The San Sebastian International Film Festival (September 18-26) has completed the line-up for its New Directors competition, unveiling 14 first and second features from filmmakers representing 13 countries.
The selection spans Bulgaria, Chile, Germany, Iran, Japan, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Norway, South Korea, Spain, Taiwan, the UK and Ukraine, reinforcing the festival’s longstanding focus on emerging talent. All titles will compete for the €50,000 (USD $57,000) Kutxabank-New Directors Award, shared equally between the winning film’s director and its Spanish distributor.
Opening the section, The Bad Son marks the feature directorial debut of Spanish actor Jaime Lorente, best known internationally for Netflix hit Money Heist. The coming-of-age drama centres on an 11-year-old boy forced to rebuild his life with his estranged grandmother after his father’s unexplained disappearance.
Closing the programme is Florid, Billy Lumby’s debut feature that comes after the UK filmmaker built a strong reputation on the short film circuit where he earned a Bafta nomination for Samuel-613.
Among the international highlights are South Korean filmmaker Yoon Dan-bi, whose second feature The World Before follows her acclaimed debut Moving On that screened in San Sebastian’s Perlak section in 2020 after premiering in Busan; Japan’s Kazuya Murayama back with sophomore feature The Ballet Lesson; while Mexican director Rodrigo García Saiz follows his festival debut Rain with Morro, about a grieving veterinarian whose life is transformed when he treats a cartel leader’s injured dog.
Germany’s Naëmi Ada premieres Body Of Glass, a psychological drama centred on a dancer who assumes another woman’s identity while concealing a violent secret. Norwegian filmmaker Marlene Emilie Lyngstad, whose short Norwegian Offspring won La Cinef at Cannes in 2023, makes her feature debut with Cute. Iranian director Massih Parsaei, meanwhile, brings Lovers Sleep Alone, which was showcased at WIP Europa and follows an Iranian exile in Berlin forced to confront his past.
Other feature debuts include Ayana Nurdinova’s Kazakh drama Mugalim, Hristo Simeonov’s Bulgarian-French co-production My Father’s Shoes, Lu Po-Shun’s Taiwanese coming-of-age drama Will You Still Be My Friend, and Thomas Woodroffe’s Chilean-French-Argentinian fantasy Erratics, starring Denis Lavant as the ghost of a forgotten filmmaker who escapes a century-long icy prison to wander a futuristic Patagonia where technological progress has erased the past.
Spain is also represented by Javier Giner’s This Solitude, while Ukrainian-born director Tatjana Moutchnik presents February, Seven Days, a German-Austrian-Spanish co-production also developed through WIP Europa.
The programme reflects San Sebastian’s continued interest in filmmakers arriving from major talent-development platforms. Alongside WIP Europa alumni Parsaei and Moutchnik, several directors previously gained recognition through Cannes, Busan, Rotterdam, Venice, Toronto, Málaga and other international festivals before making the leap into, or consolidating, their feature filmmaking careers.
The selection leans heavily towards intimate character-driven dramas, with stories shaped by fractured families, grief, identity and mental health, while several films place those personal journeys against wider backdrops including migration, war and social change.
The newly announced titles complete the New Directors line-up alongside the previously revealed Spanish films The Bad Son, This Solitude and February, Seven Days. All 14 films will compete for the €50,000 (USD $57,000) Kutxabank-New Directors Award, shared between the winning director and the film’s Spanish distributor, as well as the DAMA Youth Award, voted on by a jury of 150 filmgoers aged 18-25.
Running under the auspices of the festival’s 74th edition, New Directors remains one of San Sebastian’s key discovery platforms and has provided an early international showcase for filmmakers including Olivier Assayas, Bong Joon Ho, Jonathan Glazer, Nicolas Winding Refn, Walter Salles, Isabel Coixet and Lucile Hadžihalilović.
According to the festival, films selected for last year’s edition went on to receive around 50 awards and nominations on the international circuit.
SSIFF New Directors 2026 line-up
The Bad Son (Sp) – Opening Film
Dir. Jaime Lorente
Body Of Glass (Ger-Fr)
Dir. Naëmi Ada
Cute (Den-Swe-Nor)
Dir. Marlene Emilie Lyngstad
Erratics (Chile-Fr-Arg)
Dir. Thomas Woodroffe
This Solitude (Sp)
Dir. Javier Giner
Florid (UK-Swe) – Closing Film
Dir. Billy Lumby
Lovers Sleep Alone (Ger)
Dir. Massih Parsaei
Morro (Mex)
Dir. Rodrigo García Saiz
Mugalim (Kaz)
Dir. Ayana Nurdinova
My Father’s Shoes (Bul-Fr)
Dir. Hristo Simeonov
Will You Still Be My Friend (Tai-Sing)
Dir. Lu Po-Shun
February, Seven Days (Ger-Austria-Sp)
Dir. Tatjana Moutchnik
The Ballet Lesson (Japan)
Dir. Kazuya Murayama
The World Before (S Kor-Japan-Fr)
Dir. Yoon Dan-bi.
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