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Brussels, Belgium.  According to the Delegation of Euskadi in Brussels, Basque talent shines on its own merits at the XV edition of the Brussels Short Film Festival. As Aizpea Goenaga, Director of the Etxepare Basque Institute pointed out during her speech at the festival, “the Basque audiovisual sector has a spot in Europe thanks to the initiatives like the Kimuak program that is coordinated by the Basque Government through the Basque Film Archives Institution.” “Our audiovisual sector is a dynamic one full of creativity and talent with letters of honor abroad,” she asserted.

Basque short films are being shown at the Festival in two sessions dedicated specifically to Euskadi.  There are six films and they form part of the selection of shorts in the Kimuak program that include both new talent and established directors.  The selection includes titles like Muy cerca (Very Close) by Ivan Caso, La media pena (The Average Penalty) by Sergio Barrejon, Lagun Mina (Best Friend) by JM Goenaga, La Calma (The Calm) by David Gonzales, Bucle  (Loop) by Aritz Moreno, and La Gran Carrera (The Great Race) by Kote Camacho.

Showcase of Basque talent and culture

Besides the two specific sessions on Basque shorts, the Basque delegation attending the Festival will participate in promotion activities that the organization offer to professionals in the sector along with organizers of other festivals and European TV.  In the same way, Festival spectators will have the opportunity to get to know Euskera and the Basque culture better.  Last year more than 21,000 spectators and 400 sector professionals along with European televisions representatives participated in Brussels Short Film Festival.

This year the Basque Government launched a new initiative called “Euskadi 2012 – International Year in Euskadi of Culture for Peace and Freedom,” within which the II European Cycle of Basque Culture and Talent is supporting various activities like the promotion of the audiovisual sector, as well as activities to bring the Basque language and culture closer to the European public.  This was done at the Festival with pamphlets on the Basque language that accompanied the traveling exhibit of the 75 anniversary of the Bombing of Gernika that also opened last week in Brussels, among other cities, thanks to the different delegations of the Basque Government.

Exhibits on the 75 anniversary of the bombing

After the inauguration at the Delegation of Euskadi at the European Union, the European version of this exhibit will tour through Belgium’s various institutions and cultural centers (Delegation of Euskadi at the EU, the Cervantes Institute in Brussels, the Town hall of Lieja, the Flanders Fields Museum at Ypres, and the Huy National Memorial) “to encourage and support dialogue on the importance of historical memory between different personalities, institutions and citizens who come to the show,” as  noted by the Basque Government delegation at the European Union.

-Brussels Short Film Festival: www.bsff.be
-Kimuak program of Basque shorts: www.kimuak.com