Werner Herzog to Receive San Sebastian Film Festival’s Donostia Award

Werner Herzog will receive this year’s Donostia Award at the San Sebastian Film Festival.

The fest’s highest honorary award, received last year by Jennifer Lawrence and veteran Spanish Esther Garcia, will be accompanied by a screening of the German filmmaker’s latest feature film, Bucking Fastard, which is competing in the upcoming Venice Film Festival.

“Over a career spanning six decades, Herzog has become one of the most influential figures in contemporary cinema, building an extraordinary body of work ―around 80 films― shaped by obsession, extreme situations and the contradictions of human nature,” said the San Sebastian Film Festival. “His films, both fiction and non-fiction, are populated by dreamers and conquerors confronted with extreme landscapes and forces beyond their control. Guided by his concept of ‘Ecstatic Truth,’ Herzog advocates a cinema that transcends the mere observation of facts to reveal a deeper, more poetic dimension of reality.”

The Donostia Award screening will take place at the Victoria Eugenia Theatre before the award ceremony at the city’s Kursaal venue. Starring Rooney Mara, Kate Mara, Orlando Bloom and Domhnall Gleeson, Bucking Fastard tells the unusual story of twin sisters whose extraordinary bond leads them to speak in unison, love the same man and share the same dreams.

Some of Herzog’s most iconic films include Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972), Fitzcarraldo (1982), Grizzly Man (2005) and Cave of Forgotten Dreams (2010).

He has also published poetry and books of prose, such as Of Walking In Ice, Conquest of the Useless and, recently, The Twilight World, a novel. Herzog has staged about a dozen operas and even acted in films, among them Jack Reacher, The Mandalorian and guest roles in The Simpsons.