The 74th San Sebastián International Film Festival took place from 18 to 26 September 2026 in San Sebastián, Gipuzkoa, Spain. Mike Leigh's Tender Loving Care won the Golden Shell, while Ah Biao's Border received the Special Jury Prize.
Background The 74th edition was the last under the direction of José Luis Rebordinos, who is set to be succeeded in January 2027 by (appointed in April 2026). The festival posters for the 74th edition (including the main one featuring Argentine actor and 2017 Donostia Award winner Ricardo Darín) were presented by Rebordinos and Beloki on 3 June 2026 at the Tabakalera cultural centre.
An early batch of Spanish-produced films was announced on 17 July 2026 at the Spanish Film Academy headquarters. Additional official selection titles were disclosed on 28 July 2026. In August 2026, Werner Herzog was disclosed as the recipient of a Donostia Award. An additional slate of main competition films was announced on 14 August 2026. titles were announced on 18 August 2026. The full lineup of 17 main competition titles was completed with the announcement of Ghost Song as the opening film. The non-competitive screening of Le Faux Soir was announced as the closing film. On 31 August 2026, the festival announced actress Naomi Watts as a second Donostia Award recipient together with the Donostia Award screening of The Housewife.
The 74th edition marked the introduction of a new official award for the Best Original Music among main competition entries, presented in tandem with SGAE.
The opening gala on 18 September was hosted by Fariba Sheikhan and Mariona Terés, and Orlando Bloom gifted Werner Herzog the Donostia Award. On 19 September, Ernest Urtasun presented the National Film Prize to Carmen Machi at Tabakalera. Likewise, J.A. Bayona presented Naomi Watts another Donostia Award. The ceremony was rounded up with the screening of Watts-led The Housewife. On 24 September, the festival unveiled Ink as the surprise film, with screenings programmed for 25 and 26 September.
The closing gala was hosted by Loreto Mauleón and Fernando Guallar.
Juries Official Selection jury The official jury members are listed as follows: Ira Sachs, American filmmaker – Jury president , Japanese filmmaker and author , screenwriter Alice Braga, actress Patricia López Arnaiz, actress Bill Skarsgård, actor Mike Goodridge, producer
Other Kutxabank-New Directors Award: Juan Pablo Miller, Marina Charriton, Jonathan Romney; Dana Blankstein Cohen, Tamar Novas Horizontes Make & Mark Award: Agustina Llambi Campbell, Casimiro Torreiro Gómez, Jérôme Vidal Zabaltegi-Tabakalera Award : , , Catarina Vasconcelos
Irizar Basque Film Award: Marta Etura (President), Simon Blondeau, SGAE Award for Best Original Music: , ,
Sections Official selection In competition Highlighted title indicates award winner. {| class="wikitable sortable" style="width:100%; margin-bottom:4px" |- !scope="col" | English title !scope="col" | Original title !scope="col" | Director(s) !scope="col" | Production country(ies)
| 5 More Minutes || 5 minutos más || Javier Ruiz Caldera || Spain |- | The Bad Father || El mal padre || Roberto Bueso || Spain |- | Border || 边境 || Ah Biao || |- | Brace Your Heart || Garrat du váimmu || Amanda Kernell || |- | colspan = "2" | The Debut || Jesse Eisenberg || United States |- | Ghost Song || Geister || Fatih Akin || Germany |- | colspan = "2" | Glaxo || Benjamín Naishtat || |- | Growth of the Soil || Markens Grøde || Hans Petter Moland || |- | In My Father's Room || 無用の人 || Maha Harada || Japan |- | colspan = "2" | Krux || Tony Vahl || |- | Milo || 7:40 ce matin-là || Nicole Garcia || France |- | colspan = "2" | Les Misérables || Fred Cavayé || France |- | || Mis muertos tristes || Pablo Larraín || |- | On Behalf of My Son || Vicentina pede disculpas || Gabriel Martins || Brazil |- | Saints || Sants || || |-style="background:#EEDD82" | colspan = "2" | Tender Loving Care || Mike Leigh ||United Kingdom |- | What Remains || Artakalan || Yeşim Ustaoğlu ||
