ZINEBI – International Festival of Documentary and Short Film of Bilbao, organised by Bilbao Town Hall, moves into its 66th round on Friday 8 November at the opening ceremony in the Arriaga Theatre at 19:30 h. The Festival is on until 15 November, the date of the closing ceremony and prizegiving. For the third year running, both events will be hosted by La Dramática Errante (Ane Pikaza and María Goiricelaya).
The full schedule of ZINEBI 66 was presented this morning at a press conference attended by Bilbao Town Hall’s Culture and Governance Councillor, Gonzalo Olabarria, the Basque Government’s Secretary for Culture and Linguistic Policy and Basque Country Vice-President, Ibone Bengoetxea, and the new director of ZINEBI, Joseba Lopezortega.
The programme contains 132 films from 44 countries, of which 103 are short films (maximum running time 30 minutes), 3 are medium-length films (between 30 and 60 minutes), and 26 are feature films (over 60 minutes). 75 of the 132 films have female directors, and 74 have male directors. More than half of the films are State premieres, and more than half of the films were directed by women. Also, 59 films are Basque productions: 51 short films, 1 medium-length film and 7 feature films.
As in previous years, the projections are grouped into two sections: Official Section and other projections.
The first section contains the International Short Film Competition and the International ZIFF – ZINEBI FIRST FILM Competition for first-time feature films by new directors.
The latter includes the section Beautiful Docs – Panorama de Documentales del Mundo, a non-competition sample showing what is going on in the international documentary panorama; the section Bertoko Begiradak – Miradas desde Euskadi, composed of short films and feature films produced in the Basque Country, to showcase the work of producers, filmmakers and professionals operating in the Basque audiovisual industry, and other special sessions.
OFFICIAL SECTION
The official section of the 66th International Festival of Documentary and Short Film of Bilbao contains 60 films: 9 feature films and 51 short films. Of these, 59 will be staging their State premiere in Bilbao.
This section offers a heterogeneous list of films to inspire reflection and emotion in viewers: with films drawing our attention to the situation of women in Iran –My Stolen Planet (Farahnaz Sharifi, 2024)- and the rest of the world –Locas del ático (Tamara García Iglesias, 2024), Nutcracker Girl (Michalina Musialik, 2023) or Ave (Ana Cristina Barragán, 2023)-; to memory –Desenterrar un rosal (Bruno Ojeda, 2024), Errotatiba (Iratxe Fresneda, 2024) or Una sombra oscilante (Celeste Rojas Mugica, 2024)- or decolonisation –Bienvenidos conquistadores interplanetarios y del espacio sideral (Andrés Jurado, 2024) or Sweeter Is the Night (Fabienne Wagenaar, 2024)-; the suffering of the Palestinian people –Undr (Kamal Aljafari, 2024)-; the violence emerging from drug trafficking in Mexico –Aferrado (Esteban Azuela, 2024)-; climate change –Ashen Sun (Camille Monnier, 2024)- or the way in which new technologies compel society to rethink ways of relating to one another –Time Sensitive Characters (Coralie H. Gourdon, 2024), Data Flesh (Felipe Elgueta, 2024) and Where Are You, Samuel? (Samuele Leogrande, 2024)—.
As part of the Official Section, the International Short Film Competition contains a selection of 51 contenders from 101 countries, necessarily State premieres. They have been selected from among more than 3,500 films viewed by the members of the ZINEBI selection committee — including, in addition to the head of programming, Rubén Corral, Alaitz Arenzana, Ramón Ganuza, Víctor Iturregui, Laura Lazcano, Aitziber Olaskoaga and Marcos Urquijo—. Of these, 50 are state premieres and 10 are world premieres: 2006 (Gabriella Choueifaty, France-Lebanon, 2024), Azkena (Lorea Lyons, Ane Inés Landeta, Basque Country, 2024), Bumblebee (Fon Cortizo, Spain, 2024), Desenterrar un rosal (Bruno Ojeda, Spain, 2024), Ehiza (Aitzol Saratxaga, Basque Country, 2024), El mapa del agua (Carlota González Gómez, Spain, 2024), Esperar trenes (Miguel Ángel Ferreiro, Spain, 2024), Format Error (Zirui Chen, Germany-China, 202), Horizontal (Alex Reynolds, Basque Country, 2024), Where Are You, Samuel? (Samuele Leogrande, Italy, 2024).
