Seven short films selected for the 2017 Kimuak catalogue

Seven short films have been selected for promotion this year with the Kimuak stamp. Now in its twentieth year, Kimuak is an annual event in which a jury selects the best short films made in the Basque Country. This year’s winners were selected from a total of 51 entries.

Seven short films have been selected for promotion this year with the Kimuak stamp. Now in its twentieth year, Kimuak is an annual event in which a jury selects the best short films made in the Basque Country. This year’s winners were selected from a total of 51 entries.

This year’s catalogue features an array of original fiction films, documentaries, and cartoons. Two are in Basque, three in Spanish, one in Portuguese, and one has no dialogue.

AB ALIO

Co-directed by Iñigo Royo and Iñigo Fernández Ostolaza, and based on Ignasi Aballí’s collage ‘Listados’, the fictional short Ab alio tells a story of love, death, and flies.

San Sebastian native Iñigo Royo presented his short films Requiem (1999) and Inventario (2000) at Kimuak in the early years of the event. This is the first project he has worked on with advertising and communications expert Iñigo Fernández Ostolaza.

APRIETA PERO RARAMENTE AHOGA

Directed by Bilbao native David Pérez Sañudo, and produced by Amania Films in Vitoria, Aprieta pero raramente ahoga is part horror movie, part black comedy.

Cosme (played by Fernando Albizu) is looking for a dog-minder for his dog Sigfried and interviews Daniel (played by Adam Jezierski) for the job. But Sigfried can be really vicious and impossible to control unless you know what you are doing.

David Pérez Sañudo qualified with a master’s degree in film direction from ESCAC and is currently doing a Ph.D. at the Complutense University in Madrid and the University of the Basque Country. His first work as a director was the award-winning Indirizzo (2011), and other works include Malas Vibraciones and Artificial.

AREKA

Like Beti bezperako koplak (Kimuak 2016), Areka was a group project involving almost the exact same team and coordinated by Begoña Vicario.

Produced by students, former students, and teachers of animation, Areka performs a ‘bertso’ (a sort of Basque impro song) by Andoni Egaña in memory of those who disappeared during the Spanish Civil War. 80-year-old Euxebi never knew where his father’s body was buried but kept his memory alive until his remains were found.

EURITAN

Euritan is a documentary by Irati Gorostidi and Arantza Santesteban featuring Itxaro Borda who talks about her 1985 novel ‘Klara eta biok’. Borda offers a fresh perspective on the relationship with Basque identity expressed in her earlier work.

Irati Gorostidi has a B.A. in Fine Art and a master’s degree in Contemporary Film and Audiovisual Studies from Barcelona’s Pompeu Fabra University (2013). The producer and Pamplona native Arantza Santesteban qualified with a B.A. in History and holds a diploma in Documentary filmmaking from CCFB in Barcelona. She is currently carrying out film research as part of a post-graduate course in Communications, Culture, Society and Politics.

FOR THE GOOD TIMES

For The Good Times is a comedy/melodrama by San Sebastian native Andrés Daniel Sainz featuring well-known Basque actors Ramón Agirre, Klara Badiola, Iñaki Rikarte, Itziar Ituño, Aitor Beltrán, and Miren Gaztañaga, who play the members of the family. 

It is the father’s birthday and one of his offspring decides to come out of the closet and see how tolerant they all are. But that’s not the only surprise he has in store.

Andrés Daniel Sainz premiered as a short film director with Haïku, which was produced by Vidania Films in 2016. He is currently working on his third work as he waits for the release of For the Good Times.

LA FIEBRE DEL ORO

Raúl de la Fuente’s documentary La fiebre del oro (Gold Fever) was produced by the Gipuzkoa-based company Kanaki Films. A native of Pamplona, de la Fuente took part in the 2013 edition of Kimuak with a short entitled Minerita, which won a Goya award and was selected as a finalist for an Oscar.

This time he took his camera to Mozambique, where gold and other minerals are mined for making electronic devices. He contrasts the poverty of the local population with the country’s wealth of natural resources and denounces the overexploitation of both.

PLÁGAN

Directed by Koldo Almandoz, the documentary Pláganreflects on one of the major ills of today’s society, examining its impact from behind the camera lens.

The San Sebastian-born director took part in the first edition of Kimuak with Razielen itzulera and has directed several short films since then. He presented Sîpo Phantasma, his first full-length documentary film, in 2016 and is currently working on his second.

The official presentation of the new Kimuak catalogue will take place in September at the San Sebastian International Film Festival.