The Seville European Film Festival unveils three major highlights of its 22nd edition: the recognition of the renowned Irish director Jim Sheridan with the Giraldillo of Honor; the addition to competition of the directorial debut of Sevillian screenwriter and filmmaker Rafael Cobos, ‘Golpes’; and the expansion of the Special Screenings section, which now includes new selections of European auteur cinema presented out of competition.
The Festival will bestow the final Giraldillo of Honor of 2025 upon Dublin-born director, screenwriter, and producer Jim Sheridan, in recognition of his essential contribution to contemporary European cinema. The creator of landmark films such as ‘My Left Foot’ (1989), ‘In the Name of the Father’ (1993), ‘The Boxer’ (1997), or ‘In America’ (2002), Sheridan has portrayed, with deeply human insight, the social, family, and political conflicts of his native Ireland, in a style that blends emotion, precision, and moral depth.
Over more than four decades of filmmaking, Sheridan has been a pivotal figure in Ireland’s cultural life, both in cinema and theatre. A co-founder of Dublin’s Project Theatre alongside filmmaker Neil Jordan, and former director of the Irish Arts Center in New York, he has played a decisive role in narrating Ireland’s recent history — and its relationship with the world — through artistic creation.
His collaboration with Daniel Day-Lewis across three of his most iconic works not only earned him an Academy Award for ‘My Left Foot’ but also helped cement Day-Lewis’s status as one of the greatest actors of his generation — once described by Time Magazine as “the world’s best actor.”
Sheridan has also directed major international productions, including ‘Dream House’ (2011), starring Daniel Craig and Naomi Watts; ‘Brothers’ (2009), featuring Tobey Maguire, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Natalie Portman; and ‘Get Rich or Die Tryin’, starring musician 50 Cent.
As a producer, he has supported emerging Irish talents such as Terry George, John Carney, and Paul Greengrass, and has written screenplays including ‘Into the West’ (1992), directed by Mike Newell.
The Giraldillo of Honor will be presented during one of the Festival’s main galas, which will also feature the screening of ‘Re-creation’, Sheridan’s latest work, co-written and co-directed with David Merriman. In this bold courtroom docudrama — a contemporary reimagining of Sidney Lumet’s classic ‘12 Angry Men’ (1957) — Sheridan revisits one of the most controversial and unsettling cases in modern Irish history: that of British journalist Ian Bailey, convicted in absentia for the murder of Sophie Toscan du Plantier.
