YEARS
2023-2020
YEARS
2019-2010
YEARS
2009-2000
YEARS
1999-1990
YEARS
1989-1980
YEARS
1979-1970
YEARS
1969-1959
The prestigious Irish filmmaker Jim Sheridan visited Bilbao both as a member of the International Jury and as curor of a series about the recent cinema of his country entitled Made in Ireland. Another member of the jury was North American creator Caroline Leaf, who also brough the namesake cycle Caroline Leaf Bizidunak consisting of 47 erotic short films. There wasa third cycle dedicated to the Independent International Film Festival of Sundance (USA) featuring a selection of winning films between 1995 and 1999. The photography exhibition entitled “”Film Looks”” added to this year’s program some of the most remembered faces of film history: Ava Gardner, Marlene Dietrich, Ingrid Bergman, Bette Davis, Sophia Loren and Sara Montiel, who travelled to Bilbao to collect the Mikeldi de Honor Award.
Asier Altuna and Telmo Esnal, Félix Viscarret, Igor Legarreta and Emilio Pérez, Carlos Bernar and Begoña Vicario were the Basque filmmakers in the International Competition.
Fernando Guillén (J) · Caroline Leaf (J) · Joseph W. Morder (J) · César Sanjinés (J) · Jim Sheridan (J) · Sara Montiel
In the year of the passing of Luis Iturri, director of the festival, two great international figures visited our city: the great Italian filmmaker Dino Risi came as a member of the International Jury and the brilliant Polish director Roman Polanski travelled to Bilbao to receive the Mikeldi de Honor of the 40th edition, accompanied by his friend Dean Tavoularis, one of the greatest artistic directors of American cinema. The program included a sequel to the cycle The unknown of the Acquaintances, with pieces by King Vidor, Robert Altman, Frank Capra, John Huston, etc. Also, a cycle entitled Ten films against a hundred million mines, a tribute to all bomb victims, with pieces by Fernando Trueba, Rithy Pahn, Volker Schlöndorff and Bertrand Tavernier, amongst others. Lastly, this edition paid tribute to the great Polish director Krzysztof Kieślowski, recently deceased.
Amongst the Basque representatives were Iñaki Elizalde, Gorka Vázquez and Koldo Serra, Tinieblas González, Ion de Luis and Patxi Barco.
Mireille Dansereau (J) · Juan Padrón (J) · Yeud Lebanon (J) · Dino Risi (J) · Antoni Verdaguer (J) · Patxi Barco · Tinieblas González · Mariví Bilbao Goyoaga · Iñaki Elizalde · Roman Polanski · Koldo Serra · Dean Tavoularis
With the lowest budget in recent years, this edition paid tribute to three recently deceased figures: producer Ricardo Muñoz Suay, director Pilar Miró and the festival’s commettee member José F. López. In the Jury we found, amongst others, Peio Aldazabal, director of the Basque Film Archive, Polish director Piotr Dumała and Uruguayan Daniel Trelles. For the first time, the NGO Doctors without Borders awarded a prize to the documentary that best reflects the values of humanitarian aid to populations in danger.
The Basque participation was conformed by Telmo Esnal and Asier Altuna, Gaizka Aróstegui, Iñaki Arteta and Norberto Ramos del Val.
Peio Aldazabal (J) · Piotr Dumała (J) · Didier Fontan (J) · Carlos Manuel (J) · Daniel Trelles (J) · Asier Altuna · Iñaki Arteta · Telmo Esnal · Norberto Ramos del Val
The festival dedicated special attention to the serious problems associated at the time with the transmission of AIDS in selection of 30 short films by young international filmmakers. There was also a cycle entitled The epic deed of women in the Seventh Art in Europe, presented by Jackie Buet, director of the International Women’s Film Festival of Créteil (France). Another cycle honoured the 10 years of the International Film and Television School of San Antonio de los Baños (Cuba). The compilation The Unknown of the Acquaintances presented films by Aki Kaurismäki, Eric Rhomer, Roman Polanski, Wim Wenders and Alain Resnais, etc. The jury included Japanese director Sayako Kinoshita, Argentinean director Bebe Kamin and Spanish actor and director Jacinto Molina, AKA Paul Naschy.
