The San Sebastián Film Festival awards ceremony, under the discerning leadership of Spanish director J.A. Bayona, celebrated films with a profound focus on family dynamics and parent-child relationships. The jury notably favored homegrown talent, with half of its prizes awarded to Spanish productions, a trend underscoring the strength of Spanish cinema.

The highly coveted Golden Shell for Best Film was awarded to “Sundays,” the third feature by Spanish writer-director Alauda Ruiz de Azúa. This achievement marked the third consecutive year a Spanish title has clinched the festival’s top honor. “Sundays” captivated audiences with its portrayal of a 17-year-old girl at a critical personal juncture, torn between her parents’ academic ambitions for her and her own aspiration to become a nun.

Belgian auteur Joachim Lafosse was a significant winner, securing both the Silver Shell for Best Director and, collectively with his co-writers Chloé Duponchelle and Paul Ismaël, the Jury Prize for Best Screenplay, all for his film “Six Days in Spring.” Lafosse’s work was lauded as a delicate and sweetly melancholic exploration of a single mother embarking on a vacation with her twin sons following her separation from their father. He noted this film as a refreshing departure from his typically more emotionally harrowing domestic dramas, calling it a “souvenir d’enfance.”

The gender-neutral Silver Shell for Best Leading Performance was shared ex aequo by two compelling actors. Spanish TV veteran José Ramón Soroiz received recognition for his role in Jose Mari Goenaga and Aitor Arregi’s local charmer “Maspalomas,” where he portrays a 76-year-old gay man navigating a return to the closet. Chinese big-screen newcomer Zhao Xiaohong was honored for her moving performance in Qin Xiaoyu’s “Her Heart Beats In Its Cage,” depicting an ex-convict striving to forge a new connection with her son after a decade incarcerated for murder. The Silver Shell for Best Supporting Performance was bestowed upon Argentine actor Camila Plaate for her powerful portrayal in the title role of “Belén,” Dolores Fonzi’s rousing legal drama inspired by the real-life case of a woman imprisoned for murder after a miscarriage and the subsequent national reproductive-rights campaign in Argentina.

Further accolades within the official selection included a special jury prize presented to Spanish filmmaker José Luis Guerin for his humanistic community portrait “Good Valley Stories,” and Best Cinematography awarded to Pau Esteve for his work on Alberto Rodriguez’s brother-sister drama “Los Tigres.” Notably, the jury, which included prominent figures such as directors Gia Coppola and Laura Carreira, opted to bypass several bigger-name titles in competition, including Claire Denis’s “The Fence,” Alice Winocour’s Angelina Jolie vehicle “Couture,” and Edward Berger’s Colin Farrell-starring romp “Ballad of a Small Player,” which left the festival empty-handed.

In other competitive sections, films that had previously garnered recognition at other major festivals added to their hardware. French director Lucile Hadžihalilović’s enigmatic adult fairytale “The Ice Tower,” a Silver Bear winner at the Berlinale, took the top prize in the arthouse-oriented Zabaltegi-Tabakalera competition. Colombian director Simon Mesa Soto’s dark literary comedy “A Poet,” an Un Certain Regard award recipient at Cannes, secured top honors in San Sebastián’s Latin Horizons program. However, in the New Directors competition, the jury awarded the prize to a San Sebastián world premiere: Danish director Emilie Thalund’s “Weightless,” described as a warm and compassionate portrait of a 15-year-old girl developing confidence at a summer weight-loss camp.

One of the most impactful awards was the Audience Award for Best Film, which went to Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania’s “The Voice of Hind Rajab.” This emotionally potent docudrama, utilizing real-life audio of a young Palestinian girl tragically killed in Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip, had previously won a Grand Jury Prize at Venice. Its recognition was particularly resonant at a festival marked by pro-Palestine protests and vocal anti-genocide statements from various attendees, including Donostia Award honoree Jennifer Lawrence and several of the evening’s winners.

The festival also recognized numerous other cinematic achievements across various categories, including the New Directors Award for “Weightless,” the Horizontes Latinos Award for “A Poet,” and the Zabaltegi-Tabakalera Award for “The Ice Tower.” Awards for industry projects, short films, and special mentions were also distributed, highlighting a diverse array of talent and cinematic storytelling.