The 66th edition of the San Sebastian Festival will host more Basque productions than ever, twenty films distributed between the Official Selection, the New Directors, Zabaltegi-Tabakalera, Perlak, Culinary Zinema and Zinemira sections, and the Basque film and EiTB galas.
Zinemira, the section specifically dedicated to Basque cinema, comes with twelve productions including fiction and non-fiction, animation, first works and films by moviemakers of long standing.
Zinemira will open with Mudar la piel (The Spy Within), the film by Ana Schulz and Cristobal Fernández, premiered in the official section of the Locarno Festival out of competition, following the friendship between Juan Gutiérrez, a mediator between the Basque Government and ETA, and Roberto Flórez, a former CNI (National Intelligence Centre) agent convicted for treason.
And it will close with Black is Beltza, directed by the musician, director and producer Fermin Muguruza (Irún, 1963). The graphic novel Black is Beltza is brought to life on the big screen through the animated film directed by Muguruza, whose previous films at the Festival are Checkpoint Rock: Canciones desde Palestina (Checkpoint Rock: Songs from Palestine, Zinemira, 2009), Next Music Station (Zinemira, 2011), Zuloak (Zabaltegi, 2012) and Nola? (Zinemira, 2016). The voices in Black is Beltza are provided by Unax Ugalde, Emma Suárez, Sergi López, Maria de Medeiros, Óscar Jaenada, Ramón Barea, Ramón Agirre, Jorge Perugorría and Rossy De Palma, among others.
Among the different films, spectators, journalists and film industry professionals will have the opportunity to discover another ten productions premiered at the Festival, such as La noche nos lleva, third film by David González Rudiez (Bilbao, 1980), whose short films have featured on the Kimuak programme five times. The focal point of La noche nos lleva (The Night Take Us) is a former professional basketball player embodied by Carlos Algaba.
Joaquín Calderón (Pamplona, 1968) won the Audience Award at the Documenta Madrid Festival with his first work Sáhara no se vende. Calderón, backed by a career as an actor spanning two decades, bases his story in Basque Selfie on the loss of his family farmhouse by the musician Agus Barandiaran.
Following his first work, La noche del ratón, presented at international festivals, in his native city David Rodríguez Losada (San Sebastián, 1981) will release his second feature film, Lady Off, in which he chronicles the rehearsals of a theatre company in Madrid as they work on a scene from Richard III.
Juanmi Gutiérrez (Errenteria, 1945) has made more than ten non-fictional feature films, most of which have been presented at the Festival. This time, in Baúles (Chests), he tells the tale of a man from a village in the mountains of León who leaves for Mexico without saying a word to his family.
The first work by the journalist and musician Oier Aranzabal (Bilbao, 1988), Margolaria / The Painter, studies the keys of the creation process through the voyage undertaken by the singer Mikel Urdangarin to collect a work from the artist Alain Urrutia.
Also making his feature film debut is the artist Txuspo Poyo (Alsasua, 1963), which explores in Izaro the identity, history and legacy of the island sitting between Bermeo and Mundaka.
Antonio Díaz Huerta, director of television series such as El internado and Luna, el misterio de Calenda, also takes his first steps in film directing with Gallo, one of the projects selected for the XII Lau Haizetara Documentary Co-Production Forum (El amanecer de gallo, 2016). The film focusses on a surfer who must relive the accident that left him blind to overcome his fears.
The collective film Gure oroitzapenak portrays the multifaceted universe of Joseba Sarrionandia through the eyes of twelve filmmakers: Oskar Alegría, Özcan Alper, Asier Altuna, Mireia Gabilondo, Eugène Green, Itziar Leemans, Ane Muñoz, Maider Oleaga, Carlos Machado and Maialen Sarasua, as well as those of Josu Martinez and Fermin Muguruza, whose participation in this year’s Festival will be twofold.