The Basque participants this year were Ramón Barea, Iñaki Elizalde, Toni Garzón, José Félix Collazos, Mikel Aguirresarobe, Begoña Vicario, José Luis Serrano, Laura Belloso, Francisco Aseguinolaza and Julio Pascual.
Bebe Kamin (J) · Sayako Kinoshita (J) · Jacinto Molina, Paul Naschy (J) · Alfonso Arandia · Ramón Barea · Jackie Buet · Stephen Dwoskin · Iñaki Elizalde · Toni Garzón · Begoña Vicario
This edition celebrated three important anniversaries: the hundredth anniversary of the Cinema, the fiftieth anniversary of the end of World War II and the century since the birth of actor Rodolfo Valentino. There was a homage to the great Spanish director José Mª Forqué, whose Mikeldi de Honor was picked up by his daughter, actress Verónica Forqué. The Centro de Capacitación Cinematográfica of Mexico, founded by Spanish filmmaker Carlos Velo in 1975, presented a selection of his latest projects. The International Jury, with figures such as Spanish screenwriter and director Manuel Gómez Pereira, granted the Spanish Film Award to a novel Santiago Segura for his short film El purificador.
Mikel Agirresarobe, Juan Flahn, José A. Vitoria, Irene Arzuaga, Norberto Ramos del Val, José Mª Camacho, Pedro Mª Santos, Ibon Alkorta, Pablo Malo, Nerea Pagola, Mariano Vázquez, Luis Mª Andréand Teresa G. Ramos competed in the Basque section of the International Competition.
Lisandro Duque (J) · Manuel Gómez Pereira (J) · Danièle Incalcaterra (J) · Marcelo Céspedes · Verónica Forqué · Carmen Guarini · Pablo Malo · Nerea Pagola · Norberto Ramos del Val · Santiago Segura · José Antonio Vitoria
Luis G. Berlanga returned to festival as a member of the International Jury, together with Cuban documentary maker Rolando Díaz and German director Mónica Maurer, amongst others. The program included the screening of a selection of short films by Ingmar Bergman, and a photo exhibition by North American actor and filmmaker Dennis Hopper. It also featured a series about Spanish Black Cinema with veteran director Francisco Rovira Beleta and the no less veteran and popular actor Conrado Sanmartín as guests.
The Basque filmmakers entering the International Competition were Juan Calvo, Pablo Berger, Miguel Angulo, Irene Arzuaga, Iñaki Elizalde, Gonzalo Escuder, Óscar del Caz, Esteban Ibarretxe, Óscar Dulce and Jesús Paniego. Debutant Fernando León de Aranoa competed with his short film Sirenas.
Luis G. Berlanga (J) · Rolando Díaz (J) · Jean · Luc François (J) · Monica Maurer (J) · Pablo Berger · Iñaki Elizalde · Esteban Ibarretexe · Fernando León de Aranoa · Francisco Rovira Beleta · Conrado San Martín · Atef Sherif Hetat
The festival programmed some surprising oddities, such as a series of Spanish pornographic films made in the 1920s by the order of King Alfonso XIII. Another rarity was the second part of Tercio de cine, on bullfighting, with films by José H. Gan, Alejandro Pérez Lugín, Italian Francesco Rosi, Falangist intellectual Ernesto Giménez Caballero, Basilio M. Patino and American filmmaker Budd Boetticher. The jury was conformed, amongst others, by American director George Hickenlooper, Russian Igor Alenikov and Spanish film historian Julio Pérez Perucha.
