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 57th International Film Festival was officially opened last night at the Kursaal in a ceremony hosted by Edurne Ormazabal, accompanied by the actress Bárbara Goenaga and actor Francis Lorenzo. A series of well known figures from the world of cinema came onto a stage that recalled the motifs and colours of the Official poster in order to present the various sections that make up the Festival.
Producer Margaret Ménégoz picked up the Fipresci international critics award for best film of the year from Fipresci president Andrei Plakhov for Michael Haneke’s Das Weisse Band, and she highlighted just how important critics were for independent filmmakers who would never have the same power as mainstream films.
There were mentions for this year’s Donostia Prize winner Sir Ian McKellen; for Richard Brooks whose has a retrospective devoted to him here, and a presentation of the Contemporary French film cycle, Backwash, the cutting edge of French cinema. The Basque actress Marta Etura introduced the Basque Film showcase, which she said expressed the vitality of modern Basque cinema, while the actress Aida Folch presented the Horizontes Latinos section, featuring the very latest best films from Latin America, followed by Manuel Pérez Estremera, the chairman of the Horizontes Latinos section jury, who mentioned how important the public was for the festival. After a brief run through of the Made in Spain, Films in Progress and Zabaltegi sections, the seven members of the Official Section jury came on stage headed by their chairman, the French director, Laurent Cantet. He said that he really loved the festival because it was here that he won the New Directors Award back in 1999.
The ceremony was followed by the screening of Chloe by Atom Ergoyan, and the Canadian director himself appeared to say how honoured he was that his film was opening the Festival.