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Festival coverage

San Sebastian Film Festival

2011

The festival opened with Intruders, starring Clive Owen
The festival opened with Intruders, starring Clive Owen

The 59th San Sebastian Film Festival runs from September 16 to 25.

Retrospectives include a showcase of the work of Jacques Demy and thematic retrospectives called Digital Shadows: The Last Generation Of Chinese Film, celebrating film from the country from 2000 to 2010 and American Way Of Death: American Film Noir 1990 to 2010.

Other years (17)

Box office and information

Latest reviews

  • Bertsolari
    Review preview for Bertsolari

    A beautiful film that manages to marry word, image, and music in a way that does justice to the poetry conjured up by the people it celebrates.

    Rebecca Naughten · 4 out of 5
    A documentary about the art of improvised rhyming verse sung in the Basque tongue.
  • Skylab
    Review preview for Skylab

    Where the children's stories feel as nostalgically sweet as a Sherbet Dib-Dab and Delpy has always had a good feel for the comedy of discomfort, she fails to hold back and ultimately pushes the adults into caricature.

    Amber Wilkinson · 3 out of 5
    Nostalgic comedy on about family reunion set in the Seventies.
  • I Wish
    Review preview for I Wish

    Hirokazu Koreeda's childhood adventure is a sweet and subtle tale of friendship, generosity of spirit and the triumph of hope over expectation.

    Amber Wilkinson · 5 out of 5
    Two brothers hatch a plot to make their reunion wish come true.
  • Jiro Dreams of Sushi
    Review preview for Jiro Dreams of Sushi

    The film's gentle poetry conjures up flavours in the imagination.

    Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
    A documentary following the 85 year old master sushi chef, Jiro Ono
  • El Bulli: Cooking in Progress
    Review preview for El Bulli: Cooking in Progress

    It's difficult to understand how anybody could put themselves through this for eight or more hours a day over a six month period. There's only really one answer: love.

    Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
    A look into the creative and culinary processes behind one of the world's most famous restaurants.
  • Swirl
    Review preview for Swirl

    Those looking for drama might be advised to steer clear, but for anyone willing to fall into the film's gentle ruminatory rhythm, it is a visual treat

    Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
    Snapshot of the life of a widowed octogenarian.
  • Blood Of My Blood
    Review preview for Blood Of My Blood

    One of the most affecting films of the year.

    Robert Munro · 5 out of 5
    An intense family melodrama set in the outskirts of Lisbon.
  • Life Without Principle
    Review preview for Life Without Principle

    Enjoyable to a point but frustratingly convoluted at times

    Amber Wilkinson · 3 out of 5
    To narrates the intertwining fates of three people desperate to get their hands on money fast, all set around a robbery haul.
  • Los Marziano
    Review preview for Los Marziano

    Half-formed ideas about the nature of family and responsibility can be glimpsed but the action ends with a whimper rather than a bang.

    Amber Wilkinson · 2.5 out of 5
    A bittersweet family comedy about two long-estranged brothers and the tense friction arising between them when they’re forced together for a family celebration.
  • Either Way
    Review preview for Either Way

    A gentle, enjoyable little drama - a very comfortable and concise 80 minutes.

    Scott Macdonald · 3 out of 5
    Finnboeg and Alfred paint lines on a road in this gentle comedy. Re-released to coincide with David Gordon Green's remake Prince Avalanche.

A–Z of San Sebastian Film Festival 2011 reviews

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