24 Basque Films at Nantes Festival

Enrique Urbizu, Leire Apellaniz, Iratxe Fresneda, Koldo Serra, Daniel Calparsoro, Hannot Mintegia, Koldo Almandoz, Juan Barrero, and more. Basque cinema will have a wide representation at the Festival du Cinéma Espagnol de Nantes from 22nd March to 2nd April. A total of 24 films from the Basque Country will be screened.

Enrique Urbizu, Leire Apellaniz, Iratxe Fresneda, Koldo Serra, Daniel Calparsoro, Hannot Mintegia, Koldo Almandoz, Juan Barrero, and more. Basque cinema will have a wide representation at the Festival du Cinéma Espagnol de Nantes from 22nd March to 2nd April. A total of 24 films from the Basque Country will be screened.

The Fenêtre Basque (Basque window) section, promoted by the Etxepare Basque Institute in close collaboration with the Basque Film Archive, will offer 11 feature films and eight shorts. Year after year, Fenêtre Basque offers a selection of the best current Basque productions in addition to the work of the most prominent Basque filmmakers. Fenêtre Basque is the largest Basque film program outside the Basque Country.

Basque films will have an outstanding presence in Nantes: Daniel Calparsoro opened the festival at the Nantes Opera House with his latest film Cien años de perdón (English title: To Steal from a Thief) (2016). Calparsoro, will also close this year’s festival with Kalebegiak (2016), a collective film about the city of San Sebastian.

Basque talent will be present in lots of sections. A total of nine films (six feature films and three short films) will be up for awards. In the official selection, Pedro Aguilera’s Demonios tus ojos (2017) will be one of the eight films in competition. Justin Webster’s El fin de ETA (2016); Mikel Rueda’s Nueva York. Quinta Planta (2016); and Leire Apellaniz’s El último verano (2016) will compete for best documentary. Two Basque films will compete in the Opera Prima section: Psiconautas. Los niños olvidados (English title: Psychonauts, The Forgotten Children) (2016) by Pedro Rivero and Alberto Vázquez -winner of a Goya award for best animated film- and Sipo Phantasma (2016), by Koldo Almandoz.

Kimuak, the platform created to promote Basque short films, with support from the Etxepare Basque Institute and the Basque Film Archive, brings us Hileta (2016), directed by Kepa Sojo; Renovable (2016) by Jon Garano and Jose Mari Goenaga; and Decorado (2016) by Alberto Vázquez. All three will vie for the audience award for best short.

In addition, the Nantes Festival will pay homage to the city of Guernica, bombed 80 years ago during the Spanish Civil War, with a selection of six films. In addition, an exhibition and a round table have been organized.

Basque institutions will be represented at this year’s festival with the presence of Joxean Muñoz, Deputy Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport of the Basque Government; Miren Arzalluz, director of the Etxepare Basque Institute; and Pablo Berastegui, director of Donostia / San Sebastian 2016 European Capital of Culture.