Sometimes, in a closely contested festival competition, it pays to be the one thing that isn’t like the others. A starkly powerful, observational study of contemporary bullfighting, Spanish auteur Albert Serra’s “Afternoons of Solitude” was the only documentary in the main competition at this year’s San Sebastian Film Festival — and this evening won the Golden Shell for best film of the festival, beating high-profile narrative films by the likes of Mike Leigh, Edward Berger and Joshua Oppenheimer.
The award was presented by last year’s Golden Shell winner, Spanish filmmaker Jaione Camborda, heading a jury that also included directors Ulrich Seidl, Christos Nikou and Fran Kranz, producer Carole Scotta and Argentine journalist Leila Guerriero.
Centred on star Peruvian matador Andrés Rey Roca, “Afternoons of Solitude” is candid in its depiction of the violence of the sport, and has already proven controversial on home turf, with Spain’s animal-rights party PACMA calling for the film to be withdrawn from the festival. But while Serra — the arthouse provocateur better known for his challenging fiction work, including “Pacifiction” and “The Death of Louis XIV” — resists overt commentary in “Afternoons in Solitude,” few could mistake it for an endorsement of a tradition it depicts with equal parts horror, absurdity and spectacle. Variety’s review praised the film as “extraordinary,” and “a major work from a richly maturing filmmaker, of a piece with his recent fiction features in its use of languid repetition and sensory saturation to pull the audience into something approaching a discomfiting dream state.”
Clearly, Camborda’s jury was out to upend expectations. The penultimate award, the Special Jury Prize, is usually given to a filmmaker, but in this case was presented to an entire acting ensemble: the cast of Gia Coppola’s Las Vegas-set character study “The Last Showgirl,” led by Pamela Anderson in a poignant, career-reinventing performance as a veteran revue dancer seeking a new path in life when her long-running show closes.
The film’s awarded players also include Jamie Lee Curtis, Dave Bautista, Kiernan Shipka and Brenda Song. But it’s principally Anderson’s vehicle, as the erstwhile “Baywatch” pinup seemingly riffs on her own career setbacks and insecurities in the kind of dramatic role for which she was never previously considered. Few would have predicted the star ever receiving a major European festival prize: accepting the award onstage with Coppola, she limited her speech to a few brief, palpably moved thank-yous.
To be updated with a full report. Full list of winners below:
OFFICIAL SELECTION AWARDS
Golden Shell for Best Film: “Afternoons of Solitude,” Albert Serra
Special Jury Prize: The ensemble cast of “The Last Showgirl”
Silver Shell for Best Director: (ex aequo) “On Falling,” Laura Carreira; Pedro Martin-Calero, “The Wailing”
Silver Shell for Best Leading Performance: “Glimmers,” Patricia López Arnaiz
Silver Shell for Best Supporting Performance: “When Fall is Coming,” Pierre Lottin
Best Cinematography: “Bound in Heaven,” Piao Songri
Best Screenplay: “When Fall is Coming,” François Ozon, Philippe Piazzo
OTHER OFFICIAL AWARDS
New Directors Award: “Bagger Drama,” Piet Baumgartner
New Directors Award (Special Mention): “La guitarra flamenca de Yerai Cortés,” Antón Álvarez
Horizontes Latinos Award: “Kill the Jockey,” Luis Ortega
Zabaltegi-Tabakalera Award: “April,” Dea Kulumbegashvili
Zabaltegi-Tabakalera Award (Special Mention): “Collective Monologue,” Jessica Sarah Rinland
Audience Award for Best Film: “The Marching Band,” Emmanuel Courcol
Audience Award for Best European Film: “The Seed of the Sacred Fig,” Mohammad Rasoulof
Irizar Basque Film Award: “Chaplin: Spirit of the Tramp,” Carmen Chaplin
Irinzar Basque Film Award (Special Mention): “Replica,” Pello Gutiérrez Peñalba
Culinary Zinema Best Film Award: “Mugaritz. Sin pan ni postre,” Paco Plaza
Eusko Label First Prize: “Las Guardianas,” Borja De Agüero
Eusko Label Second Prize: “KM 0,” Jon Martija Leunda
RTVE Another Look Award: “All We Imagine As Light,” Payal Kapadia
RTVE Another Look Award (Special Mention): “On Falling,” Laura Carreira
Spanish Co-operation Award: “Sujo,” Astrid Rondero, Fernanda Valadez
PREVIOUSLY ANNOUNCED AWARDS
Nest the Mediapro Studio Award: “The Reign of Antoine,” José Luis Jiménez Gómez
Euskadi Basque Country 2030 Agenda Award: “I Am Nevenka,” Iciar Bollain
Zinemaldia Startup Challenge Best Spanish Project: Dubme
Zinemaldia Startup Challenge Best Spanish Project (Special Mention): Current Anima
Zinemaldia Startup Challenge Best European Project: Sonic Alchemist
Zinemaldia Startup Challenge Special Mention for Entrepreneurship: Kaspar K1
WIP Latam Industry Award: “A Loose End,” Daniel Hendler
Egeda Platino Industria Award For The Best WIP Latam: “Cuerpo Celeste,” Nayra Ilic
WIP Europa Industry Award: “Blue Marks,” Sarah Miro Fischer
WIP Europa Award: “Blue Marks,” Sarah Miro Fischer
XIII Europe-Latin America Co-production Forum Best Project Award: “The Two Landscapes,” Francisco Lezama
DALE! Award: “The Two Landscapes,” Francisco Lezama
Artekino International Award: “Mar de Lava,” Mariana Saffon
Ikusmira Berriak Award: “Dear Bastiano,” Maria Elorza Deias
Casa Wabi-ESCINE Award: “Senda,” Miele Landa Eiguren
Music Library Award: “La noche de la infancia,” Xixi Sofía Ye Chen
Dogwoof Award: “Barrabas,” Daniel Martínez-Quintanilla
Epe-Ibaia-Elkargi Award: “Barrabas,” Daniel Martínez-Quintanilla
HONORARY AWARDS
Donostia Awards: Pedro Almodóvar, Javier Bardem, Cate Blanchett
