The San Sebastian Film Festival, the film festival most loved by the public

Gaizka is just one of the twenty or so regulars at the back entrance of the María Cristina Hotel in San Sebastián, the residence of celebrities. Yesterday, Tuesday, he was lucky: actress Alba Flores came out to greet him, took photos, and the weather was pleasant until mid-afternoon. "They're generally nice and willing to be photographed," he explains. Others, more traditional, prefer autograph signings; they're a kind of celebrity hunter on the verge of extinction. The selfie wins. And in San Sebastián, it's very easy to get one with a star.

The Zinelmaldia, the smallest of the Big Four festivals (the others being Berlin, Cannes, and Venice), is the most accessible to the general public. Except for some of the press screenings—not all, as other sessions are mixed for the public and journalists—the rest of the sessions, including the galas, can be accessed by purchasing a ticket. In Cannes, this is impossible: admission is only possible with accreditation or by invitation. In Berlin, it's complicated in the theaters at the center of the festival, but there are screenings in cinemas in the different neighborhoods of the German capital, which are also often beautifully restored historic buildings. In Venice, there are also audiences at the galas, as in San Sebastián, although the Mostra takes place on the island of Lido, and the Zinemaldia, in the very center of the city. And in neither, can a cinephile bump into a star on the street like in the latter.

In San Sebastian, there's a constant flow from hotels to restaurants to festival events. Years ago, Dustin Hoffman decided to walk from the María Cristina to the Aquarium restaurant, and no one could convince him otherwise. Hugh Jackman, Ben Stiller, and Adam Sandler have gone for a run along Paseo de la Concha at dawn. Last year, actor Andrew Garfield spent a week with two friends surfing and eating at the best restaurants until it was time for work. And few people bothered him, because who would believe Spider-Man went to Zurriola beach?

And then there's the Velodrome. Three thousand people in front of a 400-square-meter screen. An experience that scares those who experience it for the first time. On Tuesday, the Rondallas team experienced that privilege, led by director and screenwriter Daniel Sánchez Arévalo and producer Ramón Campos . "I feel like I'm part of the Rolling Stones," Campos declared on stage, while on the access ramp, actor Tamar Novas confessed: "It's like going out to play in the Champions League final."

At the end of the night, they heard the cheers and applause of the crowd as it rained outside the sports venue, which had been converted for the competition into the largest venue in Europe. Rondallas illustrates the reconstruction of a rondalla after a couple of years without rehearsing due to the shipwreck of a fishing boat carrying members of the musical group. That sense of resurrection of a community spirit, along with dozens of tambourines, bagpipes, flutes, and drums, stirred emotion in the crowd. Or as its director put it: "Who wants the Kursaal when the Velodrome is there?"

Hours earlier, Sánchez Arévalo himself reflected: “After two projects with Netflix, I'm finally returning to theaters. It's been 12 years since The Big Spanish Family . And for me, that's so important... I wanted to make a film with a clear popular appeal. And I say popular in a positive way.”

As a festival veteran, he explains: “San Sebastián is a festival that loves its audiences. That's why having something like the Velodrome and inviting a director like me is fantastic. The most wonderful experience I've had was when I premiered Diecisiete here, which was in the Official Section out of competition. You experience the audience's welcome right away. Wow! The applause when you leave, the people in the street... The audience is a big fan of cinema.”

Local and national film buffs. There are no mid- or budget-priced accommodations available in San Sebastián or the surrounding area. Restaurants are full. On the day the box office opened (tickets are released gradually) for the first three days of screenings, 32,425 tickets were sold, 17,000 in the first two hours alone; a 3% increase compared to 2024. In that last edition, 172,301 people attended the screenings, of which 123,211 (71.5%) were from the general public. The rest were accredited.

And if the festival is measured in economic terms, according to a study commissioned by the organization from the consulting group Ikertalde, the Zinemaldia generated an economic impact of €47.9 million in 2024, almost €14 million coming from spending on purchases and consumption by festivalgoers and ticket purchases. Of this amount, €10.7 million was spent by overnight visitors from out of town, €2 million by locals, and the remainder by visitors who didn't stay in the city. This is one of the surprises hidden within the festival: there are many film buffs from the rest of Spain who come to see films, four or five a day, and thus don't wait for the commercial release.

In the bars near the María Cristina Hotel, specifically the Oquendo and the Koh Tao, there's a traffic of tickets and recommendations among guests. And there are furtive encounters between filmmakers and actors who are only bothered when they cross through the hotel's pedestrian exit in its backyard. There, two fences separate curious onlookers from the garden tables where interviews are conducted. It's impossible not to hear people asking for a photo. The main entrance, the one overlooking the Urumea River, is only used for official entrances and exits. The arrivals of stars are cheered by dozens of people, while at the top of the stairs leading to the hotel, the festival director, José Luis Rebordinos, waits, a ritual that repeats itself every few hours. Only on rare occasions, like Angelina Jolie, does someone enter through the side service door.

The receptions for Julia Roberts and Denzel Washington are still remembered as milestones. Among the Spanish actors, Santiago Segura, Mario Casas, Penélope Cruz, and Javier Bardem always triumph. If there were hundreds of people on Angelina Jolie's red carpet on Sunday, what will happen on Friday when Jennifer Lawrence appears? As Rebordinos explains: "This affection for the public is the essence of the pageant. It will never happen without them." Gaizka will be able to continue asking for selfies for many more editions.