For the nine days between September 19th and 27th 2025, the Basque city of San Sebastian – known in the local language as Donostia – hosted one of the largest and most exciting film festivals of Europe. It is fair to say that the event is second only to the Top 3 – Cannes, Venice and Berlin – in terms of size, prestige, and breadth. The Festival screened 254 films from 56 countries across various sections such as the Main Competition, New Directors, Horizontes, Zabaltegi-Tabakalera, Perlak, Culinary Zinema, Nest, Zinemira, etc. It saw some of the world’s leading filmmakers, actors and professionals sail cross the red carpet of the Kursaal Palace, the famous block-shaped building by the Zurriola beach.

This year’s event had some distant political flavours. A large and enthusiastic crowd of anti-genocide campaigners waived a sea of Palestinian flags with a cutaway from Pablo Picasso’s Guernica juxtaposed upon it (a few demonstrators are pictured below; incidentally the Guernica bombing took place in the eponymous Basque town), both at the opening and the closing of the Festival, while chanting “Israeli Boikot, Palestina Askatu” (Basque for “Boycott Israel, free Palestine”). One of the protest organisers, who asked to remain anonymous, explained that the criticism was not aimed at the Festival, but that they instead used it as a platform to denounce Basque companies such as rail manufacturer Caf, which has been commissioned to expand the railway network serving Israel’s illegal colonial settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory, known as the Jerusalem Light Rail.

Prominent figures used the event to in order to condemn the United States, in particular its support of Israel and the suppression of democratic voices. TJennifer Lawrence, who came with her new film Die, My Love (directed by Lynne Ramsey, and which received the Donostia Award), said: “what’s happening is no less than a genocide and it’s unacceptable. I’m terrified for my children, for all of our children”. Angelina Jolie, starring in Official Competition’s entry Couture (Alice Wincour), claimed: ““I have to say that I love my country and I don’t, at this time, recognise my country”.

The public too shared concerns and sensitivities with the protestors and the actors. Kaouther Ben Hania’s horrifyingly real register of the Gaza Genocide The Voice of Hind Rajab (which premiered in Venice earlier this month, and was shockingly denied the event’s top prize) won the Audience Prize.

Pictured at the top of this article is activist Argentinian drama Belén (Dolores Fonzi), also from the Main Competition, the real story of a young woman wronged by the South American country’s justice system.

The edition of San Sebastian was remarkably Latin- and French-driven, with 12 out of the 18 films in the Official Competition coming from just three countries (many in co-production format): the hosting nation Spain, neighbouring France and Argentina. Overall, the Official Selection was remarkably strong, and undoubtedly the most powerful that I have encountered in my five years attending the event and watching nearly all such films.

You can read ou full coverage of the event – 51 pieces in total, including every single one of the 18 films in the Official Competition – by clicking here.

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The winners

Below are the winners of the 73rd San Sebastian International Film Festivals. The titles are linked to the respective film reviews (where available):

At the other end of the spectrum are the loudest turkeys: Arnaud Desplechin pretentious and pointless thriller Two Pianos, and Agnieszka Holland’s conventional and confusing Kafka biopic Franz (a film guaranteed to have the transgressive Czech writer rolling in his grave).