Meanwhile, the International ZIFF – ZINEBI First Film Competition will have nine first films from a total of 399 films from 69 countries. By way of a reflection of the type of films received, this year the competition will be dominated by documentary feature films. The nine maiden films (produced by companies in 16 countries) will be having their state premiere at ZINEBI, and one of them —Itoiz udako sesioak (Larraitz Zuazo, Zuri Goikoetxea, Ainhoa Andraka, Basque Country, 2024)— will be a world premiere.
HONORIFIC MIKELDI AWARDS
As has been its custom for the last twenty festivals, ZINEBI is paying tribute to the professional and artistic careers of some leading names in contemporary filmmaking. At ZINEBI 66, the Festival is making the awards to filmmaker Laura Poitras and photography director José Luis Alcaine.
ZINEBI is making the award to US filmmaker Laura Poitras, who will be collecting it on 8 November at the opening ceremony in the Arriaga Theatre for her solid commitment to social justice and the defence of citizens’ rights and freedoms, expressed throughout a rigorous and perspicacious collection of films, often visionary, in which her intimate narrative style has succeeded in making a stand for the democratic principles and transparency we expect of those who govern us.
Laura is the director of a trilogy on the political consequences of the attacks of 11 September 2001: My Country, My Country (2006), nominated for an Oscar for Best Documentary; The Oath (2010); and Citizenfour (2014), with which she won the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature Film and the BAFTA Award, thus consolidating her position as one of the leading exponents of contemporary “films on real issues”. In 2022 Laura Poitras presented All the Beauty and the Bloodshed, a documentary exploring the life of photographer and activist Nan Goldin, which won her the Golden Lion award at the Venice Film Festival. ZINEBI will be screening Citizenfour and All the Beauty and the Bloodshed in the auditorium of Bilbao’s Guggenheim Museum, with the director present.
ZINEBI will also be awarding an Honorific Mikeldi to José Luis Alcaine, a photography director acclaimed for his mastery in highlighting the emotional and psychological details of characters through his photography, for his ability to create attractive atmospheres, and transform light into a narrative feature, as one of his greatest contributions to films.
Alcaine, who has worked with some of Spanish cinema’s leading directors, has won five Goya awards, and in 2006 he took the European Film Academy award for best photography directing for his work on Volver (Pedro Almodóvar). José Luis Alcaine will be collecting his honorific award at the Festival’s closing ceremony on Friday 15 November. By way of a tribute to his work, after the closing ceremony ZINEBI will be screening the feature film Tasio (1984), recently restored by Filmoteca Vasca at the Bologna Cineteca’s L’Immagine Ritrovata laboratories, and repremiered in the Cannes Festival’s Classics section.
PRIZEWINNERS AND JURY PANELS
ZINEBI will be announcing prizewinners on 15 November, with awards totalling 83,000 €. The winners of the Official Section-International Short Film Competition will be selected by a jury panel, this year consisting of a panel with Argentinian director, scriptwriter and film producer Anahí Berneri; executive producer of El Deseo and winner of the National Cinematographic Prize, Esther García Rodríguez; Swiss comic artist, director of animated films and designer Claudius Gentinetta; Basque actress Olatz Ganboa; and Croatian filmmaker and winner of Cannes’ Golden Palm, Nebojša Slijepčević.
The prizes for the Official Section – International ZIFF-ZINEBI First Film Competition will be awarded by a panel composed of Basque documentary filmmaker Teresa Lavina; the curator and artistic director of DokuFest, Veton Nurkollari; and Iranian visual artist and filmmaker Myriam Tafakory.
BEAUTIFUL DOCS
ZINEBI’s parallel sections will be presenting some of 2023’s best documentary feature films in the Beautiful Docs – Panorama de Documentales del Mundo section, a selection of nine films which have had their world premieres within the last twelve months. This year the section features a screening of Tardes de soledad by Catalan director Albert Serra, which took the “Golden Shell” at the recent San Sebastián Film Festival. This makes Bilbao the second city in the State to screen this documentary on bullfighting. It also includes films homing in on the political situation in the United States–Homegrown by Michael Premo–; the consequences of the invasion of Ukrainian territory–Intercepted by Oksana Karpovych–, feminist mobilisations and demands–Las novias del Sur by Elena López Riera; (Revolución cumple tu promesa) Amor rojo by Dora García, winner of the National Plastic Arts Award–, historical memory–The Documentary Journey of Madame Anita Conti by Louise Hémon– or the denunciation by French writer Christine Angot of the abuse she was subjected to as a child in A Family.
