Films by José Luis Guerin, Alberto Rodríguez, and José Mari Goneaga and Aitor Arregi are among the 17 Spanish features selected for the 2025 San Sebastian International Film Festival (SSIFF), taking place from September 19-27.
Guerin’s feature documentary Good Valley Stories sees the return of the director 24 years after winning the festival’s special jury prize for In Construction. The Spain-France co-production documents a suburb in Barcelona where different generations of migrants coexist.
Competing in the main section for the fourth time are Basque filmmakers José Mari Goenaga and Aitor Arregi with Maspalomas, about an elderly gay man whose life takes a turn because of an accident and has to go back to San Sebastian to confront his past, his daughter and life at an old peoples’ home hiding his homosexuality. Goenaga and Arregi are part of the creative trio Moriarti, also including Jon Garaño. Their previous feature, Marco, premiered last year at Venice’s Orizzonti.
The third Spanish competition title is Los Tigres, by experienced genre director Alberto Rodríguez, a thriller about a sister and brother, played by Barbara Lennie and Antonio de la Torre, who stumble on a hidden cache of cocaine aboard a cargo ship on the Andalusian coast.
Out of competition in the official selection is Agustín Díaz Yanes with She Walks In Darkness, a feature inspired by the true story of a young officer who infiltrated the Basque terrorist group ETA.
Los Tigres’ director Alberto Rodríguez will also premiere miniseries The Anatomy Of A Moment, based on the book by Javier Cercas about the 1981 Spanish coup d’état attempt by the military.
The SSIFF official selection will also include the special screenings of Koldo Almandoz’s thriller series Sky Mouths; Asier Altuna’s period drama Karmele; documentary Flores para Antonio, by two-time San Sebastian Golden Shell winner Isaki Lacuesta and Elena Molina; and the series Fate, by Paco Plaza and Pablo Guerrero.
New Directors, devoted to first and second works, will premiere the debut feature by Basque filmmaker Irati Gorostidi Agirretxe Aro berria, and the second feature from José Alayón, Dance Of The Living.
The Perlak section, a selection of titles that have premiered on the international circuit includes Guillermo Galoe’s Spain-France co-production Sleepless City, winner of the Prix SACD at Cannes’ Critics’ Week.
SSIFF also announced two entries for Horizontes Latinos section with Spanish-Latin American co-productions: The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo, by Chilean director Diego Céspedes that won the Un Certain Regard award in Cannes.
The second feature included is The Message from Argentinian filmmaker Iván Fund, which won the jury award in Berlin, and was one of the WIP Latam projects in San Sebastian last year.
San Sebastian 2025 Spanish cinema line-up
Official selection - in competition
Good Valley Stories (Sp-Fr)
Dir. José Luis Guerin
Los Tigres (Sp-Fr)
Dir: Alberto Rodríguez
Maspalomas (Sp)
Dir. José Mari Goenaga, Aitor Arregi
Official Selection – out of competition
The Anatomy Of A Moment (Sp) - Series
Dir. Alberto Rodríguez
She Walks In Darkness (Sp)
Dir. Agustín Díaz Yanes
Official Selection - special screenings
Flores Para Antonio (Sp)
Dir. Isaki Lacuesta, Elena Molina
Karmele (Sp)
Dir: Asier Altuna
Fate (Sp) – Series
Dir: Paco Plaza, Pablo Guerrero
Sky Mouths (Sp) – Series
Dir. Koldo Almandoz
New Directors
Aro Berria (Sp)
Dir. Irati Gorostidi Agirretxe
Dance Of The Living (Sp)
Dir: José Alayón
Horizontes Latinos
The Message (Arg-Sp-Uru)
Dir. Iván Fund
The Mysterious Gaze Of The Flamingo (Chile-Fr-Ger-Sp-Bel)
Dir: Diego Céspedes
Zabaltegi-Tabakalera
Variations (Sp) - Short
Dir. Lur Olaizola Lizarralde
The Last Rapture (Sp)
Dir. Marta Medina, Enrique López Lavigne
The Good Sister (Sp-Ger)
Dir. Sarah Miro Fischer
A Scary Movie (Sp)
Dir. Sergio Oksman
Perlak
Sleepless City (Sp-Fr)
Dir: Guillermo Galoe
Made In Spain
April, It’s Not Winter Today (Sp) - Short
Dir. Mabel Lozano
The Delights Of The Garden (Sp)
Dir: Fernando Colomo
Velodrome
Hasta que me quede sin voz (Sp)
Dir. Mario Forniés, Lucas Nolla
Band Together (Sp)
Dir: Daniel Sánchez Arévalo
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