Rounding off the selection is Errementari (Errementari: El herrero y el diablo / Errementari: The Blacksmith and the Devil), the first work by Paul Urkijo (Vitoria-Gasteiz, 1984), which, following its premiere at Sitges, won the Audience Award at the San Sebastian Horror Film Festival, and Bajo la piel de lobo, the first feature film as a screenwriter and director from Samuel Fuentes (Noreña, Asturias, 1972), who has worked on the directing and production teams of films such as El secreto de Marrowbone (Marrowbone, Official Selection 2017) or Vicky, Cristina Barcelona (Zabaltegi-Pearls 2008). Bajo la piel de lobo (The Skin of the Wolf), which premiered at the Seville European Film Festival, has as its protagonist a solitary trapper embodied by Mario Casas, accompanied on the cast by Irene Escolar and Ruth Díaz.
The Basque Film Gala, to take place in the Victoria Eugenia Theatre on September 25, will include the premiere of Jainkoak ez dit barkatzen / God Doesn’t Forgive Me, by Josu Martinez (Bilbao, 1986), telling the story of Lezo Urreiztieta, an 18th century pirate born by mistake in 1907. The EiTB Gala, to take place on the same stage on the 26th, will see the screening of the film Vitoria, 3 de marzo, directed by Víctor Cabaco (Santander, 1967), whose first feature recreates the events that shook the Basque capital in 1976, when five workers were shot dead by the Police.
Following Loreak (Flowers, 2014), Amama (2015) and Handia (Giant, 2017), this year’s Official Selection will once again feature a Basque production shot in the Basque language. The special screenings section will include the latest work by Telmo Esnal, Dantza, winner of the Glocal in Progress Industry Award at the first edition of the industry activity for European productions in non-hegemonic languages. This is the first time that Esnal (Zarautz, 1966) will have participated in the Official Selection, after the selection for the New Directors section of Aupa Etxebeste! (2005), co-directed with Asier Altuna, winner of the Youth Award, and Urte berri on, amona! (Happy New Year Grandma!, 2009).
Koldo Almandoz (San Sebastián, 1973) presented his first short film, Razielen itzulera, in 1997 at the Festival, in Zabaltegi, the section where, two decades later, he presented his first feature film, Sipo Phantasma (Ghost Ship), following its premiere at the Rotterdam Festival. Oreina (The Deer), his second feature, which will compete for the Kutxabank-New Directors Award, is set in outlying industrial estates.
Maddi Barber (Pamplona, 1988) will compete for the Zabaltegi-Tabakalera Award with her short film 592 metroz goiti (Above 592 Metres), taking its inspiration from the effects of having built the Itoiz dam. This short film is part of the Kimuak selection of the year.
A Basque production will compete for the City of Donostia / San Sebastian Audience Award: Un día más con vida / Another Day of Life, directed by Raúl de la Fuente (Pamplona, 1974) and Damian Nenow (Bydgoszcz, Poland, 1983), chronicling the voyage to Angola of the journalist Ryszard Kapuściński, which was presented in the official section at the Cannes Festival out of competition.
Two films with Basque production will premiere in Culinary Zinema. Miguel Ángel Jiménez, author of the short films Khorosho (Todo bien, Zinemira 2010) and Kafenio Kastello (Kimuak 2018) and of the feature films Ori (New Directors, 2009) and Chaika (New Directors, 2012), reflects in Y en cada lenteja un Dios life behind the scenes of L’Escaleta, a family restaurant with two Michelin stars. And in Bihar dok 13, by Ander Iriarte (Echevarriatik Etxeberriara) and Aitor Bereziartua, several students from the Basque Culinary Center will take their inspiration from the works of Gaur and Ez Dok Amairu, the movements which revamped the Basque artistic panorama fifty years ago.
All of the feature films mentioned will compete for the Irizar Basque Film Award, except for those premiered at other festivals (Mudar la piel, Un día más con vida, Bajo la piel de lobo and Errementari). A specific jury will give the award, carrying 20,000 euros for the producer or producers of the film, to the Best Basque Feature Film in world premiere at the Festival.
Besides the films will be one project with Basque production. The Europe-Latin America Co-Production Forum will present Ane&Peio, maitasun istorio bat piper artean (Ane&Peio, A Paprika Love Story), conceived by Lara Izagirre, the helmer of Un otoño sin Berlín (An Autumn Without Berlin, Basque Film Gala 2015 and Irizar Award special mention for Irene Escolar).
