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Fede Gianni, Alexandra Latishev, Kathy Mitrani, Joana Moya, Jaime Puertas Castillo and Daniel Soares will be pursuing their film projects at the eleventh edition of Ikusmira Berriak
The residency organised by the San Sebastián festival, Tabakalera and Elías Querejeta Zine Eskola received 487 applications, 34% up on the previous year
The retrospective to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the film-making residency begins tomorrow, on January 25
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Friday, January 24th, 2025
The film projects by Fede Gianni, Alexandra Latishev, Kathy Mitrani, Joana Moya, Jaime Puertas Castillo and Daniel Soares were chosen out of the 487 entries for the eleventh edition of Ikusmira Berriak, the first phase of which is to take place between March 24 and May 4. The residency programme broke its own record, with 487 film projects entered, 34% up on last year (362). Of the six projects selected, four are debut films.
In the Elías Querejeta Zine Eskola category, open to students at the EQZE, the choice was Sirenas / Mermaids, by Alexandra Latishev, whose first film, Medea, was on the programme at Horizontes Latinos (2017). The project for her third feature-length film weaves social issues, thriller and horror film together to tell the story of a group of women transiting between the anthropomorphic and the animal in a contemporary Central American context.
In the Nest category, open to filmmakers selected in the last five editions of the international film students event at the Festival (2019-2023), US-based Columbian director Kathy Mitrani will be working on her first feature-length film after premiering her short Sombras nada más / The Dance of the Shadows (2023) at San Sebastián and winning prizes at Leeds and Bogoshorts.
The choice in the Basque category is La Koreana, un poema ferromagnético de luz y memoria / La Koreana by Joana Moya, who in 2023 presented her first short film, Todo lo cubre la sal / Salt Covers All, which was in the Kimuak catalogue and was programmed at festivals including Doclisboa, Zinebi and Málaga. In her first feature-length project, the Noka (Tabakalera’s programme promoted by the Basque Government to support feature film projects by emerging female directors based in the Basque Country and Navarre) resident director is inspired by the story of her grandmother's journey from her native Málaga to the mining settlement of La Arboleda, in Bizkaia province.
Selected in the Spanish category was Retorno al Valle / Return to the Valley, the second feature by Jaime Puertas Castillo, an EQZE alumnus who premiered Historia de pastores in Rotterdam. The director again portrays the rural world in his second feature-length film, based on the figure of San Juan de la Cruz and the friendship between two young queer people, Luz and Pedro, and the moribund Omar, in a village in the Andalusian province of Jaén.
Two projects were chosen in the international category. On the one hand, 900 toneladas / 900 Tons, the first feature-length film by Portuguese director Daniel Soares, whose short Bad for a Moment earned a special jury mention in the official competition for short films in Cannes. The 900 toneladas project invites reflection about capitalism and class on the basis of a man whose job is to collect rubbish but drives a sports car. It is produced by O Som e a Fúria who have supported films by Miguel Gomes, Manoel de Oliveira and Zama by Lucrecia Martel.
On the other, Italian filmmaker Fede Gianni uses his first feature-length film to develop the theme of his short Il Cascatore / Cowboy Billi, which was selected for last year's Critics' Week in Venice. Produced by Kino Produzioni (Alcarràs, Puán), Il Cascatore is a coming-of-age about identity set in 1960s Italy and on the sets of westerns.
The residency lasts eight weeks, divided into two stays. the group of six filmmakers will be arriving at Tabakalera on March 24, and will have time in the Cinema and Audiovisuals Lab there to work on their projects until May 4. During this time they will have the advice of professionals specially chosen for each project on the basis of its needs. In June, every resident will receive development assistance to carry on working on their projects between the two stays. In September, coinciding with the festival, they will come back to San Sebastián to complete the last two weeks of their residency. During this phase they will be able to present their project to industry professionals and will have a personalised agenda of appointments with people interested in taking part in their projects.
Fipresci prize in Berlin and special commendation at Zabaltegi-Tabakalera
Over the last five years Ikusmira Berriak has undergone a stage of important international consolidation: its projects have been selected for the Quinzaine des Cinéastas (El agua / The Water by Elena López Riera in 2022, Creatura by Elena Martín in 2023), Sundance (All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt, by Raven Jackson) and San Sebastián (O Corno / The Rye Horne, by Jaione Camborda, winner of the Golden Shell bestowed by the jury headed by Claire Denis in 2023). Last year, at the Berlinale, Dormir de olhos abertos/ Sleep With Their Eyes Open by Nele Wohlatz (Ikusmira Berriak 2018) was selected for Encounters and awarded the Fipresci prize, and the Zabaltegi-Tabakalera jury gave a special mention to Monólogo colectivo / Collective Monologue by Jessica Sarah Rinland, who also presented the exhibition Extramission: capturando ojos luminosos at Tabakalera, coinciding with the festival.
