Ereagatik Matxitxakora

El infierno vasco

An in-depth interview with José Antonio Urrutikoetxea, known as Josu Ternera, one of the most relevant leaders of the terrorist gang ETA.

Through interviews with different people linked to the work and life of the Basque sculptor Jorge Oteiza (1908-2003), this documentary aims to unravel fundamental aspects of his work.

An attempt to create a bridge between the different political positions that coexist, sometimes violently, in the Basque Country, in northern Spain.

The history of the citizens' movement that for thirty years worked hard to overcome fear, fight hatred and eradicate the violence exercised by the savage terrorist gang ETA, both in the Basque Country and in the rest of Spain.

In 1942, in the midst of World War II, Nazi Germany occupied France. The Resistance launched numerous escape networks to help people escape from Nazi to the allied Europe. Among them there was the network of escapes that acted in secret between Mendibe-Orbaizeta, a network so secret that it did not even have a name. Spies, clandestine networks, smuggling, solidarity, resistance, hope... All this and more is the documentary 'Sans nom sarea' (Sans Nom Network).

'Ama Lur' is a documentary, directed by Nestor Basterretxea and Fernando Larruquert, that premiered in San Sebastián in 1968, and it is considered the foundation of Basque cinema.

Donostia-San Sebastián, Basque Country, Spain, 2011. Maider, a filmmaker, moves to the very same flat where pedadogist Elbira Zipitria Irastorza (1906-1982) clandestinely established the first ikastola, a Basque school, under the harsh regime of dictator Francisco Franco. Despite of her pioneering work, developed throughout thirty years, her story is not well known, so Maider, intrigued, begins to research…

This film goes beyond being a window that shows the natural and cultural heritage of Aralar (situated in the heart of the Basque Country), it also makes the viewer reflect. The testimonies of the experts and the journey through a dreamlike world, not only make the value of this mountain range known but also make a clear call to conserve it.

The turbulent story of the Lagun bookstore — located in San Sebastián, in the Basque Country, Spain — is a powerful tale of courage, resistance and struggle; first against the Franco dictatorship, then against the terrorist gang ETA and its numerous and sinister acolytes.

'Iragan gunea Berlin' follows five people from different origins as they move anonymously around the streets of Berlin. Each of them with another life somewhere else, trying to ascertain where to go.

A young filmmaker travels back home to Basque Country to follow three friends on a surreal nautical voyage. Riding a second-hand paddle boat, they pedal over 150km along the entire Basque coast from Hendaia (French Basque Country) to Bilbao in an attempt to rediscover their country's shoreline. However, as a paddle boat is not made for the rough Basque sea, things don't go as planned. The journey becomes a delirium with unforeseen accidents, folkloric parties, hangovers, a shaman, a funeral... Documenting the expedition of these 'sailors' on his own, the filmmaker finds himself on a parallel inner journey.

The story of how a humble Basque rural sport called zesta punta —or jai alai— was successfully exported from the Basque Country to nations as different as Egypt, China, the Philippines, Cuba, Mexico or the United States. In these places, the pelotaris were considered true artists at the fronton. But the splendour of the jai alai, the happy feast, could not last forever.

160 meters is the distance between the two banks of the estuary of Bilbao. An economic, social and cultural approach at two ways of looking at life.

The personal stories lived by the Uncle, the Father and the Son, respectively, form a tragic experience that is drawn along a line in time. This line is comparable to a crease in the pages of the family album, but also to a crack in the walls of the paternal house. It resembles the open wound created when drilling into a mountain, but also a scar in the collective imaginary of a society, where the idea of salvation finds its tragic destiny in the political struggle. What is at the end of that line? Will old war songs be enough to circumvent that destiny?

Kukutza III was a gaztetxe (self-managed social centre) in the neighbourhood of Rekalde, Bilbao. It was occupied in 1998, and it was evicted by the police in 2011. The documentary shows some activities that were hosted by the gaztetxe.

The film starts in Bermeo and ends in Gernika. A magical trip taking us from the scent of salt air and the fishing atmosphere of Bermeo port to the roots of the Tree of Gernika.

The documentary tells the story of six friends who fought against compulsory military service in the Basque Country. They were all imprisoned for refusing to perform military service, and they all preferred prison to the army. They showed great courage and stubbornness, until they managed to win the antimilitarist struggle against the Spanish State.

The six-decade transformation of a block of houses, shown by means of artfully featured archival shots, highlights the beauty and sadness of human-made decay. In the blink of an eye 66 years pass by and a savings bank replaces a church.

The chronicle of the process, ten long years, that led to the end of ETA (Euskadi Ta Askatasuna), a Basque terrorist gang that perpetrated robberies, kidnappings and murders in Spain and the French Basque Country for more than fifty years. Almost 1,000 people died, but others are still alive to tell the story of how the nightmare finally ended.