ZINEBI presents, in association with the Basque Film Archive Filmoteca Vasca and with the support of EITB, a special programme which restores and revisits four key works in the history of Basque cinema: Ehun metro (Alfonso Ungría, 1985), Hamaseigarrenean aidanez (Anjel Lertxundi, 1985), Zergatik panpox (Xabier Elorriaga, 1985) and Oraingoz izen gabe (José Julián Bakedano, 1986). Restored at the L’Immagine Ritrovata laboratories in Bologna and premiered at the San Sebastián Festival as part of the Klasikoak initiative, these films have now arrived in Bilbao as part of a collaboration which expresses the shared commitment of ZINEBI and the Basque Film Archive to the preservation, research and dissemination of film heritage — a commitment also embodied by the Depósito ZINEBI Gordailua, currently under study at the Elías Querejeta Zine Eskola Film School.
Shot during a time of deep social, cultural and political transition, these four films were the first projects fully funded by the Basque Government, with the aim of building a cinema in Basque which could engage meaningfully with its era. Beyond their historical importance, they mark a turning point: an attempt to define a distinctive cinematic language reconciling tensions between modernity and tradition, between recent memory and the desire for a future.
Their significance extends far beyond the consolidation of Basque as a cinematic language; they also signal the emergence of new perspectives on identity, womanhood and everyday life in the Basque Country. Zergatik panpox provided, for the first time in Basque cinema, a narrative of feminine intimacy told from within; Hamaseigarrenean aidanez explored the fragility and endurance of women in a rural world marked by loss and silence; Ehun metro opened a space for political and moral reflection on violence and collective memory; while Oraingoz izen gabe, scripted by Bernardo Atxaga, delved into the Basque language itself through its sensory and territorial dimensions, revealing its expressive and sonic richness.
These works embody the founding impulse of a generation that understood cinema as a space for cultural affirmation. Their restoration, undertaken by the Basque Film Archive with the support of EITB, allows us to re-evaluate them today not merely as documents of their time, but as visual essays on the construction of a modern identity in Basque. This remains a vital task: each film retrieved brings back an essential fragment of our cultural history to contemporary conversation.
It’s 8 in the morning one summer in the early 70s. Ion, an ETA activist, runs for his life through San Sebastian’s Old Town with the police hot on his heels. The city is coming to life, and people are going about their usual routine. As he runs, Ion looks back at the story of his life. His memories of school, where he was forced to renounce his identity, alternate with the look in his father’s eyes and the figure of Madeleine.
Domingo lives for gambling. He takes bets at rowing boat races, pelota courts and the squares where all sorts of competitions are held. But it’s also an obsession that pushes him to take risks, always in cahoots with his cowardly and cynical sidekick, Kornelio. The loneliness of his wife Marcelina reveals the other side of a tale where tragedy could strike at any time.
Manuel narrates his peaceful life with his brother Ramón until the arrival of a prostitute turns everything on its head. Esther’s presence sparks tension and conflict between the siblings until things come to a tragic end. The film explores family relations and repressed emotions in a rural environment.
Based on the novel of the same name by Arantxa Urretabizkaia, the film follows the life of a 30 year-old married woman and her son. The protagonist asks herself what drove her husband, Txema, to leave her alone with their child. Internal monologues serve to explore subjects such as motherhood, loneliness and everyday routine in the Basque society of the late 70s.
