Werner Herzog to Receive Donostia Award at San Sebastián
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- Werner Herzog will receive the San Sebastián Film Festival's Donostia Award at its 74th edition, with the honor to be presented at the opening gala in September.
- Herzog will screen his latest film 'Bucking Fastard' at the festival following its world premiere at Venice, with the film starring sisters Rooney and Kate Mara as twins whose extraordinary bond leads them to speak in unison, love the same man, and share the same dreams.
- San Sebastián Film Festival praised Herzog's six-decade career of around 80 films shaped by 'obsession, extreme situations and the contradictions of human nature,' citing his concept of 'Ecstatic Truth.'
- Herzog is regarded as a pioneer of New German Cinema, with notable credits including 'Aguirre, the Wrath of God' (1972), 'Fitzcarraldo' (1982), 'Grizzly Man' (2005) and 'Cave of Forgotten Dreams' (2010).
- Herzog was nominated for a best documentary Oscar in 2008 for 'Encounters at the End of the World' and has won prizes at Cannes, Berlin, and Venice film festivals.
- The 74th San Sebastián Film Festival will run from Sept. 18 to 26.
Why it matters: The Donostia Award is one of European cinema's most prestigious career honors, and its bestowal on Herzog — a six-decade veteran with around 80 films — underscores how festival programmers are framing his Venice-bound 'Bucking Fastard' as a capstone moment for a New German Cinema pioneer.
