San Sebastián International Film Festival — Official Section

Spain's only category-A film festival

Founded in 1953, the San Sebastián International Film Festival is one of five category-A film festivals recognised by the FIAPF, alongside Cannes, Venice, Berlin and Locarno.

The main sections

• Official Section — competition for the Golden Shell for best film, Silver Shell for direction and performance
• Horizontes Latinos — contemporary Latin American and Ibero-American cinema
• Zabaltegi-Tabakalera — auteur and experimental cinema proposals
• Retrospectives and tributes — in recent editions, to Agnès Varda, Jean-Luc Godard and Pedro Almodóvar

The Donostia Award

The festival's most eagerly awaited honour is the Donostia Award, the career achievement prize for figures in cinema. Past recipients include Meryl Streep, Viggo Mortensen, Judi Dench and Susan Sarandon. The award ceremony always ends with a ten-minute standing ovation.

How to get tickets

1. Prior registration at sansebastianfestival.com — opens in August
2. Online sale for press accredited — with priority access to the Official Section
3. Kursaal and Victoria Eugenia box offices — in-person sale from 09:00 on the day of the screening