euskalkultura.eus

She exchanged her Basque hometown of Laudio, in Araba, for Madrid to do her studies and that is where she found work and married.  An Audiovisual professional, she likes living in the capital of Spain, with her husband, Santiago, born in Madrid, and her son Aitor, Athletic Bilbao fan and her daughter Leire, fan of Real Madrid

Joseba Etxarri.   Estibalitz Ortega Omar studied Journalism at Complutense University in Madrid and she delved deeper into audiovisual while combining her doctorate work with her work as an assistant to prestigious cinema directors like awarded Navarrese Ana Diez, in a time she received a lot of experience making shorts and commercials.  That is how she came to Canal Plus, where she has worked for almost 20 years, of the 46 years of her life.  Estibalitz lives and feels comfortable in Madrid, although Laudio-Llodio is still very present in her life, as a place of family refuge where she returns to when she can, “five or six times a year, at Christmas, Easter, summer and a couple more,” with her two children and her husband Santi. Being Santi from Madrid, her children call him "papá" (dad, in Spanish) with the same ease as they call her "ama" (mom, in  Basque). That naturalness, family values, responsibility to work and life, good vibes and transmitting with her own example the importance of sharing and cultivating assets like friendship and generosity characterize this Basque woman in Madrid, a Basque-Madrilenian who we shared a few minutes of conversation with.

You have developed an entire professional career in Madrid as a TV director

-I have been very lucky, touch Wood (with the gesture) and since I finished my studies I have never been without work. While I was still at the university I had the fortune to work with some of the professors, like Ana Diez, who won a Goya Award, and others, and was able to join Cana Plus, where they hired me shortly after as the director of the Magacine program (on cinema).  I have been here ever since as a director, with a short stint, two years, on Cuatro, but as part of the same enterprise and finally in sports, again at Canal Plus, for the last 9 years.

Above all in film and sports…

-I like film, so a job watching films and submerged in this world is a gift.  Today sports put food on my table and I am also very comfortable, I don’t do any of them, but I obviously follow them.

Cycling veterans would remember your father, Jose Ortega Azpuru, a huge cycling fan

-He was a great cyclist fan.  He participated in many races as a cycler and randonneur, but he was ill and he died from cancer almost six years ago at the age of 67.  When he died, he was the person who had run the most in the world the mythic Luchon-Bayonne, a non-competitive test of 320 kilometers and with an accumulated ascent of 5,300 meters, including ports like Aspin and Tourmalet.  I grew up watching a lot of cycling as a family in France, mainly following the Tour.

You came to Madrid to study and you stayed.

-I finished, i got a job and my husband, and I stayed.  I live well, I have my life here and I’m happy.  Madrid is a city that has treated me with respect.  I don’t believe stereotypes, but it happened to me to find people that when they realize I am Basque because of my name or my accent, attribute us a seriousness that always flatters.  There are lazy people everywhere, but I think that they accept you well as a worker when they find out you are Basque.  On the other hand, at home, when we have some free days, we go to Laudio.  Aita and ama have passed away, but my brother and sister and I still have the house and when I go, I always say, “I’m going home.”  We get together often, and I am lucky to have a lot of family, cousins, aunts and uncles and friends and we maintain all of these relationships.  My children, Leire who is 14 and Aitor who is 12 were also raised in this ambiance. They speak some and understand Euskera.  They have cousins their same age and from a young age, when we go there, they would watch Euskal Telebista and live in a Basque-speaking environment.

You stay and keep them in touch.

-Of course, it is natural to me.  And today, it is a lot easier.  Not so long ago it took 5-6 hours to get there by car and by phone it was an interprovincial call, a conference.  Today I stay in daily touch with my brothers and also by WhatsApp with my cousins and friends.  I studied at the College of the Josefinos in Urduña and all my friends in the kuadrilla (group of friends) from that time stay in touch and we stay updated on each other’s lives.  We are actually getting together on November in Bilbao to eat together.