Producer Esther García will receive the Donostia Award of the 73rd San Sebastian International Film Festival (September 19-27), with the festiva
Producer Esther García will receive the Donostia Award of the 73rd San Sebastian International Film Festival (September 19-27), with the festival also paying tribute to tardy Spanish actress Marisa Paredes, dedicating this year’s official poster to her memory.
García is the long-time producer and production manager for Pedro Almodóvar, beginning with Matador (1986) and The Law Of Desire (1987), his Oscar-winning titles All About My Mother (1999) and Talk to Her (2002), and up to his most recent film The Room Next Door which won the Golden Lion at Venice last year.
García has also worked with other auteurs, including Lucrecia Martel (Zama, 2017) and Oliver Laxe (Sirât, winner of the Cannes Jury Prize in 2025). Her other major international and Spanish projects include Guillermo del Toro’s The Devil’s Backbone (2001), Álex de la Iglesia’s Mutant Action (1993), and Andrés Wood’s Loco Fever (2001).
A vocal advocate for women’s rights and gender equality within the film industry, she has won six Goya Awards.
The Festival has also unveiled the official poster for its upcoming edition, which honours Marisa Paredes —one of Almodóvar’s most celebrated muses. Paredes appeared in six of his films, beginning with Dark Habits (1983) and concluding with Broken Embraces (2009). She died in December 2024.
San Sebastian also screened several of her performances over the years, including Agustí Villaronga’s In a Glass Cage (1986), Felipe Vega’s Mientras haya luz (1987), Raúl Ruiz’s Three Lives and Only One Death (1996), Manuel Gómez Pereira’s Queens (2005), and Jaime Rosales’s Petra (2018).
Paredes served as president of the Spanish Film Academy from 2000 to 2003 and received some of the industry’s highest accolades, including the Goya Honorary Award in 2018, Spain’s National Cinematography Award in 1996), and the Gold Medal for Merit in Fine Arts in 2007.T
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