OFFICIAL SELECTION
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The storm breaks after a hard day's work in the fields. When the rain eases off life springs up from the previously barren land. Fruit grows and ripens, survives disease and becomes the apples which give life to cider. Then comes the time to harvest, offer toasts and celebrate love. A story about the cycle of life and death, the fight for survival. Where the passage of time is marked by the course of nature. And dance is the language chosen to tell its tale. Music accompanies daily routines: Life is rhythm! Universal themes, dressed here with particular symbology. Symbology which shows the hypnotic universe of traditional dance. A poetic song to tradition, the land, its people, myths and customs. A tale about the miracle of existence.
NEW DIRECTORS
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Khalil is a young man torn from his roots who lives on the edge of town, where the industrial estates merge into the river and the marshes. Khalil gets by as best he can and spends his time with an old poacher, who shares a house on the riverbank with a brother he hasn't spoken to in years. On the banks of the marshes, the tides mark the time of love and heartbreak, of friendship and revenge.
PERLAK
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Kapuscinski is a Polish reporter, idealist and friend of lost causes. In 1975 he travels to Angola, last battlefield of the Cold War, a place where the wrong greeting can cost you your life. The African country and the people he meets on his adventure, such as the charismatic guerrilla fighter Carlota, will change him forever. The suicide journey to the heart of darkness turn the journalist into an author.
ZABALTEGI-TABAKALERA
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What life chances are left when a territory is completely altered? On the slopes of the Navarrese Pyrenees, the construction of the Itoiz dam in the 1990s flooded seven towns and three nature reserves. A strip of bare land at the height of elevation 592 today marks a dividing line in the landscape of the valley. Below the level, the water; above, life goes on.
CULINARY ZINEMA
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Luis, a professional screenwriter, returns to Cocentaina, the town of his birth, in the mountains of inland Alicante, to help his brother, Kiko Moya and his cousin, Alberto Redrado, write a book about the cuisine of the restaurant run by their family: L’Escaleta, which obtained the recognition of two prized Michelin stars and is among the 25 best restaurants in Spain and Portugal. A year passes and, after its launch, this entire uncertain voyage, this entire search, Luis can now re-connect with his family and the spectator to experience like never before the real life behind a Michelin 2-star restaurant, brought to us by an entire family always committed to its passion for gastronomy and determined to give people the very best of themselves.
At the Basque Culinary Center, 5 young talented students of cutting-edge gastronomy from all over the world will go back to the past to create the menu Bihar dok 13. They will travel to 1966 to discover the decade that would change everything in Basque culture. With five special events, we will discover the movements Gaur, Ez dok amairu and the spiritual father of the BCC, the Basque Nouvelle Cuisine. The “Bihar dok amairu” menu prepared by the young chefs will be served during a special meal and enjoyed by the most relevant personalities in Basque culture today, uniting new artists and musicians. The old generation will symbolically open the door to the new.
ZINEMIRA
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Section dedicated to Basque film organised by the San Sebastian Festival and the Basque Government Department of Culture, with the sponsorship of Irizar and EITB; and the collaboration of the Filmoteca Vasca, EPE/AVE, IBAIA and Zineuskadi.
Juan is a mediator who tried to achieve peace between ETA and the Spanish Government. Roberto is a spy with the secret services who infiltrated his life for years. Mudar la piel is the story of Juan, the director’s father, and Roberto, the man who spied on him. The two cultivate an unusual friendship despite the betrayal. Mudar la piel (The Spy Within) is also the chronicle of the filmmakers’ relationship with the spy and of how difficult they found it to trap his slippery identity.
October 1965. The giant figures of San Fermín are invited to parade on New York’s Fifth Avenue, but not all of them can participate: for racial reasons, North American leaders have forbidden the black giants to participate in the event. Taking their inspiration from true events, Muguruza, Cano and Alderete tell the story of Manex Unanue, a fictional character given the task of carrying one of those black giants. Bemoaning the fact that his companions have accepted the decision imposed on them, Manex decides not to return home. Seen through the young boy’s eyes, we discover the events that revolutionised the society of the mid-'60s: demonstrations after the death of Malcolm X, the bizarre atmosphere of Warhol’s workshop, the relationship woven between the Black Panthers and the Cuban secret service and the early days of the hippy movement, enveloped in the psychedelic atmosphere of the first music macrofestivals.
