'Chicogrande' opens Zinemaldia 2010

The 58th edition of the San Sebastián International Film Festival kicks off on Friday September 17th. Until Saturday 25th, a total of 18 films will compete in the competition''s Official Section which opens with a screening of Chicogrande by Felipe Cazals. This year''s Festival will be headed by Spanish actor Eduardo Noriega (Transiberian) and Edurne Ormazabal.

John Sayles, Naomi Kawase, Bent Hamer, Raúl Ruiz and Peter Mullan are just some of the other directors who will be competing at this year''s Zinemaldia 2010. Serbian director Goran Paskaljevic will preside over the Official Jury, which also includes Oscar-nominated make-up artist Jo Allen and British director Lucy Walter.

This year''s FIPRESCI (Film Critics) Award will go to Roman Polanski, although the Director will be unable to attend the Festival himself in order to collect it. On behalf of Polanski will be Olivia Williams, Adelle DeWitt in the series Dollhouse, who starred in his latest movie, The Ghost Writer.

One star who will be attending San Sebastián this year is Julia Roberts, who will receive the coveted Premio Donosti 2010 (awarded last year to Ian McKellan. As well as collecting the prize on Monday 20th, the actress will be presenting her latest move Eat, Pray, Love. Directed by Ryan Murphy is also starring Spanish Oscar-winning actor Javier Bardem.

First Day''s Films

Chicogrande, by Felipe Cazals, with open the Official Section for 2010. Cazals is one of Mexico''s most celebrated directors. This year he will be presenting an historical film with touches of frontier western, adventure and socio-political critique.

Mexican actor Diego Luna (Milk) will present his film Abel in the Latin Horizons section. Abel (which was produced by Gael García Bernal) is Luna''s debut film as a director and opens this year''s latin section, where another ten films will compete.

The Zinemira-Panorama section decidated to Basque cinema opens on Friday with La plaza de la música by Juan Miguel Gutiérrez.

In the Zabaltegi section, viewers can see Poetry (Lee Changdong), Barney''s Version (Richard J. Lewis), Blog (Elena Trapé) and Marieke, Marieke (Sophie Schoukens). The first day''s programme will end with the section Made in Spain.