Angelina Jolie joins San Sebastián Film Festival with new movie

SAN SEBASTIÁN

American actress Angelina Jolie attended Spain's San Sebastián film festival on Sunday to present her latest film “Couture,” directed by French filmmaker Alice Winocour, which is competing for the festival’s top prize, the Golden Shell.

Jolie, 50, plays Maxine Walker, an American film director facing divorce and a serious illness while navigating Paris Fashion Week and embarking on a romance with a colleague, played by French actor Louis Garrel. The Oscar-winning actress, honored in 1999 for her role in “Girl, Interrupted,” said she related personally to the struggles of her latest character.

Visibly moved, Jolie recalled her own health battles, having undergone a double mastectomy in 2013 and later surgery to remove her ovaries and fallopian tubes to reduce her high genetic risk of cancer. She said she thought often of her mother while making the film.

“I wish she was able to speak more as openly as I have been, and have people respond as graciously as you have, and not feel as alone,” she said. “There’s something very particular to women’s cancers, because obviously it affects us, you know, how we feel as women.”

While promoting the film, Jolie also voiced her concerns about the state of free expression in her home country. “I love my country, but I don’t at this time recognize my country,” she said, responding to a question about freedom of speech in the United States.

Her comments come as worries grow over free speech in the U.S., following President Donald Trump’s crackdown on critical media and the recent suspension of late-night host Jimmy Kimmel’s show over comments on the killing of conservative influencer Charlie Kirk.

“Anything, anywhere, that divides or, of course, limits personal expressions and freedoms and, from anyone, I think is very dangerous,” she added. “These are very, very heavy times we’re all living in together.”