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).
Born in Buenos Aires in 1975, Juan Diego Botto has had a long career as an actor on both sides of the Atlantic. He has now made his first film as a director with En los márgenes, a heartrending drama set against the background of the housing crisis, which he is presenting in the Perlak section after its screening in Venice. He explained that the film came from an idea that Penelope Cruz had after she came to see him in a play that he was performing in. He then wrote a scene about a couple having an argument after having been evicted, and this led him to research into a situation that he felt he just had to make a film about.
Although he acknowledges that making a film isn’t going to change the world, he does think that it can trigger a debate and make the audience more aware of a reality that they’re not familiar with, and if they can manage to do this, he’ll settle for that. He also recognises that although we are going thought difficult times, this shouldn’t deter us from making films that provide an alternative to the selfish, individualistic attitudes that have been reinforced by the pandemic.