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 Basque lecturer, researcher and writer, Lourdes Oñederra, is a member of the New Directors Jury this year. As she’s a big film fan who can’t imagine life without cinema, she says that she’s looking forward to judging the seventeen films in this section, and although initially she’s thought she would be coming here to learn alongside people who were so close to the cinema industry, she can now see that all the members of the Jury have a lot to contribute.
She doesn’t hide the fact that the first thing she looks at in a film is the script and the narrative structure, but as a juror she tries to see things from the perspective of a normal member of the audience. She also says that the quality of the films she has been watching has been so high that it’s going to be difficult choosing between them.
As a member of the Academy of the Basque Language she feels it’s vital for Basque to form part of the Festival. “The fact that Basque is in the cinema is really good for cinema, but above all it’s really good for Basque.”