The International Festival has just announced the official selection for its 71st edition, which runs from 22 to 30 September.

Recognised as one of the most important film festivals on the European scene, also known as Zinemaldia, the festival has announced the titles of the seven films in the official selection that will compete for the coveted Conchiglia d'Oro, the prestigious prize awarded by the event's jury to the Best Film. Among the filmmakers, Robin Campillo will be competing for the first time in San Sebastian with his film L'île rouge, about the French colonisation of Madagascar. His fourth film as director comes just after winning the Grand Prix du Jury at Cannes with 120 battements par minute.

L'île rouge is set in Madagascar in the early 1970s, on one of the French army's last air bases, where military families are living through the final throes of colonialism. Influenced by his reading of the intrepid heroine Fantômette, ten-year-old Thomas takes a curious look at his surroundings, while the world gradually opens up to a different reality.