The Donostia Award (Spanish; Castilian: Premio Donostia; Basque: Donostia Saria) is an honorary award created in 1986 which is given every year to a number of actors and filmmakers in the San Sebastián International Film Festival.[1] It derives its name from Donostia, the Basque name of San Sebastián.[2]
| Year | Recipient[3] | class=unsortable | Profession | Nationality | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1986 | Gregory Peck | Actor | United States | ||
| Gene Tierney | Actress | United States | The award to Tierney was announced prior to the festival, but was not handed as Tierney did not eventually travel to San Sebastián.[4] | ||
| 1987 | Glenn Ford | Actor | Canada / United States | ||
| 1988 | Vittorio Gassman | Actor, filmmaker and screenwriter | Italy | ||
| 1989 | Bette Davis | Actress | United States | ||
| 1990 | Claudette Colbert | Actress | United States | ||
| 1991 | Anthony Perkins | Actor | United States | ||
| 1992 | Lauren Bacall | Actress | United States | ||
| 1993 | Robert Mitchum | Actor | United States | ||
| 1994 | Lana Turner | Actress | United States | ||
| 1995 | Susan Sarandon | Actress | United States | ||
| Catherine Deneuve | Actress | France | |||
| 1996 | Al Pacino | Actor | United States | ||
| 1997 | Michael Douglas | Actor and producer | United States | ||
| Jeremy Irons | Actor | United Kingdom | |||
| 1998 | Jeanne Moreau | Actress and filmmaker | France | ||
| Anthony Hopkins | Actor, filmmaker and producer | United Kingdom | |||
| John Malkovich | Actor | United States | |||
| 1999 | Anjelica Huston | Actress | United States | ||
| Fernando Fernán Gómez | Actor, screenwriter and filmmaker | Spain | |||
| Vanessa Redgrave | Actress | United Kingdom | |||
| 2000 | Michael Caine | Actor | United Kingdom | ||
| Robert De Niro | Actor | United States | |||
| 2001 | Julie Andrews | Actress and singer | United Kingdom | The award was announced prior to the festival, but was not handed in person as Andrews cancelled her trip to San Sebastián in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks.[5] | |
| Warren Beatty | Actor and filmmaker | United States | The award was announced prior to the festival, but was not handed in person as Beatty cancelled his trip to San Sebastián in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks. | ||
| Francisco Rabal | Actor | Spain | Rabal died weeks before the festival, and the award was handed posthumously to his grandson .[6] | ||
| 2002 | Jessica Lange | Actress | United States | ||
| Bob Hoskins | Actor and filmmaker | United Kingdom | |||
| Dennis Hopper | Actor and filmmaker | United States | |||
| Francis Ford Coppola | Filmmaker, producer and screenwriter | United States | |||
| 2003 | Robert Duvall | Actor and filmmaker | United States | ||
| Sean Penn | Actor and filmmaker | United States | |||
| Isabelle Huppert | Actress | France | |||
| 2004 | Annette Bening | Actress | United States | ||
| Jeff Bridges | Actor | United States | |||
| Woody Allen | Actor, filmmaker and screenwriter | United States | |||
| 2005 | Willem Dafoe | Actor | United States | ||
| Ben Gazzara | Actor | United States | |||
| 2006 | Max von Sydow | Actor | Sweden / France | ||
| Matt Dillon | Actor | United States | |||
| 2007 | Liv Ullmann | Actress and filmmaker | Norway | ||
| Richard Gere | Actor | United States | |||
| 2008 | Meryl Streep | Actress | United States | ||
| Antonio Banderas | Actor and filmmaker | Spain | |||
| 2009 | Ian McKellen | Actor | United Kingdom | ||
| 2010 | Julia Roberts | Actress | United States | ||
| 2011 | Glenn Close | Actress | United States | ||
| 2002 | Oliver Stone | Filmmaker, producer and screenwriter | United States | ||
| Ewan McGregor | Actor | United Kingdom | |||
| Tommy Lee Jones | Actor | United States | |||
| John Travolta | Actor | United States | |||
| Dustin Hoffman | Actor | United States | |||
| 2013 | Carmen Maura | Actress | Spain | ||
| Hugh Jackman | Actor | Australia | |||
| 2014 | Denzel Washington | Actor, producer and filmmaker | United States | ||
| Benicio del Toro | Actor | Puerto Rico | |||
| 2015 | Emily Watson | Actress | United Kingdom | ||
| 2016 | Sigourney Weaver | Actress | United States | ||
| Ethan Hawke | Actor, filmmaker and screenwriter | United States | |||
| 2017 | Ricardo Darín | Actor and producer | Argentina | ||
| Monica Bellucci | Actress | Italy | |||
| Agnès Varda | Filmmaker, screenwriter and artist | France | |||
| 2018 | Hirokazu Kore-eda | Filmmaker, producer, screenwriter and editor | Japan | ||
| Danny DeVito | Actor and filmmaker | United States | |||
| Judi Dench | Actress | United Kingdom | |||
| 2019 | Penélope Cruz | Actress | Spain | ||
| Costa-Gavras | Filmmaker, producer and screenwriter | Greece / France | |||
| Donald Sutherland | Actor | Canada | |||
| 2020 | Viggo Mortensen | Actor | United States / Denmark | ||
| 2021 | Johnny Depp | Actor | United States | ||
| Marion Cotillard | Actress | France | |||
| 2022 | Juliette Binoche | Actress | France | ||
| David Cronenberg | Filmmaker, screenwriter and actor | Canada | |||
| 2023 | Javier Bardem | Actor | Spain | The award to Bardem was announced for the 2023 edition, but the award event was later postponed for the 2024 edition due to the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike.[7] | |
| Víctor Erice | Filmmaker and screenwriter | Spain | |||
| Hayao Miyazaki | Animator and filmmaker | Japan | Miyazaki was handed the award virtually from Tokyo.[8] | ||
| 2024 | Cate Blanchett | Actress | Australia | [9] | |
| Pedro Almodóvar | Filmmaker and screenwriter | Spain | [10] | ||