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 French director, Audrey Diwan confessed that she had only watched 20 minutes of the original Emmanuelle when she felt that she wasn’t its target audience. However, the producers gave her the book to read and she began to ask herself whether in this modern age of internet porn, we could still use a language based on the cinematic grammar of eroticism. In this respect, the pleasure that the main character yearns for is not just sexual. “How can we give the best of ourselves when so much is asked of us? Is there room for pleasure if we have to perform like this.” Audrey Diwan’s aim was for the audience to get inside the mind and the body of this woman so that they can feel what she feels.
The star of the film, Noémi Merlant, admitted that a lot of people had warned her that it could be dangerous to accept a role that Silvia Kristel had never managed to shake off. However, she felt that there really is something to be addressed here. “It’s really interesting to show women who look for sex without being in love. We have the right to look for pleasure without love.”