Z365" or "Festival all year round" is the new strategic point of the Festival in which converge investigation, accompaniment and development of new talents (Ikusmira Berriak, Nest); training and cinematic knowledge transfer (Elías Querejeta Zine Eskola, Zinemaldia + Plus, Filmmakers' dialogue); and investigation, disclosure and cinematic thought (Z70 project, Thought and Discussion and Research and publications).
In Sundays, a title inspired by family gatherings and Catholic customs, Spanish director Alauda Ruiz de Azúa crafts a poignant story about family and religious vocation.
The film presents Ainara, a seventeen-year-old girl who wants to become a nun, and the emotional turmoil this causes at home. “I was struck by the fact someone I knew when I was young decided to enter a nun’s order,” the director said. “After Lullaby and Querer, I wanted to approach this story from the perspective of family as an institution and the effort we make to turn it into a refuge of love and peace, which is not easy to keep.”
Building the film on tension and mirroring earthly and divine love, using songs such as “Into my arms” by Nick Cave, the director avoids judgment, inviting us to get rid of moral superiority to try to understand others, launching questions rather than giving answers, for us to draw our own conclusions. “I have faith in the spectator. I wanted to generate a space for debate, not a fight.” This is present in the complex portrayal of characters, like Maite (Patricia López Arnaiz), the aunt who grapples with fear and protectiveness toward Ainara. The actress praised the filmmaker’s hard writing work to weave the family portrait. Juan Minujín, uncle Pablo, said Sundays opens up the question of how to accompany someone who makes a decision you believe is mistaken.