30/09/2015 - Renowned filmmakers such as Julio Medem, Gracia Querejeta and Borja Cobeaga will share the running time with up-and-coming Basque names in this omnibus movie, to be premiered at San Sebastián 2016

The presentation of Kalebegiak at the recent San Sebastián Film Festival

In Basque, Kalebegiak means “street eyes”, and that is what this film is about, as it will be composed of 12 different perspectives on San Sebastián, “reflecting a city that is the setting for stories that, in turn, reflect a culture that can improve our existence: it will be a polyphonic look at the city”. This is how the project is described by Xabier Paya, the director of the programme for the Donostia/San Sebastián 2016 European Capital of Culture, which is promoting the movie. He is joined in this initiative by production outfit Moriarti, run by José Mari Goenaga and Jon Garaño, who are currently celebrating the fact that their film Flowers [+see also:
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Kalebegiak requires the participating filmmakers to shoot in San Sebastián for three days, “because it’s a city to make films in, not just to watch them in”, continues Paya, referring to its famous film festival, where the movie will be premiered in 2016. “The film crew is made up of professionals with experience and others who want to learn: we’re talking about various generations of Basque cinema, who round off a collective perspective and whose legacy may live on.”

In this way, the film sees the involvement of top-drawer musicians like Alberto Iglesias, actors such as Kandido Uranga, Alfonso Torregrosa and Bárbara Goenaga (who has just presented the comedy Pikadero [+see also:
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interview: Ben Sharrock
film profile] at the San Sebastián Film Festival), DoPs such as Javier Aguirresarobe, and such highly decorated directors as Julio Medem, Gracia Querejeta, Daniel Calparsoro, Imanol Uribe, Isabel Herguera, Asier Altuna (who will soon be releasing Amama [+see also:
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interview: Asier Altuna
film profile]), Telmo Esnal, Luiso Berdejo and Borja Cobeaga. Featuring among the young participants are duo Inko Martín (screenwriter) and Iñaki Camacho (director), Ekain Irigoien and “The Pasaik Girls” – Maider Fernández and María Elorza – who are already editing their documentary work La vendedora ambulante.

(Translated from Spanish)