Bajo la piel de lobo (The Skin of the Wolf ) tells the tale of a solitary trapper. Martinón is the last inhabitant of a remote mountain village. His only contact with other humans takes place in spring, when he comes down into the valley to trade with the skins of the animals he traps. However, with the arrival of a woman into his life, he will start to experience new feelings. This singular encounter will force him to choose between revealing his vulnerability or abandoning himself to his wildest side.
Agus Barandiaran, ambassador of traditional Basque music and dance all over the world, is confronted with the worst thing that can happen to a Basque person: the demolition of his 1540 baserri (family farmhouse) to make way for a new road. Agus must fight the circumstances to try and protect his roots, because in the Basque culture "etxea" means much more than four walls. Basque Selfie is a sad but edifying story articulated around tradition, the tradition of keeping the signs of one’s own identity alive.
The year 1931. In Lois, a small Spanish town in the mountains of León, Julián López packs his belongings into an enormous trunk and, without telling his wife Candelas, sets out for Mexico. The year 1970. Candelas has been dead for three years. Suddenly a letter arrives in Lois from Mexico, announcing Julián’s death. In a corner of the family home in Riaño they find a trunk similar to the one Julián had taken to Mexico.
Eight years have passed since the First Carlist War of 1833. In a small Álava village, a government commissioner called Alfredo investigates an occurrence which will take him to a sinister smithery deep in the forest, home to a dangerous and solitary blacksmith called Patxi. The locals tell dark tales related to thefts, murders and pacts with the Devil. Until one day, by chance, a little orphaned girl called Usue sneaks into the mysterious forge, uncovering the terrible truth hidden behind Patxi the Blacksmith.
Aitor was born with congenital glaucoma which caused the loss of sight in his right eye when he was only fourteen. Although doctors recommended that he stop surfing, he decided not to listen to their advice and finally lost his sight completely in a fateful surfing accident. He was 39. Today, 5 years after the accident, Aitor wants to demonstrate that people with disabilities can beat any challenge they set themselves; however, to do it, he will have to prepare himself physically and mentally. He will above all have to overcome his doubts and fears in order to relive the accident that left him blind.
The countenance of Joseba Sarrionandia is multi-faceted, not only for having dabbled in all literary forms of expression, but for having been capable of creating his own imagery, composed of endless worlds. Thus, several of the elements appearing in the literary world will undoubtedly appear here: the sea, the port, childhood, trains, uprooting, war, destruction, love, drifting, pain, fantasy, mystery, initiation, torture...
Izaro is a documentary/essay which updates a fragmented portrait of the identity, history and legacy of Izaro Island until its diaspora. The name ‘Izaro’ has germinated in practices of power, in legal claims to the Island ownership, in the shape of tile-throwing fiestas, in the film production company Ízaro Films Presenta, with its own lookout point, Windsor Tower, in the proper names of both women and men and in a state-of-the-art tuna fishing boat built in the Bermeo shipyards, fishing in waters of the Indian Ocean flying the flag of the Seychelles.
Ana is a young actress who is unfortunately unable to professionally dedicate herself to acting. In fact, she must combine the small theatre productions in which she finds space with her part-time job as a shop assistant, working Monday to Saturday mornings. Now Ana is busy preparing a new role: she has been selected to play Lady Anne in a modest performance of Shakespeare’s Richard III, to run in a small off theatre in Madrid. Despite the humbleness of the production, Ana finds the opportunity exciting; but her excitement will soon clash with the steely vision of the play’s director, who conceives Lady Anne as nothing more than a toy that Richard must (metaphorically) asphyxiate, humiliate and even abuse on stage.
Jorge was a professional basketball player until the age of thirty-five. Now he’s thirty-seven and doesn’t know what to do with the rest of his life. Every day he gets up late, plays at video games, stuffs himself with fast food and goes out to walk until nightfall. He has very little contact with other people and lives in a bubble he will try to burst when he realises that perhaps he has gone too far in his isolation.
