The month of December 2022 brought celebrations that went above and beyond those normally held at this time of year: as the culmination of its 70th anniversary, the San Sebastian Festival opened its historical archive to the public after four years of preparation, cataloguing and research work. And it did it through two windows: publication of the 'Artxiboa' website, containing the collective work carried out to date and, on the other, ensuring a series of professional standards and guarantees to enable its in-person access for the first time in history. 

Four days after its launch in Madrid on 13th December thanks to the Loterías y Apuestas del Estado's sponsorship, the team responsible for the project gave a series of talks in San Sebastian on the work processes conducted since 2018, showing the results based on material unseen to date. For the first time, the public programme also gathered all the coorganizing and collaborating institutions who have helped to launch "Z70: all possible stories".

Pablo la Parra, Maialen Beloki (SSIFF), Carlos Muguiro (EQZE), Joxean Fernández (FV), Arantza Mariskal (Medialab) and Ane Abalde (Kutxa Fundazioa) at the presentation that brought together the organizers and collaborators of the Z70: all possible stories project.

Irati Crespo during the presentation An open archive: access, consultation and use of materials

The restorers Anna Ferrer, Andrea Sánchez and Lorena Soria showing the work processes of the archive's conditioning pase

When we refer to the archive as a living project, our intention is twofold: on the one hand, thanks to the development of the new website dedicated to the Festival archive, which has been designed to continue receiving and incorporating new digital content every month. Meanwhile, the team will continue to describe new materials for their addition to the catalogue. This work to update the material will make it possible to enrich the map of infinite correlations proposed by the website from the moment of its publication.

On the other, the archive will remain active thanks to the research lines to be launched not only by the Festival and Elías Querejeta Zine Eskola teams, but also thanks to the external visits of people interested in permanently studying the chronicles and stories hidden in the boxes containing this material history of the Festival. In-person access to the material opens in January and you can arrange your visit by completing this form: https://artxiboa.sansebastianfestival.com/en/visit-and-use-the-archive/accessing-and-using-the-archive/

With the aim of encouraging the study of 'Arxiboa' and of promoting local research, the Festival is working on a programme of grants to give researchers the space and support they need to conduct their studies based on this material legacy. The call for applications will be announced shortly.

Finally, by way of continuation to one of the liveliest sections of the 'Artxiboa' website involving the monthly unveiling of previously unseen material, we recently started the new year by publishing a document in the shape of the oldest poster kept in the San Sebastian Festival Archive,

dating from 1955. Designed by "Chumy", the poster announces the second edition of the "Cinema Training Week" organised as one of its informative actions by the International Catholic Office for the Cinema and Audiovisuals (OCIC). For more information on the document, please see: https://artxiboa.sansebastianfestival.com/en/digital-collections/document-of-the-month/

Poster for the II Cinema Training Week (1955), San Sebastian Festival Archive.