NEW DELHI: Well-known actor Denzel Washington received the Donostia lifetime achievement award during the opening gala of the 62 San Sebastian Film Festival, which concluded on 30 September.

Directed by Antoine Fuqua, The Equalizer, starring  Washington was chosen to open the San Sebastian Festival.

Sixty-year old Washington, is an actor, film director, and film producer. He has received much critical acclaim for his work in film since the 1990s, including for his portrayals of real-life figures such as Steve Biko, Malcolm X, Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, Melvin B. Tolson, Frank Lucas, and Herman Boone. Washington is a featured actor in the films produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and was also a frequent collaborator of the late director Tony Scott.

Washington has received two Golden Globe awards, a Tony Award and two Academy Awards for Best during a career which began in 1974 and in which he has so far starred in about fifty films. 

Also, Richard Linklater's 12-year project Boyhood was chosen the best film of the past year by the members of the International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESC).

This is the first time a film by Richard Linklater receives FIPRESCI's Grand Prix, which has already gone to Michael Haneke, Paul Thomas Anderson, Jafar Panahi, Pedro Almodóvar, Jean-Luc Godard, Nuri Bilge Ceylan, among others, since its establishment in 1999.