Impuros

In addition to making cigarettes, Lupe, Asun, Susi, Marivi, Clara, Pili and Maite lived, shared, learned, fought and celebrated many things in the warehouses that now house the Tabakalera cultural project. The cigarette makers called the factory “Smoke University” for all that they learnt within its walls. This documentary shows a (physical and vital) tour of the spaces of Tabakalera together with a critical dialogue between the past and the present of the building, which relies on previously collected and selected materials from the smoke archive, and the testimonies of a group of women who worked together.

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 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?

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.

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.

ETA: Coming in from the Cold

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.

Before she turned two, Haize's father, Mikel Goikoetxea, a member of ETA nicknamed 'Txapela', was killed by the GAL. With no recollection of the man whatsoever, 25 years down the line she starts asking questions. Piecing together the testimonies of those who knew him, Haize gradually discovers her father and his time.

Kristiane Etxaluz, from Soule, and Alfonso Etxegarai, from Bizkaia, are not your usual couple. Committed since their youth to the Basque independence struggle, they are condemned to living their love 7,000 km from one another due to the fact that Alfonso lives on the small African island to which he was deported several years ago. However, despite the banishment, their eyes always follow the country of the Bidasoa and their hearts at apple time; an apple time still to come.

Part of a series in which foreign filmmakers portray a region or town in France. Otar Iosselani looks at the Basque region and its inhabitants.

'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.

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

Asier and I grew up in the Basque Country. But one day he disappeared, later I found out he had joined ETA.

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

The Basque Country, one of the richest regions in Europe with only two million inhabitants, is considered a small paradise by those who visit it. But behind the mild climate, beautiful landscapes, and high standard of living lies a terrible reality: for thirty years, more than two hundred thousand of its citizens have had to go into exile to save their lives, escape extortion, social isolation, or nationalist impositions.

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.

In 1967, in the midst of Franco's dictatorship, a group of seminarians thirsty for freedom founded the group Enarak. They played pop, rock and psychedelia, styles that were foreign to the society of the time, and all of it entirely in Basque. After hundreds of concerts, they mysteriously disappeared in 1971. Fifty years later, the singer's son, Beñat, sets out to find traces of the group, immersing himself in a film labyrinth that mixes ornithology, collage and eccentric research.

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.

Pilot chapter of the film series 'Ikuska', a compilation of shorts on the Basque Country’s culture and politics. A documentary about the referendum on the Spanish constitution.

Spanish police killed four members of the Autonomous Anticapitalist Commandos in 1985. This documentary provides a narration of the murder that the State of Spain has tried to hide. There are several testimonies of family members, witnesses and experts.