The San Sebastian Festival, in collaboration with the Parenting at Film Festivals community, CIMA (Association of Women Filmmakers and Women in Audiovisual Media) and the Creative Europe programme, once again promotes the Puxika Gorria / El Globo Rojo (The Red Balloon) initiative. This service of activities for children will run online this year and can be enjoyed from their homes by boys and girls in the care of accredited Festival guests. 

In its first edition, in 2019, the Puxika Gorria / El Globo Rojo initiative ran physically at the San Telmo Museum and represented a landmark at Spanish and European level. This year, with the priority on meeting the health requirements established by the authorities, the Festival will continue to make its contribution to the work-life balance of its accredited guests, safely and with an innovative online format. The objective is to provide assistance to the fathers and mothers who have had difficult months with their daughters and sons at home and to keep the young ones busy, physically motivated and connected to quality cinema, as well as adding its grain of sand to achieving a cultural and social change that will also have a positive effect on gender equality in the film industry.

Puxika Gorria is an activity twinned with Le Ballon Rouge and the Berlinale Kindergarten, the childcare services offered at the Festival de Cannes and Berlin. Thanks to the backing of many collaborating companies and institutions, and to the European Commission’s Creative Europe Programme, the project remains in place this year in online format and will continue to expand strongly once the health situation improves. Our collaborating  play-centre, Zorionak Kids and Party, which organised the physical pastimes in 2019, proposes exciting, dynamic and attractive online activities for this year. 

How to participate in the Puxika Gorria online activities?

From September 21-25, two daily sessions have been programmed in Spanish, Basque and English, especially recommended for children from 4 to 8 years (with a maximum of six participants per session). Each session will last for around an hour and the activities will encompass subjects including art, handicrafts or physical exercise, with many of them focussed on the cinema, culture and inclusion.

To request a place in this free activity, you must send a booking email indicating the age and preferred language(s), as well as confirmation of your festival accreditation to: parentingatfilmfests@gmail.com. You will receive a link to the Jitsi video conferencing app through which you can connect on the day and time booked, as well as a list of the materials to be prepared.