Spain’s San Sebastian Festival, the most important film meet in the Spanish-speaking world, has unveiled the 13 title lineup of its 2021 New Directors lineup, which includes awaited debuts such as Argentine Mara Pescio’s “That Weekend” and Spaniard Javier Marco’s “Josephine” plus Jeonju Fest double winner “Aloners.”
Here are the titles and some descriptions. More details to come:
“Aloners” (“Hon-Ja, Sa-Neun Sa-ram-deul,” Hong Sung-eun, South Korea)
Winner at May’s Jeonju Intl. Film Festival of the best actor prize for Gong Seung-yeon who plays a loner woman working at a customer call center who discourages any social contact. A psychological study in solitariness, “Aloners” also scooped the CGV Arthouse award.
“Between Two Dawns” (“Iki Safak Arasinda,” Selman Nacar, Turkey)
A standout and eventual double winner at San Sebastian’s 2020 WIP Europa, Nacar’s debut, about a man struggling to do the right thing following an accident in his family’s business.
Popular on Variety
“Carajita” (Silvina Schnicer, Ulises Porra, Argentina)
Set in the Dominican Republic and the Argentine directorial duo’s follow-up to 2017 “Tigre,” described by Variety as “a rich and impressive debut.” Here Schnicer and Porra explore a mother-daughter style relationship between a teen and her nanny, which says much about social structures.
“Hilda’s Short Summer” (“Las Vacaciones de Hilda,” Agustin Banchero, Uruguay)
Swooped on by sales agent Figa Films after its screened in rough cut at San Sebastian’s WIP Latam last year, Banchero’s debut focuses on a woman whose isolated rural life is upended by news that her estranged son will com to visit. A study in emotional regeneration, Banchero’s debut is produced by Virginia Bogliolo and Juan Alvarez Neme at auteur-driven Uruguayan shingle, Tarkiofilm.
“Inventory” (“Inventura,” Darko Sinko, Slovenia)
Boris Robic is an average Joe, or so he thinks, until somebody tries to shoot him and, investigating his own past, he discovers multiple reasons why people would hate him. An exposé of widespread moral culpability from Sinko, which was also selected for 2020’s WIP Europa.
“Josephine” (“Josefina,” Javier Marco, Spain)
Toplining Emma Suárez, star of Pedro Almodóvar’s “Julieta,” Marco’s debut has a prison guard inventing an inmate daughter to meet a frequent visitor. White Leaf Producciones and Featurent produce the feature, standout among 2018 projects at the Madrid Film School’s ECAM Incubator. A romantic drama with lighter touches and a deft but penetrating critique of contemporary societal ills, says Feel Content’s Geraldine Gonard, the film’s sales agent.
“Lost in Summer” (“Shu Qi Shi Guang,” Sun Liang, China )
“Mass” (Fran Kranz, U.S.)
“Mikado” (“Marocco,” Emanuel Parvu, Romania)
“The Noise of Engines” (“Le Bruit des moteurs,” Philippe Grégoire, Canada)
“The Rust” (“La Roya,” Juan Sebastián Mesa, Colombia)
“That Weekend” (“Ese Fin de Semana,” Mara Pescio, Argentina)
A study of fractured relationships and dreams, broken by Latin America’s economic crisis, “That Weekend” has mother Julia returning to her multi-ethnic Posadas tenement to sign a document authorizing daughter Clara to leave Argentina with her father. A conflictive mother daughter fiction drama, it marks the directorial debut of Pescio, a highly regarded screenwriter whose credits include MGM’s “The End of Love” and “Victoria Small,” from ViacomCBS Intl. Studios and The Mediapro Studio.
“Unwanted” (“Nich’Ya,” Lena Lanskih, Russia)