Emilie Thalund’s Weightless scoops the New Directors Award at San Sebastián

The 72nd San Sebastián International Film Festival (19-27 September) closed with a strong slate of European titles among its winners. The Golden Shell for Best Film went to Alauda Ruiz de Azúa’s Sundays (Los Domingos), while José Luis Guerin picked up the Special Jury Prize for Good Valley Stories (Historias del buen valle). The Silver Shell for Best Director was awarded to Joachim Lafosse for Six Days in Spring (Six jours, ce printemps-là), whilst the Silver Shell for Best Leading Performance was shared between Jose Ramon Soroiz (Maspalomas) and Zhao Xiaohong (Her Heart Beats in its Cage).

Nordic cinema carved out a particularly visible space this year. Emilie Thalund’s Weightless (Vægtløs), produced by Denmark’s Snowglobe, triumphed with the Kutxabank New Directors Award, a €50,000 prize that offers a significant boost to first- and second-time filmmakers. Toplined by Marie Helweg Augustsen, Ella Paaske, Joachim Fjelstrup, and sold by REInvent, the feature follows 15-year-old Lea, who spends her summer at a health camp surrounded by forest and beach. Lea is determined to lose weight, and she longs to be like her friend Sasha, her new roommate at the camp: fun, lively, and unafraid to take up space in the world. While Sasha seeks attention from the local boys, Lea’s heart is set on Rune, a charming instructor from the camp. When Rune reciprocates her attention, something awakens within Lea; an unfamiliar yet thrilling desire.

Next, Sweden was also among the laureates as a co-producer through Momento Film and Film i Väst, of Simón Mesa Soto’s A Poet (Un poeta), staged with Colombian and German partners. The Cannes-premiered pic clinched the Horizontes Make & Mark Award. The plot revolves around Oscar Restrepo, whose obsession with poetry has brought him no glory. Aging and erratic, he has succumbed to the cliché of the poet in the shadows. Meeting Yurlady, a teenage girl from humble roots, and helping her cultivate her talent, brings some light to his days. But dragging her into the world of poets may not be the way.

This year’s Nordic contingent was rounded off by Joachim Trier’s Sentimental Value (Affeksjonsverdi), Hlynur Pálmason’s The Love That Remains (Ástin Sem Eftir Er) and Joan of Arc (Jóhanna af Örk), Lucrecia Martel’s documentary Landmarks (Nuestra Tierra, co-produced by Snowglobe), along with two New Directors entries – Seyhmus Altun’s As We Breathe (Aldıgımız Nefes, co-produced by Denmark’s Punktur Pictures) and John Skoog’s Redoubt(Värn). The latter follows Karl-Göran Persson, a farm worker who obsessively transforms his home into a fortress of scrap metal, baffling his neighbours, but earning the curiosity of local children. The pic was staged by Plattform Produktion with partners across Sweden, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, and Poland.

The 2026 San Sebastián International Film Festival will unspool from 18-26 September.

Sentimental Value, The Love That Remains and Redoubt are top financed by Nordisk Film & TV Fond.