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).
In 2002 Fernando León de Aranoa won the Golden Shell with Los lunes al sol and nearly two decades later he has now returned to the Festival with his latest film El buen patrón, in which he once again addresses the subject of labour relations.
A bleak scenario that shows a working class whose actions are solely guided by the survival instinct of each of its members has nonetheless given Leon de Aranoa the chance to create a story with humorous overtones: “I’ve always thought that humour is the best way of addressing reality, and while in my earlier scripts I had to restrain myself, here I’ve really let it flow,” the Spanish director explained. The film follows the ups and downs of the manager of a factory making industrial scales played by Javier Bardem, who displays the typical paternalism of the small businessman. Bardem acknowledged that despite having beliefs that are the total opposite of his character’s, “as an actor it’s my job to empathise with him and this forces me to look at myself from a different perspective to try and find how much of this character there might be in me.”