The Bilbao-based documentary and short-film festival Zinebi has unveiled the 14 projects set to take part in its industry strand, Zinebi Networking 2024: Dokumentalen Sorgunea. The seventh edition of the Bilbao Professional Documentary Film Forum will unspool from 11-14 November.

Zinebi Networking comprises two competitions, and in each of these, a prize worth €15,000 will be handed out to the team behind the winning pitch. It’s worth noting that this prize money represents a hefty increase over the €10,000 offered in each competition last year. The first contest is aimed at encouraging emerging creative talents specifically in Basque cinema and the development of audiovisual productions in the region, while the second, enabling the participation of documentary projects from all around Spain, was introduced two years ago. Both awards will be handed out at the festival’s closing ceremony on 15 November.

The projects will be weighed up by a jury of audiovisual-industry heavyweights comprising eight of the 19 experts who have been invited to attend. Said industry guests are: Alejandro Alvarado Jódar (filmmaker and professor at the University of Málaga), Antonio Miguel Arenas (La Distribuidora, ECAM), Montserrat Armengou Martín (director of TV3’s Sense ficció), Concha Barquero Artés (filmmaker and teacher at the University of Málaga), Maria Basagoiti Salazar (EITB), Arkaitz Basterra (writer-director and film consultant), Paola Buontempo (filmmaker and teacher at Argentina’s Universidad del Cine), Raphaëlle Cittanova (Cannes Docs), Marion Czarny (FIPADOC Campus), Ione Feijoo (Basque Audiovisual), Tamara García Iglesias (curator and filmmaker), ​​Ainhoa González Sanchiz (Creative Europe – MEDIA Desk Euskadi), Berry Hahn (Square Eyes), Louise Martin Papasian (director and film curator), Noé Mendelle (Scottish Documentary Institute), Nevena Milašinović (sales agent and distribution specialist), Ana Peláez (RTVE), Leticia Pérez Rico (Movistar Plus+) and Daria Voumard (Locarno Pro).

Already prior to the pitching forum, the selected projects will be partaking in various personalised tutorials run by Jorge Tur. From 11 November onwards, the teams behind the projects (be they directors or producers) will attend meetings set up by Zinebi, will pitch their projects to the public and will take part in tailored, one-to-one consultancy sessions. Once this edition has wrapped, Zinebi Networking will commit to organising online follow-up meetings over the coming year, in order to accompany and provide consultancy to the selected works.

Besides the pitching forum, Zinebi is also hosting myriad meetings and conferences, including a session where the Zinebi Networking participants will get to meet US documentarian Laura Poitras (one of the recipients of this year’s Honorary Mikeldis – see the news). There will also be a master class held by Elena López Riera (El agua [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Elena López Riera
scheda film]) called “The Innards of Cinema”, which will be open to the public. Another notable master class will be that of DoP José Luis Alcaine (another of this year’s Honorary Mikeldi winners), called “The Craft of Light”.

Zinebi Networking is organised by the festival itself with funding from the Basque Government’s Department of Culture and Linguistic Policy, and is made possible thanks to the backing of the ICAA, EITB MEDIA SAU (EITB), Zineuskadi and Creative Europe – MEDIA Desk Euskadi. It is run in collaboration with Cannes Docs, the Scottish Documentary Institute and ECAM.

The list of projects set to be pitched at Zinebi Networking is as follows:

Basque projects

Ante ti mi sombra - Natxo Leuza
Producer: El Santo Films SL

Correspondencias para habitar el mundo - Laura Gabay
Producers: Vania Jaikin Miyazaki, Eugenia Olascuaga

Irailak 27 - Izaskun Arandia
Producer: IZAR Film Europe SL

Y así seguirán las cosas - Marina Palacio
Producer: Lara Izagirre Garizurieta

Spanish projects

The Dutchbat - Guillermo Roqués, Rafael Honrubia, Javier Marín (Spain/Netherlands)
Producer: 15L Films
Co-producers: Silence Comunicación, near/by film, Basalt Film, TV3

Level - Anna Berkhof, Carlos Mora

Luna en Escorpio - Maria Corriàs, Aizpea de Atxa

M - Iván Blanco
Producer: the BRBR collective

A montaña na miña parede - Carla Andrade
Producer: Filmika Galaika

Murmur - Lupe Pérez García
Producer: Suricata Stories

La noche de la infancia - Xisi Sofía Ye Chen
Producer: LaCima

On eres quan hi eres? - Jana Montllor
Producers: La Selva Ecosistema, Odessa Films, LaCima

The Possibility of Man - Vanesa Abajo Pérez
Producers: Tourmalet Films, Worldvisuals Film

Sempre insieme - Alberto Baldini
Producer: Mubox Studio