Sebastian Showbiz and Celebrity Breaking News

The San Sebastian International Film Festival has long been considered the most intimate of the A-list festivals, neatly wrapping up a hectic fall festival season as delegates descend on the enchanting seaside city in Northern Spain. But in the last few years, the event has cemented itself into a festival reputed for championing new talent and emerging voices across all sections of its programming.  

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Organizers of the San Sebastian Film Festival said on Wednesday that they would proceed with scheduled screenings of the film “No Me Ilame Ternera,” despite calls for it to be withdrawn. According to objectors the film has connections to terrorism. Festival organizers said that they were aware of – but had not received – a letter supposedly signed by 514 people, asking for the previously selected film to be withdrawn from the festival. “We do not share their opinion that the film ‘No me llame Ternera’ should be withdrawn from the program of this coming edition of the festival for having Josu Urrutikoetxea as its protagonist and the fact that he held a very high position within the terrorist group, ETA,” the festival said.

The San Sebastian Film Festival has issued a statement standing by its decision to screen a film about Josu Urrutikoetxea, the former leader of the Basque separatist militant group ETA.

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent Javier Bardem, winner of a San Sebastian 2023 Donostia Award for career achievement, is putting back his on-stage acceptance of the distinction until the 2024 San Sebastian Film Festival. The postponement is due to the “limits imposed under the strike called by the U.S. Actors Union (SAG-AFTRA),” the San Sebastian Festival announced Friday.

French filmmaker Claire Denis has been announced as the jury president for the Official Section of the 71st San Sebastian Film Festival, running from September 22-30.

Holly Jones Ahead of its world premiere at this year’s San Sebastian Horizontes Latinos strand, Buenos Aires-based production house Historias Cinematográficas has shared with Variety an exclusive first look at the trailer for Lucía Puenzo’s energetic new film “Los Impactados,” with Variety. Produced by Historias Cinematográficas, the Puenzo family production house led by Academy Award winner Luis Puenzo (“The Official Story,” “Old Gringo”), in association with Exile Content Studio and Non Stop Studios, the project is co-produced by Juan de Dios and Pablo Larraín’s indie outfit Fábula, and turning on a study of rebirth after severe trauma. Written by Puenzo and Lorena Ventimiglia, the singular narrative follows Ada, played by Mariana Di Girolamo who starred opposite Gael Garcia Bernal in Pablo Larraín’s “Ema,” after she’s struck by lightning and on through to her intriguing metamorphosis alongside an enigmatic and experimental doctor, played by “El Último Hereje” lead Germán Palacios, and a group of fellow survivors who find themselves increasingly drawn to electric current.

Netflix’s Teresa Moneo, Mubi’s Bobby Allen, Cinetic Media’s John Sloss, and Jeb Brody, President of Production at Amblin Partners, are among the names set for CAA Media Finance and the San Sebastian Film Festival’s second annual Creative Investors’ Conference. 

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent CAA Media Finance’s Roeg Sutherland, Goodfellas’ Vincent Maraval and Cinetic Media’s John Sloss look set to attend the San Sebastian Festival’s second Creative Investors’ Conference, co-organised once again with CAA Media Finance. Bringing to San Sebastian the biggest bevy of high-powered U.S. execs and industry movers-and-shakers to attend the Spanish Festival, further CIC attendees include Netflix’s Teresa Moneo, Amblin Partners’ Jeb Brody and Anonymous Content’s David Davoli as well as K&S’s Matías Mosteirín and Infinity Hill’s Axel Kuschevatzky, as the Conference opens up to Latin America.

Marta Balaga Paula Hernández’s “A Ravaging Wind” (“El viento que arrasa”) has debuted a poster and trailer ahead of its premieres at Toronto and San Sebastian. Based on the novel by Selva Almada – and written by Hernández and Leonel D’Agostino – “A Ravishing Wind” will play Toronto’s Centrepiece program, before opening San Sebastian’s Horizontes Latinos, a showcase of many of the best Latin American movies of the last year. It sees Alfredo Castro as Reverend Pearson, an evangelical pastor who travels Argentina by car in the 1990s with his daughter Leni (Almudena González, seen in “Argentina, 1985”).

