A salute to Basque cinema, the 71st edition of the San Sebastian Festival has once again unfurled its Zinemira section, a brainchild conceived in collaboration with the Basque government’s Department of Culture. Serving as more than just a showcase, Zinemira comes wrapped in the financial backing of sponsors Irizar and EiTB, with collaborative support from Urbil, the Basque Film Archive, Epe/Apv, Ibaia, and Zineuskadi. The competition for the coveted Irizar Basque Film Award promises to be as strong as ever, drawing eligible feature films that meet a set criteria— namely, a 20% Basque production involvement, a Basque-language script, or a narrative focus on Basque communities. Not to be eclipsed, the section also lights up with the Kimuak programme, a curated selection of this year’s top Basque short films, giving them a passport to international acclaim. A rundown:
“Sultana’s Dream,” (“El sueño de la Sultana,” Isabel Herguera, Spain,...
“Sultana’s Dream,” (“El sueño de la Sultana,” Isabel Herguera, Spain,...
- 9/26/2023
- by Callum McLennan
- Variety Film + TV
Wes Anderson’s “Asteroid City,” fresh from its triumphant world premiere at the Cannes fest, opens the 38th Guadalajara Film Festival (Ficg) which touts new sections this year, including a branded series showcase and midnight screenings of Italian fright maestro Dario Argento’s horror films.
Eva Longoria’s feature directorial debut, “Flamin’ Hot,” which had its West Coast premiere at the LA Latino Film Festival (Laliff) May 31, marks its Mexican debut at the fest.
The Series Showcase includes Patricia Martinez’s fact-based “La Narcosatánica,” which will stream on the rebranded Max, and Maite Alberdi’s “Libre de reir,” a Gato Grande production that centers on inmates in a Mexican prison who enroll in a stand-up comedy workshop. Alberdi’s Sundance-winning docu “The Eternal Memory” also vies for a prize in the festival’s documentary sidebar.
According to festival director Estrella Araiza, the festival has recovered its funding and will screen...
Eva Longoria’s feature directorial debut, “Flamin’ Hot,” which had its West Coast premiere at the LA Latino Film Festival (Laliff) May 31, marks its Mexican debut at the fest.
The Series Showcase includes Patricia Martinez’s fact-based “La Narcosatánica,” which will stream on the rebranded Max, and Maite Alberdi’s “Libre de reir,” a Gato Grande production that centers on inmates in a Mexican prison who enroll in a stand-up comedy workshop. Alberdi’s Sundance-winning docu “The Eternal Memory” also vies for a prize in the festival’s documentary sidebar.
According to festival director Estrella Araiza, the festival has recovered its funding and will screen...
- 6/1/2023
- by Anna Marie de la Fuente
- Variety Film + TV
Two Basque movies screen in San Sebastian main competition, multiple others, from ever more notable and noted filmmakers, play other sections or grace Basque showcase Zinemira. A drilldown:
“Blue Files” (“Karpeta Urdinak”, Ander Iriarte, Spain-France)
Iriarte directs a doc investigating his father’s potential torture while in police custody. The investigations take the doc deeper into findings from Basque’s “Research project on torture and ill-treatment in the Basque Country between 1960-2014.” Produced by Gastibeltza, Filmak, and Iriarte’s own Mirokutana.
“Bi Arnas,” (Jon Mikel Fernandez Elorz, Spain)
A debut documentary from Basque journalist and teacher Elorz. Bi Arnas, meaning “two breaths,” features mother Maria Nieves Diaz and her daughter, Iratxe Sorzabal, who was a former head of Eta. It explores the alleged use of torture of Sorzabal by Spanish Police while in custody.
“Black is Beltza II: Ainhoa,” (Fermin Muguruza)
The sequel to Muguruza’s 2018 animated feature, following Ainhoa,...
“Blue Files” (“Karpeta Urdinak”, Ander Iriarte, Spain-France)
Iriarte directs a doc investigating his father’s potential torture while in police custody. The investigations take the doc deeper into findings from Basque’s “Research project on torture and ill-treatment in the Basque Country between 1960-2014.” Produced by Gastibeltza, Filmak, and Iriarte’s own Mirokutana.
“Bi Arnas,” (Jon Mikel Fernandez Elorz, Spain)
A debut documentary from Basque journalist and teacher Elorz. Bi Arnas, meaning “two breaths,” features mother Maria Nieves Diaz and her daughter, Iratxe Sorzabal, who was a former head of Eta. It explores the alleged use of torture of Sorzabal by Spanish Police while in custody.
“Black is Beltza II: Ainhoa,” (Fermin Muguruza)
The sequel to Muguruza’s 2018 animated feature, following Ainhoa,...