Since its first edition in 2015, Ikusmira Berriak has supported the development of 50 film projects, of which 23 have premiered and screened at international festivals, with sixteen of them winning prizes, and the rest are currently under development. 2025 should see the premieres of the films by Diego Céspedes (La misteriosa mirada del flamenco / The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo, Ikusmira Berriak 2020), Irati Gorostidi (Anekumen, Ikusmira Berriak 2022), Gabriel Azorín (Anoche conquisté Tebas / Last Night I Conquered the City of Thebes, Ikusmira Berriak 2020) and Jaume Claret (Estrany Riu / Strange River, Ikusmira Berriak 2022).
‘Ikusmira Berriak 10 years’ retrospective opens
On the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the residencies, in 2025 the San Sebastián festival and Tabakalera present the Ikusmira Berriak 10 Years series as part of Zinemaldia + Plus. This retrospective sets out to explore and celebrate ten years of film residencies, jointly organised by the two institutions together with Elías Querejeta Zine Eskola, with 21 films developed under the programme that have already been completed and premiered at various international festivals including San Sebastián, Cannes, Venice, the Berlinale, Sundance, Locarno, Viennale, Márgenes, Turin and Mar del Plata. Tomorrow, Saturday 25, at 7pm, the first session of the series is to take place, with a screening of the short film El extraño / The Stranger (2016) by Pablo Álvarez and the feature-length film El gran movimiento / The Great Movement (2021) by Kiro Russo. Tickets can be purchased at the Tabakalera box office or on its website for 4 euros.
Projects selected
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Sirenas / Sirens
Alexandra Latishev Salazar (Costa Rica)
Country(ies) of production: Costa Rica
Telsi lives with her husband Armando, a fisherman. One day Armando goes out to sea and never returns. Given her financial precariousness, Telsi finds a job cleaning a boat in the marina, run by a group of women. Telsi starts to notice strange behaviour amongst her colleagues: they go out at daybreak, only to come back soaked to the skin and crying. Something inside her starts to change. One night, Telsi decides to follow one of her housemates. She goes to the water and, on entering it, her body is transformed into a half-crocodile creature.
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This project started out with the intention of making a film about sirens set in contemporary Central America, seeing these mermaids as a group of women (or people who identify as women), creatures who transition between the anthropomorphic and the animal, between one gender and another, people who transition as a way of surviving their circumstances. All this is mediated by elements of fantasy typical of legend, revolving around the figure of the siren.
Alexandra Latishev, director
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La danza de las sombras / The Dance of the Shadows
Kathy Mitrani (Colombia)
Country(ies) of production: France
During the summer, Ivonne and Mauricio set out with their children, Fela and Gael, to find a perfect spot for the construction of their new refuge in the Sugamuxi province.The ambitious ecologist and the adventurous architect have always shared the mission of one day uniting their love for the remote Colombian mountains. While their search is under way, Mauricio disappears. Ivonne sets out on an anxious trek through the mountains to find him. But eventually it is the children who unexpectedly come across his body in town. Physical and spiritual exhaustion will lead the family into an existential journey full of uncertainty and mystery.
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After my grandfather passed, the building where his mother lived— where our family gathered and our traditions and superstitions were passed down— collapsed. Shortly after, a hurricane with his sister’s name struck this area. For years I’ve tried to find meaning in the proximity of these events and I wonder if I was holding on to meaning in unconnected places to avoid feeling the absence that comes with grief. As I reflect on mortality, I’m drawn to how my family found meaning through religion. Though I’ve rejected it, I find myself coming back to my family’s traditions when faced with death. I wonder if my attachment to our customs is rooted in the comfort they provide in accepting death as part of life. At its heart, La Danza de Las Sombras is an intimate perspective into the difficulty of a woman feeling present in her pain.
