Alauda Ruiz de Azúa’s “Los domingos” (“Sundays”), a Spain–France co-production, took home the Golden Shell at the 73rd San Sebastian Film Festival, which wrapped Saturday night at the Kursaal.
The official jury, presided over by J.A. Bayona and including filmmakers Laura Carreira and Gia Coppola, actress Zhou Dongyu, Argentinian singer Lali Espósito, actor Mark Strong, and producer Anne-Dominique Toussaint, handed out the Silver Shell for Best Leading Performance to Spain’s Jose Ramon Soroiz (“Maspalomas”) and China’s Zhao Xiaohong (“Her Heart Beats in Its Cage”) in a tie. Argentina’s Camila Plaate won Best Supporting Performance for her role in “Belén.”
Joachim Lafosse, who previously claimed San Sebastian’s directing prize in 2015 with “The White Knights,” repeated the feat this year with “Six Days in Spring,” a Belgium–France–Luxembourg production. Lafosse also shared the jury award for best screenplay with collaborators Chloé Duponchelle and Paul Ismaël. The cinematography award went to Pau Esteve for his work on “Los Tigres,” another Spanish entry.
Veteran Spanish auteur José Luis Guerin was recognized with the jury special prize for “Good Valley Stories,” described by jurors as “a film that turns its camera on the periphery, on faces and landscapes not often filmed, in order to compose a take flowing with generosity and humanity on time, evoking, on this journey, the very essence of the cinema.” Guerin previously won the same award in 2001 for “Work in Progress.”
The awards were presented Saturday night at the Kursaal, where hosts Itsaso Arana and Óscar Lasarte led a closing ceremony capped by the screening of Kasia Adamik’s “The Winter of the Crow,” attended by the director along with actress Lesley Manville and producer Stanislaw Dziedzic.
In sidebars, Emilie Thalund’s “Weightless” of Denmark claimed the Kutxabank-New Directors Award, with a special mention to Spanish debut “Aro berria” from Irati Gorostidi Agirretxe. In Horizontes Latinos, the Make & Mark Horizontes Award went to Colombian filmmaker Simón Mesa Soto’s “A Poet,” fresh off its Cannes Un Certain Regard win, while special mentions were given to Ana Cristina Barragán’s “The Ivy” (Ecuador–Mexico) and Daniel Hendler’s “A Loose End” from Uruguay.
Lucile Hadzihalilovic’s “The Ice Tower,” a France–Germany collaboration, picked up the Zabaltegi-Tabakalera award, with special mentions for Paula Tomás Marques’ Portuguese feature “Two Times João Liberada” and Canadian-Hungarian co-production “Blue Heron” from Sophy Romvari.
Student shorts were also recognized. Eva Sajanová’s Slovakian work “How to Listen to Fountains” won the Nest The Mediapro Studio Award, with a special mention to India’s Milan Kumar for “The Old Bull Knows, Or Once Knew.” Inés Nunes’ “The Loneliness of Lizards,” produced through Spain’s Elías Querejeta Zine Eskola, took the Movistar Plus+ award, while Lenia Friedrich’s “Life is Like That and Not Otherwise” from Germany won the Tabakalera award.
The Culinary Zinema Award was presented to Nan Feix’s French entry “Mam,” while the Eusko Label Award recognized Spanish shorts “Hatsa” by Josu Ozaita Azpiroz and “Gatz Harana” by Saioa Miguel. The Loterías Award for short films on social topics went to Álvaro G. Company’s “Maruja” and Iñaki Sánchez Arrieta’s “Medusas.”
Beyond the Golden Shell, “Los domingos” (“Sundays”) also claimed the FIPRESCI critics’ award and the Irizar Basque film prize. Marta Medina and Enrique López Lavigne’s “The Last Rapture” received a special mention in that category.
Kaouther Ben Hania’s “The Voice of Hind Rajab” (Tunisia-France), fresh off its Silver Lion-Grand Jury Prize at Venice, took The City of Donostia / San Sebastián Award, decided by the audience of the Perlak section. The Audience Award for Best European Film was presented to the animated feature “Little Amélie or the Character of Rain”from French filmmakers Maïlys Vallade and Liane-Cho Han, previously a prizewinner at Annecy.
Closing out the list, Diego Céspedes’ Chilean debut “The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo,” presented in Horizontes Latinos, took the DAMA Youth Award, following its Un Certain Regard win at Cannes.
The full list of winners at the 73rd San Sebastian Film Festival follows.
