Cinema Classics Arrive at San Sebastián Festival

The San Sebastián Festival will present classic films in its "Klasikoak" section, opening with Jaime Chávarri's "El desencanto" during its 74th edition.

Cinema classics return to the San Sebastián Festival with the “Klasikoak” section, which will open with El desencanto, by Jaime Chávarri, event organizers announced today.

Zinemaldia, as the event is known, will run its 74th edition from September 18 to 26 and feature films by renowned international figures such as Miloš Forman, Agnès Varda, Jacques Tati, Fernando Trueba, Andrzej Wajda, and Lisa Cholodenko.

The festival's director, José Luis Rebordinos, stressed that Klasikoak is not intended “as a mere exercise in nostalgia.”

“What we propose is to look at the cinema of the past through the eyes of the present because films do not remain immutable. With each new screening, our way of looking at them can change, and in fact, a classic from 50 or 60 years ago can speak to us about very current topics and prompt us to ask new questions,” he noted.

This year, Klasikoak encompasses the festival's namesake section; its classic retrospective, dedicated in this edition to French director and screenwriter José Giovanni; and the series co-organized with Filmoteca Vasca, which will feature Casablanca as the first of 11 titles to be screened.

El desencanto (1976), by Jaime Chávarri, did not end up competing in the 24th San Sebastián Festival because its organizers withdrew it from the programming in protest over the killing of protester Josu Zabala at the hands of the Civil Guard.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) is the Forman classic that will be shown, recalling the reasons behind its five Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor (Jack Nicholson) and Actress (Louise Fletcher).

Additionally, Parade (1974), the final feature film by Jacques Tati; Mientras el cuerpo aguante, by Fernando Trueba; Innocent Sorcerers, by Andrzej Wajda; Vagabond (1985), by Agnès Varda; and High Art (1998), by Lisa Cholodenko, will be featured in the section.

Meanwhile, Casablanca (Michael Curtiz) will open the quarterly series of 11 titles in October that Filmoteca Vasca and the Festival will screen in Vitoria, Pamplona, San Sebastián, Bilbao, and Saint-Jean-de-Luz.

Regarding the José Giovanni retrospective, 20 feature films released between 1960 and 2001 will make up the section, including eight titles he wrote for directors such as Jacques Becker, Jean-Pierre Melville, Jacques Deray, Claude Sautet, Henri Verneuil, and Robert Enrico.

Yesterday, the San Sebastián Festival announced that it will present the Donostia Award to English-Australian actress Naomi Watts, acclaimed for her roles including in David Lynch's Mulholland Drive, considered a masterclass in acting.

She will receive the award on September 19 during a gala, followed by the screening of The Housewife, by Ben Shirinian, a film based on true events in which a young journalist discovers that an alleged Nazi officer is living in hiding in Queens, New York.

Watts will receive this year's Donostia Award alongside German director Werner Herzog. She joins a list of luminaries that includes Jennifer Lawrence, Cate Blanchett, Marion Cotillard, Juliette Binoche, Pedro Almodóvar, Johnny Depp, and Viggo Mortensen, among others.