The Rye Horn (O Corno), the second feature by Jaione Camborda, has won the top prize, the Golden Shell, at the 2023 San Sebastian Film Festival.
Set on an island off the coast of Galicia in 1971, the film tells the story of a woman who earns a living harvesting shellfish. She is also known on the island for helping other women in childbirth but has to flee and try to cross the border into Portugal after an unexpected event.
Camborda, who was born in San Sebastian, is the fourth woman to win the Golden Shell after The Kings Of The World by Colombian director Laura Mora last year, Blue Moon by Alina Grigore from Romania in 2021, and Beginning by Georgian director Dea Kulumbegashvili in 2020.
The Rye Horn previously took part in the Ikusmira Berriak residency programme run by the festival during its development stage.
San Sebastian’s official competition jury, presided over by French filmmaker Claire Denis, also awarded two other top prizes to new filmmakers.
The Special Jury Prize went to Kalak, the second feature by Swedish filmmaker Isabella Eklöf, which centres on a man on the run from himself after being sexually abused by his father. The Silver Shell for Best Director went to the duo behind the Taiwanese production A Journey In Spring, Tzu-Hui Peng, Ping Wen Wang.
In the third edition of non-gender specific prizes at the long-running Spanish festival, the Silver Shell for Best Leading Performance went ex-aequo to the Argentinian actor Marcelo Subiotto for Puan and Japanese actor Tatsuya Fuji for Great Absence. Puan, a bittersweet comedy about the rivalry between two philosophy university lecturers in Buenos Aires also won the jury prize for best screenplay for María Alché and Benjamín Naishtat.
The Silver Shell for Best Supporting performance went to Hovik Keuchkerian for his work in Isabel Coixet’s Un Amor, an adaptation of the acclaimed Spanish novel by Sara Mesa about a woman trying to start anew in a small mountain village. Keuchkerian, previously known for his work in the miniseries Riot Police, plays another stranger who has settled in the village and gets involved with the character played by Laia Costa (Victoria).
The Audience Award went to J.A. Bayona’s Netflix feature Society Of The Snow. Spain’s entry for the Oscars, the film secured the highest ever score for an Audience prize winner in San Sebastian with 9.23 points out of 10. When Bayona went on stage he announced that the €50,000 audience award for a Spanish distribution company will be donated. The film will have a theatrical release in Spain before streaming on Netflix.
Society Of The Snow had previously premiered in Venice and so had the winner of the Audience Award for Best European film, Io Captiano by Matteo Garrone, about the traumatic journey of two adolescents from Senegal trying to reach Europe. The two main actors, Seydou Sarr and Moustapha Fall, picked up the award which comes with €20,000 euros for the Spanish distributor.
The Kutxabank-New Directors award for the best first or second feature, worth €50.000 to share between the director and the company that distributes the film in Spain, went to Indian production Bahadur The Brave by Diwa Shah.
Reflecting on the 71st edition of the festival, its director Jose Luis Rebordinos underlined the growing presence of industry professionals with numbers rising from 600 to 4,200 in 12 years. “The second Creative Investors’ Conference has been a success and this draws interest, business and participation with investors wanting to produce and co-produce more and more in Spain and Europe. We will work to ensure its continuity in future editions.”
Rebordinos noted that four women have won the Golden Shell consecutively in San Sebastian and that the “all-year-round policy of the festival supporting new talent is working. I am very happy to see that the Golden Shell has gone to a film we had in Ikusmira Berriak, our residency programme.”
The closing film at the ceremony was Dance First, directed by James Marsh (The Theory Of Everything), a title based on Samuel Beckett’s famous quote: “Dance First, think later”. A world premiere in the official selection of San Sebastian but out-of-competition, the film traces the life of the Irish literary genius played by Gabriel Byrne.
San Sebastian 2023: Winners
Golden Shell For Best Film
O Corno (The Rye Horn) (Sp-Port-Bel)
Dir: Jaione Camborda
Special Jury Prize
Kalak (Den-Sw-Nor-Fin-Greenland-Neth)
Dir: Isabella Eklöf
Silver Shell For Best Director
Tzu-Hui Peng, Ping Wen Wang
for A Journey In Spring (Taiwan)
Silver Shell For Best Leading Performance (ex-aequo)
Marcelo Subiotto
for Puan (Arg-It-Ger-Fr-Br)
& Tatsuya Fuji
for Great Absence (Japan)
Silver Shell For Best Supporting Performance
Hovik Keuchkerian
for Un amor (Sp)
Jury Prize For Best Screenplay
María Alché, Benjamín Naishtat
for Puan (Arg-It-Ger-Fr-Br)
Jury Prize For Best Cinematography
Nadim Carlsen
for Kalak (Den-Sw-Nor-Fin-Greenland-Neth)
Kutxabank-New Directors Award
Bahadur The Brave (India)
by Diwa Shah
Horizontes Award
El Castillo (The Castle)
by Martin Benchimol (Arg-Fr-Sp)
Zabaltegi-Tabakalera Award
El Auge Humano 3
by Eduardo Williams (Arg-Port-Neth-Tai-Br-HK-Sri Lanka-Peru)
Nest Award
Amma Ki Katha
Dir: Nehal Vyas
Special mention:
Entre les autres
Dir: Marie Falys
Culinary Zinema Best Film Award
The Pot-au-feu (Fr)
Dir: Tran Anh Hung
San Sebastián Audience Award
Society of the Snow (Sp)
Dir: J.A. Bayona
San Sebastián Audience Award for European Films
Io Capitano (It)
Dir: Matteo Garrone
Irizar Basque Film Award
Sultana’s Dream (Sp-Ger)
Dir: Isabel Herguera
TCM Youth Award
The Blue Star (Sp-Arg)
Dir: Javier Macipe
Fipresci Award
Fingernails (US)
Dir: Christos Nikou
Agenda 2030 Euskadi Basque Country Award
The Undesirables (Fr)
Dir: Ladj Li
Dunia Ayaso Award
Creatura (Sp)
Dir: Elena Martin Gimeno
Special Mention
While You’re Still You (The Yellow Ceiling) (Sp)
Dir: Claudia Pinto
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