Official Awards
Golden Shell For Best Film
“Los domingos (“Sundays”)
Director: Alauda Ruiz de Azúa
Countries of production: Spain – France
Special Jury Prize
“Historias del buen valle” (“Good Valley Stories”)
Director: José Luis Guerin
Countries of production: Spain – France
Silver Shell for Best Director
Joachim Lafosse
for “Six jours ce printemps-là” (“Six Days in Spring”)
Silver Shell for Best Leading Performance (ex aequo)
Jose Ramon Soroiz for “Maspalomas”
Zhao Xiaohong (Txina) for “Jianyu laide mama” (“Her Heart Beats in Its Cage”)
Silver Shell for Best Supporting Performance
Camila Plaate for “Belén”
Jury Prize for Best Screenplay
Joachim Lafosse, Chloé Duponchelle, Paul Ismaël
for “Six jours ce printemps-là” (“Six Days in Spring”)
Jury Prize for Best Cinematography
Pau Esteve for “Los Tigres”
Other Official Awards
Kutxabank-new Directors Award
“Vaegtloes” (“Weightless”)
Director: Emilie Thalund
Country of production: Denmark
Special Mention:
“Aro berria”
Director: Irati Gorostidi Agirretxe
Country(ies) of production: Spain
Horizontes Make & Mark Award
“Un poeta” (“A Poet”)
Director: Simón Mesa Soto
Countries of production: Colombia – Germany – Sweden
Special Mentions:
“Hiedra” “The Ivy”
Dierctor: Ana Cristina Barragán
Countries of production: Ecuador – Mexico – France -Spain
“Un cabo suelto” (“A Loose End”)
Director: Daniel Hendler
Countries of production: Uruguay – Argentina – Spain
Zabaltegi-Tabakalera Award
“La tour de glace” (“The Ice Tower”)
Director: Lucile Hadzihalilovic
Countries of production: France – Germany
‘Coup de Coeur':
“Duas vezes João Liberada” (“Two Times João Liberada”)
Director: Paula Tomás Marques
Country of production: Portugal
Special Mention:
“Blue Heron”
Director: Sophy Romvari
Countries of production: Canada – Hungary
Nest Awards
Premio Nest The Mediapro Award 2025
“Ako počúvať fontány” (“How to Listen to Fountains”)
Director: Eva Sajanová
Academy of Music and Performing Arts (FTF VSMU) (Slovakia)
Special Mention:
“The Old Bull Knows, Or Once Knew”
Director: Milan Kumar
Film & Television Institute of India, Pune, India (India)
Movistar Plus+ Award for the Best Short Film
“A solidão dos lagartos” (“The Loneliness of Lizards”)
Director: Inês Nunes
Elías Querejeta Zine Eskola – EQZE (Spain)
Tabakalera Award
“So ist das Leben und nicht anders” (“Life is Like That and Not Otherwise”)
Director: Lenia Friedrich
Academy of Media Arts Cologne (KHM) (Germany)
Culinary Zinema Award
“Mam”
Director: Nan Feix
Country of production: France
Eusko Label Awards
Eusko Label First Award
“Hatsa” (“Soul”)
Director: Josu Ozaita Azpiroz
Country of production: Spain
Eusko Label Second Award
“Gatz Harana” (“Salt Valley”)
Director: Saioa Miguel
Country of production: Spain
Loterías Awards
Loterías First Award
“Maruja”
Director: Álvaro G. Company (Spain)
Country of production: Spain
Loterías Second Award
“Medusas” (“Jellyfish”)
Director: Iñaki Sánchez Arrieta
Country of production: Spain
Irizar Basque Film Award
“Los domingos” (“Sundays”)
Director: Alauda Ruiz de Azúa
Countries of production: Spain – France
Special Mention:
“El último arrebato” (“The Last Rapture”)
Directors: Marta Medina, Enrique López Lavigne
Countries of production: Spain
City of Donostia / San Sebastian Audience Award
“The Voice of Hind Rajab”
Dierctor: Kaouther Ben Hania
Countries of production: Tunisia – France
City of Donostia / San Sebastian Audience Award for Best European Film
“Amélie et la métaphysique des tubes” (“Little Amélie or the Character of Rain”)
Directors: Maïlys Vallade, Liane-Cho Han
Country of production: France
DAMA Youth Award
“La misteriosa mirada del flamenco” (“The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo”)
Director: Diego Céspedes
Countries of production: Chile – France – Germany – Spain – Belgium
Industry Awards
WIP Latam Awards
WIP Latam Industry Award
“Moscas” (“Flies”)
Director: Fernando Eimbcke
Country of production: Mexico
Egeda Platino Industria Award for the Best WIP Latam
