The festival is showcasing Joshua Oppenheimer’s fiction debut featuring Tilda Swinton in the Official Selection.

The 72nd edition of the San Sebastián International Film Festival (September 20 to 28, 2024) will again have a decent Nordic presence.

This is the most significant event in the calendar for the Spanish-speaking market. It attracts top buyers and producers looking for hidden gems and new talent. San Sebastián is also reckoned as among the most convivial of the A-list festivals, taking place in a beautiful coastal city renowned for its cuisine. A carefully curated programme includes star power, many new titles, strong industry events and plenty of networking opportunities.

Fresh from its world premiere in Telluride, Joshua Oppenheimer’s Danish-made The End is receiving its European premiere in competition. There’s huge curiosity about the film, produced by Signe Byrge Sørensen through Final Cut For Real. After his groundbreaking documentaries The Act of Killing and The Look of Silence, Oppenheimer has now turned to fiction with an apocalyptic musical about one of the last families on earth, starring Tilda Swinton. Sales are handled by The Match Factory. MUBI picked up the film for the UK and Germany earlier this month, and further deals are expected at the festival.

Also from Denmark, screening in the New Directors section, is Sylvia Le Fanu’s debut feature My Eternal Summer (Min evige sommer). This is the story of a teenage girl, Fanny (Kaya Toft Loholt), who spends the summer trying to deal with the imminent death of her mother. It is produced by Jeppe Wowk for Adomeit Film with backing from New Danish Screen, the Danish Film Institute's talent development programme. TrustNordisk handles international sales. The Danish release through Reel Pictures is set for late January next year.

Another young Danish director, Sif Lina Lambæk, is unveiling her latest short, Wild Child, in the festival’s Nest section (the international competition for short films by film students). This is an allegorical drama about a group of kids running amok in a futuristic world where the adults have been punished for not taking care of the planet.

Meanwhile, Argentine title Kill the Jockey (El Jockey), directed by Luis Ortega and screening in Latin Horizons following its world premiere in Venice, has a Danish co-producer, Copenhagen-based Snowglobe Films. This surrealistic Almodóvar-like drama about a self-destructive jockey with a substance abuse problem is sold by UK outfit, Protagonist Pictures.