2021 San Sebastián Film Festival
Movies I saw in the 2021 San Sebastián Film Festival, ranked.
List activity
174 views
• 0 this weekCreate a new list
List your movie, TV & celebrity picks.
46 titles
- DirectorRyûsuke HamaguchiStarsHidetoshi NishijimaTôko MiuraReika KirishimaA renowned stage actor and director learns to cope with a big personal loss when he receives an offer to direct a production of Uncle Vanya in Hiroshima.
- DirectorTerence DaviesStarsJack LowdenThom AshleyOrlando JoplingLegendary 20th century English war poet Siegfried Sassoon embarks on a life-long quest for personal salvation through his experiences with family, war, his writing, and destructive relationships. True salvation can only come from within.
- DirectorOlga LucovnicovaStarsOlga LucovnicovaTudorLoraIn intimate close-ups the camera captures an idyllic scene that seems to belong to a different era.
- DirectorSean BakerStarsSimon RexBree ElrodSuzanna SonMikey Saber is a washed-up porn star who returns to his small Texas hometown, not that anyone really wants him back.
- DirectorPaul VerhoevenStarsVirginie EfiraCharlotte RamplingDaphné PatakiaA 17th-century nun in Italy suffers from disturbing religious and erotic visions. She is assisted by a companion, and the relationship between the two women develops into a romantic love affair.
- DirectorXavier GiannoliStarsBenjamin VoisinCécile de FranceVincent LacosteLucien de Rubempré, a young, lower-class poet, leaves his family's printing house for Paris. Soon, he learns the dark side of the arts business as he tries to stay true to his dreams.
- DirectorGaspar NoéStarsDario ArgentoFrançoise LebrunAlex LutzThe last days of an elderly couple stricken by dementia.
- DirectorTatiana HuezoStarsGuillermo VillegasMayra BatallaTeresa SánchezLife in a town at war seen through the eyes of three young girls on the path to adolescence.
- DirectorSelman NacarStarsMucahit KocakNezaket ErdenÜnal SilverAfter a worker is severely injured in their family business, Kadir is forced into making a moral decision, which will have an impact on his dreams, his family and the life of the injured worker's wife.
- DirectorLaura WandelStarsMaya VanderbequeGünter DuretElsa LaforgeWhen Nora witnesses Abel being bullied by other kids, she rushes to protect him. But Abel forces her to remain silent. Caught in a conflict of loyalty, Nora tries to find her place, torn between children's and adults' worlds.
- DirectorRadu JudeStarsKatia PascariuClaudia IeremiaNicodim UngureanuEmi, a school teacher, finds her career and reputation under threat after a personal sex tape is leaked on the Internet. Forced to meet the parents demanding her dismissal, Emi refuses to surrender to their pressure.
- DirectorKira KovalenkoStarsMilana AguzarovaAlik KaraevSoslan KhugaevAda is stuck. Living in a dead-end town in North Ossetia, she is caught in the tight grip of the men in her life. But when her older brother returns home and her father suddenly falls ill, Ada finally sees a possible path to freedom.
- DirectorJoachim LafosseStarsLeïla BekhtiDamien BonnardGabriel Merz ChammahLeila and Damien struggle with his bipolar disorder.
- DirectorKiro RussoStarsMax Bautista UchasaraJulio César TiconaIsrael HurtadoA symphony of the city in the heights, the illness of a worker, the nightmare and his redemption.
- DirectorLorenzo VigasStarsHernán MendozaHatzín NavarreteElián GonzalezA Mexican teenager sets out to collect his fathers remains, only to be sucked into the underbelly of the manufacturing industry.
- DirectorAlonso RuizpalaciosStarsMónica Del CarmenRaúl BrionesMaría Teresa Hernández CañasTwo professional actors undergo an immersive process to find out what it takes to be a cop in Mexico City.
- DirectorFran KranzStarsJason IsaacsMartha PlimptonAnn DowdThe parents of both the shooter and one of the victims of a school shooting tragedy agree to meet and talk in an attempt to move forward.
- DirectorAndreas FontanaStarsFabrizio RongioneStéphanie CléauCarmen IriondoYvan De Wiel, a private banker from Geneva, goes to Argentina in the midst of a dictatorship to replace his partner, the object of the most worrying rumours, who disappeared overnight.
