"The situation is harsh and worrying." This is how the presence of Euskera in commercial theatres was defined, at the press conference on Tuesday, by Alex Aginagalde, spokesperson for Apps Euskaraz, and Agurne Gaubeka, director of the Observatory on Linguistic Rights.

The number of premieres in the commercial theaters of Hego Euskal Herria in 2023 has been analyzed by Teletrash and by the local initiative Zinema Euskaraz, of which it is part, explaining the poor situation of the offer of films in Basque. A total of 564 Spanish-language movies have been released, of which 14 have also been audiovisual in Basque, representing 2.48%. Fewer than 1% have been in Basque.

Only four original films have been released in Basque, three of them documentary: Blue Folders, Tetuan and Bidasoa 2019-2023. The only fictional thing was Irati. The other ten films have been directed to boys and girls, doubled to Euskera through the Zinema Euskaraz program of the Basque Government. “Although more resources are offered in Basque for young children, from a certain age they are destined for leisure in Spanish, so the measures that are not now adopted also condition the habits of future generations.”

On the other hand, three films of multilingual origin, two of fiction, 20,000 of bees and Gelditasuna have been released in the storm and an animation, El Sueño de la sultana. All films in Basque have been subtitled to Spanish or Spanish.

Beyond the premieres, the possibility of watching movies in Basque in commercial theatres has been analyzed and the result is worse: at least the number of films in Basque, in Hego Euskal Herria has been less than 1% of the offer. At the press conference they assured that the situation in Iparralde was much worse, but they did not obtain concrete data.

Commercial cinemas are the ones with the most viewers, but examiners remember that the experience has been more positive in other small rooms dependent on the municipalities and with sensitivity to the Basque. For example, they highlight the greater presence of Euskera in the municipalities of Ataun, Azpeitia, Etxarri and Igorre, who have participated in the pilot project “ZinUEMA” to guarantee the weekly offer in Euskera for three months, powered by UEMA and Tinko Euskara elkartea.

Institutional responsibility, guarantee of fundamental rights

Apantallamiento Euskaraz and the Observatory of Linguistic Rights criticise the responsibility of public institutions that the Basque Country has almost no presence in the cinema and that the fundamental rights of citizenship are being violated. They recall that both Law 10/1982 of the CAPV and Law 18/1986 of Navarre establish that governments should facilitate the guarantee of the Basque language in the audiovisual media, and attribute to the institutions the non-compliance with the laws that are going to turn 40 years old.

Aware of the growing presence of audiovisual media in daily life, they considered it necessary “to address the rules that legally guarantee the presence of the Basque Country, as well as to multiply the resources for production, dubbing and sub-sections in Euskera”. They have reminded the Government of Navarre and the Basque Government that they have powers to do so.