On October 30th and November 12th, Tabakalera's Shared Screen will show the short films made by the female filmmakers to have won awards in different sections of San Sebastian Festival's 68th edition before making their jump to feature films.

The first session, scheduled for Friday 30th, will see the screening of the short film Leta / Léthé (2016), directed Dea Kulumbegashvili (Georgia, 1986), whose feature film debut, Dasatskisi / Beginning, garnered four awards at the Festival’s 68th edition: the Golden Shell, Silver Shell for Best Director, Jury Prize for best screenplay and Silver Shell for best actress (Ia Sukhitashvili). Completing the showing is Vader / Father (2019), work of Isabel Lamberti (Bühl, Germany, 1987), winner of the Kutxabank-New Directors Award with La última primavera / Last Days of Spring, and the short film Metáfora ou a tristeza virada do avesso (2013), by Catarina Vasconcelos (Lisbon, 1986), winner of the Zabaltegi-Tabakalera Award for her first feature A metamorfose dos pássaros / The Metamorphosis of Birds.

On November 12th, the second session will offer the chance to take another look at two earlier works by Lamberti and Kulumbegashvili: Amor (2017) and Ukhilavi sivrtseebi / Invisible Spaces (2014), respectively. The other two shorts programmed are 400 maletas (2015), directed by Fernanda Valadez (Guanajuato, Mexico, 1981) before winning the Horizontes Award with Sin señas particulares / Identifying Features, and Sticks and Stones (2019), by Takuma Sato (Tokyo, 1977), whose second feature film, Nakuno wa ineega / Any Crybabies around, earned Yuta Tsukinaga the Jury Prize for best cinematography.  

Furthermore, on December 4 Tabakalera will host the second public programme of the research project Zinemaldia 70. All possible stories. If last year the event focussed on how the Festival evolved in the early years of the Transition (1976-1980), this time round it will explore relations between the Festival and the censors during Franco’s dictatorship, from the research developed by the team of the Elías Querejeta Zine Eskola (EQZE) during the academic year. The case studies will focus on the controversy surrounding the first Film Students Meeting in 1960, on the problems faced by New American Cinema season in 1968 and on two films censored and deleted from the programme of the 1971 edition: Canciones para después de una guerra by Basilio Martin Patino, and Liberxina 90 by Carles Durán. The project Zinemaldia 70. All possible stories is co-organised by the Festival and the EQZE, with the collaboration of the Filmoteca Vasca, Tabakalera and Kutxa Fundazioa, and is sponsored by Loterías y Apuestas del Estado. Its objective is to generate a living archive of the Festival and its first phase will culminate with the 70th edition in 2022.

A festival all year round

Tabakalera’s shared screen corresponds to the idea of a festival all year round which has been developed with special intensity in the last five years: the usual twelve months’ selection work and collaboration with festivals and programmes has been joined, in chronological order, by promotion of the Ikusmira Berriak residencies, collaboration with Tabakalera’s public film screen programme, foundation of the Elías Querejeta Zine Eskola film school (creating both an opportunity for the Festival and the obligation to rethink itself), and the subsequent creation of the Thought and Discussion department within the Festival.

With alliances between institutions and participation in cinematic programmes running throughout the calendar, the Festival seeks to fulfil a double objective. On the one hand, it aims to become a greenhouse for growing film talent throughout the year; talent which later flourishes and gains exposure during the nine days of the actual festival. On the other, it seeks to become an event that thinks about itself and about the place of film festivals in the world, in the industry and in today’s film creation.

19:00 in Tabakalera Cinema

• Leta / Léthé, Dea Kulumbegashvili, Georgia-France, 2016, 15’
• Vader / Father, Isabel Lamberti, Netherlands, 2019, 24’
• Metáfora ou a tristeza virada do avesso, Catarina Vasconcelos, Portugal-United Kingdom, 2013, 32’

19:00 in Tabakalera Cinema

• Amor, Isabel Lamberti, Netherlands, 2017, 25’
• Ukhilavi sivrtseebi / Invisible Spaces, Dea Kulumbegashvili, Georgia, 2014, 10’
• 400 maletas, Fernanda Valadez, Mexico, 2015, 23’ 
• Sticks and Stones, Takuma Sato, Japan, 2019, 37’