In 15 years, the Kimuak catalog has projected 109 films. Kimua's short films contain reflections from her analysis and interviews with 18 selected filmmakers, who can be accessed in several passages below. Seeds of Basque cinema. It is the result of four years of work, Ainhoa Fernández de Arroyabe Olaortua, Nekane E. Taught by UPV teachers Zubiaur Gorozika and Iñaki Lazkano Arrillaga. The book is in Spanish, because the Basque Filmoteca has not earned a budget and has been published with the editorial Comunicación Social de Salamanca.

In the first part, the authors have reviewed Kimuak's trajectory in this project. The short films chosen on this tour have also been analysed and a lot of conclusions have been drawn. Most works are fiction (82%), animation (10%) and documentary (6%). The documentary is a relatively recent phenomenon in the Kimuak catalog, which appeared for the first time in the 2008 edition by the director Jon Garaño: Asämara and On the line. In recent years, however, documentaries are increasingly present.

However, according to the authors, the limits of fiction, animation and documentary have blurred and it is no longer so easy to classify the film in one genre or another. Also artistically, experimental, poetic, post-modern cinema mix… and cinema includes, to a greater or lesser extent, the distinguishing features of music video, advertising, videoart or video games. “The hybridization of genres, forms and languages is the main characteristic of current creation,” they say.

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In contrast to the creation of the 1980s, the work of the Kimuak catalogue hardly displays the political conflict as a theme – not among the films selected, nor among those left out. The cow (Gorka Esteban) is the only one that directly addresses the conflict, and indirectly the works they deal with are Topeka (Asier Altuna) and Azala (Begoña Vicario).

Dramatic gender has been more abundant. Especially with regard to the family (Belarra de Koldo Almandoz, Collar de Safy Nebbou, Hauspo de Inaz Fernández…), but also the romantic drama (Hilarri de Manu Gómez, The Raven de Darkness González, Marisa de Nacho Vigalondo…) and social (Marisa! by Mikel Rueda! Columba Palumbus de Koldo Almandoz…).

As they approach comedy, Basque filmmakers love bittersweet humor, dark tone and sad irony, among human misery (7.35 in the morning of Nacho Vigalondo, We were few of Borja Cobeaga…). The black comedy also has room (Telmo Esnalen Taxi?, Luis Soto de Irene Arzuaga…) and few romantic comedies we have seen in Kimuak.

One of the most repeated genres, however, is horror movies, although in most cases it is combined with other genres. For example, with the thriller (She’s Lost Control by Haritz Zubilhgh,The Eyes of Alicia…), with the black comedy (Txotx by Asier Altuna and Telmo Esnal, Mother’s Love by Gorka Vázquez…) or with the drama (The Calm of David González…).

Finally, the fantastic genre has its followers among the creators of Euskal Herria. Proof of this are, for example, Aizea, City of the Wind (Ione Hernández), the return of Raziel (Koldo Almandoz), Hyde & Jekill (Sara Mazkiaran) or Artalde (Asier Altuna).

In the second part of the book, 18 of the selected directors have been interviewed and their work has been deepened. And finally, eight outstanding short films (three in Basque: Terminal, Zeinek gehiago iraun and Hezurbeltzak, a mass grave) and beyond analytical research have provided the reader with their reflections, discoveries and suggestions. In general, the authors of the book have wanted to highlight the high quality of Kimuak's short films, a form of films and a rich and heterogeneous narrative style.

This year's one is ready

Of the 63 proposals presented, seven will be the short films to be showcased this year under the Kimuak label: He purchased at Zarautz (Aitor Arrangi), Soroa (Asier Altuna), Anómalo (Aitor Gutierrez), A Serious Comedy (Lander Camarero), Don Miguel (Kote Camacho), the last flight of Hubert Le Blon (Koldo Almandoz) and Sailor’s collective. The projections will start in September, as part of the San Sebastian International Film Festival.

Koldo Almandoz. Manipulated reality

“I start from the fact that all documentaries are false. I'm interested in fictionalizing reality or making fiction real. I find this hybridization interesting because it shows that the boundaries between fiction and reality are not so clear. We need a real image to believe, but the real image has long been completely manipulable. The day will come when we will discover that the real image is not a proof of truthfulness.”

Ione Fernández. Female, male

“Women are a minority in this profession, there are very few film directors. In addition, it seems that men's stories arouse greater interest in structure, theme, etc. It is difficult to correct, whether it is men or women, but for us it is a little more complicated. If you want to steer, be a mother and perform in life, you have to give up a lot of things for the time you ask for. However, I believe that these are issues that go beyond gender. I, in the end, am an advocate of good cinema. When you make movies, you're expressing something very yours, something very private. And if you're a woman, an important part of that essence or feature will be in your work, it's inevitable that you don't recognize female elements in a woman's work. But there are men with female characteristics and very masculine women. In artistic creation, as you have to be closely linked to your emotional part, it is difficult for the male side of the woman to cover the feminine. After all, creation is made from emotion.”

Luiso Berdejo Children and suspense

“I think in a movie it is always necessary to suspend, even if it is a love story. Even when you're counting on what you're counting, you don't have to know what's going to happen next. Maybe the kids would suggest it to me, and that's why they show up in my movies, because they have a new and unique way of looking at the world, always amazing. For me, the bicycle is a bicycle, but for a child it's a world. In everyday life I like that capacity of wonder, that naivety to approach things.”

Koldo Serra. Risking

“The short film allows you to experience things that cannot be experienced in the feature film. If you don’t risk a short film, you won’t risk a three-million-euro film that lasts 90 minutes. In short films you have to roll the story you want, roll it well, without thinking about the prizes or the doors that open you. In some film schools, students are prepared to make short success following certain parameters. Some have been highly awarded, but I will never defend a film that is nothing but pure aesthetics or jokes.”

Begoña Vicario. No speech

“I’m doing it and the facts lead me to a conclusion. If I thought, ‘I’ll do something about this issue and it will end’, I’d be making a speech about something I’ve thought about before. Of course, I've reflected, but not to look for something that leads me to that planned ending. The movie is about transmitting sensations. If I knew how it would end, I wouldn’t, history just has to move forward.”

Nacho Vigalondo. Laughing at ourselves

“Someone will have to diagnose why we bring the comedies to that bitter tone, or if it’s really bitter stories that along the way we bring comedy to tone. Why is such a dark story so comical? In a way, because I don't see myself as a solemn offering truth to the public. I feel safer and more honest about myself, if I can laugh at the movie I'm making. I don't like the ambitious films in which the characters themselves explain the meaning of the film. The same thing is happening lately: from the very beginning, films with a large budget are born to be a masterpiece. I’m closer to directors and movies that don’t seek to convince the importance of what they seem to tell.”