Davies, Ripstein and Kore-eda, to compete for Zinemaldi's Golden Shell

Yet another year San Sebastian International Film Festival unites prestigious international filmmakers who will present their latest works. Productions from the United Kingdom, Japan, Mexico, Canada, France, China, Argentina, Portugal, Greece and Sweden will gather at the event to compete for the Golden Shell.

Terence Davies, Hirokazu Kore-Eda, Arturo Ripstein, Wang Xiaoshuai, Sarah Polley and Julie Delpy are some of the directors that will compete for the Golden Shell at the 59th edition of the San Sebastian International Film Festival. Ana Katz, Mathieu Demy, Filippos Tsitos, João Canijo and Björn Runge will also compete at the Zinemaldi, which will run from Friday 16th to Saturday 24th September.

The Deep Blue Sea is the new film from reputed British director Terence Davies, to whom the Festival dedicated a retrospective at its 56th edition (2008). Starring Rachel Weisz, Tom Hiddleston and Simon Russell Beale, this adaptation of a play of the same name by Terence Rattigen is a chamber piece focusing on the emotional turmoil of a married woman who falls in love with another man.

The Reasons of the Heart is the latest work from Mexico’s Arturo Ripstein, who this time round brings us a free and personal adaptation of the last chapters of Gustave Flaubert’s novel Madame Bovary. Arturo Ripstein (Mexico City, 1943) has carried off San Sebastian Festival’s Golden Shell on two occasions, for Principio y fin (The Beginning and the End, 1993) and La perdición de los hombres (The Ruination of Men, 2000), plus the Special Jury Prize for El lugar sin límites (The Place Without Limits, 1978).

Kiseki (I Wish), the new movie from Japanese filmmaker Hirokazu Kore-eda, tells the tale of a 12 year-old boy with one big dream in life: to be reunited with his elder brother, who has been living kilometres away since their parents’ divorce. This is the fourth time Kore-eda has been selected to compete at San Sebastian Festival, having previously presented at the event his earlier films Wandâfuru raifu (After Life,1998), Hana yori mo naho (Hana, 2006) and Aruitemo, aruitemo(Still Walking, 2008).

The actor, director and producer Sarah Polley will also compete in the Official Selection with her second feature, the Canadian production, Take this Waltz. With a cast headed by Michelle Williams and Seth Rogen, the film brings us a romantic drama starring a young woman struggling with conflicting emotions

Another popular and reputed actor and director, French this time,Julie Delpy, will participate in the Official Selection with her fourth opus, Le Skylab, a nostalgic comedy on a family reunion set in the 70s starring and directed by herself.

The Chinese movie 11 Flowers, the latest work from filmmaker Wang Xiaoshuai, describes the turbulent period before Mao Tse-Tung’s death seen through the eyes of a boy.

Los Marziano (The Marziano’s Family), an Argentinean production directed by Ana Katz, starring Guillermo Francella and Arturo Puig, is a bittersweet family comedy about two long-estranged brothers and the tense friction arising between them when they’re forced together for a family celebration.

Sangue Do Meu Sangue (Blood of my Blood), a Portuguese production directed by João Canijo, is an intense family melodrama set in the outskirts of Lisbon.

Americano is a French production directed by and starring Mathieu Demy. Also starring are Salma Hayek, Geraldine Chaplin and Chiara Mastroianni. The movie narrates the Mexican adventures of a young Frenchman on the trail of a mysterious woman who was a friend of his dead mother.

The Greek film Adikos Kosmos (Unfair World), directed by Filippos Tsitos, is a surprising dramatic comedy on the strange goings on of a police officer obsessed by making the world a fairer place.

Happy end is a Swedish production directed by Björn Runge on the psychological and physical abuse of women in today’s society.