'Modelo 77', the new feature film by Alberto Rodríguez, will open the San Sebastián Festival

The new feature film by Sevillian filmmaker Alberto Rodríguez, Model 77, will inaugurate the 70th edition of the San Sebastian Festival which will take place from September 16 to 24 in Donostia.

It is a thriller set in the Spain of the political Transition and starring Miguel Herrán and Javier Gutiérrez, among other performers. The film, the director's fifth participation in the Official Section, will be screened after the opening gala that the Kursaal Auditorium will host on September 16.

Inspired by real events, the film is a story of friendship, solidarity and freedom. The action begins in Barcelona's Modelo prison, where Manuel (Miguel Herrán), a young accountant awaiting trial for embezzlement, faces a sentence of between 6 and 8 years, a disproportionate punishment for the crime committed. Together with Pino (Javier Gutiérrez), his cellmate, he joins a group of common prisoners fighting for their rights and for amnesty at the dawn of democracy in Spain after 40 years of dictatorship.

Alberto Rodríguez (Seville, 1971) debuted with The Pilgrim Factor (2000), a feature film co-directed with Santi Amodeo with which he visited the San Sebastián Festival for the first time and won a special mention in New Directors. With The Suit (2002) he repeated, now alone, in the same section and his debut in the Official Section was 7 virgins / 7 virgins (2005), with which the actor Juan José Ballesta won the Silver Shell for best actor. They followed him After (2009), nominated for three Goya awards, and Grupo 7 / Unit 7 (2012), screened in Made in Spain and nominated for the Goya in 16 categories.

The director returned to the official San Sebastián competition with Minimal Island / Marshland (2014), which before winning 10 Goya awards, won the Silver Shell for best actor for Javier Gutiérrez and the Jury Prize for best photography for Álex Catalán. Then he competed again with The Man of a Thousand Faces / Smoke and Mirrors (2016), which gave Eduard Fernández the Silver Shell, and presented the series La fish / The Plague (2017) in the Official Section out of competition.