Z365" or "Festival all year round" is the new strategic point of the Festival in which converge investigation, accompaniment and development of new talents (Ikusmira Berriak, Nest); training and cinematic knowledge transfer (Elías Querejeta Zine Eskola, Zinemaldia + Plus, Filmmakers' dialogue); and investigation, disclosure and cinematic thought (Z70 project, Thought and Discussion and Research and publications).
The Youth Jury is made up of 350 youngsters from all over Spain and from abroad, who are students aged from 17 to 21. Participation in the jury is voluntary and entails watching all the films that are competing for the Youth Award in the New Directors section of Zabaltegi. This means they need to watch an average of three films a day.
The jury members vote when they come out of each screening and the results appear on a daily basis in the Festival newspaper and television channel, as well as on screens and panels placed in the Kursaal foyer and the Zabaltegi offices.
The youngsters themselves organise the prize-giving ceremony and the winner is presented with their award at a Youth Closing Gala in the Chamber Hall in the Kursaal, before the winning film is screened again. The programme of activities for the Youth Award is rounded off with a party at a disco in San Sebastián attended by the jury members and the teams who made the films.