Highlights of Cannes Anora, the megalopolis of San Sebastian Perlak

The San Sebastian Film Festival has selected the best of the Cannes competition for its Perlak section this year.

Almost every film that won an award at Cannes by Payal Kapadia Everything we imagine as light (grand prize), by Mohammad Rasoulof The seed of the sacred fig tree (special jury prize) and that of Coralie Fargeat The substance (best screenplay) to Sean Baker, winner of the Palme d’Or Anorawill be screened in the side section of the Spanish festival and will compete for the San Sebastian audience awards.

Jacques Audiard’s transgender crime musical Emilie Perez, which won the Jury Prize at Cannes and the award for best actress for its cast, will open the Perlak section on September 20.

Other Cannes titles, including that of Andrea Arnold BirdPaul Schrader Ah, Canada, Parthenope by Italian director Paolo Sorrentino and Francis Ford Coppola’s controversial opus Megalopoliswill also be screened in the Perlak section. As will Hong Sangsoo The needs of a travelerSilver Bear Grand Jury Prize winner in Berlin, Walter Salles I’m still herewhich will premiere in Venice, and that of Adam Elliot Memoirs of a Snailwhich won the Crystal for best feature film at the Annecy animation festival this year.

Chris Sanders’ animated feature film The wild robot, with the voices of Lupita Nyong’o and Pedro Pascal, will be screened out of competition in San Sebastian, as will the documentary by Tom Volf and Yannis Dimolitsas Maria Callas: Letters and Memoriesabout the legendary opera diva.

The closure of the section on September 28, outside of competition, is Marcoa biopic by Spanish directors Jon Garaño and Aitor Arregi about Enric Marco, a Catalan impostor who falsely claimed to be a survivor of a Nazi concentration camp.

The titles in the competition compete for the Donostia San Sebastian City Audience Awards, voted for by festival-goers, including the Best Film Award, worth $55,000 (€50,000), and the Best European Film Award, with a $22,000 (€20,000) grant, awarded to the Spanish distributors of the winning films.