At last we are starting to hear the voice of women in the cinema. We celebrate it with this documentary on the Basque women moviemakers of yesterday and today, giving a global overview of the subject. Three female divers guide us through the topic of their films, their points of view, their dreams, their efforts to get somewhere, their contribution to the cinema and to society.
In a non-existent town, five true stories based on oral testimonials and texts by writers take place between 1914 and 1982. Through them, we see the social changes experienced throughout the 20th century by a small town in the Northern Basque Country, the deep-rootedness and approximation of a language, and the struggle for survival.
David Imaz had to flee from the Basque Country in the mid-seventies, repudiated by his people, accused of betrayal. Despite having found happiness in California, his past still weighs him down and the feeling of guilt prevents him from being able to settle down and peacefully enjoy the last days of his life. Joseba Altuna, his childhood friend, comes to say goodbye and to settle the score while he's at it. It's been a long time since they saw one another, but the time has come to face the truth.
A group of childhood friends has gone to a country house to celebrate the bachelor party of one of them. But the years do not pass in vain, and, although they feel a very strong bond between them, nothing is what it used to be; or yes...
Juan Martin, a young boy from San Sebastian, decides to spend the summer in a remote hillside farmhouse to improve his Basque. But there he discovers that the language they use has little in common with his classroom learnings.
The appearance of a corpse on Pheasant Island bursts into the lives of Laida and Sambou, a young couple who live on the border of Bidasoa.
Lezo Urreiztieta was a 16th-century pirate, born by mistake in 1907. Risking his life, he saved that of hundreds of people; he negotiated with foreign governments for a free Basque Country; he managed to slip 17 boats full of weapons into Bilbao during the Civil War; he was on the point of killing Franco... Forty years after his death, the tape recorder of writer Martin Ugalde reveals his incredible story told in the voice of the actual protagonist. Starting with unpublished conversations between the two held from 1975 to 1978, this film sheds light on the testimony of a key character in 20th century Basque history.
Mugaldekoak is set in the early 40s, when, on this side of the border, the wounds of the Civil War were still open and, on the other, they were living under occupation by the German Army. The tale revolves around the Comète Network, an initiative developed during World War II on the border with Navarre: the clandestine evacuation of British pilots brought down in enemy territory.
At the beginning of the 80s, the antinuclear movement was in full expansion internationally and also in the Basque Country. In addition to the three plants that were about to be built on the coast (Lemoiz, Ea-Ispaster and Deba), a fourth was planned to be built in Arguedas. To protest against this, mobilizations were organized in Tudela. Gladys del Estal Ferreño traveled to Tudela, but did not return. In that peaceful demonstration, she was killed by the gunshot of a Civil Guard. This documentary, following the Gladys incident, tries to make a portrait of a social movement that attracted the majority of Basque society at that time.
How did the operation against 'Euskaldunon Egunkaria' come about? Why did the Spanish state decide to attack it? What did they hope to achieve by arresting, torturing and publicly humiliating known and prestigious people in the field of Basque cultural activity? This documentary tries to find answers to these questions, focussing on the different keys and factors of the period.
"In the mid 20th century Jon Mirande demonstrated with his prose that the Basque language was capable of producing cultured, universal literature. Everybody recognises its importance. But he is still a taboo subject. De Mirande is said to have been a racist. A paedophile. Nazi. Misogynist. Immoral. Every time his name is mentioned, fiery controversies break out. We don't know what to do with him. I want to make a film about Mirande. But I don't know how. Perhaps it would be more interesting to give him the floor". (Josu Martinez)
Many years have passed since Saturraran women's prison closed its doors in 1944. Thanks to the people working to recover the historical memory, numerous black points of the Civil War are gradually coming to light. Even so, the silence continues to reign. The list of forgotten names is long and there is still so much to be remembered...
Hasparren, 1956. Amid great expectation, a documentary in the Basque language about the Basque Country was released in the local cinema. In the following months it was screened in other Basque and French towns on both sides of the border, and even in Paris, San Francisco and Dakar. But suddenly it disappeared from sight and everyone forgot about it. Sixty years later, filmmaker Josu Martinez sets out to find it.
