Almodóvar to receive Donostia

Pedro Almodóvar will receive a Donostia Award ahead of a screening of The Room Next Door Photo: El Deseo DA SLU/Iglesias Mas

Pedro Almodóvar will receive an honorary Donostia Award for his body of work at San Sebastian Film Festival this autumn.

The veteran Spanish filmmaker has made almost 30 feature films along with more than a dozen short films, that have seen him win an array of international awards including a screenwriting Oscar for Talk To Her. He will receive the Donostia on September 26 ahead of a screening of his latest film The Room Next Door - his first feature in English, starring Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore and which will play in competition at Venice Film Festival.

Pedro Almodóvar, Olvido Gara "Alaska" and Blanca Sánchez make their way up the stairs of the Victoria Eugenia Theatre for the premiere of Pepi, Luci, Bom. Photo: Courtesy of San Sebastian Film Festival

Almodóvar, who founded his career with transgressive sex comedies as Spain emerged from the Franco dictatorship, is now 74 but shows little sign of slowing down. His films are characterised by strong female and willingness to address subjects including the LGBTIQ+ universe, religion, sex, addiction and historical memory.

He has been a frequent visitor to the festival down the years, since his second feature Pepi, Luci, Bom competed in the New Directors section. Labyrinth Of Passions competed in the Official Competition two years later in 1982. In 1995, The Flower Of My Secret screened out of competition and, since then films including Volver, All About My Mother, Bad Education and Broken Embraces have all screened.

In addition to bringing movies, Almodóvar has backed the San Sebastian Festival with his presence by attending the event's 50th anniversary (2002) and presenting the Donostia Award to Al Pacino (1996), Woody Allen (2004) and Antonio Banderas (2008).

Almodóvar said: "My career began in San Sebastian in the year 1980 and since then I have returned to the festival often, with or without a film. And I have always immensely enjoyed myself. I have given the Donostia Award to Al Pacino, Woody Allen and Antonio Banderas. This year they are giving it to me, and I am delighted and grateful. I mean it, it's an honour. San Sebastian is one of the cities where the cinema is celebrated with enormous enthusiasm. More than ever, at these times, we need the complicity of the spectators, and their presence in the film theatres. It is a dream to attend a festival like this, where the cinemas are always full."

The 72nd edition of San Sebastian Film Festival will run from September 20 to 28.