08/11/2022 - The Bilbao-based festival specialising in documentary and short films is all set to unspool in physical form from 11-18 November, with 147 titles from 47 countries on its schedule

The Zinebi International Documentary and Short Film Festival of Bilbao is set to kick off its 64^th edition in the Arriaga Theatre on 11 November, and the festivities will continue apace until the 18^th. In total, 147 films from 47 countries – more than half of which have been directed by women – will get an airing at the Basque gathering. Thirty-eight of these are Basque-produced efforts (further broken down into 31 short films, two medium-length films and five features). More than half of the movies set to be screened will be enjoying their Spanish premieres in Bilbao. Interestingly enough, after its two most recent hybrid editions, Zinebi is opting for an entirely in-person gathering for 2022.

Several Honorary Mikeldi Awards will be handed out this year at Zinebi (which is, incidentally, the third-oldest international film festival in Spain), to three of the most important names in contemporary international cinema. One will go to esteemed Polish writer-director Agnieszka Holland, for “maintaining her committed observation of individual freedoms throughout a comprehensive and combative career path, which has documented the major changes in European history”. Another will be bestowed posthumously upon one of the key names in Basque video art and short film, Iñigo Salaberria, who passed away in September this year. The third honorary award will be handed to creative and provocative Catalan helmer Albert Serra, who was popular in competition at Cannes this year with his latest outing, Pacifiction [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Albert Serra
film profile].

The feature films partaking in the Official Section, the ZIFF Zinebi International Competition for First Films, comprise nine feature debuts produced this year and never before seen in Spain, which will be duking it out for a €12,000 prize. They are Anhell69 [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Theo Montoya
film profile] (Colombia/Romania/France/Germany) by Theo Montoya, Death of a City (Portugal) by João Rosas, Have You Seen This Woman? [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Dušan Zorić and Matija Gluš…
film profile] (Serbia/Croatia) by Dušan Zorić and Matija Gluščević, How to Save a Dead Friend [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (Sweden/Norway/France/Germany) by Marusya Syroechkovskaya, Like a Fish on the Moon (Iran) by Dornaz Hajiha, My Small Land (Japan/France) by Emma Kawawada, Our Movie (Colombia/France) by Diana Bustamante, Outside [+see also:
film review
film profile] (Ukraine/Netherlands/Denmark) by Olha Zhurba and Waters of Pastaza [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (Portugal) by Inês T Alves.

Another of Zinebi’s major sections is Beautiful Docs. Panorama of World Documentaries, which turns ten this year and which presents a select batch of the best documentary features that have been enjoyed by audiences worldwide during 2022. This year, the following nine titles will be on show: To Books and Women I Sing [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: María Elorza and Marian Fer…
film profile] (Spain) by María Elorza, Body Parts (USA) by Kristy Guevara-Flanagan, Casa Susanna [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Sébastien Lifshitz
film profile] (USA/France) by Sébastien Lifshitz, A Flower in the Mouth [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (France/Germany/South Korea) by Éric Baudelaire, Geographies of Solitude (Canada) by Jacquelyn Mills, Music for Black Pigeons [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jørgen Leth and Andreas Koe…
film profile] (Denmark) by Jørgen Leth and Andreas Koefoed, Mutzenbacher [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ruth Beckermann
film profile] (Austria) by Ruth Beckermann, Polaris [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ainara Vera
film profile] (France) by Ainara Vera, and See You Friday, Robinson [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (France/Switzerland/Iran/Lebanon) by Mitra Farahani.

The feature-length highlights in the Bertoko Begiradak – Views From the Basque Country strand, which homes in on the most recent Basque productions, are the documentaries Bigarren Ekitaldia by Ainhoa Urgoitia and Enrique Rey, Digo Vivir by José Fernández de la Sota, Izaro: Limoiari Eztia by Izaro Andrés Zelaieta and Ander Merino Etxebeste, and Tetuán by Iratxe Fresneda.

Given the state of current events, this year a focus dubbed “Once I Was a Filmmaker, Now I Am a Soldier” will be dedicated to Ukrainian cinema. The initiative, organised in conjunction with the Ukrainian Institute and the Docudays UA Film Festival, which is held annually in Kyiv every March, will screen high-profile movies from the war-torn country, including the likes of Mariupolis 2 [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Mantas Kvedaravičius and Hanna Bilbrova, and One Day in Ukraine [+see also:
film review
film profile] by Volodymyr Tykhy.

This is all capped off by a renewed focus on industry activities via Zinebi Networking and the fifth Bilbao Professional Documentary Film Forum, a space dedicated to promoting audiovisual production in the documentary sector, which Cineuropa will be covering in more detail in the coming days.