The Basque participation included filmmakers such as Jokin Umerez, José A. Vitoria, Josu Bilbao, Juan Gil Bengoa, Begoña Vicario, Beatriz de la Vega, Sergio Clavero and Ángel Rodríguez, Myriam Ballesteros, José Félix Collazos and Covadonga Icaza.
Igor Alenikov (J) · Oliver Becker (J) · Óscar Castillo (J) · George Hickenlooper (J) · Julio Pérez Perucha (J) · Juan Gil Bengoa · Jokin Umerez · Begoña Vicario
Once again pushed by economic problems, the festival scheduled an edition of strict economic austerity. There was a cycle devoted to the Masters of French cinema, another about bullfighting entitled Tercio de cine, as well as three retrospective cycles, one on Hungarian animation cinema, another dedicated to Latvian director Herz Frank and the last one about the Italian cinema of the 60’s. Italian filmmaker Valentino Orsini and Spanish director of photography, Teo Escamilla, were part of the International Jury. Film director Jaime de Armiñán and popular actor Rafael Alonso visited Bilbao to present their television series Una gloria nacional.
The Basque filmmakers participants in the International Competition were Óscar Dulce, Joseba Salegui, Esteban Ibarretxe, José A. Vitoria, Helena Taberna, Pedro Ortigosa, Maite Arrieta, Miguel Gutiérrez, Iñaki Arteta, José A. Vizarraga, Santiago G. Leániz, Antonio Conesa and Josu Aristegui.
Teo Escamilla (J) · Herz Frank (J) · Sabine Groschup (J) · Valentino Orsini (J) · Zelito Viana (J) · Rafael Alonso · Jaime de Armiñán · Iñaki Arteta · Óscar Dulce · Arsano Gianarelli · Joseba Salegi · Helena Taberna
This year the festival welcomed the great American documentary filmmaker, Richard Kaplan, winner of two Oscars in 1962 and 1965, as a member of the International Jury, along with screenwriter and at the time also director of the Spanish Film Library Florentino Soria, Czech animation filmmaker Jiří Barta and Dominican director René Fortunato. A broad retrospective dedicated to British filmmaker Peter Greenaway and another one devoted to Frank Capraand his war cinema during the Second World War were screened. The series entitled Cinema according to their masters gatheredmonographic feature films dedicated to Raoul Walsh, Alfred Hitchcock, Howard Hawks, Vincente Minnelli and King Vidor.
RE`resenting Basque cinema were Julia Juániz, Aitor Mantxola, Rafael Garzón, veteran experimental filmmaker Jose Antonio Sistiaga, Josune Lasa, Inés Cano, Víctor G. Rubio, Michel Gaztambide and José A. Vitoria.
Jiří Barta (J) · René Fortunato (J) · Richard Kaplan (J) · Florentino Soria (J) · Luz Casal · Bruno Fischli · Michel Gaztambide · Julia Juániz · Josune Lasa · José A. Sistiaga
After the recent fall of the Berlin Wall, the festival offered a cycle called A Wall for Oblivion while in the main venue a cement wall crowned with barbed wire and with the sentence Nie Wieder (Never Again) painted in graffiti. The cycle British Documentary series (1938) gathered films by Harry Watt – produced by Alberto Cavalcanti- and Humphrey Jennings, amongst others.
The Basque cinema saw the debut of Bilbao local Alex de la Iglesia with his acclaimed Mirindas asesinas, accompanied by Koldo Azkarreta, Lourdes Bañuelos, Etxegaraiko Goti and Javier Quintana. The International Jury was made of renowned figures such as North American Hunter Todd, director of the International Film Festival of Houston (Texas), Argentina-born historian and essayist José Agustín Mahieu or popular Spanish actor Agustín González.
Agustín González (J) · Paula Jalfon (J) · José Agustín Mahieu (J) · Hunter Todd (J) · Henri Verhasselt (J) · Koldo Azkarreta · Lourdes Bañuelos · Ramón Barea · Álex de la Iglesia
