage, particularly singling out his two protagonists, Cheíto, through an audio message on his mobile phone, and Isra, who was very emotional throughout his speech. The Girona-born director has thus been added to the list of filmmakers who have won the award twice, which also includes none other than Francis Ford Coppola and Arturo Ripstein.

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The second big winner of the night was Rojo [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Benjamín Naishtat
film profile
]
, a deconstructed thriller by Argentina’s Benjamín Naishtat, which took home no fewer than three trophies: Best Direction, Best Actor, for Darío Grandinetti, and Best Cinematography, for Pedro Sotero. The team’s speeches proved to be some of the most political of the night: Naishtat seized the opportunity to denounce the cultural situation in Argentina, where a few weeks ago the Ministry of Culture was downgraded to a “secretariat” (“Culture is part of people’s dignity, and dignity is non-negotiable”), Grandinetti did so to shine a spotlight on the fact that this “film can serve as a warning about what the present situation may lead to, as right-wing politics and fascism have once again become more prevalent in the world”, and Sotero used his time at the podium to condemn the current situation that Brazilian former president Lula Da Silva finds himself in.

Best Actress went to the lead in the Norwegian film Blind Spot [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Tuva Novotny
film profile
]
, Pia Tjelta, who thanked director Tuva Novotny for using her film to undertake “a mission to save lives”.

The Jury Award for Best Screenplay was split between two pictures: Yuli [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Icíar Bollaín
film profile
]
by Icíar Bollaín, written by Paul Laverty, and A Faithful Man [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Louis Garrel
film profile
]
by Louis Garrel, written by the helmer himself and the masterful Jean-Claude Carrière. Both Laverty and Garrel were responsible for kicking off the political proceedings on the night, with the former vehemently railing against the USA and Israel (calling them “bullies”, “crooks” and “hypocrites”), and the latter reminding the audience of the scandalous case of Oleh Sentsov, who is still on hunger strike in jail in Russia.

The winners’ list was rounded off by the new thriller by Filipino director Brillante Mendoza, Alpha, the Right to Kill, which slightly perplexingly scooped the second-most-important award of the night, the Special Jury Award. This meant that the three most unique and uncompromising pictures in the competition, High Life [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Claire Denis
film profile
]
by Claire Denis (which won the FIPRESCI Award – see the news), Quién te cantará [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Carlos Vermut
film profile
]
by Carlos Vermut and In Fabric [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Peter Strickland
film profile
]
by Peter Strickland, left San Sebastián empty-handed.

Elsewhere, outside of the official section, the presence of European features was somewhat watered down, as the Kutxabank-New Directors Award was bestowed upon Japan’s Jesus by Hiroshi Okuyama, with a Special Mention going to Journey to a Mother’s Room [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Celia Rico Clavellino
film profile
]
by Spaniard Celia Rico Clavellino; the Zabaltegi-Tabakalera Award ended up crowning the short film Song for the Jungle by France’s Jean-Gabriel Périot, with a Special Mention for Los que desean by Elena López Riera; and the RTVE Another Look Award, dedicated to the role of women, was handed to Vietnam’s The Third Wife by Ash Mayfair.

Here is the full list of winners:

Official Section

Golden Shell
Between Two Waters [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Isaki Lacuesta
film profile
]
 – Isaki Lacuesta (Spain/Switzerland/Romania)

Special Jury Award
Alpha: the Right to Kill – Brillante Mendoza (Philippines)

Silver Shell for Best Direction
Benjamín Naishtat – Rojo [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Benjamín Naishtat
film profile
]
 (Argentina/Germany/Netherlands/Brazil/France)

Silver Shell for Best Actress
Pia Tjelta – Blind Spot [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Tuva Novotny
film profile
]
 (Norway)

Silver Shell for Best Actor
Darío Grandinetti – Rojo

Jury Award for Best Cinematography
Pedro Sotero – Rojo

Jury Award for Best Screenplay (ex aequo)
Paul Laverty – Yuli [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Icíar Bollaín
film profile
]
 (Spain/Cuba/United Kingdom/Germany)
Louis Garrel, Jean-Claude Carrière – A Faithful Man [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Louis Garrel
film profile
]
(France)

New Directors Section

Kutxabank-New Directors Award
Jesus – Hiroshi Okuyama (Japan)
Special Mention
Journey to a Mother's Room [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Celia Rico Clavellino
film profile
]
 – Celia Rico Clavellino (Spain/France)

Zabaltegi-Tabakalera Section

Zabaltegi-Tabakalera Award
Song for the Jungle - Jean-Gabriel Périot (France) (short film)
Special Mention
Los que desean - Elena López Riera (Switzerland/Spain) (short film)

Horizontes Latinos Section

Horizontes Latinos Award
A Family Submerged [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
 – María Alché (Argentina/Brazil/Germany/Norway)
Special Mention
The Snatch Thief [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
 – Agustín Toscano (Argentina/Uruguay/France)

Other Awards

City of Donostia/San Sebastián Audience Award
Another Day of Life [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Raul de la Fuente
film profile
]
- Raúl de la Fuente, Damian Nenow (Poland/Spain/Belgium/Germany/Hungary)

City of Donostia/San Sebastián Audience Award for Best European Film
Girl [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Lukas Dhont
film profile
]
 - Lukas Dhont (Belgium/Netherlands)

Irizar Basque Film Award
The Deer [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Koldo Almandoz
film profile
]
- Koldo Almandoz (Spain)

Youth Award
Journey to a Mother's Room - Celia Rico Clavellino

RTVE Another Look Award
The Third Wife – Ash Mayfair (Vietnam)

Cooperación Española Award
Los silencios [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
 - Beatriz Seigner (Brazil/France/Colombia)

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(Translated from Spanish)

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