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What is more, bearing in mind that San Sebastián is an event for Spanish and Latin American cinema, Och believes that it is a chance par excellence to report on each year’s ‘brand new’ titles. ‘The fact we’re more or less six months away allows us to seek out essential films and often corroborates that we were right in featuring something from San Sebastián in our programme’, states Trujillo, programmer of Guadalajara Film Festival. What is more, it seems that San Sebastián is becoming established as a role model for relations. ‘Apart from interesting films, an impeccable organisation and a generous attitude, it’s a friendly and accessible city with an excellent audience’, Och points out. The Mexican agrees, noting that for him it is the most important festival: ‘The size of the Kursaal and the technical quality of the screening make it an unbeatable venue. It’s the friendliest, the attention guests receive is first-rate and so is how citizens treat the visitors’.Over the years the most important international actors have attended the festivals. The Donostia award, for example, has been granted year after year to those who have contributed to the film world with their professional work. The first to receive the award – a miniature replica of the streetlamps on the city’s Paseo de la Concha – was Gregory Peck, followed by figures such as Bette Davis, Lauren Bacall, Catherine Deneuve, Meryl Streep, Woody Allen, Jessica Lange and Robert Duvall (a total of 56 names). It is an attractive place for meeting the most important people in the business and establishing new contacts.They both agree that the quality of Spanish films is excellent, despite the current crisis of the sector and filmmakers’ low budgets. ‘It shows that it’s constantly being renewed and has a high technical standard’, Trujillo explains, while Karel Och goes further, noting that ‘the Spanish cinema has highly talented directors capable of creating interesting films of significant quality with a lowArticle169Selection of projects