Sebastian Yatra is ready for his turn as an athlete. The Colombian singer made his pro tennis debut alongside Carlos Alcaraz, in a match that was playfully teased over the past month. In a post-match interview, Yatra said that he was a representative for Rafael Nadal, who wasn’t playing at the US Open this year.Carlos Alcaraz invites Sebastian Yatra to kick off US OpenSebastian Yatra joins Rafa Nadal for practice ahead of his US Open debutNadal celebrates 15th anniversary of first time he was ranked as #1 tennis player in the worldEl representante de @RafaelNadal.¿Qué tal lo hizo? pic.twitter.com/gogsekoO0xYatra played at the Stars of the US Open, a week dedicated to tennis followers from all over the world celebrating the start of the tournament, which kicks off on August 28.

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent Headlined respectively by “Sound of Metal” lead Riz Ahmed and “Matrix” stars Jessica Henwick and Hugo Weaving, Christos Nikou’s “Fingernails” and Kitty Green’s “The Royal Hotel” figure among seven newly unveiled films which will play in main competition at September’s San Sebastian Film Festival. Also in the running are buzz titles “A Journey in Spring,” from Taiwan’s Peng Tzu-Hui, Wang Ping-Wen, and “Kalak,” directed by Denmark’s Isabella Eklöf.

Aussie filmmaker Kitty Green’s latest pic, The Royal Hotel, starring Julia Garner, and Fingernails, the latest film from Christos Nikou, with Riz Ahmed and Jessie Buckley, have been added to San Sebastian’s competition lineup.

San Sebastian Fetes Veteran Director Victor Erice

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent Victor Erice, one of the greatest of Spanish filmmakers, will receive a prestigious Donostia Award, given for career achievement, granted by the San Sebastian Film Festival. The award will coincide with screening of Erice’s latest film, “Close Your Eyes” (Cerrar los Ojos), which world premiered at the Cannes Festival this May.

UK director James Marsh’s literary biopic Dance First, starring Gabriel Byrne as iconic Irish writer Samuel Beckett, will close the 71st San Sebastian Film Festival.

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent “Dance First,” a portrait of Irish writer Samuel Beckett starring Gabriel Byrne and directed by Oscar winner James Marsh, will close this year’s San Sebastian Film Festival, playing out of competition. Byrne, a memorable lead in “The Usual Suspects” and “Miller’s Crossing” who also won a Golden Globe for his performance in “In Treatment,” plays Samuel Beckett, driving into his deep contradictions and inner torment of a writer who was a Parisian bon vivant, a WWII Resistance fighter and then Nobel Prize-winning playwright who, however, became a recluse, living the last years of his life in a single room in a nursing home, ashamed of past actions and convinced that for much of his life he had been a failure.

That's right, to celebrate the girls in the green and the gold on their World Cup endeavours, Jules has plated up an Aussie-themed, soccer party plate - perfect for munching on when watching matches at home!

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent Living legend Hayao Miyazaki’s animated fantasy epic “The Boy and the Heron,” the latest from Japan’s legendary Studio Ghibli, will open the 71st San Sebastian Festival, screening on Sept. 22. Bowing San Sebastian, Miyazaki’s film, which he has declared to be his last, will score an extraordinary double of opening both the Toronto and San Sebastian festivals in the space of a couple of weeks.

Hayao Miyazaki will open the 71st edition of the San Sebastian Film Festival with his latest pic, The Boy and the Heron.

