2024-01-09 02:03:57
The Bilbao film festival, Zinebi, is left without a director. Vanesa Fernández Guerra (Durango, 1980), its leader in the last six editions, will not continue to lead the veteran contest, which last November celebrated its 65th edition. As confirmed by the Culture area of the Bilbao City Council, Fernández Guerra will not continue in office “due to a personal decision.” In December 2021, her contract was renewed for four more years.
Professor of Audiovisual Communication at the University of the Basque Country, Fernández Guerra was linked to the contest in selection and programming tasks in parallel sections when in 2018 she succeeded Ernesto del Río, who led the reins of Zinebi for 17 years. In the rules of the public call for the position, two years of experience as director of a film festival or four editions managing competitions or similar events related to the cinematographic and audiovisual arts sector were required.
Zinebi is a festival specialized in short films and documentaries, although it also screens feature films, whose budget is around 600,000 euros, mostly contributed by the City Council through the Arriaga theater. The Basque Government, the Provincial Council of Bizkaia and the Ministry of Culture complete the financing, which in 2023 granted aid of 111,600 euros through the ICAA (Institute of Cinematography and Audiovisual Arts), an amount only surpassed by the 120,000 that the Festival of Gijon. It does not have private sponsors.
Vanesa Fernandez War. Maika Salguero
“That Zinebi is a specialized festival does not work against it, but in its favor,” defended Vanesa Fernández Guerra in 2022. “There are many general festivals in Spain and more important than Zinebi. In fact, since last year we have been a festival whose short films are candidates for the EFA (European Film Award). We already have Málaga, Valladolid, Gijón, Seville, Sitges… It makes no sense to want to be what you are not,” said her director, who has not answered the calls from this newspaper to explain her departure.
Like the rest of the festivals, Zinebi has suffered from the restrictions imposed by the pandemic and the change in audiovisual consumption. According to data provided almost two months after the closing of the 65th edition, the Bilbao festival once again gathered 14,813 spectators, a figure similar to that reached just before the health crisis and 3% more than last year. The Seville Festival or the Vitoria FesTVal exceed 30,000 spectators.
Zinebi promotional clip.
Zinebi exhibited 128 films from 43 countries and paid tribute, among others, to the veteran American documentary filmmaker Frederick Wiseman, who could not come to collect his Honorary Mikeldi for health reasons. The determined commitment to equality and the demand for women in audiovisuals have been the hallmark of Vanesa Fernández Guerra at the head of a festival that is looking for a director.
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