Considerable presence of Basque cinema at the Nantes Film Festival
Euskara. Kultura. Mundura.
The Festival du Cinéma Espagnol de Nantes (Nantes Spanish Film Festival) is celebrating its 28th edition this year. And once again, Basque cinema will have a special presence in an event that draws 27,000 spectators each year. From 28th March to 8th April, audiences will have the chance to see a number of films made by Basque filmmakers or produced in the Basque Country.
Fênetre Basque (Basque Window), the promoted by the Etxepare Basque Institute in collaboration with the Basque Film Archive, will be ‘coming of age’ this year. Celebrating its 18th birthday, the section that features Basque cinema will screen eight full-length and 14 short films, all subtitled in French, spread across the festival’s different sections. The Basque Window, created in 2001, is now an institution at Nantes, and one of the most comprehensive programmes of Basque cinema outside the Basque Country. It is also a platform designed to reach French audiences, as well as critics and film industry professionals.
The following films will be shown as part of the Basque Window: Arizmendiarrieta, el hombre cooperativo (Gaizka Urresti, 2017) about the founder of the Mondragón cooperative movement; Arte al agua. Los bacaladeros de Terranova (2017) directed by Olivier Van der Zee, and the animated film Teresa eta Galtzagorri (Agurtzane Intxaurraga, 2017)
The official selection will include three Basque films: Handia (Jon Garaño, Aitor Arregi, 2017) winner of 10 Goya awards and the Special Jury Prize at the San Sebastian; Fe de etarras (Borja Cobeaga, 2017), and Paul Urkijo’s debut film Errementari (2017), which will be in competition in the Opera Prima section.
This year the festival is shining a spotlight on comedy, with the section Rires et delires, which will include three films by Basque directors: Airbag (Juanma Bajo Ulloa, 1997), Abracadabra (Pablo Berger, 2017), and Pagafantas (Borja Cobeaga, 2009).
The year of the Basque short film
Basque short films will also have a prominent place at the festival. As in past editions, there will be screening of the short films supported by Kimuak, a programme promoted by the Etxepare Basque Institute and the Basque Film Library designed to promote and distribute Basque shorts internationally. There will be a total of seven shorts– all of the shorts from the 2017 edition.
And to celebrate Kimuak’s 20th anniversary, seven short films from among the most awarded in short film history will also be screened at Nantes.
Filmmakers in Nantes
An outstanding group of directors and proponents of Basque culture will accompany the films at Nantes. Miren Arzalluz, former director of the Etxepare Basque Institute and now the director of Palais Galliera, Paris´s fashion museum, will preside over the jury.
Also making an appearance at the festival will be the Basque filmmakers Juanma Bajo Ulloa (Airbag),Paul Urkijo (Errementari), Borja Cobeaga and Diego San Jose (Fe de etarras), Eneko Sagardoi (Handia), Agurtzane Intxaurraga (Teresa eta Galtzagorri), Pablo Berger (Abracadabra), Gaizka Urresti (Arizmendiarreta) and Olivier Van der Zee (Arte al agua).
Irene Larraza, current director of Etxepare Basque Institute, will also be there, together with José Luís Rebordinos, director of the San Sebastian International Film Festival, and Txema Muñoz, head of the Kimuak programme of the Basque Film Archive.
Fenêtre Basque films (Basque Window):
8 long films: documentary and fiction
• Airbag (1996), Juanma Bajo Ulloa (Ciclo comedia)
• Arizmendiarrieta, el hombre cooperativo (2017), Gaizka Urresti
• Arte al agua. Los bacaladeros de Terranova (2017), Olivier van der Zee
• Errementari (2017), Paul Urkijo (Opera Prima)
• Fe de etarras (2017), Borja Cobeaga (Sección Oficial)
• Handia (2017), Jon Garaño y Aitor Arregi (Sección Oficial)
• Pagafantas (2009), Borja Cobeaga (Ciclo comedia)
• Teresa eta Galtzagorri (2016), Agurtzane Intxaurraga
14 short films
Kimuak 2017 :
• Ab alio (2017), Iñigo Royo Etxezarreta e Iñigo Fernández Ostolaza
• Aprieta pero raramente ahoga (2017), David Pérez Sañudo
• Areka (2017), Atxur Animazio Taldea
• Euritan (2017), Arantza Santesteban e Irati Gorostidi
• For the good times (2017), Andrés Daniel Sainz
• La fiebre del oro (2017), Raúl de la Fuente
• Plágan (2017), Koldo Almandoz
Kimuak – 20 years:
• 7:35 de la mañana (2003), Nacho Vigalondo
• Democracia (2013), Borja Cobeaga
• Éramos pocos (2005), Borja Cobeaga
• La gran carrera (2010), Kote Camacho
• On the line (2008), Jon Garaño
• Sintonía (2005), Jose Mari Goenaga
• Voice over (2012), Martín Rosete
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