Zinemaldia,one of the most important film festivals in Europe
The San Sebastian International Film Festival, known in the Basque Country as the Zinemaldia, is a film festival of the highest possible category, category A, therefore, we can say that the Zinemaldi is not just any film festival, but a very prestigious film festival accredited by the International Federation of Film Producers Associations.
History of Zinemaldi: As its name indicates, this festival is held in the city of San Sebastian, in the province of Gipuzkoa, Basque Country, at the end of September. This festival had its premiere in 1953, more specifically on September 21 of the same year.
The zinemaldi is a festival of great international prestige, it is one of the most important in Europe, if not the most important. That is why during the last years great works have been premiered in its interior, directors like Woody Allen or Alfred Hitchcock premiered several films in this event and many actors are seen on its carpet during the days of the event, all of them agree on two things, the beauty of San Sebastian and how special is the zinemaldi for the film industry.
zinemaldia
The zinemaldi began at the bottom, being a local film festival promoted by small businesses in San Sebastian, but gradually thanks to the work of all the people of San Sebastian the festival reached the category B authorized by the International Federation of Film Producers Associations and later the much appreciated category A in 1957. We must remember that at that time the festival was under the pressure of Franco’s regime, Francoism, was a major impediment to promote the zinemaldi, as there was a great censorship on American cinema and many other countries in the world.
In 1957, after achieving the highest category that can be awarded to a film festival, the Golden Shell was introduced as an award.
The zinemaldi has had many ups and downs throughout its history, one of them in 1963 when it lost the category A that had been given to it years before or in 2001 when the attacks of September 11 against the twin towers took place, many actors and celebrities decided to abandon the event for obvious reasons. In 1991 the zinemaldi was organized by a joint-stock company, in which several public bodies of the Basque Country participated to the same extent.
These same public bodies are one of its major sponsors, together with the sponsorship of the Instituto de la Cinematografía y las Artes Audiovisuales (Institute of Cinematography and Audiovisual Arts).
Zinemaldi Awards: The official San Sebastian Zinemaldi awards are only allowed to be given to films presented in the official section. The awards can be divided into 2 sections, the official and unofficial awards, among all of them we have to highlight the famous Golden Shell.
GOLDEN SHELL
Official awards: Kutxa-New Directors Award, Horizontes Award, Audience Award, Youth Award, Irizar Basque Film Award, TVE-Otra mirada Award, International Student Meeting Awards and Films in Progress Awards.
The zinemaldi has many other unofficial awards, with which they reward many of the future talents of the film world.
Zinemaldi’s stages: The Hotel Maria Cristina is one of the most important points of Zinemaldi, since most of the actors take the hotel as their headquarters for their stay in San Sebastian, its rooms and every corner of the luxurious hotel give a touch of glamour to the film festival and all its attendees.
The zinemaldia has several stages spread throughout San Sebastian, among them we can find: Kursaal Auditorium, Victoria Eugenia Theater, Principal Theater, María Cristina Hotel and Príncipe cinemas.
During the zinemaldi we recommend you to see beautiful places such as the cliffs of Gipuzkoa, the shell, the villages of Gipuzkoa and if you have time, the villages of the French Basque Country and the capital of Bizkaia, Bilbao. We leave you a summary of the 136 charming places in the Basque Country.
We encourage you to leave us a comment with your questions, suggestions or anything else.
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