59th San Sebastian Film Fest includes latest from Urbizu, Lacuesta and Vigalondo

Last week we broke out news about the international lineup for the official section of the 59th San Sebastian Film Festival. Today we receive word on the Spanish titles that would be showcased at this year’s edition including the latest from Enrique Urbizu, Isaki Lacuesta and Nacho Vigalondo (see pic).

Competing for the Golden Shell award at the official section we find:

“NO HABRÁ PAZ PARA LOS MALVADOS (NO REST FOR THE WICKED)” from Enrique Urbizu, starring José Coronado, Rodolfo Sancho, Helena Miquel and Juanjo Artero. The comeback of one of the most gripping Spanish film noir directors after an eight year absence.

“LOS PASOS DOBLES (THE DOUBLE STEPS)” from Isaki Lacuesta, a fictional documentary taking its inspiration from the biography of French artist and author François Augiéras. The artist painted every inch of the walls of a military bunker in the desert and let it sink into the sand so that no-one would find it till the 21st Century. Lacuesta entered the festival previously in 2009 with “Los Condenados (The Damned)” where he took home the FIPRESCI critics award.

“LA VOZ DORMIDA (THE SLEEPING VOICE)” from Benito Zambrano, an adaptation of Dulce Chacon’s book of the same name and starring Inma Cuesta, María León, Marc Clotet and Daniel Holguín. Set in the terrible years immediately following the end of the Spanish civil war, the film narrates the moving relations between two sisters, one of them in jail, and the two men they love, become two guerrilla fighters. Zambrano broke into the spanish filmmaking panorama with a blast, his film debut “Solas”. This is his third film since his first directing duty twenty –one years ago.

At the Zabaltegui-New Directors section we will find:

“ARRUGAS (WRINKLES)” by Ignacio Ferreras. An adaptation of the graphic novel of the same name by Paco Roca, for which he claimed the Spanish National Comic Award in 2008. This animated movie describes the dreams, feelings and frustrations of a group of elderly people in a home for the aged.

“TRALAS LUCES (BEHIND THE LIGHTS)” by Sandra Sánchez, a documentary that traces the nomad life of Lourdes as she travels with her family and their dodgems from fairground to fairground in the north of Spain.

“URTE BERRI ON, AMONA!” by Telmos Esnal which tells the misfortunes of a couple forced to care for the wife’s elderly mother. The film stars Josean Bengoetxea, Nagore Aramburu and Montserrat Carulla.

In the non competing section Zabaltegui Specials where the most recent works by some of the jury members, new films by directors who have had a retrospective dedicated to them at San Sebastian and unreleased proposals of special characteristics come together, we will find a selection of seven films from which stand out:

“EXTRATERRESTRE (EXTRATERRESTRIAL)” by Nacho Vigalondo (“Timecrimes”), an original and unpredictable romantic comedy with alien invasion included. The cast includes Julián Villagrán, Michelle Jenner, Carlos Areces and Raúl Cimas.

“MADRID 1987” by David Trueba (“Soldiers of Salamina”) a portrait ofthe Spanish ‘transition’ through the relationship struck up between a sceptical maturing author and the naive girl student who attempts to interview him. José Sacristán and María Valverde star.

“VERBO” by Eduardo Chapero-Jackson, the acclaimed short film director jumps into the feature lenght world for the first time with this film in which he merges fantasy and rap music to narrate the initiatory voyage of a young girl powerfully drawn into a new dimension. Starring Miguel Ángel Silvestre, Verónica Echegui, Najwa Nimri, Víctor Clavijo and Macarena Gómez.

The rest of the films include “14 D’ABRIL: MACIÀ CONTRA COMPANYS” from Manuel Huerga, The documentary feature “AL FINAL DEL TÚNEL (A LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL IN THE BASQUE COUNTRY)” from Eterio Ortega, “EL CUADERNO DE BARRO (THE CLAY DIARIES)” another documentary from Isaki Lacuesta (another film at the official competition as we stated before) and “PUZZLED LOVE”, A tale packed with laughs and love mirrored in the different styles of 13 up-and-coming promises in our movie world, a production of the filmmaking school of Catalunya.