Greater presence of Basque cinema at the San Sebastián Festival

Basque cinema will have a greater presence throughout the Festival with a new section, Zinemira-Panorama of Basque Cinema, which will offer nine films, including six premieres. Imanol Uribe will receive the Zinemira Award at the Basque Cinema Gala.

Zinemira-Basque Cinema Panorama will be the name of a new section that will give greater presence at the San Sebastián Festival to films produced mostly or made by Basques. The Basque Cinema Day, which until now offered a one-off event with a single showing of each film, is expanded to become another section of the Festival, with a series of films chosen from among the highlights of the year's harvest.

Zinemira-Panorama of Basque Cinema is a section organized by the San Sebastián Festival and the Department of Culture of the Basque Government, which is sponsored by EiTB and with the collaboration of the producers associations Ibaia and APV. The section will be part of the Festival's general programming and will be offered throughout the entire edition. The six premiere films will be screened three times, and the three titles that have already been released in commercial cinemas will have two showings at the Festival.

In addition, Zinemira's programming will include the first screening of the new Kimuak 2009 catalogue, which includes a selection of the best Basque short films of the year. Kimuak is a program of the Basque Government, which manages the Basque Film Library, and which is responsible for the international promotion and dissemination of Basque short films. This screening will be for professionals only.

Basque Cinema Gala and Zinemira Award

The Zinemira-Basque Cinema Panorama program includes the Basque Cinema Gala to be held at the Victoria Eugenia theater. The film The Cloud Painting Machine, directed by Patxo Tellería and Aitor Mazo, and starring Aitor Mazo, Gracia Olayo, Bingen Elortza, Lander Otaola and Santi Ugalde, will be the premiere of the Gala.

In the next edition, director Imanol Uribe will receive the Zinemira Award, which each year will highlight the career of a Basque cinema personality, and which will be awarded at the Basque Cinema Gala at the Victoria Eugenia.

Imanol Uribe (San Salvador, 1950) is one of the most prominent filmmakers to emerge from the boom that Basque cinema experienced at the end of the 70s. Director, screenwriter and producer, already with The Burgos process (1979) was awarded the Pearl of the Cantabrian for Best Spanish-speaking Film at the San Sebastián Festival. After The escape from Segovia (1981) y Mikel's death, films also linked to the political situation of the time, opened up to other genres with notable titles from contemporary Spanish cinema: Goodbye little one (1986), The stunned king (1991), the two films with which he won the Golden Shell at the San Sebastián Festival, days counted (1994) y Mr (1996), or the literary adaptations Full moon (1999) y The spherical letter (2007).