All the French films at the 73rd San Sebastián Film Festival

05 9月 2025

The third major international film festival of the fall season after Venice and Toronto,the highly anticipated San Sebastian International Film Festival (SSIFF) will take place in the Spanish city from September 19 to 27. Three French films, directed by Claire Denis, Alice Winocour, and Arnaud Desplechin, are in Competition. Juliette Binoche has been invited to present, Out of Competition, her first documentary as a director.

Three highly anticipated French films will make their world premiere in Competition at the 73rd SSIFF: The Fence, by Claire Denis, set on a vast public works site in West Africa, starring Matt Dillon and Isaach De Bankolé; Couture, by Alice Winocour, intertwined portraits of three women during Paris Fashion Week, starring Angelina Jolie and Ella Rumpf; and Two Pianos, by Arnaud Desplechin, the journey of a professional pianist confronted with his demons, starring François Civil in the lead role. This is the first time in Competition for Desplechin and Winocour, while Denis already presented ハイ・ライフ in 2018, which won the Fipresci Prize.

Three other films (minority-) co-produced by France will also be shown in Competition, including the new film by Joachim Lafosse, Six Days in Spring.

Out of Competition, Juliette Binoche has been invited to present her first feature film, In-I in Motion, to the public. The film focuses on the choreographic creation “In-I,” in which she participated alongside Akram Khan in 2007.

Couture

The Perlak strand, which brings together films from the year's major international festivals, will feature films discovered at Cannes (It Was Just an Accident, Nouvelle Vague, Sentimental Value, The Secret Agent, A Private Life, Little Amélie or the Character of Rain, Orwell: 2+2=5), and Venice (The Stranger, The Wizard of the Kremlin, The Voice of Hind Rajab)

The Zabaltegi-Tabakalera strand, which is more oriented towards “experimental” cinema, will feature the presentation of the new films by Lucile Hadžihalilović (The Ice Tower) and by Hlynur Pálmason (Joan of Arc).

Last but not least, we should mention the screenings, in the Horizontes Latinos strand, of the film The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo by Diego Céspedes, which was discovered at Cannes in Un certain regard.

Overall, French cinema is also present, as usual, in international co-productions, with around twenty films presented across all strands.

A delegation of French cinema artists and professionals will be making the trip (subject to change): Arnaud Desplechin, Nadia Tereszkiewicz, François Civil, Charlotte Rampling, Hippolyte Girardot, Alice Winocour, Louis Garrel, Ella Rumpf, Anyier Anei, Claire Denis, Suzanne Lindon, Juliette Binoche, Lucile Hadžihalilović, Rebecca Zlotowski, Richard Linklater, Raoul Peck, Maïlys Vallade, フランソワオゾン, Olivier Assayas

Two French producers will be participating in juries: Yaël Fogiel (Les Films du Poisson) will be president of the Zabaltegi jury, and Anne-Dominique Toussaint (Tournellovision) will be a member of the official jury. Filmmaker Charlène Favier will be part of the Nuev@s Director@s jury.

As part of its activities, Unifrance will host a cocktail reception on Sunday, September 21, at the Maria Cristina Hotel, for all the French talent present in San Sebastián, as well as Spanish distributors.