Chastain wins San Sebastian (+ Best Actress Chart Updates)
Sunday, September 26, 2021 at 11:07AM by Nathaniel R
Women won every award at San Sebastian this year.
Congratulations are in order to Jessica Chastain who took Best Actress at the San Sebastian Film Festival for her sensational star turn in The Eyes of Tammy Faye. We've updated the Best Actress chart. At this very early stage it's looking like a Stewart vs Chastain vs Gaga battle royale. Yes yes the internet always likes to crown the winner before there's even a battle (with everyone deciding Kristen Stewart is winning) but here at The Film Experience we prefer the contest for the nominations -- it's more egalitarian and one should always celebrate multiple actresses as there has never been a year with only one worthy contender. And, listen, when you earn substantial Oscar buzz you're already a winner baby.
Nevertheless "wins" do exist so let's look at the other San Sebastian winners and which actresses have won all the major festivals thus far after the jump...
SAN SEBASTIAN WINNERS
BLUE MOON
AS IN HEAVEN
FILM Alina Grigore, Blue Moon (Romania)
DIRECTOR Tea Lindeburg, As in Heaven (Denmark)
LATIN AMERICAN FILM Tatiania Huezo, Prayers for the Stolen (Mexico)
CINEMATOGRAPHY Claire Mathon, Undercover (France)
SPECIAL JURY PRIZE Lucile Hadzihalilovic, Earwig (UK/France/Belgium)
With Jessica Chastain and a young Danish girl both winning acting prizes that means that every single award at San Sebastian went to a woman this year.
BEST ACTRESS WINNERS AT "THE BIG FIVE"
links go to our reviews
SUNDANCE - Emilia Jones, CODA (US)... shared award with whole cast
BERLINALE - Maren Eggert, I'm Your Man (Germany)
CANNES - Renata Reinsve, Worst Person in the World (Norway)
TORONTO - n/a non-juried
VENICE - Penelope Cruz, Parallel Mothers (Spain)
WINNERS AT THE MAJOR (FIAPF ACCREDITED) FESTS
SAN SEBASTIAN - Jessica Chastain, Eyes of Tammy Faye (US) and Flora Ofelia Hofmann Lindalh, As in Heaven (Denmark)
GOA - Zofia Stafiej, I Never Cry (Poland)
KARLOVY - Eleonore Loiselle, Guerres (Canada)
LOCARNO - Anastasiya Krasovskaya, Gerda (Russia)
WINNERS AT OTHER BIG AMERICAN FESTS
TRIBECA - Isabelle Fuhrman, The Novice (US)
SXSW - n/a
SEATTLE - Thiessa Woinbackk, Valentina (Brazil)
Reader Comments (17)
The response to Tammy Faye is so mixed, and the release so early, that it's hard to imagine her maintaining a winner's momentum in the long run.
But... she obviously the most due, Gaga will have a tough go with an equally campy film, and Stewart won't campaign hard (Plus Larrain films have their own challenges. )
Could this all open up a path for Cruz?
The response to Tammy Faye is so mixed, and the release so early, that it's hard to imagine her maintaining a winner's momentum in the long run.
But... she obviously the most due, Gaga will have a tough go with an equally campy film, and Stewart won't campaign hard (Plus Larrain films have their own challenges. )
Could this all open up a path for Cruz?
Mike--you make really good points. But I think she's got a really good chance. We have to see if Gaga's movie has enough prestige factor to be a winner for her. Cruz already has an Oscar, and it's hard to win for a foreign language film. Stewart will face the same struggle Natalie Portman had being in a Larrain biopic. Also, I bet there's some fatigue around portrayals of Lady Diana. I can totally see Chastain winning. It's a terrific performance and provides a tremendous extended emotional catharsis for the audience. Also, the fact she hasn't been nominated since ZD30 it absolutely criminal. So the overdue factor is high.
Frances McDormand has stellar reviews for The Tragedy of Macbeth. The back story of her first playing Lady Macbeth at age 14 in middle school is quite charming. Get ready for her Best Actress win number 4!
I also feel like Chastain could win based on personality on the campaign trail. Think Vikander over Mara; Janney over Metcalfe.
I can see why the internet has crowned Stewart with a sceptre and sash this far out but Chastain will charm those voters and I just don't see GaGa being a threat.
"Never underestimate Frances McDormand"
I am assuming McDormand is definitely going Lead? Some pundits have her in their Supporting Actress top 5.
I thought she was MARVELOUS in this. What could have become a caricature ...didn't.
Her nuanced performance will surely get an Oscar nom.
That was totally a prearranged win. She was the only big celebrity in attendance and the movie was programmed the last day so she could do press on Friday, Saturday morning and get the award in the evening.
GOOD FOR HER. Any festival win is of course pre-arranged, but any recognition for that performance is just great for me.
Still not buying Gaga. It looks like a fun movie star project, but Oscar might say no.
I'm not convinced Chastain is even a shoo-in for the nomination, let alone a front-runner for the win. Barring Gaga or Kidman slaying in the films (and my gut says both of their pictures underperform), Stewart strikes me as the commanding favorite.
I don't understand the idea that Stewart is a strong frontrunner. She's not a typical ingenue of the sort that wins Best Actress and Spencer sounds even more outre than Jackie in some respects. The biopics that win lead awards at the Oscars are films like Judy, Darkest Hour, The Theory of Everything, conventional films. More experimental biopics like Jackie and Steve Jobs underperform with the Academy. (FWIW, I love Stewart, Gaga, and Chastain and would be thrilled if any of them won.)
Peggy & Fadhil --- when did you all get so cynical? Jury Awards are always somewhat political but they definitely aren't pre-arranged or bought. They are juried. I've only served on regional film festival juries of course but something tells me that the kind of A list people they get for the juries at the big A list festivals wouldn't be any easier to manipulate then regional juries are which sometimes get combative with people bargaining for who should win what. Sometimes the powers of the festival will let it be known that "it sould be nice if ___ would win something" but they definitely dont hold more sway than that when it involves rooms of 5-10 people arguing about movies.
@ Nathaniel: Are the GG still giving awards and the show is just canceled from TV? Or the whole thing is gone this year?
Just saw The Eyes of Tammy Faye. Movie was so-so but Chastain...my God she was incredible. She can absolutely win Best Actress. So many bravura moments but she really outdoes herself in the last twenty minutes.
Frances McDormand absolutely will not win a fourth Best Actress Oscar for Macbeth. No. Non. It will not happen, occur, eventualize or become a reality. Nope.
trivia: Chastain is of basque origin... so she just won in what is, essential, her origin land.