The Golden Shell (; ) is the highest prize given to a competing film at the San Sebastián International Film Festival. It was introduced in 1957.

History In 1953 and 1954, the highest prize had been called the Gran Premio. In 1955 and 1956 it was replaced by the Silver Shell. Since 1957, it has been called Golden Shell.

French filmmaker Diane Kurys was the first woman to win the award, for Entre Nous (1983). As of 2026, only eight female filmmakers have won the prize alongside Kurys, including: Yeşim Ustaoğlu, Mariana Rondón, Dea Kulumbegashvili, Alina Grigore, Laura Mora, Jaione Camborda, and Alauda Ruiz de Azúa.

Spanish filmmaker Rafael Gil was the first winner for I Was a Parish Priest (1953). While six filmmakers have won the it twice: American filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola (in 1969 and 1984); Iranian filmmaker Bahman Ghobadi (in 2004 and 2006); Mexican filmmaker Arturo Ripstein (in 1993 and 2000); and Spanish filmmakers Imanol Uribe (in 1994 and 1996), Isaki Lacuesta (in 2011 and 2018), and Manuel Gutiérrez Aragón (in 1982 and 1986).

Winners

1950s Year English Title Original Title Director(s) Production Country 1953 I Was a Parish Priest La Guerra de Dios Rafael Gil Spain 1954 Cursed Mountain Sierra maldita Antonio del Amo 1955 Days of Love Giorni d'amore Giuseppe De Santis Italy 1956 The Railroad Man Il ferroviere Pietro Germi 1957 Oh! Sabella La nonna Sabella Dino Risi 1958 Eve Wants to Sleep Ewa chce spać Tadeusz Chmielewski Poland 1959 The Nun's Story Fred Zinnemann United States

1960s Year English Title Original Title Director(s) Production Country 1960 Romeo, Juliet and Darkness Romeo, Julie a tma Jiří Weiss Czechoslovakia 1961 One-Eyed Jacks Marlon Brando United States 1962 Arturo's Island L'isola di Arturo Damiano Damiani Italy 1963 Mafioso Alberto Lattuada 1964 America America Elia Kazan United States 1965 Golden Queen Zlatá reneta Otakar VávraCzechoslovakiaMirage Edward DmytrykUnited States 1966 I Was Happy Here Desmond Davis United Kingdom 1967 Two for the Road Stanley Donen United States 1968 The Long Day's Dying Peter Collinson United Kingdom 1969 The Rain People Francis Ford Coppola United States

1970s Year English Title Original Title Director(s) Production Country 1970 Dead of Summer Ondata di calore Nelo Risi Italy 1971 Claire's Knee Le Genou de Claire Éric Rohmer France 1972 The Glass House Tom Gries United States 1973 The Spirit of the Beehive El espíritu de la colmena Víctor Erice Spain 1974 Badlands Terrence Malick United States 1975 Poachers Furtivos José Luis Borau Spain 1976 Gypsies Are Found Near Heaven Табор уходит в небо Emil Loteanu Soviet Union 1977 An Unfinished Piece for Mechanical Piano Неоконченная пьеса для механического пианино Nikita Mikhalkov 1978 Alambrista! Robert M. Young United States 1979 Autumn Marathon Осенний марафон Georgiy Daneliya Soviet Union

1980s Year English Title Original Title Director(s) Production Country 1980 The Orchestra Conductor Dyrygent Andrzej Wajda Poland 1981 Tales of Ordinary Madness Storie di ordinaria follia Marco Ferreri Italy 1982 Demons in the Garden Demonios en el jardín Manuel Gutiérrez Aragón Spain 1983 Entre Nous Diane Kurys France 1984 Rumble Fish Francis Ford Coppola United States 1985 Yesterday Radosław Piwowarski Poland 1986 Half of Heaven La mitad del cielo Manuel Gutiérrez Aragón Spain 1987 Wedding in Galilee عرس الجليل Michel Khleifi Belgium, France 1988 On the Black Hill Andrew Grieve United Kingdom 1989 Homer and EddieAndrei KonchalovskyUnited StatesLa nación clandestina Jorge SanjinésBolivia

1990s Year English Title Original Title Director(s) Production Country 1990 Letters from Alou Las cartas de Alou Montxo Armendáriz Spain 1991 Butterfly Wings Alas de mariposa Juanma Bajo Ulloa 1992 A Place in the World Un lugar en el mundo Adolfo Aristarain Argentina 1993 The Beginning and the End Principio y finArturo RipsteinMexicoSaraساراDariush MehrjuiIran 1994 Días contados Imanol Uribe Spain 1995 Margaret's Museum Mort Ransen Canada, United Kingdom 1996 Bwana Imanol UribeSpainTrojan Eddie Gillies MacKinnonIreland 1997 The Swindle Rien ne va plus Claude Chabrol France 1998 Wind with the Gone El viento se llevó lo qué Alejandro Agresti Argentina, France, Netherlands, Spain 1999 C'est quoi la vie? François Dupeyron France

2000s Year English Title Original Title Director(s) Production Country 2000 The Ruination of MenLa perdición de los hombres Arturo Ripstein Mexico, Spain 2001 A Cab for Three Taxi para tres Orlando Lübbert Chile 2002 Mondays in the Sun Los lunes al sol Fernando León de Aranoa Spain, France, Italy 2003 Gun-shy Schussangst Dito Tsintsadze Germany 2004 Turtles Can Fly کیسەڵەکانیش دەفڕن Bahman Ghobadi Iran, France, Iraq 2005 Something Like Happiness Štěstí Bohdan Sláma Czech Republic 2006 Half Moon نیوەمانگBahman GhobadiIranMon fils à moiMartial FougeronFrance 2007 A Thousand Years of Good Prayers Wayne Wang United States 2008 Pandora's Box Pandora'nın Kutusu Yeşim Ustaoğlu Turkey 2009 City of Life and Death 南京！南京！ Lu Chuan China

2010s Year English Title Original Title Director(s) Production Country 2010 Neds Peter Mullan United Kingdom, France, Italy 2011 Los pasos doblesIsaki Lacuesta Spain, Switzerland 2012 In the House Dans la maison François Ozon France 2013 Bad Hair Pelo malo Mariana Rondón Venezuela, Peru, Germany 2014 Magical Girl Carlos Vermut Spain 2015 Sparrows Þrestir Rúnar Rúnarsson Denmark, Iceland 2016 I Am Not Madame Bovary 我不是潘金莲 Feng Xiaogang China 2017 The Disaster Artist James Franco United States 2018Between Two Waters Entre dos aguas Isaki Lacuesta Spain 2019PacifiedPacificado Paxton Winters Brazil

2020s Year English Title Original Title Director(s) Production Country 2020Beginningდასაწყისი Dea Kulumbegashvili Georgia, France2021Blue MoonCrai Nou Alina GrigoreRomania2022The Kings of the WorldLos reyes del mundoLaura MoraColombia2023The Rye HornO cornoJaione CambordaSpain, Portugal, Belgium2024Afternoons of SolitudeTardes de soledadAlbert SerraSpain, Portugal, France2025SundaysLos domingosAlauda Ruiz de AzúaSpain 2026Tender Loving CareMike LeighUnited Kingdom

See also Silver Shell for Best Director Silver Shell for Best Leading Performance Silver Shell for Best Actor Silver Shell for Best Actress Donostia Award Sebastiane Award

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