Kathy Mitrani, director
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La Koreana, un poema ferromagnético de luz y memoria
Joana Moya Blanco (Spain)
Country(ies) of production: Spain
Somewhere between poetry and realism, the film takes us deep into a mountain shrouded in mist, where hundreds of dust-covered miners constantly chip away at the rocks, as though trapped in eternal toil. Manuela, "La Koreana", a young 18-year-old from the coast of Andalusia arrives in the place, following the footsteps of her husband, Tasio, who works there as a miner and whom she barely recognises beneath the dirt. In this almost ghostly landscape, where time seems to have stopped, Manuela must endure the situation. But gradually her health will fail, and that fragility will connect her with the mountain. Sometimes Manuela even thinks she can hear it.
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"Humans took out in less than a century what the mountains had kept for over 300 million years." In the geological time scale, everything dissolves. Memory is fragmented, folded over, and the boundaries between the living and the inert are blurred. La Koreana is the story of an iron mountain near Bilbao that was brutally exploited from the late 19th century onwards. However, it could be any mountain, any territory. La Koreana is also a place for reflection for those who live there: Where does a people keep its memory? ask the miners amid their ruins. I ask myself how our memory continues to alter both the past and the future.
Joana Moya, director
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Retorno al Valle / Return to the Valley
Jaime Puertas Castillo (Spain)
Country(ies) of production: Spain
When young Luz happens by chance to meet Pedro at the olive oil mill, neither of them yet know of the existence of Omar, that other dying creature who rests in the infirmary of the monastery of San José. In a climate of study, sensuality and adventure, deep in Jaén province, these three people will gradually discover the part played by the Divine in their relationship.
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I remember vividly how my grandmother taught me to pray to the Guardian Angel. Over the years I have carried on praying even though I have become aware of wounds. Wounds and contradictions make up the fabric of this portrait of friendship between people once marginalised and oppressed. And this portrait, like any portrait, tries to situate itself in the place described by de Mario Satz, quoting the Sefer ha-Bahir, “where the mysterious relationship between blessing and kneeling arises: genuflection of resistance”. So, at best, this portrait will serve to intone prayer. The idea, through perseverance and hope, is for the prayer to be new and sincere. Into the void and with great love.
Jaime Puertas Castillo, director
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900 toneladas / 900 Tons
Daniel Soares (Portugal)
Country(ies) of production: Portugal
In Lisbon, Sandro works nights as a garbage collector and days caring for his newborn twin daughters, while his partner Cléo works at a supermarket but dreams of becoming a hairstylist. Their home is too small, their bills too heavy, and yet Sandro refuses to let go of his flashy sports car —the last trace of who he thinks he is—. As Cléo projects herself into a better future, Sandro clings to the past. 900 Toneladas is a tragicomedy about survival, pride, and the quiet erosion of identity under the weight of economic precarity and parenthood.
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'900 Tons' is a tragicomedy that deals with appearance, reality and how far we’re willing to go, to keep our self-constructed narratives alive. Hungry for life, our egos tend to fill the void with things that only make us hungrier. The film questions what it means to be a human being today. It interrogates the value of a person and what we as humans value. 900 Tons is also the amount of trash produced by the city of Lisbon in one single day. By tackling serious subjects with dry humor and humanity, this film aims to blend the funny, absurd and profound.
Daniel Soares, director
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Il cascatore / Cowboy Billi
Fede Gianni (Italy)
Country(ies) of production: Italy - Spain
1960s Rome. Fifteen-year-old Bianca escapes social expectations by becoming Billi John, a young stuntman seeking work in Italy's margins. Through relationships with Angelo, a rebellious teen, and Julian Spolt, a cascatore representing the worst of masculine culture, Billi discovers what it means to belong within the world of spaghetti westerns. Producer Mara arrives offering new models of leadership beyond traditional expectations. As Billi learns the cowboy role through dangerous horseback stunts, the line between performance and reality blurs, revealing both freedom and sacrifice in creating oneself within a world that demands conformity.
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As I navigate uncharted territories constructing my identity as a trans man, I felt drawn to a reliable archetype: the cowboy. Compelled by its power as a symbol of freedom, I wanted to queer it and make it my own. Through Billi's journey, I explore what happens when personal desires clash with societal expectations - a conflict I know intimately but one that speaks to anyone who's felt like an outsider. Set against the little-known backstage of Spaghetti Westerns, this film examines how imagination guides us when there's no map, inviting viewers to reflect on the price of authenticity and the challenges of finding oneself in a world that lags behind.
Fede Gianni, director
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