Tokyo International Film Festival opens a window to Basque cinema with the collaboration of the Etxepare Euskal Institutua
- The festival will offer five Basque films produced in recent years and directed by women in the Basque Window which will be located in the World Focus section.
- The TIFF Basque Window has been organised in collaboration with Etxepare Euskal Institutua and with the help of the San Sebastian International Film Festival and the General Secretariat for External Action of the President’s Office. This collaboration is part of the Euskadi Japan 2023 programme.
The Tokyo International Film Festival has announced that it will include five Basque films in its programme. This Basque Window is the result of the collaboration of Etxepare Euskal Institutua with the TIFF, together with the San Sebastián International Film Festival and the General Secretariat for External Action of the President’s Office. The Basque Window to be held in Tokyo is part of the Euskadi Japan 2023 program.
Tokyo International Film Festival, one of the most important film festivals in Asia and one of the most emblematic in the world, will be held from October 23 to November 1 in the Japanese capital. The Basque Window, which will host five Basque films directed by women, is scheduled in the section World Focus, which presents films that reflect current trends in world cinema.
The already renowned and award-winning film ‘20,000 especies de abejas’ directed by Estíbaliz Urresola Solaguren, will have its Japanese premiere at the TIFF Basque Window. Urresola's first feature film has received awards at renowned festivals such as the Berlinale, the Malaga Film Festival, the Hong Kong International Film Festival and the shortlist to represent Spain at the Oscars. The last award she received was the ‘Egile Berriak’ award at the Basque Film Gala of the San Sebastian International Film Festival. The film addresses the issue of gender identity, transsexuality in childhood, and the diversity of family and social structures, among other issues.
‘El sueño de la sultana’ by Isabel Herguera will be part of this section dedicated to Basque cinema. Her first feature film is competing in the Official Selection of the San Sebastian Film Festival and has just received the Best Basque Screenplay Award at the Basque Film Gala. Herguera's animated film narrates the journey of the young Spanish director Inés. In 1905, the Bengali writer Rokeya Hossein dreamed of Ladyland, a utopian territory governed by women, and a century later, Inés decides to embark on a journey of self-discovery by following in Rokey's footsteps and looking for Ladyland.
Jaione Camborda's latest work, ‘O corno/The Rye Horn’, will also be part of the Basque Window. The film is competing in the Official Section of the 71st San Sebastian International Film Festival, and has participated in the Toronto International Film Festival. This film, set in rural Galicia, tells the story of a woman who flees, reinvents herself and faces questions of motherhood and identity.
The documentary ‘Arnasa Betean, emakume zinemagileak’ by directors Rosa Zufía and Bertha Gaztelumendi will also participate. The protagonists of the documentary are Basque women filmmakers of yesterday and today. The film that shows a universal vision of women in cinema will have its international premiere in Japan.
Finally, you can also see the film ‘Las buenas compañías/In the Company of Women’, directed by Silvia Munt. Last year the film won the Audience Award at the Film and Human Rights Festival. The film tells the story of a group of Basque activists on the Franco-Spanish border, who fight for women's rights in the last days of the Franco dictatorship.
Etxepare Euskal Institutua will organise an event in Tokyo on 30 October to present the Basque Window that will take place at the Tokyo International Film Festival. Some of the directors of the films and several institutional representatives will attend the event, which aims to be a meeting point for the Basque film industry.
Euskadi Japan 2023
The Euskadi Japan 2023 multisectoral initiative seeks to strengthen and make visible the existing relations between the Basque Country and Japan. The objective of the project is to strengthen relations between both territories and create new collaborations in different areas: cultural, gastronomic, tourist, economic, sports... Etxepare Euskal Institutua works to strengthen ties in terms of relations and cultural collaborations between the Basque Country and Japan.
Throughout 2023, bilateral programming has been developed in Japan and the Basque Country with the aim of promoting multisectoral activities in both territories. In the field of cinema, the 71st San Sebastian International Film Festival has scheduled a retrospective of Japanese filmmaker Hiroshi Teshigahara, and, again, this Basque Window will be shown at the Tokyo International Film Festival.