San Sebastian Selects Cantet, Davies, Hadzihalilovic, Llosa, Simon

September’s 69th San Sebastian Festival has announced its first nine Competition contenders led by Palme d’Or winner Laurent Cantet (“The Class”) and English auteur Terence Davies (“Sunset Song”) but packed out by six female directors.

Two at least are already sparking anticipation: Lucile Hadzihalilovic, a French genre auteur backed like Palme d’Or winner “Titane” by Wild Bunch; and “As in Heaven,” the debut feature of Denmark’s Tea Lindeburg’s, which is generating good word-of-mouth.

The Competition features two other first features, a sign, like last week’s Cannes, of a new generation of filmmakers breaking through to rapid best fest attention.

San Sebastian’s national Competition titles, traditionally featuring some of the strongest Spanish titles of the year, are announced at the end of July.

More details to come.

First 2021 San Sebastian Film Festival  Competition Titles

“Arthur Rambo.” (Laurent Cantet, France)

“Benediction,” (Terence Davies, United Kingdom)

“Camila Comes out Tonight,” (Inés Barrionuevo, Argentina)

“Blue Moon,” (Alina Grigore, Romania)

“Fever Dream,” (Claudia Llosa, U.S., Chile, Spain)

“As in Heaven,” (Tea Lindeburg, Denmark)

“Earwig,” (Lucile Hadzihalilovic (United Kingdom, France, Belgium)

“Fire on the Plain,” (Zhang Ji, China)

“I Want to Talk About Duras,” (Claire Simon, France)