San Sebastián New Directors Lineup: Lorente Opens, Lumby Closes
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- Jaime Lorente will open the New Directors strand with 'The Bad Son' ('El mal hijo'), marking the 'Money Heist' star's feature directorial debut, with Miguel Ángel Puro and Susi Sánchez in the cast.
- Billy Lumby's 'Florid' was selected as the closing film; Lumby's previous short 'Samuel 613' earned a BAFTA nomination, and the film stars Jonathan Jules, Saskia Chana, and Unknown T.
- Marlene Emilie Lyngstad's 'Cute' joins the lineup after winning the Nordic Talents top prize at Cannes; she and Danish producer Carl Olsbæk Adelkilde previously took Cannes La Cinef first prize and Haugesund's Next Generation Award for 'Norwegian Offspring.'
- Ayana Nurdinova's 'Mugalim,' produced by Kazakh Cinema and Art East Films, represents Kazakhstan's film scene, while Rodrigo García Saiz's 'Morro' brings a Mexican small-town grief story to the selection.
- Thomas Woodroffe's 'Erratics' — a Chile-France-Argentina co-production starring Denis Lavant — and Naëmi Ada's Germany-France entry 'Body of Glass' round out the international titles from Latin America and Europe.
- Tatjana Moutchnik's 'February, Seven Days' ('Sieben Tage Februar'), a Germany-Austria-Spain co-production, is a family drama set on the eve of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, joining three previously announced Spanish features from the July 17 reveal.
- The sidebar, called 'one of the most prestigious new talent spreads in Europe,' spans 13 titles from countries including Japan ('The Ballet Lesson' by Kazuya Murayama), South Korea ('The World Before' by Yoon Dan-bi), Taiwan ('Will You Still Be My Friend' by Lu Po-Shun), and Bulgaria ('My Father's Shoes' by Hristo Simeonov).
Why it matters: The 13-film lineup functions as a scouting slate for European arthouse distributors and awards-season programmers, with Lorente's pivot from 'Money Heist' actor to director generating the highest name-recognition hook. The geographic spread — Kazakhstan, Mexico, Chile-Argentina, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan — signals the sidebar's continued role as a global launchpad beyond the usual European festival circuit.
