San Sebastián Lineup: Pablo Larraín, Mike Leigh, Benjamín Naishtat and More

Buzzy new projects from “Jacky,” “Spencer” and “Maria” director Pablo Larraín, and Benjamín Naishtat will be joined by Mike Leigh’s “Tender Loving Care” in main competition at September’s San Sebastián Film Festival. Also making the cut are new titles from Nicole Garcia – Marion Coillard starrer “7:40 ce matin-là/Milo,’ as well as Maha Harada’s “In My Father’s Room,” Hans Petter Moland’s “Growth of the Soil” and Yeşim Ustaoğlu’s “What Remains.” Announced Tuesday, the new titles reflect San Sebastián’s hallmark mix of international name auteurs – often drawn from its key source markets of Latin America, France and the Nordics – and newer talent, a key focus for San Sebastián whose New Directors strand, set to be announced on Friday, is one of the most prestigious in Europe. A feature version of Larraín’s Netflix four-part horror miniseries produced by Fabula, “My Sad Dead” (“Mis muertos tristes”) adapts Argentinean writer Mariana Enriquez, who suggests that the true terror is not the supernatural itself, but the horrors that society hides. Top Argentine actors Mercedes Morán, Dolores Fonzi and Alejandra Flechner star. Popular on Variety Leigh’s “Tender Loving Care” stars Marion Bailey, Paul Jesson, Kate O’Flynn, Alice Bailey Johnson in what the festival describes as his “insightful exploration of the modern world.” From the director of “Rojo,” a big hit at San Sebastián, Naishtat’s “Glaxo” is a tale of shattered friendship Set in a small provincial town between the late 1950s and the 1980s, described as “about desire and revenge, set at a time when a whole country lost its innocence.” San Sebastián’s newly announced Golden Shell contenders join three Spanish features in main competition which were announced on July 17: Mikel Gurrea’s “Sants,” with “The Beloved” star Vicky Luengo, top comedian Berto Romero’s time-loop relationship comedy “Five Minutes More” and Roberto Bueso’s family dramedy “El mal padre.” The 74th edition of the San Sebastian Film Festival, the biggest film event in the Spanish-speaking world, runs Sept. 18-26 in the capital of Gipuzcoa, in Spain’s verdant and stunning Basque Country. More to come. Newly Announced San Sebastián Main Competition Titles “Milo” (“7:40 ce matin-là,” Nicole Garcia, France) “What Remains” (“Artakalan,” Yeşim Ustaoğlu, Turkey/France/ /Luxembourg/Bulgaria) “Glaxo” (Benjamín Naishtat, Brazil/Argentina) “Growth of the Soil” (“Markens Grode,” Hans Petter Moland, Norway/Denmark/Germany ) “My Sad Dead” (“Mis muertos tristes,” Pablo Larraín, Argentina-Chile) Cast: Mercedes Morán, Dolores Fonzi, Carolina Álvarez A world premiere. Ema, who can see and hear the dead, receives an unexpected visit from her niece Julie, who shares the same unsettling gift. As family secrets and wounds, resurface the entire neighborhood senses presences and hear the distinctive sounds of their own dead. Written by Larráin and among co-scribes, Guillermo Calderón, co-writer of “Neriuda” “El Conde,” and adapting Mariana Enríquez. “Mariana’s writing is particularly visual, always brilliant, and always dangerous. It’s a casual, domestic horror that inspires,” says Larraín. “In My Father’s Room” (“Muyou no hito,” Maha Harada, Japan) “Tender Loving Care” (Mike Leigh, U.K./U.S./Singapore) Cast: Marion Bailey, Paul Jesson, Kate O’Flynn, and Alice Bailey Johnson. The latest from Leigh, a Cannes Palme d’Or winner with “Secrets and Lies” and multiple Oscar nominee, set yo world premiere at Toronto, sold by Cornerstone with its split still under wraps save that it offers an “insightful exploration of the modern world.”