"The student body represents a wide variety of different geographical regions and cultural backgrounds and even different generations, all of which helps build a rich and complex debate"

1. Can you describe your Master’s graduation project?

2. How would you describe your experience at the school?

3. Who would you recommend Elías Querejeta Zine Eskola to?

LAURA DÁVILA ARGOTY

1. The project I carried out at the school focuses on a traditional craft called Barniz de Pasto (Pasto Varnish), which uses the resin produced by the mopa-mopa plant, which grows in the Andean-Amazonian foothills of Colombia. Although this project is influenced by documentary filmmaking, it adopts a more experimental approach, in which gestures and cinematic language seek to engage with a sensory experience. Mopa-mopa developed gradually, accompanied by various questions about film, ecology and research processes, which led me to explore different avenues that were woven together through writing and the potential creation of a collaborative publication.

2. My time at the EQZE was an incredibly stimulating and enriching experience. Without a doubt, the school was, for me, a space for active and creative thinking, where you could learn something new every week. I learned various analogue filmmaking processes, including filming, developing in tanks and processors, scanning, colour grading and contact prints. I believe it is a space where the materiality of cinema is not only evoked or contemplated but also practised every single day thanks to the school's staff and the equipment available. During the course, we pondered the origins of our images, thought with our hands, engaged with the present and opened up our processes. I believe the school is a great place not only to reflect on the production of contemporary images, but also to examine how we coexist with the images and practices of the past, to question genealogies and to consider possible pathways for our own films. It is impossible not to get caught up in the enthusiasm and ideas of those on the other specialist courses and to forge bonds of collective learning.

The school's contribution to my personal and professional development has ranged from thinking about and making films from a more emotional, free and possible perspective to forging friendships with people whom I will continue to support and who will continue to support me in our projects and lives.

3.I would recommend EQZE to all curious and determined people who believe there are different ways to, and economic models for, making films. I think it is a privileged space for those looking to find their own work rhythms and who want to learn from, and with, others.

DIEGO ACOSTA HERNÁNDEZ

1. My Master's project is called Metamorfosis de lo mismo, and it began as a short film that later morphed into a feature, thanks in part to my time at the EQZE. The starting point was twofold: on the one hand, imagining what would happen if a 19th-century naturalist were transported to present-day Chile; and on the other, seeing what happens when this naturalist, Claude Gay, is played by Ignacio Agüero, a filmmaker of fundamental importance to Chile and beyond. The blend and tension between the scientist's vision and that of the filmmaker was an initial driving force behind this film, the first part of which has already been shot. The project has been expanding into mysterious realms, and that is what motivates me: making a film that will lead me to an unknown destination. Trusting that the film is out there in the future, waiting to be discovered.

2. My experience at EQZE was very positive because the school is very flexible and provides you with the time, space, mentorship and tools you need to work. It was a year in which I worked on film like never before: I was able to write, shoot, make mistakes, reshoot, develop and digitise film, and also watch many movies, which is a privilege. I was able to meet filmmakers with unique and inspiring outlooks on cinema, such as my tutor, Erik Bullot. My intake year had a large number of students from different parts of Latin America, and learning about their projects and contexts was very enriching and broadened my perspective on cinema; I am thinking, for example, of the Archivistas Salvajes group from Cuba. In this sense, I would like the support and access to scholarships to continue, to further promote filmmaking and the preservation of films in historically disadvantaged regions. Furthermore, for me, being Chilean, coming to Donostia-San Sebastián was an interesting journey in itself—a chance to get to know this region, which is part of Euskal Herria, and Basque culture.

3. In relation to the Filmmaking course, I would recommend it to people who feel a visceral need to create, people who want to make and experiment. People who, like me, arrive with new projects. However, it could also be very useful for people who have already started a film, who work with film, and who have material they can process and work with. The school has the knowledge and tools necessary for filmmaking processes that have fallen into disuse in many places, making it unique in the world, especially considering the current climate.

MAURA GRIMALDI

1. My project is a fictional feature film called Fractura that tells the story of two women in their seventies who find each other again in the city of São Paulo (Brazil). Over the course of a single day, the stories of this past love are reconstructed, intertwining fragments of both women's lives, from childhood to old age, in different parts of this metropolis. Issues such as the disappearance of the city, its infrastructure, ageing in a large urban centre, the milestones of lesbian culture in 1980s São Paulo, friendship, celebration and sexuality are some of the themes explored in the first version of the script that I have developed over the past year. In this sense, Fractura is a work that, based on many true stories, pays homage to tenderness, friendship and chosen family, and demands our right to the city, memory and to age with dignity.

2. A school can be quite a disruptive place to be in the world, especially in this day and age. I feel very privileged to be able to say that I have been very happy at all the schools I have attended, and this one was no different. I believe in joy as a tool for political struggle. This is why I think it is so important that it be possible to inhabit a space where friendships can be built, creative exchanges fostered with respect and generosity, and where (and this is equally important) we have the material infrastructure to develop the projects we want to bring to fruition. Over the past fifteen months, it has become clear that more than producing something—a product, that thing we call ‘a work’—what resonates within me is experiencing and living through the processes themselves. I mean, what fascinates me is walking the paths and building the community that surrounds making itself. In this sense, I believe that the format of the courses run at EQZE is designed to foster these kinds of experiences.

3. I see the school as a particularly conducive space for exchange and experimentation. On the first point, I would say that actively participating is the best way to take full advantage of the diverse range of encounters the course offers. The presence of artists, researchers, curators and various stakeholders from the world of film can contribute not only to students' individual projects but also to their broader development as artists. It is equally true that the EQZE student body represents a wide variety of different geographical regions and cultural backgrounds and, at times, even different generations, all of which helps build a rich and complex debate. Regarding the space for experimentation, I firmly believe that the school welcomes projects with very different characteristics, at different stages of their development, always respecting the profile and repertoire of each individual student. At the same time, the physical structure of the school is ideal for those who wish to learn more about the materiality of film, especially in relation to media such as 16 mm and super-8.

Application period

The registration period for the 2026-2027 course at Elías Querejeta Zine Eskola began on February 1st and ends on the 28th. Enrollment can only be processed through the form available on this website.

The Filmmaking Studies postgraduate explores all aspects linked to the creative process of coming up with the idea for a film or audiovisual work, and then experimenting, developing and materialising it, while at the same time searching for one's own unique voice

It offers theoretical, non-standardised film training, combined with the opportunity to participate in a rich environment of creative thought and reflection and to develop a personal project using a customised system of tutorials that adapt to each student’s preferences and the requirements of their project.

The specialist area therefore forces students to engage in ideation processes (subjectivity), explore different working methods (systematisation), experiment (specific formal search) and conceptualise and materialise a project.