San Sebastian Key films

David Cronenberg to open the San Sebastian Film Festival with Eastern Promises
Flawless, directed by Michael Radford and starring Demi Moore and Michael Caine, will bring the 55th Festival to a close.
Writer Paul Auster, Chairman of the Official Jury, will present his new film as a director, The Inner Life of Martin Frost, out of competition.
The documentary film Earth will also be screened out of competition in the Official Selection.

Canadian director David Cronenberg’s new film will open the 55th San Sebastian Film Festival, to take place from 20-29 September 2007. Following his acclaimed A History of Violence (2005), Cronenberg once again works on Eastern Promises with Viggo Mortensen in the leading role alongside Naomi Watts and Vincent Cassel, bringing a highly personal dramatic thriller about a mafioso and an innocent but determined woman set in London’s organised crime world. Eastern Promises, which will compete in the Official Selection, continues the brilliant career of one of contemporary cinema’s most outstanding directors, author of films like Videodrome (1983), The Fly (1986), Dead Ringers, (1988), The Naked Lunch, (1991), M. Butterfly (1993), Crash (1996), eXistenZ (1999) or Spi der (2002), among others.
The British film Flawless, which will close the San Sebastian Festival, unites Demi Moore and Michael Caine in an attempted perfect robbery of the world’s biggest diamond corporation. A thriller from director Michael Radford, author among others of Il postino, (1994), B. Monkey (1998) and The Merchant of Venice, (2004).
Paul Auster’s new movie, The Inner Life of Martin Frost, will participate in the Official Selection out of competition. This writer from New York, author of the The New York Trilogy, The Music of Chance and The Brooklyn Follies, winner of the Prince of Asturias Award for Letters, will Chair the international jury responsible for granting the official Festival awards. Auster directed Lulu on the Bridge (1998) and co-directed Blue in the Face (1995) with Wayne Wang.
Similarly out of competition, the Official Selection will feature the documentary film Earth, a spectacular look at our planet from north to south through all seasons observing the behaviour of the different animal species and the effect of climate change on their lives. Earth is directed by Alastair Fothergill – author of the film Deep Blue and the series Planet Earth – and Mark Linfield.
OPENING FILM (in competition)
EASTERN PROMISES
USA
Director: David Cronenberg
Cast: Viggo Mortensen, Naomi Watts, Vincent Cassel.
Directed by David Cronenberg, starring Viggo Mortensen and Naomi Watts, this is the tale of the mysterious Nikolai, a man with connections to one of London’s most notorious organised crime families whose life does a complete about-turn on meeting Anna, a woman who accidentally discovers proof incriminating the family employing him.

CLOSING FILM (out of competition)

FLAWLESS
UK
Director: Michael Radford
Cast: Michael Caine, Demi Moore, Joss Ackland, Lambert Wilson
Laura Quinn (Demi Moore) works for the London Diamond Corporation, the biggest diamond company in the world. Laura is a dedicated but dissatisfied executive enormously frustrated by the fact that her career is obstructed by the male chauvinism ruling the company. She joins forces with Mr. Hobbs (Michael Caine), a long-standing employee who claims to have the perfect plan for a traceless heist.


OFFICIAL SELECTION - OUT OF COMPETITION


THE INNER LIFE OF MARTIN FROST
France-Spain-Portugal
Director: Paul Auster
Cast: David Thewlis, Irène Jacob, Michael Imperioli, Sophie Auster
The successful novelist Martin Frost has just published his latest book. He decides to rest his mind alone in a country house. The dawn of his first day, he discovers with amazement a mysterious and astonishing woman lying next to him. Fascinated by her beauty and intelligence Martin falls deeply in love with her. He has found the muse that helplessly drives him to write his most perfect piece. Who is this strange woman that perfectly knows his life and his work? Is she a real muse? Is she imaginary? Is she a ghost that has slipped in the inner life of Martin Frost?

EARTH
UK-Germany
Directors: Alastair Fothergill, Mark Linfield
Documentary
The authors of the documentary film Deep Blue take a fascinating trip over the earth, from north to south and throughout all four seasons, to portray the contrasts between the different parts of the planet and their natural transformations. The survival conditions of certain animal species and their natural behaviour, sometimes with very comical elements, are also part of an extraordinary documentary film made with highly sophisticated techniques bringing the highlights of the Planet Earth TV series in a large production format for cinema.