Laura Mora’s Columbian drama The Kings of the World has won the Golden Shell for best film at the 2022 San Sebastián film festival, Spain’s premiere film fest. Mora’s sophomore feature follows five young men growing up on the streets of Medellín who set off on a journey in search of the promised land.
Best director went to Japanese filmmaker Genki Kawamura for dementia-focused drama Hyakka, his feature debut. Kawamura is best known as the producer of such hit Japanese animated features as Your Name (2016) and Weathering With You (2019).
Marian Mathias’ drama Runner, the story of an 18-year-old girl who decides to fulfill her dead father’s last wish to be buried in his hometown along the Mississippi, won the festival’s special jury prize.
The Silver Shell for best performance went, jointly, to Paul Kircher for his performance in Christophe Honoré’s French drama Winter Boy and Carla Quilez for her starring role in Pilar Palomero’s Spanish feature La Maternal.
Dong Yun Zhou and Wang Chao won San Sebastián’s best screenplay honors for the Wang-directed A Woman, which follows a female factory worker in the 1960s who is struggling to become a writer.
San Sebastián’s audience award for best film went to Santiago Mitre’s true-life courtroom drama Argentina, 1985. Viewers picked Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s French-set thriller The Beasts as the best European film.
The awards for the 70th San Sebastián festival were handed out Saturday night.
Full list of 2022 San Sebastián Winners
Golden Shell for Best Film
The Kings of the World, dir. Laura Mora
Special Jury Prize
Runner, dir. Marian Mathias
Silver Shell for Best Director
Hyakka, dir. Genki Kawamura
Silver Shell for Best Leading Performance
Paul Kircher for Winter Boy and Carla Quilez for La Maternal (ex aequo)
Silver Shell for Best Supporting Performance
Renata Lerman for The Substitute
Jury Prize for Best Cinematography
Manuel Abramovich for Pornomelancolia
Jury Prize for Best Screenplay
Dong Yun Zhou, Wang Chao for A Woman
Irizar Basque Film Award
Suro, dir. Mikel Gurrea
Special Mention
To Books and Women I Sing, dir. Maria Elorza
City of Donostia / San Sebastian Audience Award
Argentina, 1985, dir. Santiago Mitre
City of Donostia/San Sebastian Audience Award for Best European Film
The Beasts, dir. Rodrigo Sorogoyen
TCM Youth Award
To Books and Women I Sing, dir. Maria Elorza
Euskadi Basque Country 2030 Agenda Award
Tori and Lokita, dirs. Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne
Dunia Ayaso Award
Tobacco Barns, dir. Rocio Mesa
Special Mention
The Yellow Ceiling, dir. Isabel Coixet
Fipresci Award
Suro, dir. Mikel Gurrea
Feroz Zinemaldia 2022 Award
The Kings of the World, dir. Laura Mora
Euskal Gidoigileen Elkartea Award
Suro, dir. Mikel Gurrea
Sebastiane Award
Something You Said Last Night, dir. Luis de Filippis
Lurra – Greenpeace Award
Alcarras, dir. Carla Simon
Signis Award
The Kings of the World, dir. Laura Mora
Special Mention
Runner, dir. Marian Mathias