Ventana Sur: Basque. Audiovisual.

The strength of Basque cinema is evident, once again this year, with the implementation of projects that continue to receive awards, critical acclaim and audience praise, as much at festivals as in cinemas and on streaming platforms. A good illustration of this are the successes many of the titles presented this year are garnering, such as ´Cinco lobitos´, ´Irati´, ´Unicorn Wars´, the Netflix series ´Intimacy´ and the recently released ´Tetuan´. Their brilliant run of the most important festivals on the national and international scene has even included premieres in such select settings as the Annecy Festival and the Berlinale.

This time, Basque cinema and Basque. Audiovisual., the commercial brand behind the internationalization of the Basque audiovisual sector, an umbrella designed to promote Basque productions and companies in markets and festivals around the world, will land at the Ventana Sur with a total of four projects, from animation to fiction.

Uniko will be one of the great protagonists. The Bilbao company will attend with the film ´Unicorn Wars´, one of its big bets for this year, and which is generating very good reviews from critics and the public. The latest work by Alberto Vazquez had its world premiere in the Official Section of the 2022 Annecy Festival, and has also participated in prestigious film events such as the Sitges Festival and the Animation Is Film festival in Los Angeles. Nominee for several Goya Awards, it narrates an ancient, metaphorical war between bears and unicorns. At the same time, it delves into an internal war between its two leads, the Azulín and Gordi brothers, for the love of their mother. Iván Miñambres, producer, will host a talk entitled ´Unicorn Wars: the epic of producing animated war films with bears and unicorns´ on December 1, from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. in Auditorium 2. In it, Miñambres will explain the production process of this feature film, analyzing the challenges and processes developed in this ambitious international co-production.

Projects in development

Thanks to the Annecy International Animated Film Festival, and its MIFA market, ´Sultana’s dream´ will also go to Buenos Aires, one of the five Latin American titles selected to participate in the Work in Progress 2022 of Animation!  The work will reach the Argentine market after receiving the TorinoFilmLab Audiences Design Award from the European Work in Progress Cologne, and after being selected to participate in the Film Bazaar, the IFFI – International Film Festival India Market. The work is based on an Indian feminist tale written in 1905 by Rokeya Hussein, and tells the story of Inés, a young director who will embark on an initiation journey through India.

Finally, producer Iván Miñambres and his Uniko team will also attend the event with the project ´Titan Tofu´, by director María Luquero. This time, the project will participate in the out-of-competition section Anímate! by Spanish Screenings. This will be the second time the project has been presented in Latin America, (the first was at the latest Pixelatl). Likewise, this animated series received the award for Best Young Creator Series Project at the Weird Market last year.

In addition, the Proyecta section, a joint initiative of Ventana Sur, the Marché du Film and the San Sebastián Festival created with the aim of promoting co-productions between Latin America and Europe, has selected the project ´Us´, by Helena Taberna and Lamia Producciones, for this edition. This fiction feature film appeared in the Europe-Latin America Co-Production Forum held in Donostia last September. The film tells the story of a great love beginning with its end. It is a trip back in time, showing the lights and shadows of a relationship.