San Sebastián Mounts 20-Film José Giovanni Retrospective
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- San Sebastián Film Festival will mount a 20-feature retrospective on José Giovanni during its 74th edition (Sept. 18-26), covering films released between 1960 and 2001.
- The program presents almost all of Giovanni's directorial work alongside eight titles he wrote for Jacques Becker, Jean-Pierre Melville, Claude Sautet, Jacques Deray, Robert Enrico, and Henri Verneuil.
- Born Joseph Antoine Roger Damiani in Paris in 1923, Giovanni was sentenced to death for murder before his punishment was commuted to hard labor; his prison experience inspired his 1958 novel "Le Trou," which Becker adapted as "The Hole" in 1960.
- Giovanni's novels also became Sautet's "The Big Risk," Melville's "Second Wind" starring Lino Ventura, and Verneuil's "The Sicilian Clan," which brought together Ventura, Alain Delon, and Jean Gabin.
- Giovanni's 1967 directing debut "Law of Survival" introduced the French Resistance, the Corsican milieu, and betrayal — three themes that recurred across his 15 theatrical features, including "Two Men in Town," "Birds of Prey," and "Last Known Address."
- The retrospective is organized by the festival and the Basque Film Archive in collaboration with the Spanish Film Archive, accompanied by a bilingual study by Felipe Cabrerizo edited by Quim Casas.
Why it matters: The 20-film survey packages Giovanni's dual legacy — directing 15 features and writing for cinema legends — into a single program spanning over four decades, co-curated with Spain's Basque and national film archives. For cinephiles and students of the polar genre, it's a rare cross-border effort to reassemble a body of work that spanned eight films for other directors alongside his own.
