The Golden Shell (Spanish; Castilian: Concha de Oro; Basque: Urrezko Maskorra) is the highest prize given to a competing film at the San Sebastián Film Festival.[1] It was introduced in 1957.[2] In 1953 and 1954, the highest prize had been called the Gran Premio. In 1955 and 1956 it was replaced by the Silver Shell. Six directors have won the Golden Shell twice: American director Francis Ford Coppola (in 1969 & 1984), Spanish director Manuel Gutiérrez Aragón (in 1982 & 1986), Mexican director Arturo Ripstein (in 1993 & 2000), Spanish director Imanol Uribe (in 1994 & 1996), Iranian director Bahman Ghobadi (in 2004 & 2006), and Spanish director Isaki Lacuesta (in 2011 & 2018).
| Year | English Title | Original Title | Director(s) | Production Country | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1953 | I Was a Parish Priest | La Guerra de Dios |  Spain | ||
| 1954 | Cursed Mountain | Sierra maldita | |||
| 1955 | Days of Love | Giorni d'amore |  | ||
| 1956 | The Railroad Man | Il ferroviere | |||
| 1957 | Oh! Sabella | La nonna Sabella | |||
| 1958 | Eve Wants to Sleep | Ewa chce spac |  | ||
| 1959 | The Nun's Story | ||||
| 1960 | Romeo, Juliet and Darkness | Romeo, Julie a tma | |||
| 1961 | One-Eyed Jacks | ||||
| 1962 | Arturo's Island | L'isola di Arturo | |||
| 1963 | Mafioso | ||||
| 1964 | America, America | ||||
| 1965 | Golden Queen | Zlatá reneta | Otakar Vávra | ||
| Mirage | Edward Dmytryk | ||||
| 1966 | I Was Happy Here | ||||
| 1967 | Two for the Road | ||||
| 1968 | The Long Day's Dying | ||||
| 1969 | The Rain People | ||||
| 1970 | Dead of Summer | Ondata di calore | |||
| 1971 | Claire's Knee | Le Genou de Claire | |||
| 1972 | The Glass House | ||||
| 1973 | The Spirit of the Beehive | El espíritu de la colmena | Spain | ||
| 1974 | Badlands | ||||
| 1975 | Poachers | Furtivos | Spain | ||
| 1976 | Gypsies Are Found Near Heaven | Табор уходит в небо | |||
| 1977 | An Unfinished Piece for Mechanical Piano | Неоконченная пьеса для механического пианино | |||
| 1978 | Alambrista! | ||||
| 1979 | Autumn Marathon | Осенний марафон | |||
| 1980 | The Orchestra Conductor | Dyrygent | | ||
| 1981 | Tales of Ordinary Madness | Storie di ordinaria follia | |||
| 1982 | Demons in the Garden | Demonios en el jardín | | ||
| 1983 | Entre Nous | ||||
| 1984 | Rumble Fish | ||||
| 1985 | Yesterday | | |||
| 1986 | Half of Heaven | La mitad del cielo | | ||
| 1987 | Wedding in Galilee | عرس الجليل |  | ||
| 1988 | On the Black Hill | ||||
| 1989 | Homer and Eddie | ||||
| La nación clandestina | Jorge Sanjinés | ||||
| 1990 | Letters from Alou | Las cartas de Alou | | ||
| 1991 | Butterfly Wings | Alas de mariposa | |||
| 1992 | A Place in the World | Un lugar en el mundo |  | ||
| 1993 | The Beginning and the End | Principio y fin | Arturo Ripstein |  | |
| Sara | سارا | Dariush Mehrjui | |||
| 1994 | Días contados | | |||
| 1995 | Margaret's Museum |  | |||
| 1996 | Bwana | Imanol Uribe | | ||
| Trojan Eddie | Gillies MacKinnon |  | |||
| 1997 | The Swindle | Rien ne va plus | |||
| 1998 | Wind with the Gone | El viento se llevó lo qué |  | ||
| 1999 | C'est quoi la vie? | ||||
| 2000 | The Ruination of Men | La perdición de los hombres | | ||
| 2001 | A Cab for Three | Taxi para tres |  | ||
| 2002 | Mondays in the Sun | Los lunes al sol | | ||
| 2003 | Gun-shy | Schussangst |  | ||
| 2004 | Turtles Can Fly | کیسەڵەکانیش دەفڕن |  | ||
| 2005 | Something Like Happiness | Štěstí |  | ||
| 2006 | Half Moon | نیوەمانگ | Bahman Ghobadi | ||
| Mon fils à moi | Martial Fougeron | ||||
| 2007 | A Thousand Years of Good Prayers | ||||
| 2008 | Pandora's Box | Pandora'nın Kutusu |  | ||
| 2009 | City of Life and Death | 南京！南京！ |  | ||
| 2010 | Neds | ||||
| 2011 | Los pasos dobles | ||||
| 2012 | In the House | Dans la maison | |||
| 2013 | Bad Hair | Pelo malo | |||
| 2014 | Magical Girl | ||||
| 2015 | Sparrows | Þrestir | |||
| 2016 | I Am Not Madame Bovary | 我不是潘金莲 | | ||
| 2017 | The Disaster Artist |  | |||
| 2018 | Between Two Waters | Entre dos Aguas | | ||
| 2019 | Pacified[3] | Pacificado | Paxton Winters |  | |
| 2020 | Beginning[4] | დასაწყისი |  | ||
| 2021 | Blue Moon | Crai Nou | Alina Grigore |  | |
| 2022 | The Kings of the World | Los reyes del mundo | Laura Mora |  | |
| 2023 | The Rye Horn | O corno | Jaione Camborda | Spain/Portugal/Belgium | |