Seven decades passed. Jaione Camborda became the first Spanish filmmaker to win the San Sebastian Festival since its foundation. “The emergence of women in cinema is not a trend, it is a question of justice,” she had said in an interview prior to the closing.
After receiving the award for best film for O corno, the filmmaker thanked – as reported by Europa Press – those who invested in the film because “It is not easy to finance an author project”, and added that he receives the award with “pride and responsibility” and that he had as references those who paved the way. “Diversity enriches us and makes us freer,” he commented and dedicated the award to “all those filmmakers who are to come and will be references for the following ones.”
In this way, the 71st edition of San Sebastián awarded the Golden Shell to a film that is defined as “a rural road movie set in Galicia in the 70s.” Jaione Camborda’s film was released in the Toronto Festival and addresses the story of a midwife who is forced to flee to Portugal following a smuggler’s route.
Best address. Taiwanese women Tzu-Hui Peng and Ping-Wen Wang. Photo: diffusion
“There are echoes of Francoism that still haunt us, that resonate today. One of them is the commitment to control the woman’s body. I find it interesting and I wanted to explore cinema’s ability to establish a dialogue with the past in a natural way. Suddenly, you don’t feel that temporal distance, the feeling of the past is lost,” she told El Mundo. “I find it worrying how the most retrograde voices gain space and become normalized. That desire for control is there and I think it is important to take it into account.”
Meanwhile, the Spanish press has not only celebrated the filmmaker’s victory, but questioned that, after 70 years, only one female director has won San Sebastián. “It’s the first time in history from a competition that started in 1953 that a director from Spain receives such a mention. A reason for celebration or, if we are honest, for collective shame,” El Mundo reported.
This edition has awarded other filmmakers. The jury award went to Kalak, by the Swedish Isabella Eklöf. The film was summarized as “a harsh and sour x-ray of the consequences of child abuse.” The Silver Shell Best direction went to Taiwanese Tzu-Hui Peng and Ping-Wen Wang for A Journey in Spring.
Jessica chastain. The Oscar winner released Memory, directed by Michael Franco. Photo: diffusion
In the acting categories, the actor from the series ‘La casa de papel’ stood out Hovik Keuchkerian, who won as best supporting actor for the film Un amor, by Isabel Coixet.
The San Sebastián edition was still held within the framework of the Hollywood actors’ strike. However, the presence of the 2023 Oscar winner Jessica Chastain left several postcards with the spectators who were waiting for her on the red carpets. The film diva signed autographs, took selfies and arrived accompanied by director Michael Franco as part of the premiere of the film Memory, a possible candidate for the golden statuette. “When I arrived, I was overwhelmed by all the people waiting for me. There is no other place where they give you that welcome.”
With the presence of Chastain, also recognized as an activist, and the award that highlights the work of women in the film industry, the Spanish press maintains that San Sebastián had a “good closing of the edition”, a year that began with the statements by the president of the jury, Claire Denis. “We knew that it would be inclined to reward a film that addressed a topic of social denunciation, and O Corno fits this maxim very well.”
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