- DirectorPeter KerekesStarsMaryna KlimovaIryna KiryazevaLyubov VasylynaFollows the real-life stories of 107 mothers in the Odesa prison in Ukraine.
- DirectorJonás TruebaStarsAndrei MazgaPablo GaviraSancho JaviérezDirector Jonás Trueba captures the spirit of a group of teens in Spain in an empathic, compelling, and moving way. In 2016, Trueba asked the teens to participate in a five-year project, in which they recreated situations from their lives. They talk about their insecurities, wanting to be accepted, loneliness, and what they are supposed to do with their lives. They demonstrate against school privatisation, debate politics and, like many adults, worry about the planet's future.
- DirectorPaco PlazaStarsAlmudena AmorVera ValdezKarina KolokolchykovaA Paris model must return to Madrid where her grandmother, who had brought her up, just had a stroke. But spending just a few days with this relative turns into an unexpected nightmare.
- DirectorThierry de PerettiStarsRoschdy ZemPio MarmaïVincent LindonFrench customs seize seven tonnes of cannabis in the heart of the capital. A former narcotics infiltrator claims to be able to demonstrate the existence of state trafficking led by Jacques Billard, a high-ranking French police officer.
- DirectorTea LindeburgStarsFlora Ofelia Hofmann LindahlIda Cæcilie RasmussenPalma Lindeburg LethOn a farm in the late 1800s, an intense wait begins when a mother goes into a complicated labour and 14-year-old Lise must prepare herself for a night that could change her life forever.
- DirectorInés María BarrionuevoStarsNina DziembrowskiMaite Lucía ValeroAdriana FerrerCamila is forced to move to Buenos Aires when her grandmother falls ill. She leaves behind her friends and a liberal public school for a traditional private institution. There, her fiery but premature temper will be put to the test.
- DirectorLucile HadzihalilovicStarsPaul HiltonRomane HemelaersRomola GaraiA 50-year-old caretaker is employed to look after 10-year-old girl. His most important task is to maintain her dentures that are made of ice and must be changed several times a day.
- DirectorShipei WenStarsEddie PengSylvia ChangYanhui WangOn a dark night, Xueming hits a pedestrian with his car and flees the scene. Desperate to escape his feelings of guilt, he decides to approach the dead man's wife, Mrs Liang. Meanwhile, the body is discovered - riddled with bullets. Chen, the detective in charge of the investigation, becomes obsessed with the case. Years later, all three remain caught in a tangled web of memories and lies, desperately searching for a truth that refuses to be revealed.
- DirectorJulia DucournauStarsVincent LindonAgathe RousselleGarance MarillierFollowing a series of unexplained crimes, a father is reunited with the son who has been missing for ten years.
- DirectorYimou ZhangStarsYi ZhangHaocun LiuWei FanA movie fan in a remote farmland strikes a relationship with a homeless female vagabond.
- DirectorJuan Sebastián MesaStarsJuan Daniel Ortiz HernandezPaula Andrea CanoLaura Gutierrez ArdilaJorge lives in the isolated Colombian mountains, working his father's land with proud. Everyone on his generation's gone to the cities. He stills, but also doubts. In his mind, memories of a huge love from the past.
- DirectorKirill SerebrennikovStarsSemyon SerzinChulpan KhamatovaVladislav SemiletkovA day in the life of a comic book artist and his family in post-Soviet Russia. While suffering from the flu, Petrov is carried by his friend Igor on a long walk, drifting in and out of fantasy and reality.
- DirectorManolo NietoStarsNahuel Pérez BiscayartCristian BorgesJustina BustosThe employer is a young man from a middle-class family; he leads a modern life and doesn't fit in with the traditional stereotype of rural producer. But he has one pressing concern: his baby's health. The employee is even younger than him and is in urgent need of his own job so that he can support his new family. Tragedy occurs. A film about the relationship between two young men and about the convoluted relationship of both with happiness, freedom and work.
- DirectorFrançois OzonStarsSophie MarceauAndré DussollierGéraldine PailhasWhen André, 85, has a stroke, Emmanuelle hurries to her father's bedside. Sick and half-paralyzed in his hospital bed, he asks Emmanuelle to help him end his life. But how can you honor such a request when it's your own father?
