The 59th edition of the San Sebastian Festival closes its Competitive Official Selection with two new competitors for the Golden Shell alongside the fourteen films already announced. Further, another three films have been added to the Zabaltegi-Pearls section. ''Amen'', by Kim Ki-duk, and ''Rampart'', by Oren Moverman complete Zinemaldi''s Official Selection.

Amen, the new work from the South Korean moviemaker Kim Ki-duk, will have its world premiere in San Sebastian Film Festival. The film, integrally shot in Europe, narrates the mysterious voyage of a young Korean girl and her encounters with a man on her trail. Kim Ki-duk is one of the South Korean directors to enjoy greatest international prestige, particularly since his film Seom (The Isle, 2000) competed at the Venice Festival. Bi-mong (Dream, 2008) was selected for the Official Selection of San Sebastian Festival’s 56th edition, and Bom yeoreum gaeul gyeoul geurigo bom (Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter… and Spring, 2003) bagged the Audience Award when it was presented in the Zabaltegi-Pearls section at the Festival’s 51st edition. He landed the Silver Bear for Best Director at the Berlin Festival for Samaria (Samaritan Girl, 2004), and, at the last Cannes Festival, won the “Un Certain Regard” Award for Arirang (2011).

The North-American film Rampart is a drama helmed by Oren Moverman starring Woody Harrelson, Robin Wright, Steve Buscemi, Ben Foster, Sigourney Weaver, Anne Heche, Ice Cube and Ned Beatty. Based on the plot by acclaimed crime novelist James Ellroy, Rampart is the harrowing portrayal about a jaded cop in Los Angeles. Oren Moverman made his directorial debut with The Messenger (2009), winner of a Silver Bear at the Berlin Festival for Best Screenplay and two Academy Award nominations: one for Best Screenplay and another for Woody Harrelson as Best Supporting Actor. Rampart will compete for the Kutxa New Directors Award.

The latest works by Johnie To, Nicolas Provost and Steve McQueen join the Zabaltegi-Pearls section. Dyut Ming Gam (A Life Without Principle), the latest work from the Hong Kong director Johnnie To, will compete in the Official Selection at the coming Venice Festival. In this new contribution to the genre for which he has shown great mastery, the action thriller, To narrates the intertwining fates of three people desperate to get their hands on money fast, all set around a robbery haul. With over fifty films to his name as a director and sixty as a producer, Johnnie To (Hong Kong, 1955) is one of the most prestigious figures on today’s Asian film scene.

L''envahisseur (The Invader) is a Belgian production directed by Nicolas Provost looking at the subject of immigration through the adventures of an undocumented young African boy as he tries to get by in European society. The film represents the feature debut of reputed video artist Nicolas Provost (Belgium, 1969), whose experimental shorts have competed in the most prestigious international festivals.

Shame is the new film by Steve McQueen, a British production starring Michael Fassbender and Carey Mulligan about Brandon, a 30-something man living in New York who is unable to manage his sex life. After his wayward younger sister moves into his apartment, Brandon''s world spirals out of control. Steve McQueen (London, 1969) made people sit up and take notice on the movie scene when his opera prima, Hunger (2008), carried off the Caméra d''Or at Cannes Festival.