This is the tale of a voyage which began one morning with a Skype conversation between the musician Mikel Urdangarin and the artist Alain Urrutia. The painter will give Mikel one of his paintings as a gift, but on one condition: the musician will have to go and fetch it in London, by ferry, crossing the sea. Taking the journey as an excuse, we will penetrate the everyday life of an artist committed to living from his work until coming to the key hidden in the centre of every artist’s labyrinth, since all searches are in fact a voyage; the creation process in itself is a voyage.
The Zinemira Award will recognise the career of actor Ramón Agirre
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Besides the premiere of the film Jainkoak ez dit barkatzen / God Doesn't Forgive Me, the Zinemira Award will also be presented at the Basque Film Gala, to take place on Tuesday September 25 at the Victoria Eugenia Theatre. The San Sebastian Festival and the producers associations IBAIA and EPE/AVE give this honorary award to the career of an outstanding figure in the world of Basque cinema, received in previous years by Imanol Uribe (2009), Álex Angulo (2010), Elías Querejeta (2011), Michel Gaztambide (2012), Juanba Berasategi (2013), Pedro Olea (2014), Karmele Soler (2015), Ramón Barea (2016) and Julia Juaniz (2017). In 2018 it will acknowledge the career of actor Ramón Agirre.
Having studied Architecture, Agirre (San Sebastián, 1954) became a member of one of the first generations of Antzerti, the school of dramatic art promoted by the Basque Government. Among his first film works are 27 horas (Montxo Armendariz, Silver Shell, 1986) and Ander eta Yul (Ana Díez, Zabaltegi-New Directors, 1988). He has worked under the orders of Álex de la Iglesia (El día de la bestia / The Day of the Beast, 1995), Manuel Gutiérrez Aragón (Visionarios / Visionaries, Official Selection, 2001), Pablo Malo (Frío sol de invierno / Cold Winter Sun, New Directors, Goya for Best New Director, 2004), Asier Altuna and Telmo Esnal (Aupa Etxebeste!, Youth Award, 2005), Emilio Martínez Lázaro (Las 13 rosas / 13 Roses, 2007, recipient of four Goyas and a further ten nominations), Aizpea Goenaga (Sukalde kontuak / Kitchen Secrets, Zinemira – Panorama 2009), Aitor Mazo and Patxo Telleria (La máquina de pintar nubes / The Cloud-Painting Machine, Zinemira 2009) and Alberto Gorritiberea (Arriya / The Stone, Zinemira-Panorama, 2011).
His recent years have been especially prolific with his work for Michael Haneke in Amour (2012), winner of the Golden Palm at Cannes, of the Academy Award for Best Foreign language Film and of the Fipresci Grand Prix in San Sebastian; Fernando Franco (La herida / The Wound, winner of the Special Jury Prize and Silver Shell for Best Actress, 2013); Mikel Rueda (A escondidas / Hidden Away, 2014); Fernando González Molina (Palmeras en la nieve / Palm Trees in the Snow, 2015); Pedro Almodóvar (Julieta, official section at Cannes and Made in Spain, 2016); Fernando Trueba (La reina de España / The Queen of Spain, 2016); or Aitor Arregi and Jon Garaño (Handia / Giant, Special Jury Prize, Irizar Basque Film Award and ten Goyas, 2017), among many others.
This year he appears in a film screening in the New Directors section, Oreina (The Deer, Koldo Almandoz, 2018), and in three films selected for Zinemira: Black is Beltza (Fermin Muguruza, 2018), Errementari (Paul Urkijo, 2017, Audience Award at the San Sebastian Horror Film Festival), and Bajo la piel del lobo (Samu Fuentes, 2017). In 2019 he will appear in Daniel Calparsoro's El silencio de la ciudad blanca, and Agur Etxebeste!, the sequel directed by Asier Altuna and Telmo Esnal.
Agirre has also worked in myriad short films, such as Adiós Toby, adiós (Ramón Barea, 1995), Tercero B (Jose Mari Goenaga, Kimuak 2002) or Deus et machina (Koldo Almandoz, Kimuak 2012) as well as having lent his voice to pieces such as Zeinek gehiago iraun (Gregorio Muro, Kimuak 2011).
At the Festival he sat on the jury of the Serbitzu-Zinemira Award in 2011, which gave its accolade to Bi anai (Two Brothers, Imanol Rayo).
