IKUSMIRA BERRIAK is a new programme of support to audiovisual projects committed to innovation and experimentation in areas of both cinematic language and means of production. The initiative is the result of collaboration between Tabakalera– International Contemporary Culture Centre, Donostia Zinemaldia / San Sebastian Festival, San Sebastian European Capital of Culture 2016, Donostia Kultura and the Filmoteca Vasca Foundation. Its main objective is to promote audiovisual creation.
The IKUSMIRA BERRIAK programme is articulated around three axes: training, production and exhibition. The programme focusses on national and international initiatives connected to the region, such as the Kimuak short film selection, the annual Lab screenings (the Clermont-Ferrand Festival selection of experimental short films), and the International Film Students Meeting - EIECINE – held yearly during the San Sebastian Festival. It also aims to reach new filmmakers and innovative audiovisual projects based in the Basque Country.
Thus, IKUSMIRA BERRIAK opens a call inviting all filmmakers participating in the said initiatives and filmmakers in the Basque Autonomous Community to present new projects. The selected projects, one for each of the four groups mentioned, can develop their idea during a 4-week residency in the Tabakalera installations.
After the residency the projects will be presented in pitching mode. IKUSMIRA BERRIAK aims to involve audiovisual production companies and industries in the Basque Country with a view to integrating these new languages to the region and to consolidating a platform for their exhibition and internationalisation. The selected projects will be co-produced by emerging and consolidated Basque production companies whose involvement will depend on the result of the pitching sessions. Furthermore, a company from the Basque audiovisual industry is expected to offer facilities for post-production of the projects. The resulting works will be exhibited in one of the sections of the San Sebastian Festival.
FOUR RESIDENCIES FOR FOUR PROJECTS
From IKUSMIRA BERRIAK a total of four residencies will be authorised, three of which will be connected to initiatives and events already deeply rooted in the region, while the fourth will be open to local filmmakers.
- Directors of the XIII International Film Students Meeting (EIECINE), organised by the San Sebastian Festival in collaboration with Tabakalera-International Contemporary Culture Centre, with the support of DSS2016EU. The Meeting unites students from film schools across the world, whose works have been selected beforehand, in order that they may participate in screenings of their short films, discussions and masterclasses given by industry professionals.
- Filmmakers selected in the 2014 edition of Kimuak, a programme to promote and distribute short films run by the Basque Government Department of Culture through the Etxepare Euskal Institutua-Basque Institute, managed by Euskadiko Filmategia-Filmoteca Vasca. This yearly selection of films made in the Basque Country competes in leading film festivals and audiovisual events at international level.
- Participants in the Lab Competition at the 37th Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival, one of the most highly reputed short film festivals in the world. The Lab Competition presents works of a more innovative nature seeking new paths, whether from the point of view of representation, narration or aesthetic experimentation. For the last eight years, thanks to collaboration between the Clermont-Ferrand Festival, Donostia Kultura and Tabakalera, the works selected for Lab have been screened in San Sebastian along with the Kimuak short film selection.
- Basque Autonomous Community (BAC) filmmakers. The directors of projects submitted for consideration must have been registered as residents in the BAC for at least one year prior to the date these terms & conditions were published; either that, or they must have been born in the BAC and have resided here continuously for at least 5 years, or discontinuously for at least 10 years.
Filmmakers interested in participating in the project can register and submit their project between 3 February and 1 April 2015, by means of the website www.ikusmiraberriak.eu. Once the registration deadline has closed, a committee of experts will direct the selection process to end in May.
DEVELOPMENT OF THE PROGRAMME
The filmmakers selected in this first call will join the programme on 21 September 2015, to coincide with the dates of the 63rd San Sebastian Festival. During the first week, they will not only have the opportunity to participate in the Festival’s industry activities, but also to attend the International Film Students Meeting (EIECINE) masterclasses.
At the end of the Festival, the residency plan will officially begin on 28 September, ending four weeks later on Sunday 25 October. The participants will have a month to develop their projects.
The work spaces for the resident filmmakers will be the installations of Tabakalera, the International Contemporary Culture Centre, to open its doors in September following renovation of the building. In addition to the cultural project itself, the Tabakalera building will house the offices of the Filmoteca Vasca, the San Sebastian Festival, the Etxepare Basque Institute and the Fundación Kutxa, thereby generating a new cultural ecosystem intended to strengthen a creative community and foster spaces for collaboration and relations between the different agents and citizens.
Following the training and production stages, IKUSMIRA BERRIAK also aims to support exhibition of the projects developed. Thus, the San Sebastian Festival will include the projects in its programme, and undertakes to consider them for their potential selection in the main sections of the event. Moreover, Tabakalera-International Contemporary Culture Centre promises to screen the works in a specific framework.