"We have to be careful not to say things casually" - Angelina Jolie speaks up on current state of US politics in San Sebastian Film Festival

The 73rd San Sebastián International Film Festival started on September 19, 2025 against the stunning Basque coast backdrop, with the beautiful Teatro Victoria Eugenia lit up in amber as an elegant host for cinema lovers from around the world. On September  21, 2025 at the festival Angelina Jolie along with Louis Garrel promoted their upcoming movie Couture by Alice Winocour. 

The film explores the intersection of three lives with Maxine, a young model from South Sudan (Anyier Anei) who runs away from a burdensome future and ends up in an all-too-light world, and Angèle (Ella Rumpf), a French make-up artist and aspiring writer. Keffus plays the cinematographer who becomes romantically involved with Maxine.

In the press conference, when asked about her views on the current political upheaval of her native country, the U.S, she said:

“It’s a very difficult question. I have to say that I love my country, and I don’t, at this time, recognize my country. I’ve always lived internationally. My family is international. My life, my worldview, is equal and united. Anything, anywhere that divides or limits personal expressions and freedoms [for anyone], I think, is very dangerous. I think these are such serious times that we have to be careful not to say things casually. So I’ll be careful in a press conference… But these are very, very heavy times.”

As a former UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador and Goodwill Special Envoy, Jolie has visited the war zones of Syria and Ukraine, and her dedication was seen in the movie In the Land of Blood and Honey. Despite being the mother of six children, she has maintained a family life despite being in the public eye all the time.

With U.S. politics fractured by 2024’s midterm battles, abortion bans, border tensions, and X platform vitriol, her plea for deliberate speech resonates. In a festival celebrating The Brutalist and Emilia Pérez, Jolie’s words bridge art and accountability, urging a divided nation to choose words that heal. 

Angelina Jolie beyond red carpet: Plea for prudence in polarized America

Jolie’s San Sebastián plea carries the weight of her 2001–2022 UNHCR tenure, where she witnessed reckless rhetoric fuel crises in Sierra Leone’s diamond camps and Jordan’s refugee settlements. “Words have weight,” she emphasized, a nod to a U.S. where 62% of voters cite division as their primary concern (Pew Research, 2025). Post-2024 midterms, with debates over Roe’s repeal and immigration policies igniting X-fueled conspiracies, her call for precision feels urgent. Her films, from Girl, Interrupted to Maria, reflect this ethos: art as a disciplined response to chaos.

Her personal stakes deepen the narrative. Raising six children under global media glare, Jolie knows a misstep can spark digital storms.

“She’s protecting her family as much as her country,”

observed festival programmer Elena Martínez, who noted Jolie’s warmth in the post-Q&A programme. Local journalist Aitor Echevarría called it “a universal warning,” tying her words to Spain’s own history of careful dissent. Jolie’s diplomacy, honed in humanitarian trenches, reframes her as a steward of discourse in a fractured age. The San Sebastián Festival, celebrating 73 years of cinema — fuses the Basque bareness with the pageantry of the world.

Jolie’s San Sebastián moment offers a blueprint for unity in a divided era. The San Sebastian International Film Festival 2025 will run till September 27, 2025

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