The Zinemira Award is an honorary accolade given by the San Sebastián Festival and the EPE-IBAIA producers association in recognition of the career of a personality from the world of Basque cinema. Its recipients to date have been Imanol Uribe (2009), Álex Angulo (2010), Elías Querejeta (2011), Michel Gaztambide (2012), Juanba Berasategi (2013), Pedro Olea (2014), Karmele Soler (2015), Ramón Barea (2016), Julia Juániz (2017), Ramon Agirre (2018), José María Txepe Lara (2019), Sara Bilbatua (2020), Kimuak (2021), Txema Areizaga (2022), Paco Sagarzazu (2023), Elena Irureta (2024), and Telmo Esnal and Asier Altuna (2025). This year, the Festival and EPE-IBAIA will pay tribute to the actor Jose Ramon Soroiz at the Great Basque Cinema Gala that will take place at the Victoria Eugenia Theatre on September 22.

Jose Ramon Soroiz (Legorreta, 1951) is one of the best-known and most respected faces of the Basque acting world. Over a career spanning more than four decades, he has witnessed and played a leading part in the evolution of film, theatre and audiovisuals in the Basque Country.

Although his face is strongly associated with film and television screens, Soroiz has always felt more at home on the stage. In the 70s and 80s he performed with several trailblazing theatre companies in the professionalisation of the Basque performing arts, and he still works in the theatre, a discipline that remains one of the backbones of his artistic career.

However, it was television that brought him to the attention of the general public, having established a career very closely linked to the birth and development of ETB. He participated in some of the Basque public network’s most representative productions, such as Bi eta bat, playing Joselontxo; Jaun ta jabe, in the role of Basque president Joxean Arizkorreta, and Martin, bringing life to the character of Martin Manterola. In addition to these series which have helped to shape the audiovisual panorama of several generations, in recent years he has continued to work in fiction at ETB, participating in series such as Irabazi arte! and Altsasu. He also played the part of businessman Txato Lertxundi in the series Patria (2020), the work that earned him greater visibility outside the Basque Country.  

He was part of the effervescence enjoyed by films in the Basque language in the early 90s, participating, among others, in Offeko maitasuna (Koldo Izagirre, 1992) and Maité (Eneko Olasagasti and Carlos Zabala, Made in Spain, 1994). Vacas / Cows (1992), by Julio Medem, however, earned him greater projection, becoming one of the yardsticks of new Basque cinema. He has also played a leading role in the renaissance enjoyed by films in the Basque language in recent years, thanks to his work in Loreak / Flowers (Jon Garaño and Jose Mari Goenaga, Official Selection, 2014), Amama (Asier Altuna, Official Selection, 2015) and Maspalomas (Aitor Arregi and Jose Mari Goenaga, Official Selection, 2025).

Despite being an actor who boasts long-standing recognition in the Basque Country Maspalomas has attracted international attention to his career and earned him recognition beyond its borders. The work earned him the Silver Shell for Best Leading Performance at the San Sebastián Festival and the Goya Award, becoming the first Basque actor ever to receive the latter.