Five films by Elías Querejeta Zine Eskola students to participate in the San Sebastián Film Festival

Films made by Elías Querejeta Zine Eskola students will once again be well represented at the San Sebastián International Film Festival (SSIFF). Like last year, a significant number of projects developed at the school by students from the first six intake years will feature in the programme of the 72nd Festival.

Ulysses is Hikaru Uwagawa’s (Hiroshima, 1996) debut feature film. Inspired by the work of James Joyce, the film tells three stories set in Madrid, San Sebastián and Maniwa (Japan). Ulysses was included in the ninth edition of the Ikusmira Berriak development programme (2023) run by the San Sebastián International Film Festival, the Tabakalera International Centre for Contemporary Culture and the EQZE; and was presented at the Europe-Latin America Coproduction Forum during the 71st SSIFF. The world première of this film by a student from the school’s fourth intake year took place in June, at FIDMarseille.

Nest will once again feature a film by an Elías Querejeta Zine Eskola student. The short film The Third Landscape, directed by Julen Etxebarria (Getxo, 1994), a student from the fifth intake year, was selected along with another 13 films from the 428 proposals received from 200 film schools in 48 different countries. Mário Veloso, from this year’s intake of students, will also be competing for the NEST THE MEDIAPRO STUDIO award with his film Chuvas de verão, made at the Escola das Artes - Universidade Católica Portuguesa. Another three film projects that will be screened at the SSIFF, in this case as projects under development, are Senda by Mikele Landa Eiguren (Ea, 1995) and Wash Over by Marieke Elzerman (Amsterdam, 1996), from the fourth and third intake years, respectively (both residents during the latest Ikusmira Berriak programme); and Peter by Lucía Montero (Salamanca, 1988), from the third intake year, which will be presented during the Lau Haizetara Documentary Co-production Forum.

Alumni and students from the school will also participate in other areas of the festival (industry, programming, technical field, communications and public relations, to name but a few), through both the professional work experience programme and as the result of direct contracts with the SSIFF. Students from the sixth and seventh intake years will follow a specific agenda, attending screenings, master-classes and the Nest International Film Students Meeting and engaging in other activities.