The new films by Icíar Bollaín, Pilar Palomero, Alberto Serra and debutant Pedro Martín-Calero will compete at the San Sebastian festival | Culture

The flashes, by Pilar Palomero; I’m Nevenka, by Iciar Bollaín; Afternoons of solitude (although there is still no definitive title), by Alberto Serra, and Crying, by debutant Pedro Martín-Calero, will be the four Spanish films competing in the San Sebastian festival, whose 72nd edition will be held from 20 to 28 September. The announcement was made this morning at the Film Academy in Madrid.

I am Nevenka It is the vision of Icíar Bollaín and Isa Campo (both co-writers, and the former director, as in Maixabel) of the struggle of the PP councillor in Ponferrada (León) Nevenka Fernández, who two decades ago fought a tough battle to be heard and to receive judicial compensation for her suffering, caused by the abuse of power and sexual harassment of the mayor, Ismael Álvarez. That became a great scandal at the beginning of the 21st century, an accurate thermometer of the sexism of Spanish society and, now, a film.

The flashes, Pilar Palomero’s third film describes the new relationship between an ex-married couple: Isabel is asked by her daughter Madalen to regularly visit Ramón, her ex-husband, who is seriously ill, after 15 years apart. The couple is played by Antonio de la Torre and Pilar López Arnaiz.

Albert Serra will present in San Sebastian Afternoons of solitude, his documentary on bullfighting, a non-fiction film about the world of the bull that addresses the mental and spiritual states that the bullfighter experiences in the ring. Serra, meanwhile, is preparing a new fiction film, Out of this world, starring Kristen Stewart.

The quartet closes it Crying, directed by debutant Pedro Martín-Calero, a nod to horror, a genre to which the festival director, José Luis Rebordinos, has opened the door in his stage. Crying Ester Expósito, Mathilde Ollivier and Malena Villa play three women who, at different points in time and connected without knowing it, face a threat that transcends them. The script was co-written by Isabel Peña, Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s regular co-writer, and is also produced by the latter’s production company, Caballo Films.

At the special screenings there will be The red virgin, by Paula Ortiz, a Prime Video production that will be released in theaters beforehand and that reconstructs the relationship between Hildegart Rodríguez (played by Alba Planas), a child prodigy and pioneer in social movements in Spain a century ago, and her mother (played by Najwa Nimri); and the series I’m addicted, Created by Javier Giner and directed by Giner and Elena Trapé, it reconstructs Giner’s detoxification process, which he already narrated in his book of the same name.

Another series will be out of competition, Want, by Alauda Ruiz de Azúa. The four chapters of this miniseries tell the story of Miren, a woman from Bilbao who, after 30 years of marriage and two children with her husband, leaves the marital home and accuses her husband of continued rape during those years. The accusation will unleash an earthquake in the family and force her two children, now grown up, to decide whether to believe what their mother has reported or support a father who claims he is innocent. The series follows the family and judicial journey that begins with Miren’s decision.

In New Directors, he stands out The flamenco guitar of Yerai Cortésthe directorial debut of Antón Álvarez, better known as C. Tangana. After starring This excessive ambitionthe documentary that followed his career and premiered at the Velodrome, Álvarez uses the music of Yerai Cortés as a vehicle to immerse the viewer in the guitarist’s personal story. Along with this film, in the section dedicated to first and second works, we will see The arrival of the son, from Buenos Aires Cecilia Atán and Valeria Pivato, the directors of The Bride of the Desert; The last romantics, by David Perez Sañudo, who was already in New Directors with Ane in 2020 (and won three Goya awards), and Where silence passes, by Sandra Romero, which expands the universe already shown in her short film of the same name.

The series will be screened at the Velodrome Sky blue, Created by Diego San José and directed by Helena Trapé, Carmen Machi plays Sara Santano, a tax inspector who, on the last day of her retirement, is tasked with investigating Celeste, a Mexican artist who is expected to prove that she lived in Spain for 184 days, which would force her to pay taxes.

According to José Luis Rebordinos, more titles may be added to this list, and the films in the Zinemira and Made in Spanish sections have yet to be announced.