- 9/20/2022
- by Callum McLennan and John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Jabi Elortegi latest film Dear Grandma will open the Basque film strand.
Jabi Elortegi’s Dear Grandma will open the Zinemira strand of the 70th San Sebastian International Film Festival, which honours cinema produced in the Basque country.
Elortegi’s follow-up to his debut Perfect Happiness, which competed in Sab Sebastian’s 2009 New Directors selection, will have its world premiere at the festival. Barcelona-based Filmax acquired international rights to the comedy, which follows a man who moves to Argentina upon his uncle’s request and gets caught up in the village’s antics.
Scroll down for Zinemira line-up
The line-up...
Jabi Elortegi’s Dear Grandma will open the Zinemira strand of the 70th San Sebastian International Film Festival, which honours cinema produced in the Basque country.
Elortegi’s follow-up to his debut Perfect Happiness, which competed in Sab Sebastian’s 2009 New Directors selection, will have its world premiere at the festival. Barcelona-based Filmax acquired international rights to the comedy, which follows a man who moves to Argentina upon his uncle’s request and gets caught up in the village’s antics.
Scroll down for Zinemira line-up
The line-up...
- 8/26/2022
- by Ellie Calnan
- ScreenDaily
Further titles include Mikel Gurrea’s ‘Suro’, Pilar Palomero’s ‘La Maternal’ and TV series ‘Offworld’.
A total of 18 Spanish productions have been selected for the 70th San Sebastian Film Festival, running from September 16-24, including Fernando Franco’s The Rite Of Spring (La Consagración De La Primavera).
This is Franco’s third feature, following the Silver Shell for best actress received by Marian Álvarez for 2013’s The Wound (La Herida) and special screening title Dying (Morir) in 2017.
The Rite Of Spring (La Consagración De La Primavera) follows the meeting between an 18-year-old girl, played by Valèria Sorolla, and a young boy with cerebral palsy,...
A total of 18 Spanish productions have been selected for the 70th San Sebastian Film Festival, running from September 16-24, including Fernando Franco’s The Rite Of Spring (La Consagración De La Primavera).
This is Franco’s third feature, following the Silver Shell for best actress received by Marian Álvarez for 2013’s The Wound (La Herida) and special screening title Dying (Morir) in 2017.
The Rite Of Spring (La Consagración De La Primavera) follows the meeting between an 18-year-old girl, played by Valèria Sorolla, and a young boy with cerebral palsy,...
- 7/15/2022
- by Mona Tabbara
- ScreenDaily
Narrowing down the best Basque projects on the horizon has become increasingly difficult in recent years, as the region is experiencing a boom in both the quality and quantity of local production that has made prognostication more difficult than ever.
Below, Variety has picked 20 projects from that crowded field which we will be tracking in the coming years.
“Almanac” (Jorge Moneo Quintana)
A Berlinale Talents project, “Almanac” challenges the limits of documentary cinema by revisiting the solar eclipse of July 18, 1860 through photos and records, speculating on the truth of the past in collective memory. Currently in development, the feature is backed by Kalakalab and Kleinen Filmak.
“And Thus it Will Go On” (Marina Palacio)
Likely to appear on Basque project lists for some time, production on this exercise somewhere between fiction and reality is scheduled to last five years, following a group of children through their formative years in the...
Below, Variety has picked 20 projects from that crowded field which we will be tracking in the coming years.
“Almanac” (Jorge Moneo Quintana)
A Berlinale Talents project, “Almanac” challenges the limits of documentary cinema by revisiting the solar eclipse of July 18, 1860 through photos and records, speculating on the truth of the past in collective memory. Currently in development, the feature is backed by Kalakalab and Kleinen Filmak.
“And Thus it Will Go On” (Marina Palacio)
Likely to appear on Basque project lists for some time, production on this exercise somewhere between fiction and reality is scheduled to last five years, following a group of children through their formative years in the...
- 9/21/2021
- by Jamie Lang
- Variety Film + TV
In a year of change and growth for Mexico’s Guadalajara Intl. Film Festival (Ficg), the revamped animation competitions, godfathered by Guadalajara native Guillermo del Toro, stand out as key examples of ambitions shared by the event’s new leadership, headed by Vendo Cine co-founder and longtime Ficg Industria head Estrella Araiza.
Where many animation-focused festivals and awards programs in Latin America tend to celebrate domestic or Ibero-American productions – think Mexico’s Pixelatl, Spain’s Quirino Awards – this year’s selected films at Guadalajara demonstrate a global inclusion with less peers – France’s Annecy Festival and Los Angeles’ Annie Awards are good examples.
“I think it’s important that every festival has its idiosyncrasies,” explained Carolina López, Ficg’s animation section curator. “Ficg is a festival with a specific DNA and we are adding to that DNA with what will be almost a festival within a festival.”