Out of Competition {| class="wikitable sortable" style="width:100%; margin-bottom:4px" |- !scope="col" | English title !scope="col" | Original title !scope="col" | Director(s) !scope="col" | Production country(ies)
| The Castle || El castillo || Elena Martín Gimeno, Sandra Romero || Spain |- | colspan = "2" | Le Faux Soir || Michaël R. Roskam || |- | colspan = "2" | Heart of the Beast || David Ayer || United States |- ! colspan = "4" | Special Screenings |- | colspan = "2" | Bajañí || Fernando Trueba || Spain |- | Beyond Society || Más allá de la sociedad || Carlos Torres || Spain |- | The Harvester || Sacamantecas || || |- | The Last Goodbye || Azken agurra || || Spain |- | Pray for Us || Ruega por nosotras || Daniel Monzón ||
New Directors Highlighted title indicates award winner. {| class="wikitable sortable" style="width:100%; margin-bottom:4px" |- !scope="col" | English title !scope="col" | Original title !scope="col" | Director(s) !scope="col" | Production country(ies) |- | The Bad Son || El mal hijo || Jaime Lorente || Spain |- | colspan = "2" | The Ballet Lesson || || Japan |-style="background:#EEDD82" | colspan = "2" | Body of Glass || Naëmi Ada || |- | colspan = "2" | Cute || Marlene Emilie Lyngstad || |- | Erratics || Bloques erráticos || Thomas Woodroffe || |- | February, Seven Days || Sieben Tage Februar || Tatjana Moutchnik || |- | colspan = "2" | Florid || Billy Lumby || |- | colspan = "2" | Lovers Sleep Alone || Massih Parsaei || Germany |- | colspan = "2" | Morro || Rodrigo García Sáiz || Mexico |- | colspan = "2" | Mugalim || Ayana Nurdinova || Kazakhstan |- | My Father's Shoes || Obuvkite na bashta mi || Hristo Simeonov ||
| This Solitude || Esta soledad || Javier Giner || Spain |- | Will You Still Be My Friend || 日光 || Lu Po-shun || |- | The World Before || 첫세계 || ||
Latin Horizons (Horizontes latinos) Highlighted title indicates award winner. {| class="wikitable sortable" style="width:100%; margin-bottom:4px" |- !scope="col" | English title !scope="col" | Original title !scope="col" | Director(s) !scope="col" | Production country(ies)
| Ashes || Ceniza en la boca || Diego Luna || |- | Cinco años, cuatro meses || Five Years, Four Months || Juan Miguel Gelacio, Esteban Hoyos García || |- | Flies || Moscas || Fernando Eimbcke || |- | Forever Your Maternal Animal || Siempre soy tu animal materno || Valentina Maurel || |-style="background:#EEDD82" | The Illusion of an Everlasting Summer || La ilusión de un verano sin fin || Alessandra Sanguinetti || |- | The Meltdown || El deshielo || Manuela Martelli || |- | colspan = "2" | Narciso || Marcelo Martinessi || |- | colspan = "2" | La perra || Dominga Sotomayor || |- | A Professora de Francês || The French Teacher || || |- | The River Train || El tren fluvial || Lorenzo Ferro, Lucas A. Vignale || Argentina |- | Sad Girlz || Chicas tristes || || |- | Six Months in a Pink and Blue Building || Seis meses en el edificio rosa con azul || Bruno Santamaría Razo ||
Zabaltegi-Tabakalera Highlighted title indicates award winner. {| class="wikitable sortable" style="width:100%; margin-bottom:4px" |- !scope="col" | English title !scope="col" | Original title !scope="col" | Director(s) !scope="col" | Production country(ies) |- | Actress || Abhinetri || Tanmay Chowdhary, Tanvi Chowdhary || India |- | colspan = "2" | As a Cure || Sing Zhang || |- | colspan = "2" | La belle année || Angelica Ruffier || |- | colspan = "2" | Cine vivo: un artefacto || Albertina Carri ||
