The San Sebastián International Film Festival; Basque: (Donostia Zinemaldia) is an annual film festival held in the Spanish city of Donostia-San Sebastián in September, in the Basque Country. |
The festival was founded in 1952. Although it was originally intended to honour Spanish language films, films of other languages became eligible for consideration in 1955, when the festival was specialized in color films. It has been acknowledged by the FIAPF as an A category festival since 1957, with the exception of the 1980–1984 period, when no major awards were given.
Since its creation in 1953 it has established itself as one of the most important cinema festivals in the world, being one of the 14 "A" category competitive festivals accredited by the FIAPF. It has hosted several important events of the history of cinema, such as the international premiers of Vertigo, by Alfred Hitchcock (who attended the Festival) or Melinda and Melinda by Woody Allen and the European premier of Star Wars. Actors and directors such as Bette Davis, Audrey Hepburn, Charlton Heston, Naomi Watts, Brad Pitt... have attended the festival since its inception. It was the first festival attended by Roman Polanski and it was a key element to advance the professional careers of Francis Ford Coppola or Pedro Almodóvar, for instance.
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