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San Sebastian Film Festival · 2021

San Sebastian Film Festival 2021

New Directors

Programme

13 films · 4 reviews

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Aloners

Review preview for Aloners

In one of the most complex and intriguing performances of 2021, Gong keeps us guessing about what Jin-na is really thinking and feeling.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
Reflection on loneliness through the life of a solitary woman.

(Country: South Korea; Year: 2021; Director: Hong Seong-eun; Writer: Hong Seong-eun; Stars: Jeong Da-eun, Seo Hyun-woo, Jeong-hak Park, Gong Seung-Yeon, Jeong Da-eun, Seo Hyun-woo, Jeong-hak Park, Gong Seung-Yeon)

Full review

Between Two Dawns (Iki Safak Arasinda)

After a worker is severely injured in their family business, Kadir is forced into making a moral decision, which will have an impact on his dreams, his family and the life of the injured worker’s wife.

(Country: Turkey, Romania, France, Spain; Year: 2021; Director: Selman Nacar; Writer: Selman Nacar; Stars: Mucahit Kocak, Nezaket Erden, Ünal Silver, Bedir Bedir, Burcu Gölgedar, Erdem Senocak, Mustafa Sönmez, Cihat Suvarioglu, Ali Seçkiner Alici, Yildirim Simsek, Banu Fotocan, Cemalettin Cekmece, Gulcin Kultur Sahin, Gunes Hanagasi, Buket Gulbeyaz)

Carajita

Review preview for Carajita

The actors make grieving palpable, as sure and solid as the colours caught by Ivan Gierasinchuk.

Andrew Robertson · 4 out of 5
Sara and her nanny Yarisa have a relationship that seems to transcend their class condition but an accident will test their loyalty.

(Country: Dominican Republic; Year: 2021; Director: Ulises Porra, Silvina Schnicer; Writer: Ulises Porra, Ulla Prida, Ulla Prida, Silvina Schnicer; Stars: Cecile van Welie, Magnolia Nunez, Richard Douglas, Adelanny Padilla, Mario Cersósimo, Eduardo Martinez Sturla, Clara Luz Lozano, Yuberbi de la Rosa, Javier Hermida, Génesis Buret,)

Full review

Hilda's Short Summer

A lonely woman's life is interrupted when her eldest son announces a visit after several years.

(Country: Uruguay; Year: 2021; Director: Agustín Banchero; Writer: Agustín Banchero; Stars: Carla Moscatelli, Carla Moscatelli)

Inventory (Inventura)

After a regular guy finds himself the target of a shooting, he decides to investigate.

(Country: Slovenia; Year: 2021; Director: Darko Sinko; Writer: Darko Sinko; Stars: Dejan Spasic, Mirel Knez, Rados Bolcina, Dejan Spasic, Mirel Knez, Rados Bolcina)

Josephine (Josefina)

Juan, a prison officer, silently observes the visit every Sunday of Berta, mother of one of the inmates. The day he finally approaches her, he surprises himself by pretending to be the father of a made-up daughter inside the jail: Josefina.

(Country: Spain; Year: 2021; Director: Javier Marco; Writer: Belén Sánchez-Arévalo; Stars: Miguel Bernardeau, Emma Suárez, Olivia Delcán, Roberto Álamo, Simón Andreu, Pedro Casablanc, Manolo Solo, Mabel Rivera, Belén Ponce de León, Maria Algora, Miguel Bernardeau, Emma Suárez, Olivia Delcán, Roberto Álamo, Simón Andreu)

Lost In Summer (Shu Qi Shi Guang)

During summer, after high school, a teenage boy confronting the confusion of his life tries everything he can to find a way out. But he fails, murder included.

(Country: China; Year: 2021; Director: Sun Liang; Stars: Yue Xiaoke, Yang Bo)

Mass

Review preview for Mass

Kranz, best known for his acting career, certainly didn’t pick an easy project for his debut behind the camera, but his work proves exceptional.

Jeremy Mathews · 4 out of 5
Years after a tragic shooting, the parents of both the victim and the perpetrator meet face-to-face.

(Country: US; Year: 2021; Director: Fran Kranz; Writer: Fran Kranz; Stars: Jason Isaacs, Martha Plimpton, Ann Dowd, Breeda Wool, Reed Birney, Michelle N. Carter, Kagen Albright, Jason Isaacs, Martha Plimpton, Ann Dowd, Breeda Wool, Reed Birney, Michelle N. Carter, Kagen Albright)

Full review

Mikado (Marroco)

One day, teenager Magda offers her expensive necklace to a sick child in the hospital she volunteers for. Her father is certain she is lying again, and when Magda proves her innocence, he is ashamed and guilty but also incapable of admitting he was wrong.

(Country: Romania, Czech Republic; Year: 2021; Director: Emanuel Parvu)

The Noise Of Engines (Le bruit de motors)

Review preview for The Noise Of Engines

Dreams and reality are porous in Alexandre's world - characters and situations so heightened they could also be imagined - although Alexandre's existential crisis about where he 'fits' in the world feels sharply real.

Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
Alexandre, an instructor at the Canadian customs college, finds himself under surveillance by police trying to get to the bottom of the sexually explicit drawings that have been troubling the town.

(Country: Canada; Year: 2021; Director: Philippe Grégoire; Writer: Philippe Grégoire; Stars: Robert Naylor, Tanja Björk, Arnmundur Ernst Björnsson, Huguette Chevalier, Marc Beaupré, Patrice Dussault, Marie-Thérèse Fortin, Maxime Genois, Vial Grégoire, Ingi Hrafn Hilmarsson, Nadia Kessiby, Marc Larrivée, Gabrielle Lessard, Robert Naylor, Virginie Ouellet)

Full review See: Philippe Gregoire on his debut The Noise Of Engines

The Rust (La Roya)

Jorge is the only one of his generation who has decided to stay in the countryside. The local festivities are just round the corner, and with them comes the reunion with his ex-girlfriend Andrea, who is back from the city.

(Country: Colombia, France; Year: 2021; Director: Juan Sebastian Mesa)

That Weekend (Ese Fin De Semana)

Julia returns to the neighbourhood she left years ago after being swindled. She’s here to sign a travel permit, but more than anything she’s come back to recover that money which would solve a lot of her problems. The reunion with her past is nothing like she expected it to be.

(Country: Argentina, Brazil; Year: 2021; Director: Mara Pescio; Writer: Mara Pescio; Stars: Irina Misisco, María Paz Ferreyra)

Unwanted

A young teenager has a baby that nobody knows about.

(Country: US; Year: 2021; Director: Lena Lanskih; Writer: Lamorne Morris, Kyle Shevrin, Dominic Blackwell-Cooper; Stars: Lamorne Morris, Billy Magnussen, Jamie-Lee O'Donnell, Rose McIver, Flula Borg, Jessica Chaffin, Cheyne Hannegan, Monnie Aleahmad, Anna Camp, De'Markes Dogan, Ron Funches, Jake Johnson, Remington Jones, Louise Lagana, Bunny Levine)