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).
Spanish producer Carmen Cobos is quite clear about her task as a member of the New Directors jury that is judging the seventeen films in this section: “it’s very important for me that we should talk about the film and not about politics…There are a lot of festivals where social or political issues often come before cinema. But we’re here to judge films, the narrative, the story, the performances, the work of the entire cast and crew,” she stresses.
She says that although she trained as a social worker, she’s here as a producer and she emphasizes that as a festival can make or break your film, and winning a prize at San Sebastián is very important , it’s vital that the best film should win and not the film that the jury feel obliged to vote for.
She confesses that what she loves about the Festival is the fact that,”it’s not about the market or money or what a film earns or loses or what you sell, it’s about cinema, and there are very few festivals like this nowadays. It’s still unspoiled.”