In mid-September each year, the city is home to the leading figures of cinema in one of the most important film festivals in the world, created in 1953 and with the highest category (A) the international circuit of film festivals accredited by the FIAPF. The stars were staying at the hotel's most important city, the Hotel Maria Cristina, and ceremonies are held in the Kursaal, separate from the hotel by the river Urumea. Prior to the inauguration of the new Convention Centre designed by Rafael Moneo, the opening and closing galas were held at the historic Teatro Victoria Eugenia. For the Festival have passed the major film stars of the past 55 years. These include Alfred Hitchcock, Audrey Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor, Steven Spielberg, Luis Buñuel, Bette Davis, Gregory Peck, Al Pacino, Michael Douglas, Francis Ford Coppola, Anthony Hopkins, Robert De Niro, Woody Allen and Bernardo Bertolucci, whose film Melinda & Melinda (2004) had its world premiere at the Festival. Many of the above, including Allen, were awarded the Donostia Award, given annually in recognition of the festival filmmaker.