The pandemic has turned the cultural agenda upside down, suspending festivals, conditioning agendas and making its professionals more precarious. However, 2020 has not denied success to authors such as Eva García Sáenz de Urturi, from Vitoria, the impact of ‘Patria’ or that of Alava cinema.
A great year for Basque audiovisual production
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It was one of the most anticipated releases of 2020 and it met expectations. ‘Patria’, the television adaptation of Fernando Aramburu’s bestseller, has been the most watched series on HBO and has swept the nominations of the Feroz awards, which also include ’30 coins’ by Álex de la Iglesia, ‘Ane’ or ‘Akelarre’. But without a doubt the surprise of the year has been ‘El Hoyo’, the dystopia of the Bilbao-born Galder Gaztelu Urrutia that has swept the US and is already the most watched Basque film in history. He competed to represent Spain at the Oscars with ‘La tinchera infinita’, which will finally be the film that chooses the race for the statuette.
Festival cancellations and reduced capacity
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Crowds are a thing of the past and going to a massive festival is impossible. The pandemic took Azkena and reduced the Jazz Festival to a small format held at The Garage, mostly to keep the flame alive. The pandemic has also been felt at the Theater Festival, which has lost its international name to give it a local accent. Its program has been carried out in the Principal and other civic centers with a capacity reduced by half.
–Eva García Sáenz de Urturi is a hardworking woman whose success has smiled. She was already touched by her magic wand with the trilogy of The White City and the adventures of Kraken when last month she won the Planeta Prize, the best gifted of Spanish letters. With ‘Aquitaine’, a historical thriller set in the Middle Ages, he has once again broken the sales charts.
Artium remains at the forefront
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–Like any other cultural institution, Artium had to modify its exhibition schedule, the one for which it sought to open the museum to international exhibitions and more proposals featuring women. The center has resumed its pulse in the second half of the year with spaces dedicated to Moyra Davey or that of ‘Artistic practices in the Basque Country 1977-2002 (in the image).
IN OTHER NEWS
Alava cinema
It can be said that 2020 has been a good year for Alava cinema, if not outstanding in terms of productions and an explosion of talent. The spearhead are the feature films ‘Ane’ (David Pérez Sañudo), awarded for best Basque screenplay and film at the Zinemaldi; and ‘Baby’, by Juanma Bajo Ulloa, best soundtrack in Sitges.
Exponents
Perhaps it is excessive to say that this year has been the consecration of Patricia López Arnaiz, but the nomination for the Feroz and Forqué awards as best actress for her leading role in ‘Ane’ may indicate this. The Llodian filmmaker Estíbaliz Urresola can also congratulate herself on the success of her short ‘Polvo somos’, which shows the “diversity of Alava cinema.”
The death of Pau Donés
It shocked the world of culture in a year in which relevant figures such as Juan Marsé, Ennio Morricone, Luis Eduardo Aute, Rosa María Sardá, Luis Racionero, Luis Sepúlveda, Carlos Ruiz Zafón, Rafael Berrio, Little Richards, Sean Connery, Quino, Gerardo Vera, José Luis Zumeta, Juan Genovés, José Mari Calleja …
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