San Sebastian Festival: Georgian Film Triumph by Dea Kulumbegashvili

Director Dea Kulumbegashvili receives the award for best director for the film "Beginning", in San Sebastian, September 26, 2020. REUTERS / Vincent West

Text by: Isabelle Le Gonidec

4 min

The storm has lifted and the curtain has fallen on the 68th edition of the international festival.

A particular festival due to the Covid-19 pandemic which upset its organization, but the public was there, the films also with their share of discoveries and favorites.

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From Cannes to San Sebastian ... The Franco-Georgian film by Dea Kulumbegashvili,

Dasatskiki

(

Beginning

), which was selected at Cannes, won the stakes in San Sebastian.

This debut feature by young director Dea Kulumbegashvili received the awards for best director, screenplay and performance for the female character and the - so coveted -

Golden

Concha

of the festival.

The jury, chaired by Italian director Luca Guadagnino, was won over by this drama filmed in Georgia.

Against a background of religious fanaticism, he portrays Yana, wife of the leader of a community of Jehovah's Witnesses and recounts - in long still shots - her descent into hell.

Beauty and violence cannot be understood without each other, both are part of life,

 ”explained the director of her film.

The film, which had received critical acclaim in Toronto, elicited a wide variety of reactions, whether in favor or not. 

Several films in the official selection at Cannes had been selected in San Sebastian, it was also the case of

Druk

by Thomas Vinterberg and this brought luck to the quartet of actors since they were collectively rewarded with the

Silver

Concha

for the best actor.

Julien Temple was awarded the Special Jury Prize for his documentary 

Crock of Gold

: A Few Rounds with Shane MacGowan

.

The former Pogues singer was one of the stars of San Sebastian.

To read also

:

Festival of San Sebastian: Johnny Depp and Matt Dillon make their cinema in music

The festival presented several films that tell about Mexico and its social and political tensions.

Fauna

by Nicolas Pereda, the punch to the stomach by Michel Franco,

Nuevo orden

(grand jury prize at the Venice Mostra) and

Sin señas particulares

by Fernanda Valadez who received the

Latino Horizontes

prize

.

We follow the quest of a mother who goes in search of her son who left with a friend for the north in search of work and a better life, and of whom she has no news.

She does not recognize him in the bodies presented to her and refuses to believe in his death.

A poignant portrait of a woman, a gallery of characters throughout her encounters and a beautiful image in the service of a drama experienced by thousands of families in Mexico.

Feature films which we hope will find distribution in France, as well as the luminous and moving film by Spanish director Fernando Trueba, which closed the festival with

El olvido que seremos

, adapted from the book by Colombian Hector Abad Faciolince.

He tells the story of his father's life, a socially engaged doctor, murdered by thieves in Medellin in the 1980s. The film is notably served by the masterful interpretation of Javier Camara.

And we could cite others, of those films which question, surprise, nourish, seduce.

This is the role of a festival, recalled all the invited professionals who praised the courage of the San Sebastian team and its director José Luis Rebordinos for maintaining the meeting despite the health threat.

The complete list on the website of the San Sebastian International Film Festival

To read also:

Festival of San Sebastian: Zabaltegui Tabakalera, the new horizons of cinema

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