Naomi Watts Honors Late Director David Lynch With San Sebastian’s Prestigious Donostia Award

Naomi Watts took the stage at Spain’s San Sebastián International Film Festival on Saturday to accept one of cinema’s most distinguished honors and used the moment to pay tribute to a filmmaker who changed her life.

The British actress received the Donostia Award, the festival’s highest accolade, at the 74th edition of the event. During an emotional acceptance speech, Watts dedicated the award to David Lynch, the visionary director of her breakthrough film Mulholland Drive, saying simply: “I miss you.”

Lynch, who died in 2025, discovered Watts for her now-iconic role in the 2001 psychological mystery. That performance launched her career onto the international stage and remains one of cinema’s most celebrated debuts.

Spanish filmmaker J.A. Bayona, who directed Watts in the 2012 disaster drama The Impossible a collaboration that earned her a second Oscar nomination presented the award at the Kursaal Auditorium ceremony.

During her speech, Watts reflected on what acting has meant to her, describing it as a chance to inhabit different people while learning more about herself. She also spoke passionately about the importance of seeing women of her generation represented on screen.

“It’s been an incredible privilege,” she told the audience, acknowledging her work with some of cinema’s most acclaimed directors, including Peter Jackson, David Cronenberg, Michael Haneke, and Noah Baumbach.

The award came just ahead of the festival premiere of Watts’ latest film, The Housewife, a period thriller set in 1964 New York. Directed by Canadian filmmaker Ben Shirinian in his feature directorial debut, the film follows a journalist investigating a suspected Nazi officer living secretly in the city, only to develop an unlikely friendship with the man’s wife.

Watts is the second recipient of the Donostia Award at this year’s festival, following filmmaker Werner Herzog, who was honored during the opening gala.