Ikuska 10: Kontrasteak

A documentary about Basque inmigrants who went to USA looking for work and a better future. Basically, Amerikanuak talks about feeling homesick, about struggling in a different country to make a decent living and about being part of a comunity.

A documentary film about the origins of the Basque trikitixa. It reflects how the small accordion brought by one of the Italian workers who came to build the Madrid-Paris railway tunnels in 1859, starting from Zumarraga, has become a symbol of contemporary Basque music.

An ethnographic documentary which looks at the relationship between music and work in predominantly rural cultures. It depicts the lives of fisherman, shepherds and farmers and their relationship with music. The film also describes Basque ancestral instruments, with special emphasis on the origin and history of ‘bertsolarism’ (Basque verse singing) as a form of oral communication.

Short film on the art in the Basque Country.

The massacre occurred 500 years ago. In 1525, the Spanish Royal Council ordered the execution of five members of a cult recently discovered in the Pyrenees. This event marked the beginning of a relentless, century-long prosecution against Basque witchcraft, which exhibited all the hallmarks of the great European witch hunts, including an unstable border between powerful nations, revolts against the lords, raging misogyny, confessions obtained under torture, and mass accusations. These past five centuries, only one account has been heard: that of the inquisitors and jurists, the same ones who invented the myth of flying witches who met with the devil at sabbats to plot their crimes.

Departing from peripheral details of some paintings of the Bilbao Fine Arts Museum, a female narrator unravels several stories related to the economic, social and psychological conditions of past and current artists.

Documentary on the relationship between the Basque language and its immediate cultural universe.

In this short documentary film about Basque pelota, in addition to showing the different modalities (basket ball, handball, paddle, ratchet...), well-known pelota players of the time take part.

A singer frozen in old black and white photos. Forever young. Encapsulated. Trapped in the frame, just like her voice on her vinyl records. Forgetting that the point of view is chosen. Forgetting that, in addition to being a singer, Lurdes Iriondo is also an essential reference in the transmission of Basque culture. She understood that children were the key, and she worked for them.

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…

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 discovery of a series of unreleased tapes leads Juan Carlos Pérez, leader of the iconic group Itoiz, to reflect on the dissolution of the band at its peak, after a clear change of style towards pop that he still denies today. Juan Carlos will thus begin a cathartic journey to the essence of the group, reliving the beginnings of the band as a progressive rock group in Mutriku in the 70's, which will serve him to reconcile with the past.

The story of the local neighbourhood club, Antiguoko, that became a Basque dream team and helped produce Premier League managers Xabi Alonso, Mikel Arteta and Andoni Iraola.

The troubles of learning Basque in adults.

A memory to the victims and a tribute to the survivors of one of the most tragic episodes of the Spanish Civil War: the bombings suffered by the population of Gernika.

Documentary that presents the urban problems of Bilbao.

Debate on the launch of Basque television (ETB, Euskal Telebista).

Study on the situation of Basque language compared to Spanish.

The situation of the Basque language in Navarra.

Interview and tribute to Jose Migel Barandiaran, researcher on Basque culture.