- DirectorLaurent CantetStarsRabah Nait OufellaBilel ChegraniAntoine ReinartzWho is this Karim D. ? The new young writer whom the media can't get enough of? Or his alias, Arthur Rambo, the author of old hate-fuellled messages which are dredged up, one day, from social media websites?
- DirectorLubna PlayoustStarsAnatole KarmitzMireille PerrierLubna PlayoustFrançoise and Paul, a mother and her son, are secluded in their house on an isolated island. The Cormoran intertwines two moments of their lives - youth and maturity - where the ties, at times fragile or strained but indestructible, of their relationship are forged.
- DirectorClaire SimonStarsSwann ArlaudEmmanuelle DevosChristophe PaouThe relationship between French writer Marguerite Duras and her last partner Yann Andréa, who was 38 years her junior.
- DirectorAlina GrigoreStarsIoana ChituMircea PostelnicuMircea SilaghiA young woman, who struggles to receive a higher education and escape her dysfunctional family. An ambiguous sexual experience with an artist will spur her intention to fight the family's violence.
- DirectorJavier MarcoStarsEmma SuárezRoberto ÁlamoMiguel BernardeauJosefina depicts Middle Age Juan's love angle, Juan was a prison guard and the lady he loved's son Sergio was a prisoner in prison, and he loses his job because of his love.
- DirectorMikel GurreaStarsMikel ArrutiOier de SantiagoHaizea OsesSan Sebastian, the year 2000. The Basque conflict is ongoing. While writing a letter to her absent brother, Sara, a 15-year-old mountain climber, trains for the hardest ascent of her life.
- DirectorKyoshi SugitaStarsChika ArakiSaho ItoTakenori KanekoIt is based on an expressive portrait of a young woman's interior world through suggestive action rather than psychology.
- DirectorIcíar BollaínStarsBlanca PortilloLuis TosarMaría Cerezuela11 years after her husband was killed by the Basque group ETA, Maixabel Lasa agrees to a request to meet one of the assassins who is in prison, in an attempt to find some kind of restorative justice.
- DirectorLaura Rius AranIt has been 10 years since Magdalena, Oriane, Anna, Solène and Morgane last saw each other. When they were 16, they went together on a girl's trip. In a beautiful house, facing the sea. They went to the beach, drank a bit of wine, danced - And then everything burned.
- DirectorSimón Mesa SotoStarsSandra Melissa TorresDiego Alejandro TobónLuciana GallegoIn 1998, single mother Amparo races to save her teenage son after is he drafted and deployed by the Colombian army.
- DirectorClaudia LlosaStarsMaría ValverdeJolene AndersenDolores FonziIt will tell the haunting story of broken souls, toxins, looming environmental and spiritual catastrophes, and the ties that bind a parent to a child.
- DirectorCarlos SauraStarsEulàlia RamonSaura creates and recovers more than thirty images, drawings and photographs that he prints, manipulates, plays with and subsequently films, to produce a story which, while recreating the Spanish Civil War, could also reflect the horrors of universal conflict, seen through the eyes of a child and his surroundings.
- DirectorMaximiliano SchonfeldStarsLucas SchellJoaquin SpahnSofía PalominoJesús López, a young racing driver, dies accidentally leaving his village in astonishment. His cousin Abel, a drifting teenager, gradually feels tempted to take his place. He moves in with Jesús' parents, wears his clothes, gets closer to his friends and ex-girlfriend. At first, people accept him and Abel takes a liking to the role. But the resemblance to his cousin becomes disturbing, to the point that he ends up transforming into Jesús López. A car race in homage to Jesús is organized in the village. Animated by the spirit of his cousin, Abel drives the deceased's car. The outcome of this race will determine whether or not the result of the transformation becomes definitive.
- DirectorJi ZhangStarsDongyu ZhouHaoran LiuTing MeiSet in China's hardscrabble, industrial northeast, it tells the story of a young police officer investigating the murder of a taxi driver, only to find a childhood friend may be involved. To solve the case, he explores layer by layer, revealing a past buried 12 years ago.