San Sebastian Festival will kick off on Friday 17th September, at 21:00. The city opens its doors to cinema, in itself a door to other realities. The stage of the opening gala has been conceived with this idea in mind.

Edurne Ormazabal and Eduardo Noriega will host the gala, also featuring the participation of Leticia Dolera, Quim Gutiérrez, Belén López, Verónica Sánchez and Adriana Ugarte.

Director Isaki Lacuesta will introduce the retrospective New Paths of Non Fiction and Anney Siegel the one dedicated to her father, Don Siegel.

Chicogrande, the Festival opening film, will be presented by its director, Felipe Cazals, while the actress Yun Junghee will take her turn with Poetry, opening movie of Zabaltegi-Pearls. Diego Luna and John Malkovich will introduce Abel, the film opening Horizontes Latinos.

The gala will also be attended by the Chairman of the official jury, Goran Paskaljevic, alongside Jo Allen, José Coronado, Claudia Llosa, Raya Martin and Pablo Trapero, members of the official jury.

The Chairs of the Kutxa-New Directors Award, Hans Petter Moland, and of the Horizontes Award, Sebastián Cordero, will also be present.

In addition to the above, actress Olivia Williams will receive the Fipresci Grand Prix for the film The Ghost Writer, directed by Roman Polanski.

The Dantzaz dance company will perform at different moments of the gala, which is directed by Manuel Palacio and coordinated by Diego Galán. The videos summarising the different sections are the work of Carlos Rodríguez from Morgan Creativos.