Fatih Akin's 'Ghost Song' to Open San Sebastian Film Festival

Fatih Akin's 'Ghost Song' ('Geister') will open the 74th San Sebastian International Film Festival on 18 September, marking the film's world premiere and its entry into the festival's main competition (Variety).

The San Sebastian Festival describes 'Ghost Song' as "a poetic drama about loss and longing" (Variety). The story follows 20-year-old Farasha, who after her death enters the dreams of a man named Faris, igniting a romance that dissolves the boundary between dreams and reality. Akin himself has called it a love story sitting somewhere between the 1990 Patrick Swayze–Demi Moore film 'Ghost' and the philosophy of Jean-Paul Sartre (Variety). It stars Eren M. Güvercin and Mariam Dawoud.

Beta Cinema is handling international sales. The film is produced by Akin's own Bomero International and Warner Bros. Film Productions Germany, in co-production with Rialto Film (Variety).

Also at the opening gala, Werner Herzog will receive a Donostia Award, the festival's career achievement honour (Variety). The pairing puts two of German cinema's most distinctive directorial voices on the same stage to launch the festival, which runs 18–26 September in the Basque coastal city of Donostia-San Sebastian (San Sebastian Festival).

Akin, born in Hamburg to Turkish parents, has been a fixture of European festival circuits for over two decades. His breakout came with 'Head-On' (2004), which won the Golden Bear in Berlin. 'The Edge of Heaven' (2007) took the best screenplay prize at Cannes. 'In the Fade' (2017) earned Diane Kruger a best actress award at Cannes and a Golden Globe for foreign language film. His range is wide: 'The Cut' (2014), a $21 million drama about the 1915 Armenian genocide, competed at Venice; 'The Golden Glove' was an experimental neo-horror entry; and 'Amrun,' a 1945 coming-of-age tale inherited from his friend and mentor Hark Bohm, became Akin's biggest commercial hit in Germany (Variety).

For festival audiences, the opening-night slot is both a spotlight and a test. San Sebastian's main competition — the official selection, one of the most prestigious in Europe — sets the tone for the nine days that follow. A world premiere in that slot means the first critics and buyers in the room will shape how 'Ghost Song' travels from here.