There will be a presentation of films from countries such as Ukraine, France, Portugal, Switzerland, Belgium, Norway, the United States and Mexico. And also Caja de resistencia by Concha Barquero and Alejandro Alvarado, presented at ZINEBI Networking in 2022; and the documentary feature film Erreplika by Pello Gutiérrez Peñalba, winner of the 2022 ZINEBI Networking EITB Award and Special Mention in the Irizar Basque Cinema Award at the last San Sebastián Film Festival.
BERTOKO BEGIRADAK. MIRADAS DESDE EUSKADI
ZINEBI’s commitment to the most recent Basque cinema is renewed once more in the Bertoko Begiradak. Miradas desde Euskadi section, where the Festival rounds off a series including the International Short Film Competition (six films out of a total of 51 in the Competition), the International ZIFF – ZINEBI First Film Competition (one feature film out of the nine contenders), and the non-competition section Beautiful Docs (one feature film out of a total of 9 films shortlisted).
Three documentaries have been scheduled this time around: Enarak by Beñat Iturrioz; Ese mundo que no te da nada by Ernesto del Río; and Esto no es Hollywood (La historia inacabada de los hermanos Ibarretxe) by Jone Ibarretxe and Nere Falagan. This section will feature 27 short films, including work by young filmmakers and directors and female filmmakers with more consolidated careers: Josu Venero, Xabier Larrazabal and Izibene Oñederra, and young filmmakers Aitor Abio, Lide Billealbeitia, and Alba Lozano, and also Larraitz Zuazo (co-director of the feature film Itoiz Udako Sesioak, present at ZIFF), Iñaki Alforja and Iban Toledo (co-directors of the documentary feature film Bolante baten historia), Xanti Rodríguez (with a short film that had its world premiere in Sitges only a few weeks ago), Julen Etxebarria (whose film was screened for the first time at the last San Sebastián Film Festival), the animated filmmaker nominated for a Goya, Sonia Estévez, Ainhoa Urgoitia and Imanol G. Gurrutxaga, among others.
SPECIAL SESSIONS
On Sunday 10 November, the Golem Alhóndiga cinema will be screening the documentary La Marsellesa de los borrachos by Pablo Gil Rituerto, presented at the 2022 Bilbao Professional Documentary Film Forum, ZINEBI Networking. The film narrates the secret journey around the north of the Iberian peninsula in the summer of 1961 by the Cantacronache group during the dictatorship, recording popular resistance songs. ZINEBI is presenting this Franco-Hispano-Italian joint production for the first time in Euskadi, with a live appearance by Gipuzkoa musician Amorante, who will be performing after the screening.
The Azkuna Zentroa atrium will be the venue on Tuesday 12 November for URHO, a performance project based on sound and images recorded by audiovisual artist Iván Torres Hernández on board the icebreaker of the same name, with electronic music played live during the screening.
Itxasoadabidebakarra, a Basque “happening”, will be staged on a day and at a time not disclosed by the organisation.
Four decades after the first cinema screening of La muerte de Mikel (directed by ZINEBI’s Honorific Mikeldi Award winner Imanol Uribe), the 66th Festival recoups the second fictional feature film made by the Vizcaya director born in San Salvador. It will be screened at Bilbao’s Guggenheim on Thursday 14 November.
Thanks to ZINEBI/Filmoteca Vasca collaboration, the Festival will kick off the short film contenders on Saturday 9 November with Carboneros de Navarra / Nafarrako ikazkinak by Montxo Armendáriz. This short documentary on the last “carboneros” in Navarra to fabricate artisan charcoal was premiered at the International Festival of Documentary and Short Film of Bilbao in 1981, when it took the Basque Cinema Grand Prix. Following a repremiere at the Cannes and San Sebastián festivals, ZINEBI will also be showing the restored version of Tasio, produced by Elías Querejeta in 1984, and directed by Armendáriz. It will be screened after the ZINEBI 66 prizegiving ceremony on 15 November at the Arriaga Theatre.
In association with Instituto Vasco Etxepare and the Quebec Office in Barcelona, the 66th ZINEBI Festival has also arranged a special session given over to contemporary Quebec cinema. Thanks to mediation by the Quebec City Film Festival (FCVQ), the International Festival of Documentary and Short Film of Bilbao is arranging a State premiere of the latest documentary by Quebec photographer and director Pedro Ruiz, Le huitième étage. Jours de révolte.
