31 October7 November
2025
31 October
2025.10.22
On Friday, 31 October, the Basque production Gaua (2025), directed by Paul Urkijo Alijo, will raise the curtain on the 36th San Sebastian Horror and Fantasy Film Festival at the Kursaal. The US film Primate (2025), by Johannes Roberts, will draw the event to a close at the Teatro Principal on 7 November.
Between those two dates, a selection of the finest short and feature-length fantasy film titles of the year will be screened, along with a range of complementary activities. Another two Basque feature film productions will be featured: the Basque Country première of Santa Zeta (2025), directed by Antonio Muñoz de Mesa, along with the screening of the Basque version of Decorado (2025), an animated film by Alberto Vázquez.
Titles such as Luc Besson's Dracula: A Love Tale (2025), The Long Walk (2025), based on the novel of the same name by Stephen King, the intriguing Thai production A Useful Ghost (2025), and Silencio (2025), a vampire miniseries directed by Eduardo Casanova, will also be shown at the Teatro Principal over the course of the Festival. A total of 30 feature films, 36 shorts and 4 TV episodes will be screened this year.
Following its creation last year, the second edition of Animedon, the parallel section dedicated to Japanese animated film, will once again this year be returning to the Teatro Victoria Eugenia, the venue for most of its schedule. There will be screenings of three feature films and a family session, Gora eta gora beti, Doraemon eta lagunak. Fujiko Fujiori omenaldia, paying tribute to the creator of Doraemon, Hattori Ninja and Kiteretsu by showing historic episodes of all three series.
Animedon also includes two exhibitions this year —Cinegēmu: Fantasy and horror in Japanese video games and Euskadi Fantastikoa 21: María Jiménez & Letucse—, along with workshops and gatherings at FNAC Donostia and Medialab (Tabakalera), as well as the traditional family afternoon street activity on Saturday 1 November on the Boulevard (Dragon-con).
The Teatro Principal will be the main venue of the event, showing the Festival's complete official section of feature films, comprising 22 titles. The Teatro Victoria Eugenia will be staging the Animedon cinema sessions and the marathon of Basque short films, sponsored by EITB.
Tabakalera will be hosting two sessions on the programme this year: Eraserhead (1977), the first feature film directed by David Lynch, whose iconic image the official Festival poster pays tribute to this year; and The Tower of the Seven Hunchbacks (1944), a Spanish fantasy film classic by Edgar Neville, in partnership with Filmoteca Vasca.
Meanwhile, on 25 October Bang! Bang! present their regular double session at the Principal in partnership with the Festival, opening their annual programme with screenings of Big Trouble in Little China (1986) and The Lost Boys (1987).
Aside from the aforementioned exhibitions, this year's event will include another two: Fernando Vicente: Horror film legends, staged in the Activity Room of the Municipal Library (San Jerónimo), and the street exhibition Mexicráneos, which has been on display since 1 October in Plaza Ramón Labayen
There is also room for other activities on the schedule: the 10th edition of the classic Fanzine War will be taking place, with a number of talks and gatherings organised.
TICKET AND SEASON TICKET SALES
Season tickets will go on sale at the box office of the Teatro Principal on Thursday 23, at 09:00. Individual tickets will be available from 11:30 on Monday 27, at the box offices of the Principal and Victoria Eugenia theatres, and on the Donostia Kultura website. The tickets for Gaua will also be avalaible at the box office and web of Kursaal Auditorium.
