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“It’s more than entertainment, (cinema) is another medium by which we learn about our heritage,” said Pihilippe Acheritogaray, person in charge of the Filmategia, in conversation with EuskalKultura.com. A continuation of the Basque Film Series organized by the San Francisco, California-based Basque Educational Organization, NABO’s film archive offers over twenty movies, from documentaries to dramas and comedies, with English subtitles.

San Francisco, CA. In 2004, the Basque Educational Organization started the Basque Films Series, an open-to-the-public program that has been showing three to four films per year. Now, NABO has decided to make the BEO collection available for individuals and Euskal Etxeas.

So far, the Filmategia has 24 movies that can be easily received at home by sending an email to filmategi@nabasque.org. Acheritogaray compared the system to Netflix, the famous film and TV show service. “You check the catalog, order a film, and we will send it to you with no cost.” There is not a specified time-limit but, if somebody keeps the movie for more than four weeks, he or she might get a notification in the email, because “the idea is to make the films accessible to a wider audience,” not to keep them.

Acheritogaray asserts that “many people don’t even know that these movies exist, and they are really good.” He wants to expand the catalog to Basque short films, some of which have even been nominated for the Academy Awards, like Nacho Vigalondo’s 7:35 de la mañana and Borja Kobeaga’s Éramos pocos.

“It’s more than entertainment, (cinema) is another medium by which we learn about our heritage. Also you can see how Basque people want to portrait themselves and the contemporary use of the Basque language, which is not just one of the oldest in Europe, but a developing and evolving one.”

To date, the organizer has sent around 20 films to 13 people from California, Oregon, Nevada, Idaho, and Massachusetts. In his opinion, “it’s working pretty well.” Acheritogaray wants to point out that the service is not limited to the US, and that interested people from Canada and Mexico are welcome to contact him.