“A la hora de poner la mesa ya no éramos cinco” (“We Were No Longer Five”)
Directors: Esteban Hoyos García, Juan Miguel Gelacio Ramírez
Countries of production: Colombia – USA
WIP Europa Awards
Wip Europa Industry Award
“Sieben tage februar” (“February, Seven Days”)
Director: Tatjana Moutchnik
Countries of production: Germany – Austria
WIP Europa Award
“Sieben tage februar” (“February, Seven Days”)
Director: Tatjana Moutchnik
Countries of production: Germany – Austria
XIV Europe-Latin America Co-Production Forum Awards
XIV Europe-Latin America Co-Production Forum Best Project Award
“No me dejen morir solo” (“Do Not Let Me Die Alone”)
Director: Francisco Rodríguez Teare
Countries of production: Chile – Belgium
DALE! Award (Development Latin America-Europe)
“Lo que sigue es mi muerte” (“What Follows Is My Death”)
Director: Laura Baumeister
Countries of production: Mexico – Spain
Artekino International Prize
“La piel del león”
Director: Alvaro Brechner
Countries of production: Spain – Uruguay – Brazil
Casa Wabi-Escine Award
“No me dejen morir solo” (“Do Not Let Me Die Alone”)
Director: Francisco Rodríguez Teare
Country(ies) of production: Chile – Belgium
QCinema Award
“Lo que sigue es mi muerte” (“What Follows Is My Death”)
Director: Laura Baumeister
Countries of production: Mexico – Spain
Ikusmira Berriak Award
Sideral Award
“La Koreana, un poema ferromagnético de luz y memoria”
Director: Joana Moya Blanco
Country of production: Spain
Zinemaldia Startup Challenge Awards
Best Spanish Project
“Quickets”
Director: Felipe Ortiz
Spain
Best European Project
“Novel Fire Masks engineered with 3D technology”
Director: Raoul Peltier
United Kingdom
Special Mention to Entrepreneurship:
“Quickets”
Director: Felipe Ortiz
Spain
XXI Lau Haizetara Documentary Co-Production Forum Awards
Music Library & SFX Award
MARIANA X BHP – Renan Flumian
Produced by: Droma Productions – Quijote Films
(Brazil – Chile)
Euroregional Documentary Award
ALTXALILIAK – Maia Iribarne Olhagarai
Produced by: Doxa Producciones – Gastibeltza Filmak (Spain – France)
EPE-Ibaia-Elkargi Award
La Increíble Historia de una Película Que No Hemos Visto – Claudia Chávez Levano – Christine Mladic Janney
Produced by: Amazona Producciones – Eleven Hands
(USA – Peru)
Other Awards
RTVE-Another Look Award
“Las corrientes” (“The Currents”)
Director: Milagros Mumenthaler
Countries of production: Switzerland – Argentina
Special Mention:
“Belén”
Dierctor: Dolores Fonzi
Country of production: Argentina
Cooperación Española Award
“Historias del buen valle” (“Good Valley Stories”)
Director: José Luis Guerin
Countries of production: Spain – France
Euskadi Basque Country 2030 Agenda Award
“The Voice of Hind Rajab”
Director: Kaouther Ben Hania
Countries of production: Tunisia – France
Dunia Ayaso Award
“Los Tortuga” (“The Exiles”)
Director: Belén Funes
Country(ies) of production: Spain – Chile
Special Mention:
“Mi amiga Eva” (“My Friend Eva”)
Director: Cesc Gay
Country of production: Spain
Honorary awards
Donostia Awards
Esther García
Jennifer Lawrence
Zinemira Award
Asier Altuna, Telmo Esnal
Pararels Awards
FIPRESCI Award
“Los domingos” (“Sundays”)
Director: Alauda Ruiz de Azúa
Countries of production: Spain – France
Feroz Zinemaldia 2025 Award
“Los domingos” (“Sundays”)
Director: Alauda Ruiz de Azúa
Countries of production: Spain – France
GIDOI + SGAE Award for the Best Screenwriter in the Basque Country 2025
Borja Cobeaga
“Los aitas” (“Breaking Walls”)
Countries of production: Spain – Belgium
Sebastiane 2025 Award
“Maspalomas”
Directors: Jose Mari Goenaga, Aitor Arregi
Country of production: Spain
LURRA – Greenpeace Award
“Historias del buen valle” (“Good Valley Stories”)
Director: José Luis Guerin
Countries of production: Spain – France
Signis Award
“Los domingos” (“Sundays”)
Director: Alauda Ruiz de Azúa
Countries of production: Spain – France
Ateneo Guipuzcoano Award
“Nuremberg”
Director: James Vanderbilt
Country of production: USA