Pedro Almodóvar presented the San Sebastián Film Festival’s top honor to his long-time producer Esther García as the 73rd edition opened on September 19, with Daniel Hendler’s 27 Nights launching the program. García accepted the Donostia Award on the Kursaal stage, where she thanked organizers for “opening up the Donostia Award to production,” a craft she said too often goes unrecognized, and the festival praised her as a pioneer who has inspired new generations.
In her remarks, García traced a career that began in the 1970s and has run through more than a hundred films, many with El Deseo, the company founded by Pedro and Agustín Almodóvar. She saluted mentors who helped her navigate a male-dominated industry and urged unity in defending rights, closing with a defense of cinema as both a home for dreams and a loudspeaker for causes. The festival highlighted her role in elevating Spanish and Latin American auteurs and noted that she joined El Deseo in the mid-1980s and has participated in its projects ever since.
The opening night unfolded amid pointed political expression inside and outside the venue. Thousands demonstrated nearby in support of Palestinians, while figures on the red carpet and presenters on stage displayed symbols and statements calling for peace and condemning the war in Gaza; the Almodóvar brothers appeared with “Genocide Stop” badges before introducing García.
Beyond the ceremony, García has framed the recognition as a signal of broader change and an acknowledgment of invisible labor. In a Spanish radio interview published hours before the gala, she emphasized her belief in the power of art to move audiences and reaffirmed producers’ creative role. Separately, she observed that while women now populate many departments, top commissioning posts at broadcasters and platforms are still largely male, a ceiling she argued remains to be cracked.
The award follows last year’s recognition of Almodóvar and coincides with a 2025 program honoring the late Marisa Paredes and presenting a slate of more than 250 titles across sections. García accepted the prize from the Almodóvar brothers, whom she called family, and closed with a plea to “stop” the wars and to trust culture’s capacity to make the world “a nicer and better place.”
