• Mostra of Venice.The president of the jury attacks the Mostra for programming Polanski and will not go to her gala

The German Ina Weisse, the Canadian Louise Archambault, the Spanish Belén Funes, the French Alice Vinocour, the British Sarah Gavron and the Polish Malgorzata Szumowska are the six directors competing as of Friday for the Golden Shell. And, to their way, they do something similar to history. As never before, the San Sebastian festival approaches fair parity and breaks the tendency of the most prestigious international events to blush the crowd with elaborate explanations about the impossibility of turning the intentions (the good ones) into action. Recently, the Venice Film Festival accompanied the limited presence of only two female directors in competition with the inclusion in the programming of filmmakers such as Roman Polanski or Nate Parker, both with a history of abuse. A fact that bothered the president of the jury, Lucrecia Martel, to the point of announcing her boycott to the gala session of the Polish director.

For its part, Cannes, the obligatory reference, replaced the measure of applying quotas in the selection two years ago by what it called a Charter for Parity and the Inclusion of Women in Cinema. According to this document, the French festival was committed to making joint juries and to compile statistics by gender, both of the data on the number of tapes received, as well as those that finally reach the halls. Also on the number of women, not only directors, who intervene in each section of the cinema areas. "We," says the director of Zinemaldia José Luis Rebordinos, "are also not in favor of quotas. I sincerely believe that it would be a macho or paternalistic measure to choose a movie because it was made by a woman without meeting any criteria of quality".

For the person in charge of programming of the Basque contest, the reason for the high number of women this year is only a circumstance, if not casual, if temporary. "It has come out like this and we are glad for it. We are especially happy that the desired parity has already been achieved in New Directors. We must continue this path, favoring women not only to join the management but also to all other activities, but never to miss hand to quotas, "he insists after remembering that San Sebastian also joined last year the aforementioned Charter for Parity.

According to the latest data from the report prepared by the Association of Women Filmmakers and Audiovisual Media of Spain (CIMA) in only two fields highlights the female presence and not necessarily for good: costume design, where 86% are women, and makeup and hairdresser, where they represent 72%. In the management area, men occupy 88%; in script, 87%; in musical composition, 96%; in the direction of photography, 93%; in assembly, 80%, and in special effects, 99%. It is worth remembering, for finishing drawing the bleak panorama, that in the 66 editions celebrated in San Sebastián, only three times the winner has been a woman. The last time was in 2013 where Mariana Rondón won the Golden Shell thanks to 'Bad hair'.

Anyway, the edition that begins Friday with the screening of 'Blackbird' (The Decision), by Roger Michell and with Susan Sarandon, Kate Winslet and Mia Wasikowska inside, is marked by continuity. Each of the sections plays its part. In the official one the absence of great international names is tried to replace with a selection centered in the value of the discovery. Of the titles that have already been seen in Toronto include 'The audition', by Ina Weisse, and 'Proxima', by Alice Winocour. That in addition to the three Spanish titles that are destined to mark the year under a necessarily controversial sign: the return to the Civil War. 'While the war lasts', by Alejandro Amenábar, and 'The infinite trench', by the trio Aitor Arregi, Jon Garaño and Jose Mari Goenaga take care of it and do so with the renewed look of a generation that sees the mistakes of the past the same of the present. It is like that. At his side, all attentive to the dazzling debut of Belén Funes with 'The daughter of the thief' starring Greta and Eduard Fernández, daughter and father.

In Pearls appears again the most granada of what has been seen in other festivals with special mention to 'Ema', by Pablo Larraín; 'Portrait of a woman on fire', by Céline Sciamma; 'What burns', by Oliver Laxe, and 'El faro', by Robert Eggers. And in the Zabaltegi section, always with eyes open to the different, highlights such as the first and indefinable film of the French Mati Diop, 'Atlantique'; the electrifying new proposal of the Chinese Diao Yinan, that brings 'The lake of the wild goose', or the last work of the Frenchman Bertrand Bonello that in 'Zombi child' mixes undead and teenage anguish.

And for the rest of the program: "A lot of new look. The commitment is with the new and future creators both in Spain and in Latin America. And in this area we are already the reference", concludes the director.

That said, six women in search of parity. There are two more to get it.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Know more

  • movie theater
  • culture
  • Basque Country

Cine 'Dolor y gloria', by Almodóvar, will represent Spain at the Oscars

CinemaVenice: 'Zumiriki' or the cinema that evaporates

CineMostra: Guédiguian, Saviano and the algorithm that takes us