Pedro Almodóvar to receive career achievement award at San Sebastián

The Spanish director will receive a lifetime achievement award at the festival in Spain next month.

The San Sebastián Film Festival will celebrate beloved Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar with its prestigious Donostia Award at its 72nd edition, running 20-28 September.
The honorary award recognizes “extraordinary contributions to the world of cinema” and actress Tilda Swinton will present the prize to Almodóvar before a screening of his latest movie, The Room Next Door.
The film, which will premiere at the Venice Film Festival, is the 74-year-old director’s first in English and stars Julianne Moore and Swinton, who previously starred in his short film The Human Voice.
“Almodóvar’s cinema is remarkable for the writing of its female characters, the directing of its actors, its courage in addressing subjects such as the LGBTIQ+ universe, religion, sex, addiction and historical memory, and his political commitment,” organizers said in a statement. They also praised his “artistic talent and his instantly recognizable visual style – his personality shines through from the art direction to the soundtrack.”
Almodóvar, who is a regular at the festival, has in previous years handed out Donostias to Al Pacino, Woody Allen and Antonio Banderas – one of his frequent collaborators.
“This year they are giving it to me, and I am delighted and grateful,” Almodóvar said in the statement. “I mean it, it’s an honour. San Sebastián is one of the cities where the cinema is celebrated with enormous enthusiasm. More than ever, at these times, we need the complicity of the spectators, and their presence in the film theatres. It is a dream to attend a festival like this, where the cinemas are always full.”
Last year, the Lifetime Achievement Award was handed to Javier Bardem. Other previous filmmakers to have received the Donostia Award include Francis Ford Coppola, Agnès Varda and Hirokazu Kore-eda.
The 72nd San Sebastián Film Festival runs from 20-28 September.