The fall festival circuit moves to Spain as Naomi Watts receives the Donostia Award and Pablo Larraín brings a four-hour Netflix adaptation into the Golden Shell race.

The 74th San Sebastián International Film Festival opened today, September 18, running through September 26. The Basque country festival follows Venice and Toronto in anchoring the fall awards circuit, and this year arrives with a competition lineup heavy with established auteurs and a ceremonial program centered on one of cinema’s most enduring screen presences.

Naomi Watts will receive the Donostia Award on September 19 in a gala ceremony at the Kursaal. The honor, given annually in recognition of an outstanding contribution to film, will be followed by a screening of The Housewife, directed by Ben Shirinian from a screenplay by Alyssa Hill. Set in 1964, the film follows a young journalist who tracks down a suspected Nazi officer living secretly in New York and befriends the suspect’s wife. The cast includes Tye Sheridan, Luke Evans, Michael Imperioli, and Lena Olin.

The main competition spans a wide range of voices. Pablo Larraín brings My Sad Dead, a Netflix production adapted from four short stories by Mariana Enríquez, to compete for the Golden Shell. The series screens as a single four-hour feature, marking an unusual move for a major festival competition. Benjamín Naishtat, the Argentine filmmaker behind Rojo, returns with Glaxo. Also in contention are Nicole Garcia’s Milo, Hans Petter Moland’s Growth of the Soil, and Yeşim Ustaoğlu’s What Remains. Mike Leigh’s Tender Loving Care, which had its world premiere at TIFF earlier this month, is also in competition.

Fatih Akin’s Ghost Song opens the festival out of competition. Werner Herzog also receives a Donostia Award during the festival run.

The festival concludes September 26. The Golden Shell winner will be announced at the closing ceremony.