Previously Ficg did...
Where many animation-focused festivals and awards programs in Latin America tend to celebrate domestic or Ibero-American productions – think Mexico’s Pixelatl, Spain’s Quirino Awards – this year’s selected films at Guadalajara demonstrate a global inclusion with less peers – France’s Annecy Festival and Los Angeles’ Annie Awards are good examples.
“I think it’s important that every festival has its idiosyncrasies,” explained Carolina López, Ficg’s animation section curator. “Ficg is a festival with a specific DNA and we are adding to that DNA with what will be almost a festival within a festival.”
Previously Ficg did...
- 3/8/2019
- by Jamie Lang
- Variety Film + TV
A selection of Basque pictures, projects and productions in 2018:
70 Big Ones
Sayaka Producciones, Pokeepsie Films, La Panda Producciones and Setenta Invisibles L.P. Aie produce the next thriller from Basque genre specialist Koldo Serra (“The Backwoods”), starring Emma Suárez, Nathalie Poza and Hugo Silva. It features a desperate woman in need of $41,000, with two muggers in her way. Filmax handles world sales.
Above 592 Metres
Maddi Barber’s latest explores the life chances left when a territory is completely altered by the construction of the Itoiz dam in the Navarrese Pyrenees. Selected by prestigious shorts program Kimuak, “Above” screens at the 9th Zinemira Basque film showcase and competes for the Zabaltegi-Tabakalera Award.
Advantages Of Traveling By Train
Acquired by Entertainment One’s Seville International and produced by San Sebastian-based Sr. y Sra. and Madrid’s Morena Films, this film, starring Luis Tosar and Pilar Castro, marks Aritz Moreno’s feature debut,...
70 Big Ones
Sayaka Producciones, Pokeepsie Films, La Panda Producciones and Setenta Invisibles L.P. Aie produce the next thriller from Basque genre specialist Koldo Serra (“The Backwoods”), starring Emma Suárez, Nathalie Poza and Hugo Silva. It features a desperate woman in need of $41,000, with two muggers in her way. Filmax handles world sales.
Above 592 Metres
Maddi Barber’s latest explores the life chances left when a territory is completely altered by the construction of the Itoiz dam in the Navarrese Pyrenees. Selected by prestigious shorts program Kimuak, “Above” screens at the 9th Zinemira Basque film showcase and competes for the Zabaltegi-Tabakalera Award.
Advantages Of Traveling By Train
Acquired by Entertainment One’s Seville International and produced by San Sebastian-based Sr. y Sra. and Madrid’s Morena Films, this film, starring Luis Tosar and Pilar Castro, marks Aritz Moreno’s feature debut,...
- 9/25/2018
- by Emilio Mayorga
- Variety Film + TV
Pushing into international acquisitions, Bilbao-based distributor Barton Films has picked up Spanish distribution rights to three films playing at the 66th San Sebastian Festival’s New Directors sidebar.
Barton’s most recent international-title release slate is headed by “The Third Wife,” the feature debut by New York and Vietnam-based Ash Mayfair, which recently won the Netpac award at the Toronto Film Festival.
A second buy, “A Decent Man,” by Romanian Hadrian Marcu, highlighted at the first edition of San Sebastian’s Glocal in Progress showcase in 2017, toplines Bogdan Dumitrache, winner last year of a San Sebastian Silver Shell for best actor for Constantin Popescu’s “Pororoca,” another Barton Films pickup.
Ismet Sijarina’s “Cold November,” a Kosovo-Albania-Republic of Macedonia co-production world premiering at New Directors, is a family drama based on real events in the turbulent times after Yugoslavia abolishes Kosovan autonomous institutions in 1990.
“Increasing the volume of independent international movies acquisitions,...
Barton’s most recent international-title release slate is headed by “The Third Wife,” the feature debut by New York and Vietnam-based Ash Mayfair, which recently won the Netpac award at the Toronto Film Festival.
A second buy, “A Decent Man,” by Romanian Hadrian Marcu, highlighted at the first edition of San Sebastian’s Glocal in Progress showcase in 2017, toplines Bogdan Dumitrache, winner last year of a San Sebastian Silver Shell for best actor for Constantin Popescu’s “Pororoca,” another Barton Films pickup.
Ismet Sijarina’s “Cold November,” a Kosovo-Albania-Republic of Macedonia co-production world premiering at New Directors, is a family drama based on real events in the turbulent times after Yugoslavia abolishes Kosovan autonomous institutions in 1990.
“Increasing the volume of independent international movies acquisitions,...
- 9/21/2018
- by Emiliano De Pablos
- Variety Film + TV
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