🚀 go-pugleaf

Here is an interesting quote from Montxo Armendariz, a film
director from Navarre, in EUSKAL ETXEAK, no.38, Year 1998,
pg. 21:

        To speak of a Basque cinema as of a cinema with
        its own features is in my opinion unthinkable. I
        mean a cinema industry with common aesthetics
        and subjects, a cinema movement in the style
        of the new German cinema, or Italian new
        Realism, I think we cannot speak of a Basque
        cinema in this sense.  I prefer to talk about
        films done by Basques or produced in Euskadi,
        where we can obviously find common aspects
        ranging from geography itself to the habits of
        some characters.  But in my opinion each of
        the directors that make films in Euskadi
        chooses different stories and tells them
        differently and even with different aesthetics
        and approaches.

The title of this article is:  "Armendariz:  `The cinema created
by basques is very diverse'" and it is written by Edurne Domingorena.

The article mentions the following directors from the Euskadi: Victor
Erice, Julio Medem, Alex de la Iglesia, Imanol Uribe, Juanma
Bajo Ulloa, Daniel Calparsoro, Pedro Olea, Enrique Urbizu,
Alfonso Ungria and Eloy de la Iglesia.

Armendariz, director of "Tasio", "27 ordu", "Historias del Kronen",
"Cartas de Alou" and "Secretos del Corazon", writes that

        we are absolutely marked by a culture and an
        education, and mine are Basque.  This is
        something that cannot be forgotten.  I am
        absolutely certain that the kind of cinema I
        make and the way I tell the stories have a
        lot to do with the culture I have received,
        the atmosphere in which I have been educated,
        the films I have seen, etc.

        It is possible that my backgrounds and my
        culture bend me towards some atmospheres
        rather than others.  In that sense maybe I
        prefer rural settings. (p.20)

It seems that for Armendariz, not simply language, but "common
aesthetics and subjects" seem foremost in his mind as necessary
features of a truly "Basque" cinema.