San Sebastián lineup adds Pablo Larraín, Mike Leigh
San Sebastián Film Festival has added Pablo Larraín’s “My Sad Dead,” Mike Leigh’s “Tender Loving Care,” and Benjamín Naishtat’s “Glaxo” to main competition for its 74th edition, running Sept. 18-26. The san sebastin lineup pablo slate also includes new works from Nicole Garcia, Maha Harada, Hans Petter Moland, and Yeşim Ustaoğlu.
Key Takeaways
- Pablo Larraín’s “My Sad Dead,” a feature take on his Netflix horror miniseries, joins Golden Shell competition.
- Mike Leigh’s “Tender Loving Care” and Benjamín Naishtat’s “Glaxo” are also newly announced main-competition titles.
- Further additions include films by Nicole Garcia, Maha Harada, Hans Petter Moland, and Yeşim Ustaoğlu.
- The 74th San Sebastián Film Festival runs Sept. 18-26 in Spain’s Basque Country.
- Three Spanish features were already named for main competition on July 17.
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Which new films joined San Sebastián’s main competition?
Announced Tuesday, the fresh Golden Shell contenders expand an already notable slate. Alongside Larraín, Leigh, and Naishtat, the festival named Nicole Garcia’s “Milo” (“7:40 ce matin-là”), a Marion Coillard starrer from France.
Also making the cut are Maha Harada’s Japanese title “In My Father’s Room” (“Muyou no hito”), Hans Petter Moland’s “Growth of the Soil” (“Markens Grode,” Norway/Denmark/Germany), and Yeşim Ustaoğlu’s “What Remains” (“Artakalan,” Turkey/France/Luxembourg/Bulgaria).
Variety reports the picks mirror San Sebastián’s usual blend of international auteurs—often tied to Latin America, France, and the Nordics—and newer voices. The New Directors strand is due Friday.
What is Pablo Larraín’s Golden Shell contender about?
Larraín, known for “Jacky,” “Spencer,” and “Maria,” is bringing “My Sad Dead” (“Mis muertos tristes”), a feature version of his Netflix four-part horror miniseries produced by Fabula. The Argentina-Chile project adapts Argentinean writer Mariana Enriquez.
According to the festival framing cited by Variety, Enriquez’s terror is less about the supernatural than the horrors society hides. Mercedes Morán, Dolores Fonzi, and Alejandra Flechner star.
Mike Leigh’s U.K./U.S./Singapore entry “Tender Loving Care” features Marion Bailey, Paul Jesson, Kate O’Flynn, and Alice Bailey Johnson. The festival calls it an “insightful exploration of the modern world.”
Naishtat’s “Glaxo” (Brazil/Argentina), from the director of San Sebastián hit “Rojo,” tracks a shattered friendship in a small provincial town from the late 1950s through the 1980s—framed as a story of desire and revenge when a country lost its innocence.
When does the 74th San Sebastián Film Festival take place?
The 74th edition, billed as the biggest film event in the Spanish-speaking world, runs Sept. 18-26 in San Sebastián, capital of Gipuzcoa in Spain’s Basque Country.
Newly named titles join three Spanish features announced July 17: Mikel Gurrea’s “Sants,” starring Vicky Luengo; Berto Romero’s time-loop comedy “Five Minutes More”; and Roberto Bueso’s family dramedy “El mal padre.”
More lineup details are expected as the festival approaches, including the New Directors announcement later this week.