Bilbao’s 66th festival is celebrating 25 years of the Kimuak programme, organised by the Basque Government’s Department of Culture through Instituto Vasco Etxepare, in association with Filmoteca Vasca, which was set up in 1998 to promote and distribute Basque short films worldwide. ZINEBI will screen twelve shorts that have featured in the catalogue, some of which won prizes at the Festival: Ximinoa (Itziar Leemans, 2023), Cuerdas (Estibaliz Urresola, 2022), Areka (Atxur Animazio Taldea, 2021), Azaletik azalera (Mel Arranz, 2021), El infierno (Raúl de la Fuente, 2019), Mateoren ama (Aitor Arregi, José Mari Goenaga, 2019), Gure hormek (Las Chicas de Pasaik, 2016), Hotzanak, For Your Own Safety (Izibene Oñederra, 2013), Zela Trovke (Asier Altuna, 2013), Deus et machina (Koldo Almandoz, 2012), La primera vez (Borja Cobeaga, 2011), La gallina ciega (Isabel Herguera, 2005).
Since 2021 ZINEBI has been committed to the Aukera project launched and organised by (H)emen Elkartea. Since then, as part of its schedule, the Festival has undertaken the public presentation of their short films, and this year for the fifth year running it will give prizewinners their awards at ZINEBI’s closing ceremony. The Festival programme also takes a look at some of the films put forward by Aukera: Hadas (Beatriz de Silva, 2024), Komando Marmitako (Uxue Botas, Ane Miren Nafarrate, 2024), Hemen bizi da maitasuna (Enara García, Ainhoa Olaso, 2022), Pomo d’oro (Nerea Sciarra, 2024), Prioridades (Tamara Lucarini, 2023).
The International Festival of Documentary and Short Film of Bilbao, ZINEBI, will be screening the five short films contending for Best European Short Film of the Year in 2023, including La herida luminosa, which received its world premiere at ZINEBI 64: 27 (Flóra Anna Buda, France-Hungary, 2023), Aqueronte (Manuel Muñoz Rivas, Spain, 2022), La herida luminosa (Christian Avilés, Spain, 2022), Flores del otro patio (Jorge Cadena, Switzerland-Colombia, 2023), Hardly Working (Total Refusal, Susanna Flock, Robin Klengel, Leonhard Müllner, Michael Stumpf; Austria, 2022).
REFLECTED GESTURES
As in 2022 and 2023, in a bid to stage a more accessible and inclusive festival, once more the ZINEBI schedule also features Reflected gestures, specially dedicated to the deaf. On this occasion it features the state premiere of The Tuba Thieves (2023), directed by US visual artist and filmmaker Alison O’Daniel, who at the age of three was diagnosed with 60 % hearing loss. Premiered at the Sundance Festival last year, The Tuba Thieves combines sign language with different narrative codes in a natural manner.
IMAGE OF ZINEBI 66
Bilbao-based creative studio Cuchillo has been tasked with creating the Festival’s image this year. For the image of this year’s Festival, the studio found inspiration in the roots of documentary films, and its design focused on the personage of Dziga Vertov, one of the great pioneers of the genre, and on his emblematic concept of “kino-glaz” (Kino-Eye).
As Cuchillo explains, “the eye is the central feature on the poster for the 66th ZINEBI, symbolising the ability of cinema to observe and create, encouraging viewers to take a look at reality from a critical, transformational perspective”. The Festival trailer was shot and developed in 16 mm film.
TICKETS, ON SALE TODAY
Once more this year the Festival has several venues: Arriaga Theatre, Bilbao’s Guggenheim Museum, Sala BBK, Bilbao As Fabrik and the Golem Alhóndiga Cinemas, and the Azkuna Zentroa Auditorium.
For projections at the Azkuna Zentroa Auditorium and the Golem – Alhóndiga Cinemas, individual tickets are available (4.50 euros) and 10-session tickets (35 euros) as of 5 November at the Golem ticket office. ZINEBI will also issue special 20-euro vouchers for the unemployed and pensioners (and those over 60), who can also buy ordinary tickets at the lower price of 3.50 euros. The 20-euro vouchers will also be available to students and young people under 26.
As in 2023, ZINEBI will be extending its screenings to the free EITB digital platform Primeran, to offer all members of the public a selection of Basque-produced films, already screened at previous Festivals. This year ZINEBI will also have a special collection on the audiovisual content platform FILMIN, with dozens of films already screened at previous Festivals.
