Aukera Programme Professional Meeting
Aukera is a programme which sets out to protect and empower women wishing to work in the audiovisual sector. It is a mentoring programme to carry out a short film project, for women aged between 18 and 30, launched and organised by the (H)emen association, in association with ZINEBI, Zineuskadi, Kutxa Kultur and the Álava, Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa Provincial Councils.
This initiative sets out to protect and empower women in the audiovisual sector as they move from university or training towards professionalism.
This third round of the programme featured 6 short film projects: Ezagutzen ditudan bekain guztiak, Gure gozamena, Llueve en casa, Mi reina Nova Red andTick Tack .
In the course of the year they received intensive mentoring on Screenplay, Directing and Production from professionals such as Ana Hormaetxea, Izaskun Arandia, Marina Lameiro, Norma Vila, Gloria Peña and Gentzane Martínez de Osaba. In addition to the intensive mentorships, they took courses on the feminist perspective in films, creation of dossiers, and the preparation of pitching sessions.
At the 65th ZINEBI festival, Aukera participants will pitch their projects to the industry. A jury panel of three professional women, taking into account the dossier created on the programme and the pitching, will decide the winners of these awards:
- Award for Creation 3.000 €
- Award by the Bizkaia Provincial Council for Best Basque-Language Project 3,000 €
- (H)emen Award 3,000 €
- Zineuskadi Award (Trip to the international market)
The awards will be given out at the ZINEBI closing ceremony.
JURY AUKERA 2023
Marta Gómez
Scriptwriter, director and script adviser
Marta Gómez is a scriptwriter, director and script adviser. Since 2008 she has been a member of the Plume & Pellicule annual script residence project’s selection committee, in Switzerland. She has advised on projects in Spain, Australia, Central America and France. Her close ties to Colombia led her to sit on the jury panel of Proimágenes (National Film Promotion Fund), and she has also lectured on the Creative Writing Master’s course at Bogotá’s Universidad Nacional. She has been a director and producer with Al Borde films since 2020. Her recent projects include Hondarrak, selected at festivals such as ZINEBI, Camerimage and the New Orleans Film Festival. She is currently working on production of the documentary feature film La Sinsorga, and on the post-production of Flying Hands, which was filmed in Pakistan and will be premiered in 2024.
Maite Ruiz de Austri
Producer, screenwriter and director
Film and TV producer, screenwriter and director. For more than 30 years Maite Ruiz de Austri has been the only animated feature film female director in Spain. Maite Ruiz de Austri has directed six feature films and three TV series. And also been a member of the Academy of Cinematographic Sciences and Arts of Spain directive board. Among the awards she’s received we must underline two Goya Academy Awards for The Return of the North Wind and ¡Qué vecinos tan animales!, three Gold Medals at the Houston World Fest. And a Silver Medal at the International New York TV Festival. She has been Executive Producer for the live-action feature film The Golden Ball and director of Memories of Idhun, the first Netflix Original Animated Series in Spain. Recently, Maite Ruiz de Austri has produced Beatriz de Silva’s short film Tula, shortlisted for the Oscars Academy Awards in 2022.
Estibaliz Urresola
Director
Graduate in Audiovisual Communication (UPV/EHU – University of the Basque Country) and Edition and Editing Theory (International Film and Television School – EICTV Cuba), she also holds a Master’s in Film Directing and another Master’s in Film Business (Catalonia’s Higher School of Cinema and Audiovisuals – ESCAC). Since 2011 she has written, directed and produced a number of short films such as Polvo somos (Sirimiri Films), which won the international Festival of Documentary and Short Film of Bilbao ZINEBI’s Basque Cinema Grand Prix 2020 and two Biznaga awards (the Audience and Best Actress awards for Goize Blanco) at the 2021 Málaga Film Festival. Her short film Cuerdas was premiered at the Cannes Film Festival’s Critics’ Week, it was a contender at several national and international festivals, and eventually won the Forqué Award for best short film, and was also nominated for Spain’s 2023 Goya Awards. This year Urresola also premiered 20,000 Species of Bees, her first fiction feature film, in the Official Competition Section of the Berlin International Film Festival – Berlinale. The film took the Silver Bear Award for the best main actress performance by Sofía Otero, in addition to the General Public Award and the German Exhibitors’ Award. The film also won the Gold Biznaga Award for Best Film at the Málaga Film Festival, and awards for best debut and best directing at the FICG Guadalajara International Film Festival (Mexico), and also at the Frameline Festival in San Francisco (USA).
