Euskaraz irakurri: “Zine bakanala” hasi da Donostian, Miyazakiri ohorezko saria emanda

The 71st edition of Zinemaldia is already filling the movie screens of San Sebastián, after an opening gala at the Kursaal that, hosted by Eva Hache and Gorka Otxoa and set live by the music of Audiencehas also served to deliver the first 2023 Donostia Award to Hayao Miyazaki.

Throughout the gala, where the Segovian Hache has dared to use Basque more than once before the San Sebastian audience, the presenters have defended cinema both as an art and as an industry, because “making a film costs a lot of money, but it also costs pays salaries, taxes and creates a productive fabric”, and they have asked for a solution before the development of artificial intelligence ends the artistic work of filmmakers.

Eva Hache and Gorka Otxoa. Photo: EFE

Two Basque films will be part of the 16 films that will compete in the Official Section, the heart of Zinemaldia: the animation by Isabel Herguera, The sultana’s dreamand Or howby Jaione Camborda.

He jury that will decide who the 2023 Golden Shell will be awarded is chaired Claire Denis, for whom it is “a great challenge.” In his presentation at the Kursaal he stressed that, however, the competition is not the most important thing about the festival. The jury will be motivated by “the commitment to cinema.”

Other film stars, among whom are not those from Hollywood, due to the actors’ strike, have presented the rest of the festival’s sections. Precisely, this strike has prevented Javier Bardem, another of this edition’s Donostia Awards, who comes to collect his award in San Sebastián. Therefore, only Victor Erice will collect the San Sebastian lamppost in an honorary gala, since the opening ceremony has also served to present his to the Japanese director Hayao Miyazaki.

However, Miyazaki did not attend the event, and only appeared through a video projected at the Kursaal from his home in Tokyo. The Japanese, author of the great animation films of Studio Ghibli, does not usually record this type of videos, which is why he has asked the San Sebastian public not to immortalize him with their mobile phones and for us not to reproduce it, according to José Luis Rebordinos, director of the festival, has transferred.

Miyazaki’s last film, Kimitachi wa Do Ikiruka / The Boy and the Heron It served to inaugurate the festival after the gala. It is part of the Official Section, but does not participate in the contest.

Besides, Aki Kaurismäki He has received the FIPRESCI critics’ prize for his latest work, Fallen leaves, although he has not attended the capital of Gipuzkoa either, and has become the only director to have won it three times, along with Paul Thomas Anderson. In the words of Stefan Schmitz, general director of the production company Avalon that has collected the award, the new film is “an old Kaurismäki but like never before.”

Basque cinema

In addition to the Official Section, there will be Basque films in other sections of Zinemaldia. In Zabaltegi-Tabakalera, which seeks new perspectives and forms, you can see two films by Basque directors: the short film Accountantsby Irati Gorostidi, and the medium-length film Mamantulaby Ion de Sosa from San Sebastián.

In addition, there will also be, among others, Bizkarsoro and Mirande, by Josu Martinez; Fermin Muguruza’s documentary Bidasoa 2018-2023, Mission to Mars; the winners Irati and 20,000 species of beesand Arnasa betean (Bertha Gaztelumendi and Rosa Zufia), a documentary that compiles testimonies from Basque filmmakers of yesterday, today and tomorrow.

At the Basque Cinema Gala, the actor Paco Sagarzazu will receive the Zinemira award in honor of his entire career. In addition, EITB will present its Egile Berriak award to Estibaliz Urresola for the echo of his film 20,000 species of bees.

For the first time, all the films in the Official Section will be seen with subtitles in Basque.

Source: Eitb

Bruce

Bruce is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment . He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the industry.