| Dust || La deriva || Tsai Ming-liang || |- | Far From the Trees || Lejos de los árboles|| Meritxell Colell Aparicio || |- | Flamenco Sketches || Jaleos || Isaki Lacuesta || Spain |- | For the Opponents || Para los contrincantes || Federico Luis || |- | colspan = "2" | Gluey Feathers || Salka Tiziana || Germany |- | colspan = "2" | Hamalau gau || || Spain |- | colspan = "2" | The Loneliest Man in Town || Tizza Covi, Rainer Frimmel || Austria |- | Pedro in the Land || Pedro en el país || , Benjamín Naishtat || |- | The Phantom || El fantasma || David Lamelas, Ignacio Masllorens || Argentina |- | Possible Love || 가능한 사랑 || Lee Chang-dong || South Korea |- | Red Rocks || Les Roches rouges || Bruno Dumont || |- | Shot Reverse Shot || Plan contraplan || Radu Jude, Adrian Cioflâncă || Romania |- | Sometimes Sadness, Sometimes Rebellion || A veces me entra tristeza, otras veces rebelión || || |-style="background:#EEDD82" | colspan = "2" | Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma || Jane Schoenbrun || |- | colspan = "2" | Tristan Forever || Tobias Nölle, Loran Bonnardot || Switzerland |- | colspan = "2" | Whispers of a Burning Scent || Mo Harawe || |- | colspan = "2" | With Love and Rage || Bojina Panayotova || France |- | Someday a Child || Yawman Ma Walad || Marie-Rose Osta ||
Perlak Highlighted title indicates City of Donostia / San Sebastián Audience Award winner. Highlighted title indicates City of Donostia / San Sebastián Audience Award for Best European Film winner. {| class="wikitable sortable" style="width:100%; margin-bottom:4px" |- !scope="col" | English title !scope="col" | Original title !scope="col" | Director(s) !scope="col" | Production country(ies) |- | All of a Sudden || Soudain || Ryusuke Hamaguchi || |-style="background:#f1bd9b" | colspan="2" | La bola negra || Javier Calvo, Javier Ambrossi || |- | colspan = "2" | Club Kid || Jordan Firstman || United States |- | colspan = "2" | Coward || Lukas Dhont || |- | Fatherland || Ojczyzna || Paweł Pawlikowski || |- | colspan = "2" | Fjord || Cristian Mungiu || |- | Hope || 호프 || Na Hong-jin || South Korea |- | colspan = "2" | The Invite || Olivia Wilde || United States |- | Iron Boy || Le Corset || Louis Clichy || |- | It Will Happen Tonight || Succederà questa notte || Nanni Moretti || |- | colspan = "2" | Josephine || Beth de Araújo || United States |- | || Juste une illusion || Eric Toledano, Olivier Nakache || France |- | colspan = "2" | The Man I Love || Ira Sachs || |- | Minotaur || Минотавр || Andrey Zvyagintsev || |-style="background:#9baff1" | colspan = "2" | NAZA || Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor || United Kingdom |- | colspan = "2" | Tangles || Leah Nelson || |- | colspan = "2" | Wild Horse Nine || Martin McDonagh ||
Velodrome (Velódromo) {| class="wikitable sortable" style="width:100%; margin-bottom:4px" |- !scope="col" | English title !scope="col" | Original title !scope="col" | Director(s) !scope="col" | Production country(ies)
| colspan = "2" | Karateka || Aritz Moreno || |- | colspan = "2" | Muguruza FM 40 Tour || Ander Merino, Fermin Muguruza || Spain
Zinemira {| class="wikitable sortable" style="width:100%; margin-bottom:4px" |- !scope="col" | English title !scope="col" | Original title !scope="col" | Director(s) !scope="col" | Production country(ies)
| The Blind Ants || Inurri itsuak || || |- | colspan = "2" | Un tal Karlos || Arantxa Aguirre Carballeira || Spain |- | 300 Oaks || 300 haritz || Aitor Aranguren Ordoñez || Spain |- | Gatibu, Without Saying Goodbye || Gatibu, agur esan barik || || Spain |- | Daughters of the Sea || Las hijas del mar || Gemma Gonzalez Martinez || |- | Septembers || Irailak || || Spain |- | Bringing Shadows to Light || Itzalak argitzen || , || Spain |- | colspan = "2" | Izarrak || David Taberna, Iñigo Puerta || Spain |- | My Father Alex || La maleta de Álex || Alejandro Cortés Calahorra || Spain |- | Pedro Arrupe. I Survived the Atomic Bomb || Pedro Arrupe. Yo viví la bomba atómica || Maite Ibáñez || Spain |- | Family Drill || Simulacro || Nitya López Saitua || Spain |- | colspan = "2" | Txakun txakür || || |- | Winnipeg, Seeds of Hope || Winnipeg, el barco de la esperanza || Beñat Beitia, Elio Quiroga ||
Made in Spain The section includes the following titles: {| class="wikitable sortable" style="width:100%; margin-bottom:4px" |- !scope="col" | English title !scope="col" | Original title