Sebastian Yatra is kicking off the US Open by performing some of his greatest hits for a crowd of tennis lovers. While that’s within his wheelhouse, he’ll also be playing Carlos Alcaraz, and has recruited some help from Rafa Nadal to get the job done. Rafa Nadal shares photos of Greek summer and takes selfies with fansCarlos Alcaraz invites Sebastian Yatra to kick off US OpenA post shared by Sebastian Yatra (@sebastianyatra)The video was shared by Yatra, who recorded a Facetime call between himself and Nadal.

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent Argentina’s Tarea Fina, a producer on Cannes Camera d’Or winner “Las Acacias,” International Oscar entry “The Sleepwalkers” and Ventana Sur hit “Sublime,” has boarded “A Loose End,” the third feature as a director from Uruguay’s Daniel Hendler, a Berlin Silver Bear winner for Best Actor in Daniel Burman’s 2004 international breakout “The Lost Embrace.” Set up at Montevideo’s Cordon Films, founded in 2007 by producer-TV director Micaela Solé and Hendler, “A Loose End” (“Un cabo suelto”) is one of the highest-profile projects announced on Monday by the San Sebastián Festival as part of its Europe-Latin America Co-Production Forum, its industry centerpiece. Written by Hendler, his third directorial outing returns to a central theme in his first two features as a writer-director: Identity.

Federico Veiroj, Theo Court, Alicia Scherson and Daniel Hendler head a muscular project lineup at September’s San Sebastian Europe-Latin America Co-Production Forum, the Spanish festival’s industry centerpiece which underscores this year a welling sea-change in the region’s filmmaking. “The Moneychanger,” the latest film from Uruguay’s Veiroj, was selected for Toronto’s 2019 Platform; “White on White,” from Chile’s Court, won a best director Silver Lion at 2019’s Venice Horizons; Chile’s Alicia Scherson’s debut “Play” snagged new narrative director at Tribeca in 2005: multi-hyphenate Hendler, from Uruguay, scooped best director at Miami for “The Candidate” in 2017.

Several members of the “Parks and Recreation” cast reunited this week — not for a reboot or TV special, but on the picket line as they join the ongoing WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes.

The cast of Parks and Recreation reunited on the picket line as the stars and crew members came together to fight for a better contract with the studios.

Several members of the “Parks and Recreation” cast reunited this week — not for a reboot or TV special, but on the picket line as they join the ongoing WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes.

Carlos Alcaraz, the youngest number 1 tennis player in the world, figured that a good way to kick things off would be to invite his friend Sebastian Yatra, welcoming fans to the tournament that’s hosted in New York on a yearly basis. Rafa Nadal shares photos of Greek summer and takes selfies with fansCarlos Alcaraz shares the text he received from Rafael Nadal before Wimbledon triumphAlcaraz’s invitation was cleverly staged between himself and Yatra, with their exchange being recorded on a FaceTime call.“Carlos Alcaraz is calling me,” said Yatra in Spanish to the camera. “What does he want?”“I’m calling to say that you should come to the Fan Week at the US Open and sing something,” said Alcaraz.

Donald Trump’s former aid Sebastian Gorka gave short shrift to the BBC’s political editor this week, eventually asking him, “Do you not speak English?”

EXCLUSIVE: The Lives of Others star Sebastian Koch and The Death of My Mother‘s Elsie de Brauw have joined Máxima, RTL’s upcoming drama about the Argentine-born Queen of the Netherlands. Germany’s Beta Film has also joined the Millstreet Films production.

Filmmaker and actor Benny Safdie is speaking about about sexual misconduct allegations lodged against Sebastian Bear-McClard, who was a producer on Safdie’s “Uncut Gems”.

 producer and Elara Pictures co-founder was accused of sexual misconduct and grooming teenage girls in March 2023. Per the outlet, a spokesperson for Benny and his brother Josh Safdie had previously said they fired him upon becoming aware of the behavior in July 2022«It's disgusting, and when you find out something about somebody that you didn't realize, you just have to be much more careful,» the actor-producer said in a new interview with .