The Ikusmira Berriak programme of residencies to work on audiovisual projects, organised by the San Sebastian Festival, the Tabakalera International Centre for Contemporary Culture and Elías Querejeta Zine Eskola (EQZE), opens its twelfth call for applications tomorrow, on 1st July.

Filmmakers from the Basque Country, Spain and elsewhere have until 1st September to present their projects, as well as those who have taken part in the Nest section and EQZE students. Entries must be submitted online and the project selected in each category will be announced in January.

The eight-week residencies are divided into two periods. Firstly, the six weeks between March and April 2026 will serve to start up their project at the Tabakalera arts centre in San Sebastián, where each filmmaker will be advised by an expert committee and tutored in a multi-disciplinary professional approach. As well as providing individual and group sessions according to each project's specific needs, the EQZE academic programme will also be open to the people selected. Secondly, during the Festival itself, the directors will return to San Sebastián for two weeks to present their project, now in a more developed form, to representatives of the film industry.

Between May and September, as they continue to work on their project, each film-maker will get online tutoring by different professionals, and financial assistance, to be handed over in June, so that they can go on working between the two residency periods. 

International consolidation and special publication

Since its first edition in 2015, the programme has supported the development of a total of 56 film projects, 24 of which have been premiered and presented at international festivals, while 17 have won prizes and the others are either still under development or waiting to be premiered. The latter is the case of, among others, the films by Gabriel Azorín (Anoche conquisté Tebas / Last Night I Conquered Tebas), Ana Cristina Barragán (La hiedra / Ivy), Jaume Claret Muxart (Estrany riu) and Irati Gorostidi (Anekumen).

In recent years, Ikusmira Berriak has managed to cement its position on the international scene and its projects have featured in a large number of festivals all over the world. Last May, Diego Céspedes won the prize for best film in the Un Certain Regard section at the Cannes festival with La misteriosa mirada del flamenco / The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo. Also, various projects from the programme have been selected for festival including the Quinzaine des Cinéastas (El agua / The Water, by Elena López Riera; Creatura, by Elena Martín), Sundance and San Sebastian (All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt, by Raven Jackson) and San Sebastián (O Corno / The Rye Horn, by Jaione Camborda, Golden Shell in 2023). Last year, Dormir de olhos abertos/ Sleep With Their Eyes Open, by Nele Wohlatz, was selected for Encounters and won the Fipresci prize, and the Zabaltegi-Tabakalera jury awarded a special commendation to Monólogo colectivo / Collective Monologue, the work of Jessica Sarah Rinland. 

Finally, in 2024 Ikusmira Berriak organised a range of events to mark its tenth anniversary. On the one hand, over the year the Ikusmira Berriak website was used to show the 14 film diary pieces in which the filmmakers taking part in the residencies recounted their experience. On the other, work progressed on a special publication featuring voices, pictures and thoughts from the programme. This book, which will come out next September during the Festival, is constructed from the views of the filmmakers who worked on the ideas for their films at the residency, and will also feature names that are now part of the history of Ikusmira Berriak, and professionals from different spheres.

To access the Terms & Conditions and submit a project, click here.
SUBMISSION DEADLINE: 1st SEPTEMBER

 

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