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Culture · San Sebastián
One of Europe’s major film festivals, held in San Sebastián in the Basque Country: for nine days in September, the auditoriums at the Kursaal, the Victoria Eugenia Theatre and other city cinemas screen premieres and films competing for the Golden Shell, with screenings open to the public.
In the photo: San Sebastián
Illustrative images. The pictures in this guide are illustrations based on the real place, not photographs, and may differ from it.
Click a photo to enlarge it.
San Sebastián Film Festival — San Sebastián
In the second half of September, for about nine days; the exact dates for each edition are announced in advance by the festival.
September
Dates change every year: check this year's date before you travel.
The festival
The San Sebastián Festival, Zinemaldia in Basque, is Spain’s largest film festival and one of the oldest in Europe. Founded in 1953, it is an A-category festival in the international federation of film producers—the same category as Cannes, Venice and Berlin—and for decades it has brought directors, actors, the press and the public to the city at the end of summer. The main prize is the Golden Shell, named after La Concha Bay, and the Donostia Award honors the careers of major film figures.
What makes San Sebastián special for visitors is its relationship with the city. Tickets are sold to the public, and residents and tourists fill the auditoriums to see films from the official selection, premieres by well-known filmmakers, the showcase for new directors, the Latin American cinema strand Horizontes Latinos, Zabaltegi and the Perlak section, which features films awarded at other festivals and competes for the City’s Audience Award. There are also retrospectives, children’s cinema, food-themed films and outdoor screenings or sessions in the velodrome with a giant screen.
Screenings are spread across the city. The hub is the Kursaal, Rafael Moneo’s glass-cube building facing Zurriola beach, where the main auditoriums and the ticketing area are located. The Victoria Eugenia Theatre, a historic venue by the Urumea River, the Teatro Principal in the Parte Vieja, the Príncipe and Antiguo Berri cinemas and Tabakalera, a former tobacco factory turned contemporary culture center, complete the circuit. Between screenings, San Sebastián breathes cinema in the bars, in the queues and on the central sidewalks.
Festival days have their own rhythm. In the morning there are press and public screenings; in the afternoon and evening, premieres with film teams and galas, with guests arriving on the red carpet outside the Kursaal and the Victoria Eugenia, where fans gather behind barriers. On the final Saturday, the closing ceremony announces the winners.
San Sebastián mixes cinema and travel well: La Concha Bay, Mounts Igueldo and Urgull, the Parte Vieja with its pintxos bars and Basque cuisine make festival week a great time to explore the city, as summer ends and autumn begins on the coast.
A screening at the Kursaal, preferably a premiere from the official selection with the film team present. A film at the Victoria Eugenia Theatre, the city’s historic auditorium. The arrival of guests on the red carpet outside the Kursaal or the Victoria Eugenia. A Perlak screening, where the audience votes for the Audience Award. A projection in the velodrome with a giant screen. The Latin American films in the Horizontes Latinos section. A visit to Tabakalera, the contemporary culture center, during the festival. A pintxos night in the Parte Vieja after the screenings.
Check the full schedule on the official website, which lists screenings by day, section and auditorium. Tickets are sold to the public in phases, a few days before the festival, online and at the Zinemaldi Plaza ticket offices in the Kursaal; there is a limit on tickets per person and per screening. The most sought-after sessions sell out on the first day of sales, but there are seats available for morning screenings and in smaller venues, and sometimes tickets are returned on the day. Arrive early for the main screenings, because sessions start on time. The central venues are within walking distance; for the others, check public transport. September is usually mild, with possible rain: bring a light jacket and an umbrella.
Accommodation in San Sebastián is in high demand during the festival; book well in advance or look for a room in Irún or Hondarribia, which are connected by public transport. Ticket sales begin a few days before the opening, and galas may have their own ticketing. The festival website announces the dates, sales phases and access rules for each edition.
In the city
September
Your questions
Every year in the second half of September, for about nine days. The exact dates and the ticket sales calendar are published in advance by the festival.
Yes. Tickets are sold to the public online and at the Kursaal box office, in phases that begin a few days before the festival. There is a ticket limit per person for each screening.
The Golden Shell, awarded to the best film in the official selection. The festival also gives the Donostia Award, a career tribute, and the Audience Award, voted for at Perlak screenings.
Mainly at the Kursaal, in front of Zurriola beach, and at the Victoria Eugenia Theatre, as well as at the Teatro Principal, the Príncipe and Antiguo Berri cinemas, Tabakalera and the velodrome.
Festivals and events in Spain
JanuaryOn January 20, the feast day of Saint Sebastian, the city's patron: the celebration begins at midnight between January 19 and 20 and ends at the following midnight.
For 24 hours on January 20, San Sebastián, in the Basque Country, honors its patron saint to the sound of drums and barrels: uniformed companies parade through the city playing the marches of Raimundo Sarriegi, from the raising of the flag in Plaza de la Constitución until the lowering in the same square.
February/MarchAt the end of winter, between February and March, following the movable Carnival calendar: the contests and the queen’s gala take place in the preceding weeks, and the streets celebrate from the opening cavalcade until the weekend after Ash Wednesday.
The capital of Tenerife’s Carnival, in the Canary Islands, with a monumental fantasy queen, murgas, comparsas and rondallas, the big Coso parade on Carnival Tuesday and balls that fill the squares and avenues of the center until dawn.
MarchFrom March 1 to 19, with the main days from March 15 to 19; the official opening, the Crida, is on the last Sunday of February.
Valencia’s festival, Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO, in which hundreds of satirical monuments of wood, cardboard and cork are erected in the streets, visited for days and burned on the night of March 19 amid fireworks, music and flowers.
March/AprilIn the week before Easter, from Palm Sunday to Resurrection, in March or April.
During Málaga’s Holy Week on the Costa del Sol, the brotherhoods carry enormous floats through the city center, borne on the shoulders of hundreds of porters, accompanied by marching bands, daytime and nighttime processions, and moments unique to the city, such as the Legion’s landing at the port on Holy Thursday.
March/AprilFrom Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday, in March or April depending on the date of Easter; smaller processions begin on the previous Friday, Friday of Sorrows.
During Holy Week, the brotherhoods of Seville, the capital of Andalusia, carry images of Christ and the Virgin through the streets on gilded floats carried by costaleros and followed by long lines of penitents, on routes that pass by the cathedral day and night, until the early hours of Good Friday.
April/MayIn April or May, one or two weeks after Holy Week, depending on the date of Easter; it lasts about a week, from the night of the pescaíto and the alumbrao until the fireworks on the last night.
A weeklong party in Seville’s fairground, between Los Remedios and the Guadalquivir: streets of decorated casetas with lanterns, a noon parade of horses and carriages, flamenco-style dresses, sevillanas danced until the early hours, and the amusement park on the Calle del Infierno.
