2016 Program |
March 11th - Asier ETA Biok (Asier and I) April 8th - Xalbador, Izana eta Izena June 24th - The Song of the Basques |
Asier & I
Presented by Dr. Xabier Irujo
Co-Director at the William A. Douglass Center for Basque Studies
The BEO will host a 7:00pm meet and greet reception before the screening.
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“Asier and I grew up together in the troubled streets of Pamplona
during the eighties. Then we took different paths: Asier remained
there performing activities with a clear political commitment, and I
moved to Madrid. I had a dream: to be an actor. At drama school I
met a lot of new friends from everywhere. Years passed and my dream
of being an actor was becoming, little by little, a reality.
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2013, directed by Aitor Merino & Amaia Merino, 94 minutes, color, in Euskara, Castilian with English Subtitles.
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2013 Irizar Basque Film Award - best Basque
film at the 61st edition of the San Sebastian International Film Festival |
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Amaia Merino (San Sebastian, 1970) has acted in films like Pedro Olea's Akelarre and Montxo Armendáriz's Tasio. In 1993 she moved to Quito, where she has worked as an editor and screenwriter on numerous documentaries and fiction features. She also teaches Editing and Screenplay at the INCINE Instituto Tecnológico de Cine y Actuación in Quito. Aitor Merino (San Sebastian, 1972) has mainly developed his career as a film actor, having participated in some twenty feature films under the orders of directors such as Vicente Aranda, Montxo Armendáriz and Pilar Miró. His first short film, El Pan Nuestro (2007), was nominated for the Best Fiction Short Film Goya. |
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Professor Xabier Irujo, the co-directo of the William A. Douglass Center for Basque Studies at the University of Nevada, Reno, will introduce the film and will lead a discussion after the screening and will answer any questions. Professor Irujo was born in exile in Caracas, Venezuela, and is the author of ten books and numerous scholarly articles, mostly focusing on aspects of genocide. |
Friday, March 11th, 7:30pm, Basque Cultural Center
Free Admission.
Basque Cultural Center, 599 Railroad Ave, South San Francisco, CA 94080
Xalbador
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With a Special Introduction by Johnny Curutchet |
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Xalbador is a myth in the Basque Country. A poet shepherd who would sing to his flock. So great that he was able to convert whistles into applause. So profound that death chose to take him on the very day of the homage to his person. Ferranddo Aire "Xalbador" (1920 - 1976) His four children brought us closer to him.
more info... |
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2014, directed by Eneko Dorronsoro, 90 minutes, color, in Euskara with English Subtitles.
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Eneko
Dorronsoro was born in Zumaia in 1978, and studied directing
and screenplay in Barcelona. Has been working in film and television
since then. Outstanding among his work as a director is the short film
Olarro (2007) and the music report Karidadeko Benta. Lehengo munduaren
azkena (2008). |
Friday, April 8th, 7:30pm, Basque Cultural Center
Free Admission.
Basque Cultural Center, 599 Railroad Ave, South San Francisco, CA 94080
Presented by one of the film's directors - Olatz González Abrisketa
The BEO will host a 7:00pm meet and greet reception
with the director before the screening.
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"The ball is a living being. Each is different from the rest and
you have to listen properly to recognize them." Pelota II goes into
one of the best kept secrets of this sport: the right selection of
balls for every game.
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2015, directed by Jørgen Leth & Olatz González Abrisketa, 71 minutes, color, in Euskara with English Subtitles.
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Olatz González Abrisketa Professor of Social and Cultural Anthropology at the University of Basque Country. In 2005, Ms. González published “Pelota vasca: un ritual, una estética” (“Basque Pelota: A Ritual, an Aesthetic”), edited in USA in 2012. She has also made diverse audiovisual works, publications, art exhibitions, conferences, researchers, etc. |
Friday, May 6th, 7:00pm, Basque Cultural Center
Free Admission.
Basque Cultural Center, 599 Railroad Ave, South San Francisco, CA 94080
Presented by the film's director - Emily Lobsenz
The BEO will host a 7:00pm meet and greet reception
with the director before the screening.
Weaving together the personal stories of contemporary Basques, this film shares an intimate portrait of one of the world's oldest and most mysterious cultures. Dancing between ancient history and present day, captivating characters embrace us with their singular spirit to recount the epic tale of an indigenous identity’s survival. Rooted in heritage, while embracing unknown futures, Song of the Basques offers a poetic perspective on how we create and sustain cultures in our contemporary globalized world.
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2015, directed by Emily Lobsenz, 72 minutes, color, in Euskara with English Subtitles.
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Emily Lobsenz
Emily is an award-winning filmmaker who works across the globe
writing, directing and producing narrative and documentary films,
interactive web-based stories and story-based branded media for
companies and non-profits. |
Friday, June 24th, 7:00pm, Basque Cultural Center
Free Admission.
Basque Cultural Center, 599 Railroad Ave, South San Francisco, CA 94080
Finding "Our birth place"
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Hasparren, 1956. Amid great expectation, a documentary in the Basque language about the Basque Country was released in the local cinema. In the following months it was screened in other Basque and French towns on both sides of the border, and even in Paris, San Francisco and Dakar. But suddenly it disappeared from sight and everyone forgot about it. Sixty years later, filmmaker Josu Martinez sets out to find it...
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2015, directed by Josu Martinez, |
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Josu Martinez Josu Martínez (Bilbao, 1986). Having completed his audiovisual studies at the University of the Basque Country and at the EICTV in San Antonio de los Baños (Cuba), Josu Martínez worked as a screenwriter and actor for ETB and collaborated with Euskadi Irratia. He wrote and directed the documentaries Itsasoaren Alaba (2009), Sagarren Denbora (2010) and Prohibido recordar (2010), all released at the San Sebastian Festival. He also co-directed Barrura begiratzeko leihoak (2012). |
Friday, September 16th, 7:30pm, Basque Cultural Center
Free Admission.
Basque Cultural Center, 599 Railroad Ave, South San Francisco, CA 94080
When A Tree Falls
Presented by the film's director - ASIER ALTUNA
The BEO will host a 7:00pm meet and greet reception
with the director before the screening.
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When a Basque family's eldest son opts not to take over the family farm, sensitive daughter Amaia (Iraia Elías) steps in to convince their controlling father Tomás (Kandido Uranga) of the inevitability of change. A film of rare lyricism and visual poetry, writer/director Asier Altuna's first solo dramatic feature is a sumptuous and deeply felt exploration of the struggle to maintain the customs that form identity against the inevitability of change. Symbolically rich and rooted in tremendous performances by a largely non-professional cast, AMAMA is steeped in Basque tradition but tells a universal tale of ancestry, generational divide, and the demands of progress. |
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AMAMA Trailer (ENG) from ATERA FILMS on Vimeo. |
2015, directed by Asier Altuna, 103 minutes, color, in Euskara with English Subtitles. |
2015 Irizar Basque Film Award - best Basque
film at the 63rd edition of the San Sebastian International Film Festival |
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Asier Altuna Bergara, 1969. He embarked upon a career in media production as a lighting technician. Following the success of his first short film Txotx, co-directed by Telmo Esnal, he made the leap into filmmaking and screenwriting. He has made numerous short films, television series, and advertisements and in 2005, he directed his first feature film, Aupa Etxebeste! along with Esnal, which won the Youth Award at the San Sebastian Festival and they were nominated for a Goya for Best New Director. In 2011 Altuna directed his first full length documentary - Bertsolari. |
Friday, October 7th, 7:00pm, Basque Cultural Center
Free Admission.
Basque Cultural Center, 599 Railroad Ave, South San Francisco, CA 94080