NEST 2023 - Award-winning films

NEST is the international competition for short films by film students organized by the San Sebastian Film Festival and Tabakalera. 

Year after year, Nest gains consolidation as a breeding ground for new talents and is therefore one of the Festival’s most relevant sections. Without going any further, filmmakers such as Kiro Russo (El gran movimiento, 2015), Isabel Lamberti (La última primavera, 2020), Grigory Kolomytsev (Chupacabra, 2020) or Oren Gerner ( África, 2019), who have presented their films both at the San Sebastian Festival and at other festivals on the international circuit, all took their first steps in the section.

The screening will include the making of by Celeste Rojas and Louise Martin, students from Elías Querejeta Zine Eskola, as well as the two short films awarded in this 71st edition, accompanied by presentations by their filmmakers:

NEST Award

AMMA KI KATHA, Nehal Vyas, India, 2023, 21’

California Institute of the Arts School of Film/Video

“India, my nation, is being rebuilt. Her foundation is being laid on the imagined land that claims to be the birthplace of my grandmother's God. In the mythology that she passed down to me during many summer nights, her God was magical, kind, imaginative and democratic, just like my India was supposed to be. But today, through its many retellings and reimaginings, the tale is being used as a political tool to manifest the violent desire of a Hindutva state. This film attempts to remember, as well as dream, a forgotten nation.”

Special mention

ENTRE LES AUTRES, Marie Falys, Belgium, 2023, 23’

Institut de Arts de Diffusion - IAD

“Adèle, aged 12, doesn't want to go back to school. She prefers to skateboard and watch the others from a distance. But this isolation leads her to question the kind of woman she wants to be when she grows up.”