August 2025
Coinciding with the end of the autarky of the Franco era, the San Sebastián Festival planned the opening of a small space at its seventh edition: the acceptance of an extended participation, for the first time in its history, by Soviet satellite states in the event – all while continuing to maintain the veto of the Soviet Union. Compared to the timid presence of said film industries in the two previous editions, 1959 saw a substantial change in the Festival structures, translating into the addition to the programme of fourteen titles from Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Yugoslavia, five of them competing for the Golden Shell.
At that edition, with Antonio de Zulueta y Besson at its head, the sections of the competition were also extended, meaning that the number of cinemas similarly increased, thereby expanding the Festival exhibition network. One of those sections, dedicated to experimental cinema, lent continuity to the collaboration that the inventor and filmmaker José Val del Omar had started with the Festival at the previous edition, on direct invitation from Zulueta y Besson, resulting in the creation of two days dedicated to the screening of certain experimental titles and to meetings and displays of inventions and patents by the filmmaker from Granada.
The competition, which had been announced amid great hype with the distribution of two extraordinary issues of its official daily at the Cannes and Venice festivals, explained the major aspects of its future opening up: the tribute to René Clair coming with a retrospective of his work – the first in the history of the competition – and a season dedicated to the “Brussels twelve”, the list of the best films in the history of the cinema drawn up for the World Exposition of 1958 – although four of the films programmed would clash head-on with censorship under Franco and have to be slashed from the programme.
The Festival’s seventh edition, carefully assembled with small windows to the exterior, was presented with this official poster designed by the illustrator Alfredo Tienda, in lithograph format, and which the Festival Archive has recently added to the collection following its recovery.
* The San Sebastián Festival’s poster collection has notable lacunas: it has no posters for the years 1953-1958, 1963-1966 or 1969-1970. Our team continues working to complete the collection. If you have any information regarding a copy of the missing posters, please contact us here.
Full description sheet
Poster
Official poster of the 7th edition
Identity statement area
ID: 46285
Catalogue number: K001H
Location: A.01 K.05
Title: Official poster of the 7th edition
Date: 1959
Level of description: Simple documentary unit
Technical description area
Technique: Litografía en color
Medium: Paper
Context area
Producer: San Sebastian International Film Festival
Author: Alfredo Tienda
Printer: Valverde S.A.
Place: San Sebastián
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access: Conditions governing access
Conditions governing reproduction: Conditions governing reproduction
Digitalisation area
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_Tamaño: 169,64 MB
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Width: 4267 px
Height: 6946 px
Date of creation: 2025-07-18 00:00:00
Control area
Preservation: Andrea Sánchez, Lorena Soria
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Other documents of the month
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Interview with the competition organisers prior to the 16th edition in 1968 (1968) San Sebastian Festival Archive. [+]
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Letter from Luis Gasca to Jorge Luis Borges on the occasion of his participation in the round table discussion ‘Latin American Literature and Cinema’ (1981) San Sebastian Festival Archive. [+]
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Actress Gina Lollobrigida presenting the San Sebastian Award for Best Female Performance to the distributor Procinor for “A Woman Under the Influence” (1975) San Sebastian Festival Archive. [+]
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The actress Josefa Flores González, better known as Marisol or Pepa Flores, at the Hotel María Cristina (1960) San Sebastian Festival Archive. [+]
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Anne Bancroft at the Victoria Eugenia Theatre’s boxes entrance during the presentation of the film “The Miracle Worker” (Arthur Penn) (1962) San Sebastian Festival Archive. [+]
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Letter from Nelly Kaplan to Francisco Ferrer on the invitation to the festival (1962) San Sebastian Festival Archive. [+]
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Regulations of the II Cartago International Film Festival (1968) San Sebastian Festival Archive. [+]
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Letter from Josefina Molina to the Festival organisers (1978) San Sebastian Festival Archive [+]
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Letter from Diego Galán to film director Jafar Panahi (1998) San Sebastian Festival Archive. [+]
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Program for the 11th edition of the Festival International de Films de Femmes de Créteil et du Val de Marne (1989) San Sebastian Festival Archive. [+]
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Letter from Wolf Kochmann to Pilar Olascoaga on the death of Bette Davis (1989) San Sebastian Festival Archive. [+]
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Letter from Luis Buñuel to the Mayor of San Sebastián Antonio Vega de Seoane (1960) San Sebastian Festival Archive. [+]
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Letter sent by Antonio de Zulueta y Besson to the Cineclub Irún accepting to collaborate with them (1960) San Sebastian Festival Archive. [+]
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Letter from underground filmmaker Antoni Padrós to Pilar Olascoaga (1977) San Sebastian Festival Archive. [+]
