Brad Pitt and David Ayer to present Heart of the Beast at San Sebastián Film Festival

Festival screening and official lineup

Actor Brad Pitt and filmmaker David Ayer will present their survival thriller Heart of the Beast at the 74th San Sebastián International Film Festival, which runs from 18 September to 26 September 2026 in Spain. The presentation at the Kursaal centre marks the final addition to the festival's Official Selection, completing a slate of 25 titles. That section includes 17 films in competition, three films out of competition, and five special screenings. Pitt and Ayer will attend the event in person to support the screening, which will take place out of competition.

Survival premise and production team

The Paramount Pictures production follows a former United States Army Special Forces soldier who becomes stranded deep in the Alaskan wilderness after his small aircraft goes down. Accompanied by his retired combat dog Odin, the protagonist navigates mountainous terrain and river crossings while fending off threats from wolves and bears. The cast also features Academy Award winner J.K. Simmons and actress Anna Lambe. Cameron Alexander wrote the screenplay. Pitt produces the project with Olivia Hamilton, Marty Bowen, and Ayer, while Damien Chazelle, Scott Lumpkin, Chris Long, Pete Chiappetta, Anthony Tittanegro, Andrew Lary, Sophie Cassidy, and Zack Conroy serve as executive producers.

Creative reunion and festival history

The screening marks Pitt's first visit to San Sebastián since 2009, when he attended the Spanish festival alongside director Quentin Tarantino to present Inglourious Basterds in the Perlak sidebar. Heart of the Beast also reunites Pitt and Ayer for the first time since their 2014 World War II feature Fury, produced for Sony Pictures. Ayer's screenwriting background includes U-571 in 2000 and Training Day in 2001, before he transitioned to directing features such as End of Watch in 2012, The Beekeeper in 2024, and A Working Man in 2025. Paramount has scheduled the theatrical release of Heart of the Beast for 25 September 2026, during the festival's final weekend.

Broader slate and festival honours

The completed San Sebastián lineup features Faith Akin's Ghost Song as the opening title and Michaël R. Roskam's Le Faux Soir as the closing film. Competition entries include Mike Leigh's Tender Loving Care, starring Marion Bailey and Paul Jesson, alongside Pablo Larraín's My Sad Dead, a feature adaptation of Mariana Enríquez's short stories starring Mercedes Morán, Dolores Fonzi, and Carolina Álvarez before its subsequent Netflix release. The competition also includes Jesse Eisenberg's The debut starring Julianne Moore, Nicole Garcia's Milo featuring Marion Cotillard and Théodore Pellerin, Jaime Lorente's The Bad Son, and Maha Harada's directorial debut In My Father's Room. German filmmaker Werner Herzog will receive the festival's Donostia Award and present his film Fucking Bastard.