Woody Allen’s ‘Rifkin’s Festival’ To Open San Sebastian Fest
The 68th edition of Spain’s San Sebastian Festival will open with the world premiere of Woody Allen’s latest movie Rifkin’s Festival, which shot in the town last summer and takes place during a fictional edition of the fest.
It’s a controversial move by the event, with Allen remaining something of a pariah in the industry, particularly in the U.S., after sexual abuse allegations against the director from his ex-partner Mia Farrow have continued to re-surface.
The allegations led to Amazon pulling a rich deal with the director and shelving his movie A Rainy Day in New York, which the company backed. Allen sued the streamer and eventually reached a legal settlement.
Allen continues to strenuously deny the allegations, which involve his daughter Dylan Farrow, and he has his supporters. The filmmaker came out fighting in a series of interviews with press earlier this year around the eventual release of A Rainy Day in New York. “I assume that for the rest of my life a large number of people will think I was a predator,” the director told The Guardian.
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There’s no question that the selection will put added scrutiny on San Sebastian, which is taking something of a risk in that headlines around its opening will likely be dominated by the continuation of the debate around Allen and whether he should be championed by the industry. The festival is already going to see itself in an enhanced spotlight as one of the first major European events to go ahead following widespread coronavirus cancellations.
Allen and San Seb have a history, with the director having raised the curtain at the 2004 edition with Melinda And Melinda. That year the fest also awarded him the prestigious Donostia Award and dedicated a retrospective to his work.
Rifkin’s Festival stars Elena Anaya, Louis Garrel, Gina Gershon, Sergi López, Wallace Shawn, and Christoph Waltz in the story of married American couple who go to the San Sebastian Festival and get caught up in the magic of the event, the beauty and charm of the city and the fantasy of movies. She has an affair with a brilliant French movie director, and he falls in love with a beautiful Spanish woman who lives there.
The project is the fourth collaboration between Allen and Spanish major MediaPro. It will be distributed in Spain by TriPictures, and The Mediapro Studio Distribution is handling international rights.
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