Besides countless plays, Agirre has had parts in the most popular Basque TV series, such as Bertan Zoro, Bi eta bat, Goenkale, Martin, and, more recently, Go!azen, as well as in Spanish series including El joven Picasso, Los ladrones van a la oficina, Canguros, Hermanos de leche, La casa de los líos, Petra Delicado, El comisario, Médico de familia, Periodistas, Hospital central, Aquí no hay quien viva or La familia mata.
He also illustrated the book of poems Eta zergatik ez?... Sigrid, published by Susa in 1983, and won the Kutxa Ciudad de San Sebastián Literary Prize for the theatrical text of Errenta in 1994.
ZINEMIRA KIMUAK
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(FOR PROFESSIONALS AND ACCREDITED GUESTS ONLY)
The section will also include the selection of shorts in the Kimuak 2018 programme, an initiative of the Basque Government Department of Culture and Euskadiko Filmategia-Filmoteca Vasca with the objective of lending visibility to the best Basque shorts of the year. This year’s Kimuak selection includes seven short films.
What life chances are left when a territory is completely altered? On the slopes of the Navarrese Pyrenees, the construction of the Itoiz dam in the 1990s flooded seven towns and three nature reserves. A strip of bare land at the height of elevation 592 today marks a dividing line in the landscape of the valley. Below the level, the water; above, life goes on.
It is the summer of 1915. In a village in the French Basque Pyrenees, a woman lives waiting for a letter.
In 1972, in one of his best-known articles, Pier Paolo Pasolini spoke of the disappearance of fireflies. A few months later he was murdered. Since then the fireflies have continued to disappear. But there are still people who remember them.
Human beings want to be more than they are, more than stardust.
The centre of Athens. Surrounded by a world in crisis and generalised destruction, a small group of characters resist the end towards which they seem inevitably to be heading. The film looks at fraternity and the desire not to throw in the towel.
Bilbao, 2009. Jone is a teenager in the 4th year of secondary school. In her school there is a strong activist and Basque nationalist atmosphere. One day her father takes a political post in the Basque Government, which means the need to have a bodyguard and give up the life they had been living until then.
«Don’t ask me about the hidden reason
of all dark things,
or where the path of fickle time
leads us.»
BASQUE CINEMA GALA
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Lezo Urreiztieta was a 16th-century pirate, born by mistake in 1907. Risking his life, he saved that of hundreds of people; he negotiated with foreign governments for a free Basque Country; he managed to slip 17 boats full of weapons into Bilbao during the Civil War; he was on the point of killing Franco... Forty years after his death, the tape recorder of writer Martin Ugalde reveals his incredible story told in the voice of the actual protagonist. Starting with unpublished conversations between the two held from 1975 to 1978, this film sheds light on the testimony of a key character in 20th century Basque history.
EiTB GALA
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During the events of 3 March 1976 in Vitoria, five workers were killed by the police after a long strike. Begoña, a young middle-class girl, will live in first person those events which shook “a city where nothing ever happens.” In an increasingly bitter conflict, both she and her family will be forced to take sides. Finally, after the massacre, Begoña, the city and the country will never be the same again. A real story with real characters.
INDUSTRY CLUB
EUROPE-LATIN AMERICA CO-PRODUCTION FORUM
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Ane is 30 years old and a journalist. Her dream has always been to be a travel writer and to spend her life globetrotting. Her hopes, however, do not correspond to reality. She lives in Amorebieta, a small town in Bizkaia, and shares a flat with her grandfather. She doesn’t have a penny to her name, and her journalist work consists of writing the horoscope for a local magazine in exchange for 150 euros a month. However, an old car and a wad of notes will give Ane the chance to set out on her first major voyage. A road trip which will turn into an exciting adventure, in which Ane will secretly try to find Peio, her first love, a man she hasn’t seen since she was 12 years old.
Films spoken partially or totally in basque
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Children's films dubbed into basque
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A selection of films made for children will be screened dubbed into Basque, with the collaboration of Zineuskadi as part of the Zinema Euskaraz programme.
In addition, the Velodrome will host the screening every morning of the film Paddington 2 by Paul King dubbed into Basque.
Films in other sections with basque subtitles
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